Blessings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
Greetings to all of you as we await the coming of spring and the many wonderful sights that accompany it. That was our greeting last month as the weather seemed to be changing, but now as many of you look around you, you are faced with colder temperatures and yes some of you with fresh fallen snow. Oops, does that sound familiar? Now this is the 3rd month in a row with the same greeting! YUCK! Please go to our blog: http://theraven4god.blogspot.com/ to see what I am talking about! As we’ve told you before the new school year starts the first of April as well as the time companies bring on new workers. It is always a VERY busy time of year for everyone, especially young families, as they prepare for school and take a short visit back to grandma’s house. With that in mind, Mako and I decided to have our Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday April 17th. We thought it would give us a chance to have more people come and with the later date, the weather should be PERFECT! Well, if you went to the blog, you would know that we woke up on the morning of the 17th to FOUR INCHES OF NEW SNOW!!!!! The weather man was calling for the snow changing to rain and lasting until late that afternoon. What to do??? Before 7 in the morning we were talking with Mako and decided that the best idea was to move ahead with our plans. The previous week we had all of our young students paint and color eggs and we had over 500 that wouldn’t keep until the following week. We emailed all of the people that were suppose to come and told them to dress warm, wear boots and please bring chairs to sit on as the ground will be too wet. We loaded up the car and headed to the park. Not knowing how many people would attend, we just trusted that God would take care of all things. When I placed the first egg down, it disappeared! The snow around the outside of the park was still too deep! I found out if I placed my boot down first, I could place the egg in the depression. So we started hiding the eggs. As the morning continued, the snow began to melt and by the time the hunters came at 10:30 we and the weather were ready to go. We had over 20 people cancel, but some new add-ons and a few husbands and we ended with a total of EIGHTY FOUR PEOPLE!!!! Only 11 were CHRISTIANS! We hid 12 plastic eggs to tell the resurrection story. It was so wonderful and also amazing to watch the excitement and interest in the kids (and some of the parents) faces as Pastor Kitamura and Naoko explained the meaning of each egg. It was really GREAT! Please pray that God’s Spirit will be talking to each one and they will have the desire to know more about our wonderful risen Savior.
Next week is ‘Golden Week’ here as there are 4 National Holidays falling with in a 7 day period. Many people will be traveling and the price and costs of everything rise dramatically. Everybody in the country takes the same time off, and it really crowds the trains and roadways. This year will be especially busy as many people that would have traveled to Europe during this time will remain in Japan because of the volcano in Iceland. We are planning to go to another prefecture Sunday night after church to watch Zack play. Without traffic it is about a 5 hour drive, but we will start out about 7 and hope that we can get about ½ way before we hit our first traffic jam. When we stop, we will look for a rest area and sleep in our car until 2 or 3 in the morning and then continue our journey. Hopefully we will make it in plenty of time to catch his first game of the day. His team has been doing really well, during spring break they played in 3 tournaments in the Osaka area. (About 6 hours from here) They finished 3rd, 2nd and 1st! They did GREAT! Zack has been doing really well and still growing. While Kim was watching them play in Osaka his coach told her that Zack had committed to attend Tokai University in Yokohama, so we look like we will be staying for at least 5 more years or until God gives us new directions. They have given Zack their BEST scholarship which will save us about $60,000!!!!! God is so GREAT! We still have to pay for his dormitory and food plus basketball clothes and some travel, so it will still be about $1,000 per month, but with Kim picking up a few new classes we should be in good shape. We are anxious to watch him continue to improve. He will move from the center position to forward, which will fit his offensive style much better. Presently the school has 10 members playing here professionally, and last year 2 members were drafted that are basically the same height as Zack, so he is (and of course we are!) excited about the opportunities that are being presented to him.
Ian is searching for direction in his life, and is now living in Tokyo with two friends that he met at Hakuba during the winter. One is from Canada and the other from Australia. He is looking for a job that can offer him a future, so please pray that God will open up the right door for him.
I am always busy with my classes, and now am busy landscaping a friends new Dental Office. To squeeze in the time, I start there at 5 in the morning and work until my English classes start and then teach until 9 or so in the evening. It makes for a long day, but we are planning to make a trip to Okinawa this summer for the National Basketball tournament, so we think God is giving us this opportunity to help pay a little towards that cost.
