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.

Dan's Birthday!!!!!!

Today was Dan's Birhtday!! We celebrated talking to friends and family on the telephone, having a nice ham dinner and opening presents sent from my mom in America. I brought over these cupcakes to one of Dan's classes this afternoon because I felt bad that he had to work on his birhtday! He enjoyed the surprise and so did his students.

Happy Birthday!

Today was Christine's 25th Birhtday! We had a very nice relaxing day and then this evening Manami and Shota came over with some presents. Coffee and cupcakes, delivered from Christine's cousin, Lila in Tokyo. She sent cupcakes in the mail from Tokyo!! Also, she got new art materials, so she can start drawing and painting over here. She was VERY excited!

Family is a blessing

I may feel a little homesick today, so when that happens it always helps to look at pictures of family and friends. We are so blessed to have such supporting and loving families and friends.

Alpha Update!

Thank you so much to those of you that were praying for us and the Alpha program! We have some great news and an answered prayer. We WILL be starting an Alpha course here in May!! We got the approval from our Pastor and some church members. This coming Sunday, the congregation will vote on starting an Alpha course, and if all goes well...we get to begin on May 6th! Dan and I are thrilled! We feel like the Lord has opened this door and we are just following his lead. Our next prayer is that many newcomers will attend the course. I am so thankful to anyone who prayed about this matter, prayer works and it's especially fun when we all get to see the fruits of our prayer! Thanks and God bless you today!

Mount Fuji

This is a beautiful picture of Fuji-san. I didn't take it, but it's such a beautiful picture of what Japan looks like in the spring. Spring should be starting early this year, so we are really looking forward to that and to seeing the cherry blossoms!

Alpha

Dan and I are asking for a little prayer. We are in the midst of talking with our Japanese Church about starting up an Alpha course this spring. I'm not sure if you have heard of the Alpha course, but if you haven't I'd encourage you to start asking around about it. We are asking if you could pray for the churches willingness to try something new and for right timing to begin a course. Dan and I feel compelled to bring the "Good News" to the Japanese people and this is one tool that we know works for reaching the unsaved, so if you could say a quick pray for these two things, we would REALLY appreciate it!

Hiking

Sometimes I forget how adventurous boys can be and how girly I can be. Dan and I were out biking and found ourselves at the foot of a mountain today. All of a sudden his male instinct appeared and he wanted to hike...mind you I was the one who noticed the sign in the distance that said Beware of Bears!! Did that stop him....oh no! He was ready to go and I wasn't about to wait around by myself! So I followed him....all the way up to the top of the mountain. The whole time I kept on looking over my shoulder seeing if bears were following and of course there weren't. (Did I mention it's January?...and bears hiberate) Well, I was a scaredy-cat, but I made it up to the top and the view was great. These pictures aren't phenomenal, but they show Ayashi, our city, and a pretty good view.

Shrines and Temples

These are some pictures that we took today. It was a beatuiful day in Sendai today! I (Christine) am not used to having such mild winters, but I must say they are so nice; not claustrophobic! We biked around taking pictures of some different shrines and temples near our city. The first picture is of a temple. The second is of a shrine. The third is of the big archway that is typical of a shrine. Every shrine has one of these arches. The fourth is a picture of the inside of a shrine. There are the elaborate gold decorations and gods/idols that Buddhists pray to everyday. They pray to their ancestors for good health, protection and whatever else they feel like they need luck for. The last picture is of a graveyard. Graveyards are near every shrine and temple. The tomb stones are so elaborate and huge! We were intrigued by everything we saw today and we wanted to share our pictures.

Pictures of Japan

This is looking out over Tokyo from one of the higher buildings. This is just one view of the city. Tokyo is tied with Mexico City for having the largest population in the world.

This was taken up north along the Sea of Japan. It's a very rocky coast, but really beautiful!

This was taken on the Pacific side of Japan at Matsushima. These are typical Japanese style buildings. The building on the rock island is a Temple that was built a few hundred years ago by an Emperor. He built in out on this island so he could watch the moon.

A fishing boat out on the open ocean...

Our Snowman "Ralph"

We finally had a snowfall that lasted overnight! Dan and I have never made a snowman together and all he wanted to do was make a snowman, so we did! We named him Ralph and now he'll greet all of our guest. Looks pretty good, huh? I guess the show in Japan is not so different from Minnesota after all!! Happy winter!

Making Mochi

One of the traditions in the fall is to make mochi and this past Sunday, our church made a whole bunch of it! Young and old alike took part in this event and everyone enjoyed it! Mochi is pounded rice that is shaped into balls and then are usually seasoned with something. Our mochi was seasoned with soybean powder. Personally, I was not a fan of the seasoning, but it was fun to try something new! Notice the picture of Dan displayed. Do you see the crack in that hammer? Yeah....That is my wonderfully BURLY husband just about to break the handle! He's sure got some swing!! It was quite the experience!

Emma's Visit

We were so pleased to have Emma Stensvaag (next to Dan) arrive on the 2nd of January. She is Maya's (far left) younger sister. Their father is the pastor of First Lutheran church in Fergus Falls. Both girls were born in Japan and lived here until they were 6 and 10. We have all become quite the gang!

We had a dinner party the night she arrived. We also invited Manami, one of the seminary students to join us. It was a lot of English for her!! She can understand quite a bit, but we were all talking pretty fast. Thankfully, Maya is fluent in Japanese and translated some.

We have had a great time together!

Emma will be leaving on the 11th and going back to Minneapolis where she is attending college. Both girls have been staying with us while Emma's visiting.

Matsushima "Pine Island"

We were so happy to spend the day at Matsushima with some new friends from one of the two churches we serve. Their names are Christina and Masari Goto. Christina is originally from Singapore and Masari is Japanese. They both speak English, so it's very easy to spend time together and talk. Mr. Goto works for a large hotel near Matsushima and was able to use some of his connections to give us a really wonderful experience at Matsushima. We took a ferry ride around the islands and got to sit in the luxury seats. SO COOL!! We got to feed the seagulls as they followed the ferry, which was really fun and a bit scary when they got so close. We had gratis oysters during our tour and learned that there are more than 260 islands in Matsushima. We finished off the morning with a beautiful lunch at his hotel and the best part was not only was the lunch gratis, but so was the ice cream!! I was thrilled! We also learned the meaning for Matsushima. Matsu means "Pine" and Shima means "Island". Now it all makes a lot more sense to me! We really had a great day.