...in the news!

Zack became a name the announcers liked in their opening game as Tokai triumphed over a team that was expected to win big!
The picture here shows one of the boys that Zack had trained for leading up to this game, and Zack did a great job against him!
(Of course there is no proud parent side to that remark...)

And then!!!!
Tokai goes goes on to win their second game on Christmas day and garner a spot in the Top 16 high school teams in all of Japan!!!!!

By game 3 the competition proved to be more than they were handling but they played hard and were so excited just to still be there!
Looking forward to next year!

YEA TOKAI THIRD!!!!!!

Winter Cup 2008 !!!

2 months later....
I'm going to attempt to get up some news about what most of you who know us have already heard about - probably a LOT!!
The above photo was taken during a practice at Tokai, Zack's high school, as they prepared to play in the all Japan high school basketball tournament over the Christmas holidays. As the tallest player on his team, Zack was being worked on how to play against their first game opposition who have 2 guys from Senegal 10 cm & 13 cm taller than he is!

It's a huge honor to make it to the Winter Cup, where the top team from each prefecture (state) in Japan vie for the honors of being the best. This was Tokai Third's second trip to this tournament. Last year (2007) they lost their first game - and were expected to do the same this year by stats.
It was a big deal for the school since it was the first time ever for the girls and boys basketball teams from the same school to qualify for both the summer all Japan tournament - Inter High - AND the Winter Cup!

Here we are with some of Zack's team mates parents!
This was taken on Christmas day following our unexpected BIG WIN in the first game!!

Proud parents!

Inside the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium - site of the 2008 Winter Cup

Random catch-ups

Yes! Yes! Long overdue!
I could start my list of excuses...
instead I'll just tell you about the pictures ;-}
These ladies and children are first & foremost our friends!
They are all John's students, some several times a week!
A couple are some of our new neighbors as well.
Takako, the lady between John & I, has moved and this was her farewell luncheon.
We miss her and her family!

This was our annual Christmas caroling at Nagano Station with members from Nagano area churches and friends. The cute Santa pair are mom & daughter neighborhood friends of ours, and also John's English students.

Though much milder than Nagano winters past we have had some snow. I'm so thankful to report that I've only found ice in the shower one morning thus far!! WooHoo!

No! It's not the latest super-hero in Japan! Well... maybe ;-}

Ian and his best friend, Ken, have taken up snow-boarding this winter and absolutely love it!!!

Ian has wanted to try this since we moved to Nagano and is making the most of it now that he has.

They hit the slopes at every opportunity and promise some 'in the snow' shots.

I'm waiting...

