Blessings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
WOW! Can you believe how fast time passes? It seems like just yesterday it was so hot, and today we are already having temperatures with highs only in the low 60’s. It makes us even more aware of the urgency in doing His work of helping others to know about the wonderful gift He has for everyone. We never know when the time will come when we are called home, so it is so important to share His love with as many people as you can each and every day. In our Tuesday Bible study group we have several members that are really feeling His presence in their lives and we pray that God will break down those final barriers that keep them from turning their lives over to him. One of the most interesting members is an ex-student of John’s who started to come 3 years ago during summer vacation from his English lesson. This man is 85 years old! But is so strong and healthy! His troubles come in his long life as a Buddhist. He still is in charge of the English volunteer tour guides at our local LARGE Temple. His heart is changing each week, and he asks so many questions. We are now studying Luke-chapter 24 and the resurrection story is really starting to make sense. We ask you to please pray that he and the other non-Christian members will open up their hearts and minds to His Spirit and accept the wonderful gift that is waiting for them.
September 5th our friends from Korea came and sang at our church for the English service. We had FORTY people attend! YEAH! Please pray that God will open up the hearts of those that attended and if Christian strengthen them to share His love with others, and those non-Christian to soften theirs to open up to His wonderful LOVE! Also pray that the group will continue to have the fire burning inside their hearts to share His message throughout this world. They travel to so many different places, the group that was at our church will leave Japan and head to the Northeast part of the United States to share His love with Korean Churches in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
September is a busy month for families that have elementary school or kindergarten students. Kindergarten runs for 3 years from age 3 to 5 with elementary school starting at age 6. During September almost every school has an all day ‘Sports Festival’ or Undokai as the Japanese call it. The school is divided into 2 teams, a white team and a red team. Each child wears a hat according to his or her team. The day starts out with an opening ceremony where the children challenge each other and sing a cute fight song that ends up with both teams telling the others we are the BEST! It is always fun to watch. Each child competes in many different types of events. Depending on your class you will be running a race against 5 others. 3 from each team. The members are determined by their speed so each child has a chance to win in his heat. The length of the race depends on the age of the kids with 1st graders running about 100 yards and the 6th graders running about ½ mile. The climax of the running is a relay race with 1 child from each grade competing on 2 different teams. The fastest kids are chosen and it is a real EXCITING race. The kids practice for almost 2 months to make sure the baton handoff goes off without a drop. The total distance of the race is about 1 ½ miles so it takes about 8 minutes from start to finish.
Beside the running events each class participates in some kind of fighting game. Of course they are all fun, but to us, also so dangerous! It is hard to describe some of the games as they seem so crazy to us, but I will try. One is the bamboo pole tug. The size of a football field is used with 9 poles laid at the midfield stripe. The teams line up at opposite ends of the field, and at the whistle they rush out and try and take a pole back into their end zone. Usually half of the poles are quickly taken, but the remaining poles have 20 or more kids pushing, pulling and even hitting each other to gain control. The winning team is the one that has the most poles. Another game is using a tall pole, there is a ball at the top (about 15 feet up) that the boys have to reach. The first one to touch it is the winner! As they try to climb, the other boys fight to pull them off or fight to keep the opposite team away. Yes it seems dangerous, and YES it IS!!!! But everyone seems to enjoy it. Of course they have the normal tug of war and other games. At the end of the day the 5th and 6th graders do a big display of gymnastics that is always amazing. Every year there are many scratches, bruises and even broken bones but the kids all enjoy it so much.
What really makes this even so great is the family participation. EVERY parent attends! They come early, have lunch together and spend all day rooting and cheering for their kids teams. It is always a great and wonderful day for all people involved.
Here there aren’t the Friday night football games, or other team sports that the area gets behind, so the ‘Undokai’ is one of the best. In October most communities have a community Undokai where all the members participate. They have games for the very young to the grandparents in the community. It is a great day filled with games and friendship.
With fall season here, we are all so busy. Both of us are busy with our classes, seems like we both keep getting either new students or new classes so we are really blessed. We will be having a Halloween party on October 23rd, to help build up the trust and friendship of our students and their families. Now some of you look at Halloween as a bad holiday, we look at it as a way God helps us show His love to our students and people that we are reaching out to. They view it as Western culture that they want to enjoy. So please pray for a good turnout and that Mako and we can really shine His light throughout that day.