Kim is now getting busier and busier. I’m not sure if it’s because of the empty nest, or that she is finding out that she enjoys sharing her English skills with others, but she is picking up new classes. She starts next week teaching 3 classes at a local high school on Tuesdays, then 3 classes Wednesday night at NAGA then Friday she is back to the Nozawa Elementary School. It is a big change for her, but seems like she is really enjoying it. God is just so great and it is giving her a chance to shine His light in many new areas and meet many wonderful people.
We have many dear friends that are suffering from different ailments and many ask us to pray for them but keep it a secret. So we don’t agree with that but respect their position, so please pray for the soul’s and bodies in need here and there. God knows each one.
*Heather’s father-in-love, Charles Hefner, continues to receive treatment for cancer so we ask for prayers for him and the family.
We trust God to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are vital to our being here. Please pray with and for us that we always strive to walk before God, wherever that may be, and be used 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.
We hold you each in our hearts and prayers with thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Could I get any more behind on this blog?!?
No doubt... yes, I could! So I better just stop whining and add a little something while I'm here ;-}
I somehow had the misinformed impression that when we reached that famed "empty nest" stage that my days would be long and lingering and filled with... whatever I dreamed up I might like to do....HA!!!
I somehow had the misinformed impression that when we reached that famed "empty nest" stage that my days would be long and lingering and filled with... whatever I dreamed up I might like to do....HA!!!
Well, since it's the 21st of April...and I just added our March newsletter...and I see this item - that I began on March 25th....
OK, really!!!! that's all I got at the last sitting! Good grief!!!!
OK, really!!!! that's all I got at the last sitting! Good grief!!!!
It's now Thursday morning, the 22nd. John is out since very early this morning in the cold rain laying sod in great effort to finish up a landscape project he took on for a friends new dental clinic grounds. So let's see what I can get to here...
Truly I don't know where to begin. SO much has gone on in the past loooong time since I posted!
Perhaps to start from the most recent and work my way back? Let's try.
Perhaps to start from the most recent and work my way back? Let's try.
The landscape project; Our dear friend, Miyako (my quilting guru ;->) spent the past year or so helping her middle son build a new dental clinic here in Nagano. They wanted to dress it up outside but weren't really thrilled about landscaping costs on top of all they just invested to build/set up a new office. Knowing John's background in golf Miyako asked if he might give them some ideas to do a bit and not spend a bundle. The wheels in his head clicked! So many hours and sore muscles later it went from this
to...you've got to be kidding me! I have no picture uploaded of the progression that's taking place... unbelieveable. Something to look forward to...:-0?
Last Saturday, April 17th, John and Mako scheduled their Easter Outing for this day for several reasons (yes, they were aware that Easter was two weeks before). Due to the end of one and start of the next school year and all the meetings and ceremonies that occur they determined that too many would not be able to attend if they did it any earlier. And besides - by then the weather should be much warmer - or so you would think. They had a total of over 100 parents and children signed up and had bought the food for the cookout and made all the preparations for presenting the Easter Story and having the Easter egg hunt. With their students they had colored more than 500 eggs to hide!
Early Saturday morning we woke to get started. Looked out the window...
Merry Christmas?????
So John and Mako start communicating trying to figure what to do. Reschedule? Cancel? Go for it and let God handle it? AHA! That felt like the right choice! Snow and all!
So we did our morning prayers and devotionals, loaded everything up and headed to the park!
So we did our morning prayers and devotionals, loaded everything up and headed to the park!
A few of Mako's student families with babies cancelled - understandable. A few of both their students called or emailed to see if it was still on. God was at work! More than 80 people showed up bundled up and ready to enjoy!!
By the time we got to the park and unloaded the bulk of the snow had already melted off. Still, to see snow and cherry blossoms in the same setting was an unusual experience. (one of my students told me last night that it has been 41 years since there was snow on April 17th!)
With all the eggs "hidden" John began to explain the hunt and the Resurrection Eggs that were waiting to found to tell The Story!
Starting with the youngest he began to hand out baskets and the hunt was on!
After all? the eggs were found Pastor and Naoko collected the Resurrection eggs one by one and told The Story. Young and not-so-young listened intently.
John was busy at the grill so all could enjoy a sausage dog or two along with some pasta salad.Thank you God for your amazing grace!!!!