Japan in January '09

Greetings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
“Oshougatsu Omedeto”! or Happy New Year! Even though we are at the beginning of a New Year it sure seems like the time is going so fast. Our first month of 2009 is almost over. I guess for the time to go by so fast we must be staying BUSY! We ended last year with a wonderful evening. On December 31st all four of us were able to sit down together for dinner. So we combined many dates and had a birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year turkey dinner. It was the first time since Zack went off to school in April that we were able to enjoy a family evening. It seems like we are all going in different directions and when a couple of us are free, the rest are busy. We do feel blessed that God is allowing us to do so much and still keep our family unit so tight. New Years Day saw all 4 of us going to church together, so it was a wonderful way to start out 2009. Every church in Japan has a service on New Years Day, mainly to keep with the annual tradition of the Japanese people to go to either (or both) their local temple or shrine to pray on New Year’s Day for a good year. Most Asian cultures place a huge emphasis on New Years. In this country it is not as strong as it was in the past, but is still very important. One of the traditions is eating special foods called ‘Osechi’, a combination of many different foods, of which most are usually pickled and can last 7 days without refrigeration or cooking. The tradition started long ago when all the stores and businesses would close for a long time (often 7 days) so people would prepare Osechi for their families the last day stores were open and then they could eat throughout the holiday. Each food has a special meaning to help the recipient enjoy a long and prosperous life. To read more about this tradition and see some wonderful pictures of different Osechi please go to this website: http://www.bento.com/fexp-osechi.html I think you’ll really enjoy it. These are foods that you won’t see in a restaurant or throughout the year in this combination, they are only offered at New Years! If you ask most people the foods are not favorites and maybe not even delicious, but are eaten every year at New Years. (Kind of like my feelings for black eyed peas)
We ended last year with a cooking class for some of our English students and their moms. Kim ended up catching the flu so all of the cooking was left up to me. There was a total of 28 people that attended, 17 children and 10 moms, plus me. The menu included, one bowl brownies, sausage balls and crispy tacos. Everyone had a great time and the most fun was making the sausage balls. The average age of the children was between 5 and 6 so it was really fun watching them dig in and enjoy mixing the ingredients and forming the balls. We are really making great friends with this group and are so thankful that our church is large enough that we could use it for the cooking class. All of the moms and most of the children are students, so it was a fun way to end the year.
For about 6 months or so we have been blessed with a single mom’s family that have been coming to our English service on Sunday afternoons. There are 4 children and the mom has her hands full. I think I asked for prayers a couple years ago for her 2nd son who wouldn’t go to school. They had lived in the states for several years and the children weren’t handling the transition back here. Through lots and lots of prayers he is now a freshman at a private Christian high school in Niigata and is doing GREAT! He came to service during his winter break and the change in him is UNBELIEVABLE! Thank you all that may have prayed for him or his family. The two youngest we include in everything we can (they both were members of the Christmas play) and both do a great job during Sunday service reading Bible verses. Sayuri always is the first to pick out a song to sing. Their oldest brother, Hikaru is so wonderful. He is 19 years old, and mentally handicapped. He is so filled with God’s love! He is always smiling and brings such joy to our hearts every Sunday. He is able to read English a little so is always included in our service. He’s quick to greet everyone and although he may not be as advanced as others that attend, his attitude is one that we all envy. We wish we could go through every one of life’s trials and tribulations and still be filled with His joy! Hikaru is such a wonderful example of shining His light no matter what happens and has truly affected our lives. I find myself crying as I write this to you. Well, we are going to celebrate his baptism on Feb. 1st. It is going to be so wonderful to see how he accepts God’s Spirit. Last Sunday we did our English service on baptism and the last verse we read was: Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’ After this verse I made the mistake of saying, “Hikaru, let’s go!” To everyone surprise he JUMPED up out of his chair, (I mean really high) and shouted “YES”! GOD IS SO GREAT! Please pray for not just Hikaru, but all those that he will touch.
Some of you have been praying for the young Japanese man (a former pastor) that was dying from cancer. He was only 40 years old and left a wife and 5 children, the youngest being 6 months old. He passed away last week, but not before leaving his mark on many hearts. His entire family moved into the hospital room with him to spend the last week, and there were no tears only a room filled with joy! He was such a strong testimony to all of the care givers. Two of the doctors are friends of ours and their wives are Christian but they are not. They couldn’t believe the family’s attitudes as his days ended. Please pray that God will use his passing to open their hearts and minds to His love. He even went skiing with his family Jan. 4th and 5th to leave them with a special memory. Oh for God’s Spirit to be so alive in all of our lives!
The rest of January has been pretty much normal as we are busy getting back into the swing of our normal schedule. God has been so wonderful and we look forward to His direction, His guidance, His leading, His wonderful blessings and most of all sharing His wonderful love with all we can throughout this new year. I pray you will all do the same!
We trust God to equip us for each and every challenge and opportunity that comes our way. Your prayers and support are vital. Please pray with and for us that God will guide us in all we do and that He will lead us to follow His purpose, wherever that may be, and use us as instruments of His love in all we do. Should God ask any of you to partner with us in our outreach for Him, please send any love offerings to: Bethlehem United Methodist Church, for Baranski John Alan Mission Fund, c/o Becky Wack, 1003 Rowan Cove, New Albany, Ms. 38652.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch

Zack's 16th!!!!! Birthday

OK! I know! His birthday was over a month ago...
Any way, we didn't want him not to celebrate it even though he couldn't be at home with us so...

