Going home

I'll give you the final picture first. We are on our way back to the airport.

Here is the group I went with to Japan

On the left is Stacy, I am in the middle, and Jimmy is to the right.

This is the kindergarten at Kakogawa Baptist Church

These kids are awesome. They knew quite a bit of English, much more than I knew Japanese.

My kids

These are the two of the kids I worked with. I had them act out Jonah and the Whale. It was one of the cutest things ever. The boy on the left was camisama (God) and Jamie on the right was Jonah.

Getting the melon bread

Melon bread is very popular in Japan. Kakogawa Baptist Church did a campaign to try to get as many people to church as they could this Sunday. Everyone that came got a free melon bread (Bread with melon flavoring, it is pretty good).

Get your umbrella

It rained on Melon Bread Sunday so everyone got out their umbrellas. It rained about 5 out of 13 days that we were in Japan. During the rainy season it rains everyday with no sun (so I have been told).

Teaching english in the public schools

This is at the end of one session and we are passing out American candy.

We were blessed by their gifts

received so many gifts while we were in the school (Origami, thank you notes with pictures, etc. We were blessed just from the material gifts they gave us.

Teaching Christian songs in their English Club

The school's English Club is an after school program. we were actually able to teach the kids Christian songs. I taught them "Do You Know About Jesus?" to the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" tune. (Shinya also explained the song to kids.)

Doggie Says

One of the games we played to teach them English was "Doggie Says" (it is Simon Says with a puppet).

Japanese smack-down

I had to put a couple of kids in their place. They thought is was fun to pick on me *cry* (the older one I was surprised to learn didn't open up to anybody. He comes from a troubled upbringing.)

Cheese!

Whenever a camera came out, all the kids tried to get in the picture. People in Japan were surprised to learn that we also say cheese before we get a picture taken.

Before Lunch

Some kids posing before they ate. Kind of different that they wear masks over the mouth before they eat. Some schools, all the kids wore masks before they ate and some schools only those who served the food wore masks.

It's Binki the clown!

During Yagai reihai (special outdoor church service), I got to dress up as a clown. I named myself Binki.

Christian Illusion

One thing I did as a clown was an rope illusion trick (there is no magic involved). I explained out God punishes different types of sinners the same. The short rope were mostly good people, the long rope were murderers, etc. But in the end, all are the same in God's eyes: wicked (I made all three appear to be the same size).

Knock 'em over!

The kids during the children's church on Melon Bread Sunday played two games. This one the kids had to knock each other over without falling themselves.

Jimmy enjoys his bread

Bread in Japan comes in small containers like this one.

Chiodi's cell group

I had my picture taken with Chiodi's cell group while I was waiting for church (their church is organized around cell groups).

Here we are hangin' out at Micky D's

From left to right: Ico, Rika (pronounced lee-kah), Stacy, and Jimmy.

Dude! I think that says it all.

(On the far right is Shinya, he was in charge of us in Japan. He graduated from Trinity Baptist College.)

Auzzie English Teacher

I got my picture with an Australian guy who teachings english in Kakogawa.

Yummy Japanese food

This is same food I had while I was at Yuya's father's church. Top left is tofu, Top center is flavored water?, Top right is rice with purple spice, Bottom left is chicken and some vegetables, and the bottom right... nato. Nato is by far the nastiest thing I had in Japan. I believe it is fermented beans and rice (I am not exaggerating).

Me eating sushi

I tried sushi in Japan. It is actually pretty good. I didn't like the squid. It tasted good but the texture was gross. The fish and soup were great.

Jimmy and I doing what we do best

Yoshi jammin' on the drums

Yoshi plays the guitar in the band at Kakogawa Baptist Church. He is very talented.

Some Japanese traffic

Japanese constuction

I was shocked to learn that even the mighty Japanese roads need work too. At least it isn't near as bad as Kansas (miles of unworked construction at a time) or Florida (They just work on a million projects at once).

Japanese buildings

This is what it looks like driving through town.

Japanese house

This is typical Japanese architecture for a house.

Japanese apartments

These are typical apartments in Japan. Usually large blah looking buildings. Land is expensive so many people live in a house with their entire family. I guess an apartment would be another way to go.