Sharing God's love and joy!

What a wonderful season to celebrate our Lord!
It's been a very busy month for all of us here.
Full work and class schedules and lots of extra church activities,
and each one an opportunity to share the true Christmas Story
and what it can mean for everyone who will accept it.

Every school and class has a Christmas party

and never are we told that we cannot share

that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth.

We tell the story and toast Him and sing Happy Birthday to Him.

Santa greets each individual and gives them a candy cane and/or a Bible.

We share that the reason presents are given is because of His birth.

Santa loves Jesus so much he wants everyone to know about Him!

As members from area churches gather

in front of Nagano Station to sing carols,

Santa joins in offering joy and bringing smiles

to many otherwise harried passersby.
When he offers them a small gift they are so excited!

Many stop and listen to the singing

and you can see the peace and joy it brings them for at least a moment

as they slow down to hear the songs of His birth

and some even join in and sing along.

Our small church here holds Christmas Eve candlelight service every year.

The first hour is filled with amazing voices from the choral group 'Canto Kiara'.

The group is led by a local Buddist priest

and he tells the story of each song and its relation to the stories in the Bible.

Each person lights a candle and the story of Jesus birth is told

with several people having been chosen to read the parts.

After the candlelight service at church

we had a little surprise birthday celebration at our house.

Sarah, a young woman from Australia

who worked with Ian at the ski resort two years ago,

was shocked to see Santa there to sing her happy birthday!

Being so far from home,

Ian and a few others wanted to make her day special

so they took her out to eat,

then brought her home for surprise cake, ice cream

and a special gift they all went together to get her.

I'm sure my cake wasn't like her Mom's would have been

but I think she was happy with it still.

On our Christmas morning we got the special gift of a video chat

with Heather, Daeon, Tony and their families

as they were all together on their Christmas Eve!!!

It was a most special gift!

After a full Christmas day of morning and afternoon church

and finishing up all the cooking in between,

we hosted a traditional Christmas dinner for several of Ian's friends

and a couple of ours, too.

Everyone enjoyed the food and the fellowship.

Several new tastes for most them

It was our first Christmas in three years to be here with Ian.

The past three he was working and we were in Tokyo

watching Zack play in the national high school basketball tournament.

We certainly missed having Zack here with us this year.

Talking on the phone isn't quite the same.

Still it was so wonderful to share the day with Ian and friends.

We hope each of you had an amazing Christmas filled with love and joy.

We thank you all for your prayers,

love and support of every kind that makes all we do here possible.

Wishing you a very wonderful new year!

 

Santa Claus is coming!

If you don't think so just watch this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC6rDqqO4Bc

Indeed he is coming! In fact he's been sighted in downtown Nagano off and
on all through this month.
The normally very busy and somber faced are full of smiles and surprise and are anxious to shake hands or get a picture with the jolly man from the North Pole.
Santa has passed out hundreds of candy canes and bibles that will tell those who read them the true Christmas story.
It's a very busy season for Santa as he spreads the news of Jesus and all that He offers.
With great joy he strolls the streets greeting all with a hearty HO!HO!HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS! and sharing that Jesus IS the reason we celebrate.
We pray that the Truth of Christmas will be contagious!
May you be filled with the joy of Jesus this Christmas season!

some thoughts

CHRISTMAS....
without question a most special time...
in as many different ways as there are people.

I pray for each one to know God and share in His joy and peace no matter where or in what circumstance you may be.

Easy for some.

Seemingly impossible for others.

Lest we forget that "with God all things are possible".

In those moments when I begin to slip in to feelings of less than joy in knowing He is my Lord, I make myself stop and think...

of my brother who for the past year has undergone special treatment for liver disease and still tries to be positive and loves God above all

of the young family in our Mississippi hometown who lost their wife/mommy/daughter/friend this week to some selfish being who is yet to be found

of extended family suffering the unknown whereabouts of one of their children

of too many caught in the grasp of depression

of the thousands making it through one day at a time after living through a disaster

God forgive me and help me never not realize how blessed I am!

I pray and wish all the true Joy and Peace that is Christmas!

This 8 minute video is a gift from survivors of the 3/11/2011 Japan disasters.
I ask you to take the time to watch and then to say a prayer.
Thank you! God bless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMtMg1t9Kbc&feature=share

Zoos..

The first weekend of this month was a kind of mini-at-home-vacation for John and I. Thursday, the 3rd, was Japan's Culture Day and so no school or classes. John always has Friday off and that week so did I so we were looking for some excitement... that would work with our budget - or lack thereof. We decided to drive a bit to see some of the autumn colors and visit some area zoos...for the first time! Geeez...we've only lived here for seven and a half years, don't want to rush into it or anything. Any way, they aren't the biggest or best, but very reasonable..some even free! It was nice for the two of us to have the time to just wander around and enjoy.

So these are some of the faces we enjoyed along the way...



Not sure what secrets these two were sharing but they were very close!


This big guy was really carrying on with John! He kept swaying back and forth and reaching his trunk out through the bars and if we moved he moved in the same direction. Just before we walked inside his barn we saw a bamboo stick fly through the air... guess he wanted someone's attention!


There was a great exhibit of Lesser (Red) Pandas that we really enjoyed. These little fellas must not have an agressive hair on their snuggly bodies! As we walked through their areas they would stroll - literally! - right over our heads! Sometimes stopping to take a closer look at the visitors - and they were CLOSE!



These baby monkeys were having a great time playing chase and then slipping down the slide together.

Something caught his eye! Enough that he stood up to check it out!!

So not anything too news worthy to report, but it was fun getting out together, enjoying the nice fall weather and a lot of God's great creation.
Thanks God! It was fun!