I talked with his coach (in the white sweatshirt standing at the right) ahead of time - through a friend who could translate for both of us - so that he didn't have to check with Zack to be sure he understood me! I wanted it to be a surprise but I needed to make sure first that the coach would let me come and bring a birthday cake. He was at least as excited about it as I was and it was a big thing for him to keep it a secret from not only Zack, but the rest of the boys as well. ;-}
So I spent most of the day before making the cake. Then on his birthday I had to go teach at the high school here in the morning, then come pick up the cake - and ice cream! - and drive to Chino (about 2 hours away) to arrive just as the boys were starting afternoon practice.
Coach was there waiting for me and the boys were already in the gym. We got everything inside and he told me to wait by the gym door. He went in and called them all over, then opened the door and started singing 'Happy Birthday'!! Of course all the boys joined in and Zack turned a bit red, but it was great!

Naturally the cake had to be basketball themed - and big enough to share with the whole team and perhaps a few other guys in the dorm. The ball was yellow cake and the basket chocolate. Zack said later the basket was the favorite ;-)

Coach asked if I wanted them to eat the cake & ice cream right then but I said they would probably enjoy it more after practice. I decided to stay and watch a bit and knew for certain cake after was a smart choice. Had they eaten it before I think most would have been sick half way through practice from all the strenuous activity!

I'd seen bits and pieces of practices before and knew they were tough, but...

I stayed for the first hour and it was all physical training - no basketball yet! This picture is one I shot quickly on my phone and it shows one of the lesser of their excercises. There is a whole slew of them and they hold each one for a count of 30 near as I could figure. One day I'm gonna try to video the whole thing. Now I fully get why Zack's appetite is so huge and his body still so slender!!

Beginning behind...

...and I really was going to be more on top of things in 2009!

Guess this just means I still have that to look forward to, huh?!? ;-}

I have pictures to add and so much to talk about!

But it's all gonna have to hang out in waiting for another couple of days - sorry.

Today is pretty much consumed with church :-)

The next two days are filled with 5 more games of basketball to be watched - the first two are today but we'll hear about them tomorrow.

We do want to say a very humble and heartfelt thank you to all of you who so powerfully and wonderfully supported us through prayers and gifts throughout 2008! What an amazing way to be led into 2009! THANK YOU!!!! We pray that God will richly return in abundance to each of you the kindness and generosity you share in His name and for His glory.

Looking forward to sharing with you in the coming year!