**more to come...just don't ask when! ;-}
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
March 2010 in Nagano
Blessings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
Greetings to all of you as we await the coming of spring and the many wonderful sights that accompany it. That was our greeting last month as the weather seemed to be changing, but now as many of you look around you, you are faced with colder temperatures and yes some of you with fresh fallen snow. I think this weather is often a mirror of our spiritual lives. We have days when we grow closer and hotter for our Lord, and then too often they are followed by days when our hearts change to a much cooler reaction to His presence in our lives. In the case of the weather, we know that if we just wait awhile that the weather will change, but in our spiritual lives, I imagine God is doing the same thing. Hoping and wondering if we will change. I pray that each and everyone of you that is reading this is totally committed to following Him each and every day of your lives.
Most of you know that it was through a ‘Walk to Emmaus’ that God asked us to come to Japan. We are still HERE! We try our hardest to every day continue to live the ‘fifth’ day as best we can. Do we struggle? YES! Do we fall? Certainly in some aspects! Do we continue to follow Him? DEFINITELY!!!! Every day of our lives no matter where we are or what we are doing, we are representing Him! It doesn’t matter where we go, or what we do, most people know that we are here as missionaries. All of our students, all of our friends, in our community most people with children in school, and surprisingly people throughout this country know that we are missionaries. You all know that God sometimes works in mysterious ways, but through Zack, our name has been mentioned on national television many times. Zack and his team have been televised nationally 7 times in the past 2 years and Zack is loved by the broadcasters. They love his style of play and the way that he is with the other members of his team and also with his opponents. During the games the announcers ALWAYS go into detail about Zack’s life. He was featured last year as one of the top 5 players in the country in one of the major basketball magazines, so they give him lots of attention. For the other boys, all we know is their names, but for Zack, they tell his whole history. Where he is from, when he came to Japan, what schools he attended, and for everyone to hear, that his father is here as a missionary to help others know about God! Yes, without a doubt, wherever we go for basketball, all of the people in the gyms know that we are missionaries. Who would of thought that God would use Zack’s basketball as a way to help open doors for us. He is truly an awesome God!
Last Sunday we had a wonderful service and dinner tho unfortunately it had some sadness involved. It was a special good bye service to 6 people that have been coming regularly to our English service. Especially Shintaro, a young man who just graduated with his Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering. He has come basically every Sunday for the past 5 years. He has often been to our house and for the last couple of years also an English student of mine. All the time he has been here in the university he has organized bible study groups at both university campuses and has a large impact on many people’s lives. He will be moving to Yokohama and working for Mitsubishi Heavy Equipment and we know that he will continue to shine God’s light each and every day. We also said goodbye to Frank, Karina and their three sons. They have been coming for about 9 months and are now heading back to Canada. They are not sure exactly what they will be doing, but know they want to follow God’s will in their lives. Please pray for Shintaro and the Buikema family that they will continue to seek His will each and everyday, and receive His blessings.
As most of you know from previous newsletters, the Japanese school system runs from April until March, so we are now in between school years. It is always so funny for us, the kids get less than 3 weeks off between school years, and really no vacations, as the children are all given homework to do before the new year starts. Zack had to buy his books three weeks ago, and hopefully is busy doing his homework. For him most of the ‘vacation’ will be spent playing basketball. The 20th to 22nd they played for three days with a major university team from Tokyo. The 26th/27th they have a 2 day tournament (6 games) in Kyoto. Then the 29th/30th a 2 day tournament (again 6 games, 3 each day) in Nara, followed the next weekend with another 2 day tournament in Osaka. Whew! So no rest for the boys. The sports teams here all run 12 months out of the year with no time off to rest the bodies. It is paying the toll now for Zack’s teams as their first three guards are all out with leg or back injuries. Zack is always in pain from either the knee, lower back, or most recently hips, but when you ask him “how are you?” he only responds “great”. We pray for all the boys’ health and endurance.
Because the school year won’t begin until after Easter, both my classes and Mako’s have trouble this time of year having full enrollment in our kids classes. Last year we had about 100 people attend our Easter Egg Hunt, so this year we scheduled it for April 17th. We know that it is after Easter, but we will have much better attendance and thus get to tell more people about God. The word ‘Easter’ has absolutely NO MEANING here. Everyone knows the name Christmas, although they don’t know the meaning, but no one even knows the word EASTER! So we make it a fun event using the classes the week before the hunt as time for all of the kids to paint and color eggs. It is fun to watch as the children (and moms) have never done anything like it. We go out early in the morning on Saturday and hide the eggs and later the kids will come out for the ‘hunt’. We give all of the kids ‘Easter baskets’ as a way to remember the day and also hide 12 special eggs that we use to tell the Resurrection Story. We give special prizes to the kids that find the special eggs and everyone listens as we have 2 people explain the meaning of the contents of each egg. It is a wonderful time to see so many people hear about the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Please pray that His Spirit can use this event to open up the hearts of all those that attend.
