hello everyone i know i havent written in a long time and it is almost pointless to write now but im really proud of myself today because i went to the onsen(public bath) it was awsome we did karoke a few nights ago and bowling with some highschoolers yesterday tommarow and then we have a confrence this weekend with more english food and by the way everyone ssemed to really like the food at these last to english retreats we held but who can object to scaleped potatoes and bbq chiken. anyway i miss you all and i love you all oh ya and Happy birthday to my dad and mormor!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!
MEL

English and Japanese Retreats.

hey all srry it took so long to update this again....
we got back late last night from the english retreat and went strait to eating ice cream and haveing a little reflection time as a group and then strait to bed. lets start with what happened on friday. we woke up friday morning and had breakfast and then went strait to work on getting things ready for the reateat that night. we had to get together some sleeping things and then we went to the practiceing or our skits and songs. we sang the songs in both japanese and in english. the japanese was actually pretty good considering its not our native language. and everyone at the retreat loved the skits. we left the house around five and got there around six. we set up our tents and helped others set up theirs. i met this one lady who was very nice and spoke very good english considering and she put me and joe to work on other peoples tents. we then had a BBQ and just hung out with people and got to know people a little better. Mel made friends with a little baby that everyone thought was adorable. we then went to the bath house. the bath house was very interesting. it was basecly the hottest room i have ever been in and we were all nakey. weird huh? then we went back to the camp site and finished the night off with marshmellos and cake around the fire. then about 5 of us stayed up late and just hung out. saterday morning we got up had breakfast with everyone and presented a nother skit. then we had some game time which was fun for all. after game time we had a small worship service inside a building on the camp ground. after the lesson we had another BBQ lunch and just talk with people some more. we then packed up all our things and went home. when we got back to the house we were infomrmed that there was gonna be a service at three oclock and we had about an hour to get our skits ready. we ended up being sort three people because aaron and karl were rock climbing so we had to inprevise. after that we had to get ready for the english retreat. we left for the english retreat and we ended up being in a building and haveing once agian another bbq that night. after we had a small singing time and a time where everyone gave there testemony. this was a great time. then almost everyone started to play cards. joe mandie naomi and i stayed up till three oclock in the morning playing cards and only went to bed because anything we would say was really funny. when we woke up we had break fast and set off bright and early to climb a mountian. some people took the chair lift but others were brave and climbed by foot. the view at the top was amazing and we were able to see the area that we were going to be handing out tracts today and the rest of the week. we climbed down the mountian thinking the whole time that we were going to die because it was so steep nad went to the beach. at the beach we had like the millionth bbq of the weekend. some of us were brave and tried squid and other stuck with the other meets. the water was freezing but it was still fun. we also had fire works that night. and some time to just chill. we came home last ngiht around ten and as i said we had reflection time with ice cream. joe aaron and i played cards till 10:30 when we were told to go to bed and i realized i had nothing to sleep on and the church was locked so i couldnt get my futon. so i ended up sleeping in a sleeping bag again. i woke up had breakfast a most refreshing shower and here i am typing this book about our weekend. ill talk to you all later and God BLESS!!!!

Fun, Fears, and Friendly Faces

Hey mel Here. ok well i havent writen in here but i read joes and he went in to total detail so theres nothing else to write except our interesting little experiences. As many of you know the day we even got here was hectic because luke almost didnt make it.(Ticket problems) But when we got here mandie and i had adventures of our own. We befrended these two little girls about 7 or so ( named Mao and Yukie) they had never played with sidewalk chalk and we drew on the drive with them. They didnt speak english and we know very little Japaneese so needless to say conversation was a very difficult game of charades.we then went on a scavanger hunt in teams and got to see so many amazing places we didnt get pictures but we are definetly going back to get some because there is this really good pastery at this store down the road.　Ｆｏｒ all of you that i told i was going to live on rice, im not. so far they only made me eat soy sause once thank goodness!!! our new favorite game is uno because there is nothing else we can think to do at night.　we brought out mandies fear of the dark and messed with her head a little which was fun and we also told some scary stories but now everyone is settling down for a game of uno again. i ran into a poll yesterday and really hurt myself but im just sore today a little. Lukes been doing good i guess and joe is piano nuts just like always. aparently im really loud, and i dont want to get in trouble so please pray for self control for me. in japan there are alot of budist people and i guess they get rid of all emotion so its kindof a culture shock. anyways i hope everyone on the senior high camping trip is having fun and miss you all!! write to me!!! God Bless- Mel

