Roommate Time

We delivered cookies to the Joyhouse guys, including Marifu's "broken heart" ginormous cookie puzzle.



The Lighthouse girls enjoyed a fun day together on Valentine's Day. We baked cookies, made valentines, watched a movie and talked about what God says about love. It was such a fun day! Sadly, Marifu and Shiori will soon be moving out, so it was an especially sweet time together. I'm so thankful for this time I've been blessed to have them as roommates!

Happy Birthday!

Roommates Shiori & Marifu made me a cheesecake the night before my b-day. It was fun eating & chatting together in my room. They're so sweet!

Misa, Nami & I enjoying declious ice cream parfaits made to our individual liking. Many BEST club students took me out to a parfait bar. There were so many toppings to choose from, and it was all-you-can-eat. In one word: AMAZING!!!

Ryosuke, Dai-chan, Kanako, Me & Yasuko. Nothing says happy birthday like friends & ice cream!

After ice cream, they took me to a fun center where we played ping-pong, darts & pool. More fun!
And to top it off we ate dinner together downtown and enjoyed the New Year's lights.





The lovely girls in this photo: Misa, Me, Kanako, Anna & Aileen.
Needless to say, I felt well loved (and slept really well that night)!

A gathered group of alumni enjoyed sushi on New Year's day (I enjoyed a delicious cheeseburger!) In this video, each person took a turn choosing his or her favorite piece of sushi. If more than 4 people wanted it, they would play the Japanese version of Rock, Paper, Scissors, which is commonly used to settle nearly all disputes. And man, do they get into the game!

Just for Jess & Elissa... Meat on a Stick!

Remember that extreme craving I had for meat on a stick when we were in Chinatown in NYC? Well, I took these pics just for you girls! It's a common item among vendors at festivals - I'm telling you the truth! Now I have the photos to prove it. These are from the Shizuoka University School Festival in November. As I waited in line and chowed down my delicious meat sticks, I couldn't help but smile at the memories of our trip. I just remembered that tiny old woman in the bathroom of the restaurant! Oh, the memories!!! I miss you girls!

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!!

Happy New Year!!! I celebrated with my friend Kanako and her parents by eating soba noodles and other traditional New Year's foods. Later her friend Anna took us to the harbor where we watched a fireworks show at midnight. Then we visited a shrine. Everyone goes to the shrine at the beginning of the year to pray for blessings for the coming year. It was a really interesting and an important part of Japanese culture to experience. My heart was saddened and I was compelled to pray as knees were bowed before false gods. I was thankful for such a great New Year's experience- definitely the most exciting New Year's I've ever celebrated!


People write prayers on blocks of wood and hang them on this wall at the shrine.

Celebrating with My Family...

Praise Jesus for technology as I was able to join my family for their Christmas celebration & open gifts with them via Skype!

Christmas Retreat in the Mountains...

On Christmas Day, Elbert, Aileen & I rode by train to a Bible Camp for our Christmas Retreat. We joined other mid-term Navigator staff serving around Japan for 3 days of rest, relaxation, fellowship & celebration. I found our time together to be very encouraging, and was thankful for the company of good friends since I couldn't be home for Christmas.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from Shizuoka!

Tomorrow morning is Christmas Day and Elbert, Aileen and I will travel by train to a cabin in the mountains for a Christmas retreat with several other American Nav staff like ourselves. I'm excited to relax, play games, watch movies and hang out with these super fun friends!

I took this shot of Fuji while biking for last minute gifts on Christmas Eve.

Transferring a Balcom tradition to Japan, Aileen, Elbert & I enjoyed Chili for our Christmas Eve dinner.

We enjoyed a Christmas dinner last night at Ginger's. The turkey was delicious (Thank you Ginger.. and Jo & Mary for shipping it from Tokyo!)...but the crab was HUGE! Look at that thing! If you know me at all, you know seafood makes me cringe- needless to say my anxiety level skyrocketed for a moment when I sat down facing this beast at the table. But, I tried a bit and it wasn't bad, and it seemed kind of humorous- why wouldn't there be a GINORMOUS crab facing me at Christmas dinner, really?

I enjoyed the challenge of carving a turkey for the first time in my life. It was quite fun, really! Look at the size of that knife! Abunai!

I watered the VanZantes flowers today as they're in the U.S. for Christmas. Can you believe flowers are in full bloom on Christmas?!! Is this really Christmas?

Karaoke!!!

Over the past week I have enjoyed hanging out with a number of the freshmen girls for karaoke, lunch at the cafeteria and dress shopping for the big Christmas party. It has been exciting to begin building relationships with them and getting to know each other.