*Heather’s father-in-love, Charles Hefner, continues to receive treatment for cancer so we ask for prayers for him and the family.
We trust God to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are vital to our being here. Please pray with and for us that we always strive to walk before God, wherever that may be, and be used 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.
We hold you each in our hearts and prayers with thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Greetings to all of you as we await the coming of spring and the many wonderful sights that accompany it. That was our greeting last month as the weather seemed to be changing, but now as many of you look around you, you are faced with colder temperatures and yes some of you with fresh fallen snow. I think this weather is often a mirror of our spiritual lives. We have days when we grow closer and hotter for our Lord, and then too often they are followed by days when our hearts change to a much cooler reaction to His presence in our lives. In the case of the weather, we know that if we just wait awhile that the weather will change, but in our spiritual lives, I imagine God is doing the same thing. Hoping and wondering if we will change. I pray that each and everyone of you that is reading this is totally committed to following Him each and every day of your lives.
Most of you know that it was through a ‘Walk to Emmaus’ that God asked us to come to Japan. We are still HERE! We try our hardest to every day continue to live the ‘fifth’ day as best we can. Do we struggle? YES! Do we fall? Certainly in some aspects! Do we continue to follow Him? DEFINITELY!!!! Every day of our lives no matter where we are or what we are doing, we are representing Him! It doesn’t matter where we go, or what we do, most people know that we are here as missionaries. All of our students, all of our friends, in our community most people with children in school, and surprisingly people throughout this country know that we are missionaries. You all know that God sometimes works in mysterious ways, but through Zack, our name has been mentioned on national television many times. Zack and his team have been televised nationally 7 times in the past 2 years and Zack is loved by the broadcasters. They love his style of play and the way that he is with the other members of his team and also with his opponents. During the games the announcers ALWAYS go into detail about Zack’s life. He was featured last year as one of the top 5 players in the country in one of the major basketball magazines, so they give him lots of attention. For the other boys, all we know is their names, but for Zack, they tell his whole history. Where he is from, when he came to Japan, what schools he attended, and for everyone to hear, that his father is here as a missionary to help others know about God! Yes, without a doubt, wherever we go for basketball, all of the people in the gyms know that we are missionaries. Who would of thought that God would use Zack’s basketball as a way to help open doors for us. He is truly an awesome God!
Last Sunday we had a wonderful service and dinner tho unfortunately it had some sadness involved. It was a special good bye service to 6 people that have been coming regularly to our English service. Especially Shintaro, a young man who just graduated with his Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering. He has come basically every Sunday for the past 5 years. He has often been to our house and for the last couple of years also an English student of mine. All the time he has been here in the university he has organized bible study groups at both university campuses and has a large impact on many people’s lives. He will be moving to Yokohama and working for Mitsubishi Heavy Equipment and we know that he will continue to shine God’s light each and every day. We also said goodbye to Frank, Karina and their three sons. They have been coming for about 9 months and are now heading back to Canada. They are not sure exactly what they will be doing, but know they want to follow God’s will in their lives. Please pray for Shintaro and the Buikema family that they will continue to seek His will each and everyday, and receive His blessings.
As most of you know from previous newsletters, the Japanese school system runs from April until March, so we are now in between school years. It is always so funny for us, the kids get less than 3 weeks off between school years, and really no vacations, as the children are all given homework to do before the new year starts. Zack had to buy his books three weeks ago, and hopefully is busy doing his homework. For him most of the ‘vacation’ will be spent playing basketball. The 20th to 22nd they played for three days with a major university team from Tokyo. The 26th/27th they have a 2 day tournament (6 games) in Kyoto. Then the 29th/30th a 2 day tournament (again 6 games, 3 each day) in Nara, followed the next weekend with another 2 day tournament in Osaka. Whew! So no rest for the boys. The sports teams here all run 12 months out of the year with no time off to rest the bodies. It is paying the toll now for Zack’s teams as their first three guards are all out with leg or back injuries. Zack is always in pain from either the knee, lower back, or most recently hips, but when you ask him “how are you?” he only responds “great”. We pray for all the boys’ health and endurance.