Closing out 2008 news from Japan

Greetings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope that this season is catching you all filled with His Son to truly warm you to the bone! Here it is finally getting colder with our first snow falling Christmas night and now the temperatures are staying in the 20’s! YUCK! It’s much too cold and every year so amazing to us that the houses and buildings here (schools and many offices) have no type of central heating but rely solely on kerosene heaters. We heat about ½ of our house, and then only when someone is in the room, so when you travel from room to room it sometimes is an adventure. This time of year the first one to the bathroom usually gets to enjoy a very abrupt wake-up as the temperature is always in the low 30’s to upper 20’s first thing in the morning!
We’ve had so many wonderful reasons to celebrate this month, the Christmas Pageant, Christmas play and party, Caroling, Sharing and Christmas Eve service, but on a selfish note, our biggest joy was watching Zack play basketball! His team qualified to be in the Winter Cup tournament in Tokyo where the 48 prefecture champions gather for a 7 day elimination tournament to find out who is the best! Zack’s team was expected to lose their first game as the other team had several giants! But Zack was AWESOME! He scored 32 points (team had 73) and grabbed down 17 rebounds and totally dominated the much bigger man from the other team! THEY WON! His good play continued into the second game which they also won qualifying them for a birth in the ‘Sweet 16’!!!! The first time ever for his school! The third game wasn’t nearly as successful for his team. They scored only 19 points in the 1st half….but our baby scored FIFTEEN of the nineteen! He is really turning into a great player! He was probably the best 1st grade student in the tournament! (Most teams consist only of 3rd & 2nd year students) He averaged 24 points and 16 rebounds per game!!!! Every game was televised on National TV, so that was really exciting. The announcers especially in the 2nd game were so amazed with him. Now before you think ‘well he is so tall compared to the other Japanese players’, almost every team in the finals have players in the 200 to 210 cm. range, and Zack is at 191, so he is undersize in almost every game! We are SO PROUD and grateful for all that God has allowed him and us to do! For all of you that have been so supportive of us with prayers and financial help, THANKS! We couldn’t possibly be here without your help!
We ended November with the annual Christmas Pageant and Party. This years event was held at the Kokusai 21 hotel and we used two different rooms. About 150 people attended from throughout the city. After a 1 hour party, we moved to the auditorium and enjoyed the Christmas play performed by our local members. 2 of my students had the roles of Mary and Joseph and one was a shepherd! They all did so great! About 30 people said it was the first time to see the Christmas story. We had much special music and wonderful singing and it was an evening to remember!
The following Saturday we had a Christmas party for our English students and their families! We had over 100 people attend of which only about 5 are Christians! This year we combined the party with our church children (6) and with the help of them and some of my students we put on the Christmas play complete with costumes! It was the FIRST time for most in attendance to understand the true meaning of Christmas! God is so GOOD! All of my English students sang the 12 days of Christmas, with each class having different days! My youngest class, 3-5 year olds were the 5th day, and each time it was their turn they would jump up and hold up big gold rings! They were so CUTE! We had an appearance from Santa, had lunch and everyone went home after a wonderful morning!
On December 18th I had our annual Christmas program for our 2 English classes at one of the community centers. This is a city sponsored class, so normally we can’t talk about God, but Christmas is so special! I got to the center at 8:30 and started cooking corned beef! The students arrived at 11 and I taught them how to make brownies, apple crisp and then we got to the main attraction. We fried crocodile and deer! It was the 1st time for them to eat either and they found them both really exciting! We added many veggies to the corned beef, then sat down and enjoyed a wonderful lunch together. After we cleaned up we went upstairs and the students (about 20) took turns reading the Christmas story from the Bible! After each couple of verses we sang Christmas Carols (12 in all) and it was a WONDERFUL afternoon! None of the members are Christian, but we do have 1 that is now a regular member of our Tuesday Bible Study and another occasional visitor to our Sunday service. Please pray that His Spirit can use that afternoon’s program to open their hearts and minds to His amazing love!
December 23rd is a National Holiday here to celebrate the Emperor’s Birthday, but we go annually to the train station and sing Carols! This year was no exception and we had over 50 people join us for a wonderful evening of singing. One of our new neighbors and their family joined us along with 2 of their friends, so that was even more special. Pray for our continued outreach in our area with the 13 new families that God has brought into our lives! We have a GREAT relationship with most of them now, and hope it continues to grow. Four of the families are taking English classes and attending some of the church activities! With continued prayers, they will be SAVED!
December 24th was the church’s Candlelight service. This year we had 39 people in attendance. Over 15 people that were scheduled to come were sick and with the 25th being a school/work day, a later start than the last couple of years also had an affect on the young families. We were blessed with some wonderful music from some really great friends. I ask you to pray specifically for them, Yoko and Taka in particular. Yoko has been coming and singing with us for several years now but still hasn’t totally accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Taka is one of the main priests at the large Buddhist Temple in town. He sings with us almost every year and arranges the music for the chorus group I use to sing with. He loves Christian music and has a wonderful testimony from his trip to the Holy Land! God’s Spirit is alive in his heart I feel, but his work (being a priest is a very lucrative position I think) keeps him from committing to God! So please pray for those 2 in particular but also for all those that attended. Of the 39, over ½ are not Christian!
We will have a special New Year service on the 1st to start out 2009 in His light. We pray for each of you to feel His love throughout 2009!

We trust God to equip us for each and every challenge and opportunity that comes our way. Your prayers and support are vital. Please pray with and for us that God will guide us in all we do and that He will lead us to follow His purpose, wherever that may be, and use us as instruments of His love in all we do. Should God ask any of you to partner with us in our outreach for Him, please send any love offerings to: Bethlehem United Methodist Church, for Baranski John Alan Mission Fund, c/o Becky Wack, 1003 Rowan Cove, New Albany, Ms. 38652.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch