November Praise Hour

 
November 26, 2006 Shirone Lutheran Christ Church. Thanks to the pastor from Nozomi, I have these photos to share with you. Although this event is organized, planned, and prepared for by church members, they ask us to lead the praise time. Here is Laura, me, Efrain on guitar, and Victor on drums, leading "I will call upon the Lord." The translations for the songs are done by our pastor, who also gives a short, easy-to-understand sermon, and he always preaches the gospel. We had at least fifty people, most of them non-Christians. 

All about Thanksgiving

 
Laura shared a message about the meaning of thanksgiving, and Eriko, a highschool student, translated it into Japanese for us. 

Joyful Noise Choir

 
Our church choir sang a hymn in four part harmony at one point during the praise hour. The first verse was sung in English; then the first, second and third verses were sung in Japanese. In this group, preaching to the choir would not be a waste of breath: about half of the group are not Christian! 

Victor's solo

 
At every praise hour, Victor sings a solo with his guitar. This time, he wrote a praise song of his own! It was really quite good! He and I agree that the Holy Spirit did most of the work! 

Turkey time!

 
After the worship, we had a thanksgiving feast. As always, Michiko did tons of work preparing the 'American' side of things: two turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. This year she wisely solicited help from willing students to prepare much of it the day before. All from recipies she got from her time living in America, and many ingredients ordered from the internet because they aren't available in Japan, it was superb. Just like home! 

Let's eat!

 
Victor and Efrain did a great job carving the turkey. As always, everyone enjoyed a wonderful feast.
Afterward, thirteen of us went to the nearby gym to play badminton. Our biggest group yet, we had tons of fun. This makes at least the fourth time this year that we've had a post-praise hour badminton party. 

Fall Conference 2006

 
From October 31st to November 5th, we met in Tokyo for our annual Fall Retreat, called a conference because of the length. Over the weekend, from Friday the 3rd to Sunday the 5th, we were in Okutama. Although it is an area in the mountains and countryside, it still politically belongs to Tokyo. This picture was taken in the dining hall of Okutama Bible Chalet, where we stayed. 

Wendy's

 
On Tuesday night we had dinner at Wendy's, a place we don't have in Niigata. But I had a late lunch and wasn't very hungry, so I only got a Frostie. While Tokyo is very busy and crowded, there are some good points, such as the wider variety of eating establishments. 

Anchor hall

 
This was the place we had our business meeting on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. I took minutes for the meeting on my second-hand mini-laptop that I bought earlier this year. We had times of prayer throughout the meeting, so it didn't drag like usual. 

Dinner!

 
Wednesday night found us at TGI Friday's for dinner. We don't have one in Niigata, so it was nice to enjoy some good American food. It's always a good time. 

Presentations

 
The reason fall retreat was called a conference this year is that it involved more than just the business meeting and retreat. We also enjoyed some presentations designed to help us do our jobs better. Here is my friend Bethany sharing a presentation on expectations.
In addition to presentations, we also had some type of worship service each night. I didn't take any pictures, but it was wonderful, and very enriching. 

Caught up with a friend

 
On Thursday night I had a chance to have dinner with a good friend of mine. She was living with her family during the summer, and I met her in early August. At the end of September she moved to Tokyo for a job starting at the beginning of October. Even though we lived nearby for only a short time, we became good friends. She was baptized very early this year and is really on fire for the Lord. 

Bridge

 
This was the bridge we crossed to get from the train station to the chalet where we stayed. It was a suspension foot bridge that moved ever so slightly when you walked across it. My mom would have hated it; I even had trouble crossing it on Saturday after my little mishap... 

Our "meeting" room

 
This was where we met for all our retreat things: orientation, devotions, skits, etc. It was really nice, because it had the feel of a large living room, with couches and lots of carpeting, a fireplace and a piano. The only drawback was that we weren't allowed to eat or drink in there. That was really hard with a hot-drink table just outside it. 

Leisure time

 
Right next to our meeting (living) room, there were a few table games and a piano. You can barely see the air hockey table in the background. There was also a ping-pong table off to the left. Finally, there was an ordinary long table that had hot water and all kinds of tea and instant coffee and hot cocoa. 

Ultimate Frisbee

 
On Saturday morning, we went to a playing field we had reserved and played a couple of games of ultimate frisbee. I had never played before, because I didn't think I'd be very good at it, and I was right. During the first game, I was going for the frisbee.... and so were two big guys, on either side of me. Sandwiched between them because none of us saw the others, I fell almost flat to the ground and my head bounced. I got up, but was somewhat dizzy the rest of the day. I sat the rest of the game out but took a lot of pictures of the game, anyway. One friend thinks I maybe had a mild concussion. But I'm fine now. 

Hiking

 
Since we were located next to a river valley, there were mountains everywhere. We went hiking the day we arrived (Friday), and then again on the day we left (Sunday). The trails were sometimes overgrown, which only served to heighten the sense of adventure. Both times we went, it was a good workout, and I'm sad to say that the Tokyo people were in better shape than I was! While they are climbing stairs at the train stations, I'm sitting in my car. All in all, it was a wonderful, restful, rejuvenating retreat. 

Orchestra concert

 
On Sunday, November 12, the Niigata Symphony Orchestra performed their 79th regular concert. We performed Festive Overture by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky's (2nd?)violin concerto, Op.35, and Dvorak's 9th Symphony "from the New World." On 'Festive Overture,' the 'banda' players (4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones) came out onto the balcony in front of the organ in the concert hall midway during the piece; I played the first horn part for that. I played first horn on the concerto, and second horn on the symphony.
It was a very fun concert, I was super nervous only during rehearsals, but when it came to the concert I felt comfortable, enjoying myself with the music. We rehearsed nearly 60 hours, about 3 hours a week since mid June. It was full of minor mishaps that the audience didn't notice.
I was late to the Saturday night rehearsal because I was teaching, and I was late to the Sunday morning practice because I went to church. I played the whole concert to the Glory of God, frequently conscious that none of this would be possible without God, who created us and sustains our life, and who gave us the time and the means to make all the instruments, the music, etc., and further gave us the time, talent, health and energy to practice and make music.
At the parties afterward, I did drink a bit, since my friend had invited me to stay over at her apartment. I got to know several more people, shared with a few my testimony, and shared the Gospel and prayed for one man whose wife is Christian but he doesn't believe anything. God's ways are amazing: one hour I can be wondering if I've really made so many friends in this group and if I'm really being used by the Holy Spirit. A few hours later I am absolutely certain that the Holy Spirit is moving boldly, that God is even paving the way for me to stay in Niigata and in this group, and that it's only a matter of time before everything falls into place.

This picture is of the flowers I received from students and friends on the day of the concert. Altogether 25 friends bought tickets and went. Many of those friends were Christian, but some were not. May the seeds that were planted at the parties grow and blossom even more abundantly. To God be the Glory. 

Fall Retreat

Last week I was in Tokyo for our annual Fall Business meeting and retreat. This year it was called the Fall Conference because it was nearly a week long, and we did some more teacher training sessions. I have tons of pictures, but not tons of time at the moment to put them all up here, and think backwards so that it easily goes in order. So this is all you get for now.
It was a really good trip, and I am planning to write more about it soon.