Because the school year won’t begin until after Easter, both my classes and Mako’s have trouble this time of year having full enrollment in our kids classes. Last year we had about 100 people attend our Easter Egg Hunt, so this year we scheduled it for April 17th. We know that it is after Easter, but we will have much better attendance and thus get to tell more people about God. The word ‘Easter’ has absolutely NO MEANING here. Everyone knows the name Christmas, although they don’t know the meaning, but no one even knows the word EASTER! So we make it a fun event using the classes the week before the hunt as time for all of the kids to paint and color eggs. It is fun to watch as the children (and moms) have never done anything like it. We go out early in the morning on Saturday and hide the eggs and later the kids will come out for the ‘hunt’. We give all of the kids ‘Easter baskets’ as a way to remember the day and also hide 12 special eggs that we use to tell the Resurrection Story. We give special prizes to the kids that find the special eggs and everyone listens as we have 2 people explain the meaning of the contents of each egg. It is a wonderful time to see so many people hear about the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Please pray that His Spirit can use this event to open up the hearts of all those that attend.
*Heather’s father-in-love, Charles Hefner, continues to receive treatment for cancer so we ask for prayers for him and the family.
We trust God to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are vital to our being here. Please pray with and for us that we always strive to walk before God, wherever that may be, and be used 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.
We hold you each in our hearts and prayers with thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
February 2010 newsletter
Blessings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
Greetings to all of you as we await the coming of spring and the many wonderful sights that accompany it. Here it is still very cold, although the last couple of days the temperature has warmed into the lower 50’s we know that we still have over a month and a half of snow weather coming. The area ski resorts stay open usually until the 2nd week or so of May, so even if we are warming up, it may only be temporary. Unfortunately, sometimes this weather is like our spiritual lives. We have our warm days, but too often they are followed by a cooling spell. Don’t you wish you could remain hot for God EVERYDAY! It is a difficult challenge that we all face. Our work here is often caught up in hot and cold days. The country is so spiritually poor, possibly the poorest religious country in the world! Most people say they believe in either Buddhism or Shintoism, but if you ask them questions, they have no answer or basically zero knowledge of the teachings of either. Sadly it has become only a cultural experience for them. Most celebrations have their basis in religion, but are now only performed out of tradition. An example we recently had a national holiday called Foundation Day. It is an old holiday that celebrates the traditional teaching of the start of the country with the first Emperor, Jimmu. National Foundation Day (kenkoku kinen-no-hi) is a national holiday in Japan celebrated annually on February 11. On this day, Japanese celebrate the founding of the nation and the imperial line by its legendary first emperor, Jimmu, who established his capital in Yamato. The origin of National Foundation Day is New Year's Day in the traditional lunisolar calendar. On that day, the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu was celebrated based on Nihonshoki which states that Emperor Jimmu ascended to the throne on the first day of the first month. In the Meiji period, the Japanese government designated the day as a national holiday. This coincided with the switch from the lunisolar calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1873. In 1872, when the holiday was originally proclaimed, it was January 29 of the Gregorian calendar, which corresponded to Lunar New Year of 1873. Contrary to the government's expectation, this led people to see the day as just Lunar New Year, instead of National Foundation Day. In response, the government moved the holiday to February 11 of the Gregorian calendar in 1873. The government stated that it corresponded to Emperor Jimmu's regnal day but did not publish the exact method of computation. In its original form, the holiday was named Empire Day (,Kigensetsu) It is thought that the Meiji Emperor may have wanted to establish this holiday to bolster the legitimacy of the imperial family following the abolition of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The national holiday was supported by those who believed that focusing national attention on the emperor would serve a unifying purpose. Publicly linking his rule with the mythical first emperor, Jimmu, and thus Amaterasu, the Meiji Emperor declared himself the one, true ruler of Japan. With large parades and festivals, in its time, Kigensetsu was considered one of the four major holidays of Japan. Given its reliance on Shinto mythology and its reinforcement of the Japanese nobility, Kigensetsu was abolished following World War II. Ironically, February 11th was also the day when General MacArthur approved the draft version of the model Constitution in 1946. The commemorative holiday was re-established as National Foundation Day in 1966. Though stripped of most of its overt references to the Emperor, National Foundation Day was still a day for expressing patriotism and love of the nation in the 1950s. My older students were taught in school that Japan was 2,600 years old coinciding with