Thank you Brother!!

Yesterday was fun - I got a package from my brother and sister-in-law, complete with (among other things) a beautiful watercolor from my near 2 year-old nephew Elliott (I'm quite a proud aunt!), and two delicious monster cookies from Stefanie. Though they were slightly on the crunchy side, they tasted SOOOO good! Thanks Stef!!!

Freshmen BBQ (Japanese style BBQ) hosted by the VanZantes the second week of the semester. It has been fun getting to know all of the new freshmen the past few weeks.

Eating at a local restaurant, Mariyama, after sports time with a group of BEST students- many of whom are new freshmen. I always order Curry doria - it's amazing!

Last week after a few days of rain, apparently there was a bit of a mini land slide down the block from my house. On the top of this hill, the ground shifted just enough to uproot a few huge trees, sending them over the wall, closing the street for several days. Praise Jesus I wasn't biking past at the time!

Kyoto

Last weekend two BEST students, my teammate Aileen & I went to Kyoto for sightseeing. We had a great time together, and the shrines, temples and castles were SO beautiful, especially as the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. For more pictures, check out my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/mbalcom





I'm so thankful for the time with Aileen and our friends Emi and Yuka on this trip. It provided such insight into Japanese culture and religion, and it was good to be able to talk about such ideas with the BEST girls. Praise God for such an amazing trip and such a good time with these friends!

SWANKY JAM

Last week we stumbled upon this store in the local mall. The name of the store is: SWANKY JAM. Yes, SWANKY JAM. The logo reads: "Welcome the article which is pleasant to a SWANKY JAM". weird.

Sakura Season

The Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) are in full bloom in Shizuoka for a few short weeks, and they're SOOO beautiful! I took an afternoon to enjoy God's beautiful creation at a park downtown this week. I think part of what makes these trees so beautiful is the intricacy and delicacy which characterizes each blossom. God is such a creative Creator!

Random Snapshots of my Life in Recent Days...

THE MUCH ANTICIPATED HAIR CUT:
Before
During
After
Praise Jesus for Jamie and her hair-cutting skills!


RELAXING ON A THURSDAY NIGHT:
Last night I made nachos (my favorite!) and watched The Three Amigos. I had forgotten how funny that movie is!


FRESHMEN GIRLS MOVIE NIGHT:
Freshmen Girls Movie Night was great! We made collages to describe ourselves, ate some homemade cookies (thank you Margery!), and watched Ever After.
Ayaka and me showing off our sweet collages.


THE O'DONNELLS ARE HERE!!!
I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO thankful for them! I am still amazed at God's great plan to put Jamie and I in the same neighborhood at the same time. What a blessing to have such a close friend here with me!
Jones and I enjoyed playing at the park yesterday while mom and dad were busy unloading the moving truck. He seems to make friends quickly with the locals!
Cute little guy!
I'm seeing plenty more moments like this in the future!


BEST SKI/SNOWBOARDING TRIP:
We had a great time hanging out and enjoying the snow. There was plenty of it as a blizzard kept us off the slopes the first day.
Why wouldn't there be a creepy life-size carousel off the side of the road when we stopped for a rest break? really?


THE JOY OF SIGNS:
I've decided to start keeping a photo album for all of the crazy English we see here. For example...
I think the idea was to be careful skiing/boarding into the lift area.
Run Attention: seeing this sign, would you understand that you're about to drop off a cliff onto a crazy black diamond, endangering your very life? I just feel like some of the meaning may have been lost in the translation. There seems to be a lot more communicated in Kanji. The drop off is intense, and I'm not sure "Run Attention" really cuts it, but then who am I?


TIME WITH THE LORD AT THE BEACH:
Yesterday I enjoyed some time in the Word and prayer from these rocks. Staring out at the ocean and listening to the waves reminds me of how big and awesome God is.

Hugging the Beach: it was so freeing just to sprawl out on the rocks and listen to the waves.

The Big Japan Staff Conference

This past week I attended The Navigator's All Japan Staff Conference. Elbert & I went a few days early with our campus director's family to enjoy time skiing and hanging out with them. At the conference, I enjoyed reunions with other midtermers serving in other areas of Japan. Hanging out and sharing our experiences was really encouraging to me. They are such fun people!

Having dinner with Jerry & Jane Bridges and Joanna. Jane and I talked about fabric, and Jerry told Joanna and I about fighting in the Korean war. I really like Jane, she's so sweet and funny too!

Jerry Bridges was the main speaker, which was exciting since he's one of my all time favorite authors. I'm thankful for the message he shared with us all, particularly being reminded once again of God's forgiveness for my sins, and the reality that Christ's righteousness has been imputed to me, therefore when God looks at me, he does not see my filth, he sees the righteousness of Jesus. God refreshed me with that message. I was also blessed as my U.S. Navigators supervisor, Christy Haley, came to Japan for the conference and is visiting Shizuoka for a few days, staying with me. She too has been a great source of encouragement.

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)!