Who said missionaries were normal?

Ok, so we may be a little crazy once in a while...but for the most part we are pretty normal!

Akita Mini-Retreat

This weekend Dan and I were up in Akita for the English Programs Annual Retreat. We were joined by all the English teacher and both missionary families in Japan. John and Kathy Wile were our speakers for the weekend and they were so encouraging! It was great to worship in our own language and to hear from the Lord in English! We really appreciated the time away to reflect and be fed! Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Eating and relaxing....

Teaching time with the Wile's was awesome!

Our room and the morning sunrise.

Visiting Akita city and having dinner at Surprise Donkey resturant.

Fellowship time.

Spring is in the Air

Today was beautiful here. It smelled like spring is on the way!

Goodbye Art and Jan

This morning Art and Jan left and are on the way back to the States. We had such a nice time with them. We have so many great memories, but this one of the most memorable for me. We took this picture at Sendai Castle. We are so glad that they took the time to come visit us. We hope they had as much fun as we did!

Tomoko's Visit

Art and Jan were able to see Tomoko again, after meeting her at our wedding in Minnesota this summer.
This was taken on the train on the way to bringing Tomoko back to the bus station. Tomoko was able to come to Sendai, from Tokyo, for one night, Saturday and Sunday. We did alot of talking and had a great time catching up.
Before Tomoko left we all went out for sushi.
The three of us! We are so happy that she could come to visit, even though our time was short.

Valentine's Day

While I was in class teaching on Valentine's Day, Dan was outside writing me this awesome love note in the fresh snow. "S.h.m.i.l.y" stands for See How Much I Love You. Do I have an awesome husband or what?! Later I gave him the huge heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie I made for him. We had a great Valentine's Day!

Ayako's Visit

This weekend my good friend Ayako came to visit Dan and I from Akita. On Sunday after church I went into Sendai to meet her. We spent the whole day just the two of us. It was sooo great to have some quality girl time. We shopped, ate and literally talked non-stop for 5 hours, until we got back to my house. It was such a great day! On Monday, Ayako, Dan, and me went to sushi for lunch. (Art and Jan had gone to lunch with a Japanese friend of ours.) After lunch Art and Jan joined the three of us and we all went to Sakunami onsen (hot springs) near our house. We relaxed and enjoyed the snowy day while taking an onsen. The onsen was on the fourth floor of a hotel, so we could look out over and see the mountains in the distance. It was great! Art and Jan enjoyed experiencing the onsen too!

This is the three of us on the train heading towards Sakunami Onsen.

Tea Party

Dan and I thought it would be fun to have a tea party for Art and Jan while they are here. So, this past week, we invited a bunch of ladies over for a cake and a Tea Party. Candis Berge would be so proud of me!! A real Tea Party! We had had tea, cake, coffee and lots of chatting. The only two men there were Dan and Art and I will be honest with you...they did take a few "breathers" to the next room. We had 16 women come and had a wonderful time! It was really fun for me to see all of my women students meet each other and practice speaking English. It was also a great opportunity for everyone get to know us outside of English class.

Do you see the lady standing in the far left corner doing some magic tricks? Ok. Let me tell you about the miracle of meeting her. Last week Dan took the train into Sendai to pick up Art and Jan from the station. After meeting Art and Jan, the three of them changed trains and started the ride back to Ayashi. WELL... on their train ride this random couple began talking to them in English (Dan had to translate a little.) They talked the whole ride until this couple got off the train. Two days later Jan and I were at a grocery store in the next town over, and who do we run into?....The same lady from the train. It was a divine appointment. We talked, exchanged information and invited her to our tea party. Two days after that meeting, she showed up to the tea party. Her name is Mrs. Saito. She met all of our English students and we got to know her a little better. After our tea party, I had about 1 1/2 hours before my next English class, so I prepared for class. As I was waiting for my students to arrive...you'll never guess who walks into English class ... Mrs. Saito. She sat in on class, and at the end of the lesson told me she was joining and would be back next week! Now... you can't tell me that God doesn't have a hand in our daily lives. Praise the Lord!

Fresh Fish!!

If you want fresh fish and vegetables this is the place to go. This is a famous fresh fish street in Sendai and we just found out about it! It was so cool! Some of the crabs and fish were still alive and on ice when we were walking by. I didn't buy any fish while we were down here, Dan did buy me some fresh roses though! They were only 3 for $2.00!

Visiting Sendai Castle

This past Sunday one of our Japanese friends, Yoshi, took me, Dan, Art and Jan to the Sendai castle. There's not a castle there anymore, there's only a watchtower left, but there is a Temple and the area is still famous. The founder of Sendai, Date Masamune, at one time, built a castle on the Southeastern cliffs of Sendai and built a rock fortress around it. The original rock walls are still standing to this day. And they are HUGE and perfectly formed. They only had hammers and spikes to form them... Amazing! This castle was built on the highest point of Sendai. Masamune was honored for the placement of his castle because it was high, near the main river and in view of the Pacific ocean. This is the monument in honor of the Date Masamune, founder of Sendai. They put him up high on this monument with his horse, saying that he will always be the "Watcher of Sendai." These are two pictures of the gorgeous view that you can see from the top of Sendai Castle.

Sunday Morning Church

This Sunday we all went to church together at the Seminary church. Art and Jan met our Pastor Sasaki and his family. After the service we enjoyed lunch with our congregation and fellowship with church members.

Oyster Festival

Art, Jan, Dan, myself and our Japanese teacher, Nobuko went to Matsushima today for the annual Oyster Festival. It was packed with people, with the main attraction being the 3 free Oysters that they were giving out to everyone. We didn't actually wait to get those free oysters because the line was way too long, about an hour wait! So instead we wandered our way down to the marina area and saw some fishermen grilling and selling their catch of the day for pretty cheap. Dan and I both decided to try the oysters and ended up getting 2 each for free! The man sitting next to me, old me that they were free for us because we brought a crowd around while we were trying them. It's great being a foreigner!

Just checkin' out this whole Oyster business...

It's a little slimy, salty and chewy...

Basically, it's a mouthful....but tasty. Notice the guy in the background laughing at us "tourists" trying Oysters for the first time.

Thousands of people were grilling their own oysters on these grills that were set up all over the park. People could buy the ingredients and cheap oysters at the Festival and grill them themselves. This guy was enjoying it all by himself. There was also music provided by this woman singing traditional Japanese music.

There were over 50,000 people there including all the different food vendors. Many vendors were selling all raw seafood and bowls of Oyster soup. Other vendors sold different meats on a stick. We tried chicken on a stick and it was delicious! The one that is really black in this picture is whale on a stick, apparently it is one of Japan's delicacies.

Snow brought from MN

Art and Jan arrived... and brought snow with them!! We were so surprised to wake up this morning to a heavy snowfall. We hadn't had a heavy snowfall all winter and then, of course, on the day our MN visitors arrive....the snow follows. This stuff is never going to go away. It is just our luck too, we told our friends that they didn't need heavy jackets! They're o.k though because they brought lots of layers. We were so happy to welcome Art and Jan this afternoon to Sendai!!!! They arrived safely and without any major mishaps. We took a short walk tonight, so they were able to see our neighborhood and surroundings.