the start of Emperor Jimmu in the year around 600 B.C. Of course today they know that there were people in the country thousands of years before. Also prior to the end of World War II the emperor was considered a Shinto God. The top member of the National Religion. With the end of the war, General MacArthur told the people that it wasn’t true, the emperor was only a person. So many today still blame the ease of getting rid of their main god as one of the reasons Christianity is having such a difficult time establishing itself. When the nation was told that their national faith was based on incorrect information, they started to wonder about the need of any religion. Today, if you ask most people what is the meaning of the holiday, they have many different answers. Also in our town there is a large Buddhist Temple which is the host to every holiday or festival. It doesn’t matter what faith it is, they invite everyone in. It truly appears to be more of a business than a religious experience. So many of the National Holidays have become only traditional celebrations that have lost most of their original meanings. The western events that they have included in their annual calendar of events have been changed or adapted to their own culture. For example Christmas is celebrated on the 24th of December, each child gets 1 present placed on his pillow while he/she sleeps and they eat fried chicken and eat Christmas Cake. Everyone works on the 25th. This month was Valentine’s Day, but it is different as chocolate is given by girls to boys. It is almost an obligation so a woman working in an office has to buy chocolate for all the male members in her office. It has no romantic meaning. To balance it out, on March 14th they celebrate ‘White Day’ when the men buy something white, usually cookies to give back to the girls that bought them chocolate. It is truly just a gift giving holiday that the stores have created and promoted.
On January 31st we had our 5th Sunday singing and it was a great time for everyone.
As most of you know, Zack has been very active with his basketball, and the rewards are starting to come. Even though he has well over a year before he will enter college, he has already been invited by 4 different universities to come and play basketball. He will have to choose by April which one he wants to attend, so please pray for God’s guidance in his choice. We will support what ever he decides, and are so proud of him. The school he (and we) is leaning towards has offered him a scholarship that would save us about $50,000!!!!!! for 4 years of higher education WOW!
*Heather’s father-in-love, Charles Hefner, continues to receive treatment for stage 4 lymphoma so we ask for prayers for him and the family.
We trust God to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are vital to our being here. Please pray with and for us that we always strive to walk before God, wherever that may be, and be used 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.
We hold you each in our hearts and prayers with thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Greetings to all of you as we await the coming of spring and the many wonderful sights that accompany it. Here it is still very cold, although the last couple of days the temperature has warmed into the lower 50’s we know that we still have over a month and a half of snow weather coming. The area ski resorts stay open usually until the 2nd week or so of May, so even if we are warming up, it may only be temporary. Unfortunately, sometimes this weather is like our spiritual lives. We have our warm days, but too often they are followed by a cooling spell. Don’t you wish you could remain hot for God EVERYDAY! It is a difficult challenge that we all face. Our work here is often caught up in hot and cold days. The country is so spiritually poor, possibly the poorest religious country in the world! Most people say they believe in either Buddhism or Shintoism, but if you ask them questions, they have no answer or basically zero knowledge of the teachings of either. Sadly it has become only a cultural experience for them. Most celebrations have their basis in religion, but are now only performed out of tradition. An example we recently had a national holiday called Foundation Day. It is an old holiday that celebrates the traditional teaching of the start of the country with the first Emperor, Jimmu. National Foundation Day (kenkoku kinen-no-hi) is a national holiday in Japan celebrated annually on February 11. On this day, Japanese celebrate the founding of the nation and the imperial line by its legendary first emperor, Jimmu, who established his capital in Yamato. The origin of National Foundation Day is New Year's Day in the traditional lunisolar calendar. On that day, the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu was celebrated based on Nihonshoki which states that Emperor Jimmu ascended to the throne on the first day of the first month. In the Meiji period, the Japanese government designated the day as a national holiday. This coincided with the switch from the lunisolar calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1873. In 1872, when the holiday was originally proclaimed, it was January 29 of the Gregorian calendar, which corresponded to Lunar New Year of 1873. Contrary to the government's expectation, this led people to see the day as just Lunar New Year, instead of National Foundation Day. In response, the government moved the holiday to February 11 of the Gregorian calendar in 1873. The government stated that it corresponded to Emperor Jimmu's regnal day but did not publish the exact method of computation. In its original form, the holiday was named Empire Day (,Kigensetsu) It is thought that the Meiji