alright, first of all im gonna say thats an interesting experience trying to add to a blog in english on a japanese computer. there is this is button convienently placed next to the spacebar, and everytime you hit it everything turns to incomprehensible symbols. anyways, i made it this far. 27 hours is a reaaally long time to be traveling. for some reason, we thought the 12 hour+ plane ride (too bad most of it was cloudy.. got to see some cool mountains in northeast mainland asia though) would be the bulk of the trip. but then, after customs and baggage claiming and a very interesting money coversion process, we took a nice 1 hour bus ride to the second airport, where he hung out for a while and dealt with the lady trying to get lukes boarding pass. i guess the people at jfk ripped out the wrong ticket from his packet thing, so they had to make some calls and figure that out. at first they said we might have to pay for another one, but it all came through. so that lead to another lovely 1 hour plane ride followed by ANOTHER 1 hour car trip to the ghents. .. and, here we are. the food, i must say, is really good. ive tried everything thats come at me (except the nato, fermented soy beans.. ewwwww) and liked the majority of it. i was surprised to find that fresh soy beans are actually green and somewhat resemble green beans or snow peas. didnt taste wonderful, but it was a start. the main focus of our time as of yet has been preparation for two retreats this weekend. theyre expecting a turnout of about 70 people, from little kids to adults. the team has come up with a bunch of music (singing in english and japanese. its quite impressive), and 3 skits (from luke 15). we`ll be camping up in the mountains with tents and cabins, having a few barbeques, setting off some fireworks, and playing general games and sports. later i think we're headed to the beach for another bbq, some mountain climbing, and who knows what else. it'll be a fun time, but pretty demanding with the sleep issues as well as the fact that it can be hard to communicate sometimes (mel and i did have an interesting experience at the post office.. we bought a couple stamps using a few phrases in japanese but we didnt have a japanese speaker with us. anyways..). so, after that, starting tuesday we're getting up early every day to start tract distribution, a power for living booklet aimed towards nonbelievers. however, i must be going. supper is cooking..

-joe

Getting Started

We have arrived safetly and are settling in well. Yesterday on the first full day that we were here we started with Devotions in the morning fallowed by a short planning time for the Retreat that will be happening this weekend. we then got together with Sarah and Zabrina(two short termers form canada) to work in skits and some songs that we will be singing at the retreat. we then ate lunch and went on a scavenger hunt around the town and we got a postcard that the post office. we also went to a small shop and got fish shaped snacks. mine wast good but everyone elses was. we also went to a small shrine and to a temple. that was interesting. we then came home had some free time where mel and mandie played with two children. joe and i were in the kitchen chillin before dinner. we then had dinner and joe and i played pingpong for a few min before we went to english class wiht Karl (another short termer). we meat a lot of new people in english class and it was realy fun. we then came back over to the house and went to sleep. when we woke up this morning we went to devos again. todays was about being strong in your faith and having courage to stand out in the crowd and to talk with people even tho there was a language barrier. we then showed our skits and songs to ruth ghent(the people that we are staying with) and they were pretty good. we then had a little time off before lunch. joe and i had to do the dishes and then we worked on skits and plays and stuff some more. o today we also went the 100 yen shop where we got some supplies for the skits. after and here i am now typing this to you. the tool bars are all in japanese so its kinda interesting. well love to all and god be with you.

JGroup ready for take off

All Set To Go

As of today, the day before we leave, everyone is doing good. Luke just got home from the hospital and is doin good. we are leaving eastford tomarrow at Five am and will be leaving JFK airport at 11:45am.