Next week we will be following Zack as he will play in the National Under 18 championships near Tokyo. This will be his 3rd year to be the starter for our Prefectures All-Star team. We hope that the boys can go all the way this year, so everyone is excited. We are though, one of the smallest teams in the country for this tournament, so the boys will all have to do their best.
By His grace, God continues to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are necessary to our being here. We ask you to 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 praise and thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Just because :-)
Every year in August, Nagano City hosts a huge festival on the streets
in the main downtown area between the train station and the temple.
We joined some friends and went to wander and watch the festivities.
in the main downtown area between the train station and the temple.
We joined some friends and went to wander and watch the festivities.
The shop where Ian works is right in the middle of it all so we popped by to say 'Hi' .
And since there are so few times when I get a picture with him I couldn't resist including it here...
...just because!
Isn't he a cutie!
Bible Story Sausage Cookout 2010
The 10th of August we were back at the small riverside park for this years Bible Story and sausage cookout.
72 people joined in this year and we even had a few Dads come along with Mom and the kids this year!
It was great to see them join the activity, especially on a week day morning!
72 people joined in this year and we even had a few Dads come along with Mom and the kids this year!
It was great to see them join the activity, especially on a week day morning!
God blessed us with wonderful weather for the event
and as usual John starts out with some English activities to get thier attention and get things started.
The story this year was 'Jonah and the Whale'.
John read the story - bit by bit - in English,
followed by Pastor Kitamura reading the related verses in Japanese from the Bible.
Then Naoko would tell it for the kids using the awesome props she and her husband created from their family print shop.
After the Bible story the kids played a few games to work up their appetites while John got the sausages done on the grill.
Every year we have sausage dogs and tuna noodle salad and every year we hear how good the food and fun the story time were.
God IS good!
Annual Kids/Moms Cooking Class
On August 5th, the day after returning from watching Zack's team take third place honors in Okinawa, we led the annual cooking class for elementary kids and their Moms at the local community center where John teaches every Thursday afternoon.
As has been the case every year we had a full house!
You can see,
they're very serious about thier cooking
with all their aprons and head covers ;-)
The menu this year was grilled cheese sandwiches, potato chip salad and fruit cocktail cake.
Everyone had lots of fun preparing the meal and more eating it!
Yes.. it was HOT in that room and John's shirt shows it!!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
August 2010 news from Nagano
Blessings Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!
We hope and pray that the heat you are all experiencing this summer is coming from the love of His Son that is burning deep inside of you! A fire that won’t go out! Please help spread those flames to all you meet each day.
We told you last month that as we were finishing the newsletter we were off to watch Zack compete with his classmates in the National Tournament. We have wonderful news to report…Zack and his team finished in the TOP FOUR of all the teams in the country. They lost in the semi-final game to the eventual National Champions. They played a total of 5 games and Zack averaged 26 points and 19.5 rebounds per game. Now you might say, the Japanese are too short…so easy for him, but Zack plays center and in all but one game he was 4 to 6 inches shorter than the other teams center. The boys, and the coaches goal has always been to reach the top 8 in the tournament, but have never gotten past the top 16 round and then reached it only once. In the top 16 round this year, their 3rd game, Zack got hurt in the 2nd quarter with about 2 and ½ minutes to go. He pulled one of the ligaments in his left knee and tore the muscle in his upper thigh. He came out of the game and his team quickly gave up 12 points to the other team. At half time one of the mothers (luckily a professional masseuse) gave him a massage that really helped. He played all the second half even though he was limping badly, and ended with 30 points and 22 rebounds! He said he never felt the pain, but was only worried about making their goal. His heart was so big. The tournament is continuous with no rest days, so that night and next morning more massage and off they went for the top 8 games against one of the top teams in the country. The boys played great and Zack was able to rest the last 5 minutes of the game as they had built up a huge lead. He ended with 38 points and 25 rebounds. The next morning was the game to decide who would play in the national finals. The boys were so excited and got off to a great start. At about the 3 minute mark Zack took a knee in the left thigh that was where the torn muscle was. The hit took him down, and was very difficult for him to get up. He told the coach he was OK, but you could see that he could hardly walk. He played the entire 40 minutes of the game. The opposing center is a large boy (6’9) from Senegal in Africa and is a very strong player. Because going into this game Zack had been averaging 30 points, every time he touched the ball 3 players converged on him. With his weak left leg he was unable to spin or move, so his offense was limited to only 13 points, but even barely able to walk, he still struggled for 19 REBOUNDS!!!! His team couldn’t over come the overall size and speed of the other team and lost the game, but not without a great fight! We are so proud of all the boys and their efforts, but of course of our baby! He is now considered one of the top 5 players in the COUNTRY!!!!! We can’t be more proud and thank-you all for your prayers and support for him and all of us.