Emperor may have wanted to establish this holiday to bolster the legitimacy of the imperial family following the abolition of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The national holiday was supported by those who believed that focusing national attention on the emperor would serve a unifying purpose. Publicly linking his rule with the mythical first emperor, Jimmu, and thus Amaterasu, the Meiji Emperor declared himself the one, true ruler of Japan. With large parades and festivals, in its time, Kigensetsu was considered one of the four major holidays of Japan. Given its reliance on Shinto mythology and its reinforcement of the Japanese nobility, Kigensetsu was abolished following World War II. Ironically, February 11th was also the day when General MacArthur approved the draft version of the model Constitution in 1946. The commemorative holiday was re-established as National Foundation Day in 1966. Though stripped of most of its overt references to the Emperor, National Foundation Day was still a day for expressing patriotism and love of the nation in the 1950s. My older students were taught in school that Japan was 2,600 years old coinciding with the start of Emperor Jimmu in the year around 600 B.C. Of course today they know that there were people in the country thousands of years before. Also prior to the end of World War II the emperor was considered a Shinto God. The top member of the National Religion. With the end of the war, General MacArthur told the people that it wasn’t true, the emperor was only a person. So many today still blame the ease of getting rid of their main god as one of the reasons Christianity is having such a difficult time establishing itself. When the nation was told that their national faith was based on incorrect information, they started to wonder about the need of any religion. Today, if you ask most people what is the meaning of the holiday, they have many different answers. Also in our town there is a large Buddhist Temple which is the host to every holiday or festival. It doesn’t matter what faith it is, they invite everyone in. It truly appears to be more of a business than a religious experience. So many of the National Holidays have become only traditional celebrations that have lost most of their original meanings. The western events that they have included in their annual calendar of events have been changed or adapted to their own culture. For example Christmas is celebrated on the 24th of December, each child gets 1 present placed on his pillow while he/she sleeps and they eat fried chicken and eat Christmas Cake. Everyone works on the 25th. This month was Valentine’s Day, but it is different as chocolate is given by girls to boys. It is almost an obligation so a woman working in an office has to buy chocolate for all the male members in her office. It has no romantic meaning. To balance it out, on March 14th they celebrate ‘White Day’ when the men buy something white, usually cookies to give back to the girls that bought them chocolate. It is truly just a gift giving holiday that the stores have created and promoted.
On January 31st we had our 5th Sunday singing and it was a great time for everyone.
As most of you know, Zack has been very active with his basketball, and the rewards are starting to come. Even though he has well over a year before he will enter college, he has already been invited by 4 different universities to come and play basketball. He will have to choose by April which one he wants to attend, so please pray for God’s guidance in his choice. We will support what ever he decides, and are so proud of him. The school he (and we) is leaning towards has offered him a scholarship that would save us about $50,000!!!!!! for 4 years of higher education WOW!
*Heather’s father-in-love, Charles Hefner, continues to receive treatment for stage 4 lymphoma so we ask for prayers for him and the family.
We trust God to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are vital to our being here. Please pray with and for us that we always strive to walk before God, wherever that may be, and be used 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.
We hold you each in our hearts and prayers with thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Got snow!?!
For those of you in the Ark., Tx., Tn., Ms. areas that are talking about snow...
THIS is snow!
This is my weekly drive to the elementary school in Nozawaonsen village
This is the elementary school playground in Nozawaonsen village.
The kids are having ski practice!
This was out our window on the morning of the 7th
And this is the resort where Ian is working/living this winter!
Dad likes it...!
Ian had a couple of days off work and ventured back closer to home for some snow-boarding with friends and a home cooked meal ;-)
He was sporting new corn-rows and it looks like Dad approves.
He was sporting new corn-rows and it looks like Dad approves.
I can't even remember the last time he actually sat for a pic with me! He must miss me a little bit!
Looks pretty good on him but no way could I sit that long to have my hair done!
This is the front entrance to the resort where Ian's working this winter.
The Dôsojin Fire Festival
OK, any of you who know us have likely heard us speak of some of the crazy (in our opinion) festivals they hold in Japan. I had the opportunity last month to see one their "finest" up-close. The winter season fire festivals are a big deal and one of the top 3 in all Japan happens to be held each January 15th in the small village where I teach once a week at the elementary school. The teachers and staff assured me it was something I shouldn't miss, so with John's blessing, I stayed in Nozawa that day after classes to join them in the festivities.
Let me add that it doesn't begin until around 8pm... I normally finish up about 4pm and then make the 1 1/2 hour drive home ... and they said it would end between 11 and midnite! And I would still have to drive home!! But hey, I was there and it seemed like I should grasp the opportunity! Oh yes! Nozawa is a top ski/snow board destination, with 13 free! onsens (hot spring baths), multiple slopes and LOTS of snow!! And on this particular day it had been snowing since long before I arrived there in the morning and never let up! I went out at 4 to move my car into the teachers garage before the festival and literally had to unbury it from the 2+ feet of snow on and around it! This on top of the abundance there from previous days.
So after the teachers finished up their stuff I went to eat dinner with two of the ladies at a small cafe. The teacher's car had been in the garage all day so was snow-free. We made the short drive to the cafe, enjoyed a tasty meal and nice conversation (relative to the fact that their English and my Japanese are on similar levels - not too great!) and about an hour later set to head back to the garage found her car first needed to be freed from the half foot of snow that had fallen in that short span!! We made our way back to the school to park and they suggested a dip in the onsen to warm up before heading out in to the freezing night...to my great surprise the onsen was in the school basement!! Cool! or actually HOT!!
Then, it was off to the festivities! The location was less than a 10 minute walk from the school so that was convenient. It was amazing to see SO MANY people in this small village! All bundled up and ready to brave the freezing temps and steady snowfall to watch the fire fight! I'd planned to take our good camera in hopes of some good pics but decided against it with the heavy snowfall - good move! Having no extra baggage was the right choice in the sardine packed crowd - not to mention that the snow wouldn't have been good for it's lifespan. I did, however, have the ever-present cell phone ;-) Got a few pics but not so great. Then I shot some video - not great either but the best I could manage in the crowd...the weather.. you get the idea.
So there's 1:59 if you care to take a peek. All that stuff falling is lots & lots & more snow! You can see it piling up on the heads and shoulders of the onlookers.
I couldn't really explain it all to you and make much sense so below is the town info on what the festival is. I can tell you it's a huge shrine they build, the poles decorated for the years' new first sons are elaborate - all to be burned up... There's gallons of sake consumed which explains in part why the folks fighting each other with fire aren't fazed by their singed flesh and soot covered bodies - at least not til the next day.
It was definitely an experience!
The Dôsojin Fire Festival (courtesy of Nozawa Onsen Village):
This festival is one of the three most famous fire festivals in Japan. It is held on January 15th every year to pray for a plentiful harvest, health and good fortune in the coming year. The festival dates back to 1863 and though the location has changed, the festivities remain the same. During this festival the twenty-five and forty-two year old men from the village play a very important role. An old belief in Japan dictates that, for men, these years are unlucky ages. The twenty-five and the forty-two year old men in their unlucky ages construct the shaden (shrine) from beech wood that reaches a height of 18 meters. Every year it takes 100 villagers to build the shrine. The trees are cut down in October and brought down from the mountain, through the village, on January 13th. After the shaden has been constructed, the priest from Kosuge shrine performs a ceremony to endow it with a God. Along with the shaden there are an average of five tôrô (dedicatory lantern poles) erected every year. These poles are made by a family in the village to celebrate the birth of the first son. The tôrô are offered to the Gods in a prayer for health and good fortune. The festivities begin with the lighting of the fire by the twenty-five and fourty-two year old men. A small group of men carry a torch, which is lit by striking two stones together, from the Kôno residence to the festival grounds. The torch is used to start a bonfire from which the handmade torches, used to attack the shrine, are lit. The festival centers around the shaden, where the forty-two year olds sit on top and the twenty-five year olds stand guard at the base. Those who are 41 and 43 years old stand around the perimeter to protect the spectators. Torch bearing villagers of all ages attempt to break through the guards and light the shaden on fire. A dangerous and lively battle ensues. The defenders try to put out the fire by striking it with pine branches. The attack lasts for about one hour, after which the 42 year olds call an end to the ceremony and the shaden together with the tôrô are set on fire in an offering to the Gods. The entire festival can take up to four hours from the beginning to the end, but the main attraction is the battle between the guards and the torch bearing villagers.
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