A wonderful benefit of his achievements is that during the tournament Kim and I were interviewed by one of the National Sports Newspapers and our picture and story about our work as missionaries was told. So even though you may think that Zack’s basketball has no spiritual purpose, God can use anything and everything to help us bring Him honor and glory.
Our mini VBS outing was a HUGE success! On Tuesday morning August 10th we met outside at a local park to tell the story about Jonah. We had SEVENTY TWO people show up! All of the children were accompanied by either a mother and in several instances by father’s, too. Of the 72 people, that attended, only 8 are Christians!!!! So praise God that so many would come out in the heat of the summer to learn more about the wonderful love that God has for each of us. All of the members are either our students or Mako’s. If you remember, Mako is our friend from Singapore that first came to join us in our Tuesday morning Bible Study, then joined our Sunday English service, got baptized and now share’s God’s love where ever she can. We do 4 parties a year together, with 3 (Christmas, Easter and mini VBS) with Christian messages, at Christmas we put on the Christmas play, Easter we use the ‘Resurrection’ egg kits to tell the story and during the mini VBS we choose a different story each year. Our last party is only for fun and to build up the trust and friendship of both the students and the parents at Halloween. In all 4 parties we do the main events in the morning followed by a lunch we either cook or provide. We ask that you continually pray for all the people that attend these events, and all of our students, that His Spirit will talk to them and help to open their eyes to the wonderful gift of love that God has for each one of them.
On September 5th we will be hosting the Korean Gospel Singing Group, Ongijyani for our afternoon service. This will be the 5th time they have come to our church. The group is made up of about 10 Korean’s that volunteer to come to Japan to share their love for the Lord. They will be in the country for about 1 month. The group in Korea has about 250 members that practice constantly and different groups travel all over the world singing and praising God. They are so wonderful. We look forward to them coming each year and ask for your prayers that the time that they are in the country they can touch many, many hearts and God’s Spirit will open up the hearts and minds of many people during their trip.
Kim and I are both staying busy reaching out to as many people as we can each day, and God continually gives us new avenues to explore. We ask that you continually pray for our strength to continue and His Spirit will become alive in all we do.
Bo’s father went to be with the Lord the end of July. We thank you all for your prayers and support for Bo, his father and their families. We also want to especially thank those in New Albany that either visited the funeral home or attended the funeral. Bo thought only about 20 people would show up for the visitation, but well over 100 people came to pay their respects. It really touched not only his, but also Heather’s heart. So a special thanks from us to all of you that helped in their time of need.
By His grace, God continues to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are necessary to our being here. We ask you to 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 praise and thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
We hope and pray that the heat you are all experiencing this summer is coming from the love of His Son that is burning deep inside of you! A fire that won’t go out! Please help spread those flames to all you meet each day.
We told you last month that as we were finishing the newsletter we were off to watch Zack compete with his classmates in the National Tournament. We have wonderful news to report…Zack and his team finished in the TOP FOUR of all the teams in the country. They lost in the semi-final game to the eventual National Champions. They played a total of 5 games and Zack averaged 26 points and 19.5 rebounds per game. Now you might say, the Japanese are too short…so easy for him, but Zack plays center and in all but one game he was 4 to 6 inches shorter than the other teams center. The boys, and the coaches goal has always been to reach the top 8 in the tournament, but have never gotten past the top 16 round and then reached it only once. In the top 16 round this year, their 3rd game, Zack got hurt in the 2nd quarter with about 2 and ½ minutes to go. He pulled one of the ligaments in his left knee and tore the muscle in his upper thigh. He came out of the game and his team quickly gave up 12 points to the other team. At half time one of the mothers (luckily a professional masseuse) gave him a massage that really helped. He played all the second half even though he was limping badly, and ended with 30 points and 22 rebounds! He said he never felt the pain, but was only worried about making their goal. His heart was so big. The tournament is continuous with no rest days, so that night and next morning more massage and off they went for the top 8 games against one of the top teams in the country. The boys played great and Zack was able to rest the last 5 minutes of the game as they had built up a huge lead. He ended with 38 points and 25 rebounds. The next morning was the game to decide who would play in the national finals. The boys were so excited and got off to a great start. At about the 3 minute mark Zack took a knee in the left thigh that was where the torn muscle was. The hit took him down, and was very difficult for him to get up. He told the coach he was OK, but you could see that he could hardly walk. He played the entire 40 minutes of the game. The opposing center is a large boy (6’9) from Senegal in Africa and is a very strong player. Because going into this game Zack had been averaging 30 points, every time he touched the ball 3 players converged on him. With his weak left leg he was unable to spin or move, so his offense was limited to only 13 points, but even barely able to walk, he still struggled for 19 REBOUNDS!!!! His team couldn’t over come the overall size and speed of the other team and lost the game, but not without a great fight! We are so proud of all the boys and their efforts, but of course of our baby! He is now considered one of the top 5 players in the COUNTRY!!!!! We can’t be more proud and thank-you all for your prayers and support for him and all of us.
A wonderful benefit of his achievements is that during the tournament Kim and I were interviewed by one of the National Sports Newspapers and our picture and story about our work as missionaries was told. So even though you may think that Zack’s basketball has no spiritual purpose, God can use anything and everything to help us bring Him honor and glory.
Our mini VBS outing was a HUGE success! On Tuesday morning August 10th we met outside at a local park to tell the story about Jonah. We had SEVENTY TWO people show up! All of the children were accompanied by either a mother and in several instances by father’s, too. Of the 72 people, that attended, only 8 are Christians!!!! So praise God that so many would come out in the heat of the summer to learn more about the wonderful love that God has for each of us. All of the members are either our students or Mako’s. If you remember, Mako is our friend from Singapore that first came to join us in our Tuesday morning Bible Study, then joined our Sunday English service, got baptized and now share’s God’s love where ever she can. We do 4 parties a year together, with 3 (Christmas, Easter and mini VBS) with Christian messages, at Christmas we put on the Christmas play, Easter we use the ‘Resurrection’ egg kits to tell the story and during the mini VBS we choose a different story each year. Our last party is only for fun and to build up the trust and friendship of both the students and the parents at Halloween. In all 4 parties we do the main events in the morning followed by a lunch we either cook or provide. We ask that you continually pray for all the people that attend these events, and all of our students, that His Spirit will talk to them and help to open their eyes to the wonderful gift of love that God has for each one of them.
On September 5th we will be hosting the Korean Gospel Singing Group, Ongijyani for our afternoon service. This will be the 5th time they have come to our church. The group is made up of about 10 Korean’s that volunteer to come to Japan to share their love for the Lord. They will be in the country for about 1 month. The group in Korea has about 250 members that practice constantly and different groups travel all over the world singing and praising God. They are so wonderful. We look forward to them coming each year and ask for your prayers that the time that they are in the country they can touch many, many hearts and God’s Spirit will open up the hearts and minds of many people during their trip.
Kim and I are both staying busy reaching out to as many people as we can each day, and God continually gives us new avenues to explore. We ask that you continually pray for our strength to continue and His Spirit will become alive in all we do.
Bo’s father went to be with the Lord the end of July. We thank you all for your prayers and support for Bo, his father and their families. We also want to especially thank those in New Albany that either visited the funeral home or attended the funeral. Bo thought only about 20 people would show up for the visitation, but well over 100 people came to pay their respects. It really touched not only his, but also Heather’s heart. So a special thanks from us to all of you that helped in their time of need.
By His grace, God continues to equip us for each individual challenge and opportunity that He presents. Your prayers and support are necessary to our being here. We ask you to 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 praise and thanksgiving.
In His love & walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
What a TRIP!!!!!! BEST 4 in ALL Japan high school basketball!
YES!!!!
The Tokai Third boys basketball team went to the Okinawa Inter High Tournament as Nagano prefectures best and came home as one of the BEST 4 in ALL Japan!!!! Beaten only by the national champion team at the tournament.
WAY TO GO GUYS!!!!!!!
A celebratory hug with the assistant coach after winning to make the top 8.
A tad nervous maybe as they prepare for the starting team introductions before the semi final game.
...Though their faces don't reflect it...
they REALLY WERE HAPPY
with their Best 4 medals hanging around their necks!
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