Cooling Thoughts in the Summer Heat

Now that it's finally warming up here I thought it seemed like a good time to post some forgotten pictures from back in February to cool  your thoughts.

Every year the town just south of the ski resort village where I teach holds a snow festival. This year was more of a challenge than normal.

Several of the local schools and businesses go all out creating snow art.

Most years there is an over abundance of the white art material and they have to truck loads of it out to make room for the festivities and make the roads getting there passable.

NOT this year!!!

The artisits still managed to create some pretty impressive sculptures

in spite of the fact that after they had begun working we experienced an unusual couple of days of unordinarily warm temperatures and some rain

which was NOT GOOD for their art!

A great deal of all that snow they had removed had to be replaced with fresh snow from higher up in the mountains to be used to repair and complete their art

There was a bit of very welcomed fresh snowfall just prior to the event.
Enough for the kids, young and not-so-young, to enjoy the day.

You can see some of the mountain areas in the background and they are not nearly as covered in snow as usual in early February.

The sculptures, while impressive, weren't nearly as smooth and pristine as normal due to the weather woes.

The streets are usually packed with snow and all is white.
This "82" is in front of the Hachi-ju (80) Ni (2) bank in town.

There is a new shinkansen line (bullet train) being built and Iiyama will get a new station, therefore lots of shinkansen art this year.
But this year the businesses had trouble gathering enough good snow to decorate in front of their buildings! 

 

...not sure where found all his snow!

Hmmm, a liquor shop perhaps?
The beer mug and sake set suggest so.

They did still manage the annual kids snow slide but not nearly as big as in previous years. All in all it was still a pretty nice time to be had.

Nagano News, May 2013

 

God’s Blessings to you Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!

​Yes, it’s spring and soon summer is upon us!  The mountains around our home are all filled with so many different and beautiful shades of green.  You would think that seeing only green would be boring and not exciting, but if you think that way, come visit us.  The greens are so BEAUTIFUL!  It is unbelievable how His brush could do such wonderful things with what I consider a very blah color.  Boy am I wrong!  In the distance we can still see lots of snow on the higher mountains.  The ski season is officially over, but still lots of snow at the higher elevations.  It is so beautiful….the near mountains covered in green and the distant ones covered with snow.  It is a beautiful area in every season.

​This Sunday, May 26th we will have our annual March for Jesus.  This will be our tenth time to participate.  We meet in front of our main train station at 1:45, then at 2 p.m. we start out walking and singing for the next 2 hours.  The walk takes us through the main parts of town and right through the middle of Nagano’s version of the red light district.  Not really red light, but filled with night time drinking establishments that do cater to every desire.  During our walk, hundreds of people will hear us singing and praising our Lord and Savior.  We sing 5 different songs continuously for the two hours.  It is pretty tiring, but so worthwhile.  Unfortunately out of all the Christians in our community (of course it is less than 1% of our population) only some where between 50 and 70 people will come to participate.  Of those about ½ will be pastors and their families.  The culture here still looks down on people that move outside a ‘group’.  So if you declare yourself as a Christian you can still suffer many repercussions, starting first with your family, 2nd with your neighbors and also with your company.  The same trouble is sufferedby those that want to believe but are still so afraid.  In our Tuesday Bible Study group, I have 4 ladies that I feel truly believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior but are afraid of what their family, friends or neighbors will do if they are open about it.  We have members of our church that when they proclaimed Jesus, they were literally kicked out of their home and disowned by family.  In some cases married people, the worse case was a mom with 3 children that when her husband discovered she was a Christian kicked her and all 3 kids out of the house.  They later got back together, but the fears are definitely real.

​So many Christians won’t come walk with us for fear of friends or co-workers seeing them which is why over ½ of the walkers will be directly working for a church.  We had a good friend who was a teacher at a junior high school and believed in Jesus but said she couldn’t become a Christian until after she retired, because she was worried that the other teachers and administration would cast her out.  Yes, we can worship freely here, but there are LOTS of RESTRICTIONS!  

​Most Fridays I volunteer with a small group of ladies for a Friday friendship group.  Last week they came to our house for lunch.  Kim was off that day so joined us for lunch (she made some AWESOME brownies) and one of the new ladies decided to join us for our Tuesday Bible Study.  Her English level is very low, and yesterday told me that it was too difficult and she wanted to stop, but I tried my best to encourage her and give her the courage to continue, so please pray that God will talk to her and intervene in her life.  She attended a Christian University in Tokyo, but doesn’t know much about God.  Also please pray for the other ladies in our group for the Spirit to open up their hearts to the wonderful gift that He has for them.  Yesterday’s group had 8 ladies with 2 that have been coming to the Tuesday Bible Study for a couple of years, but are still searching.  Please pray for their salvation and also that they can be wonderful witnesses to the other ladies in the Friday group.

​June 22nd is shaping up to be a very full and long day for us.  That evening a young woman from Australia (who use to be a member of our church when she lived in Nagano) will come and sing for a benefit concert to help end human trafficking in the Asian area.  It is so sad, and so many women and children still being basically sold and abused.  We hope that our small church can be an aid in at least a minor role.  That morning we will be working all day with the Happy Spot Club for their annual major event.  They are a group that works with people of all different ages and abilities. From young mentally and physically handicapped, to orphans and further with the elderly.  There will be so many different events and performances throughout the day.  Everything from a‘Down syndrome’ dance group, to physically handicapped drum group.  Besides the handicapped children that will perform, many people have volunteered to do things to help others, for example, one lady who has a beauty shop, will set up a small area for free make-up and hair styling lessons.  A group from the local university will perform, alsoa group of 6 families that will be in town from Los Angeles will do a flash mob song.  They are here on a short term mission trip, so they are excited to shine His light throughout the day.  I will be Santa Claus in the morning, as they have many wonderful gifts to give out to the children, and who better than Santa!  In the afternoon I will change costumes and enter the wrestling ring for my professional debut.  Of course my match will be a warm-up for the main event which will be a 3 man tag team event.  The head man of the Shinshu Wrestling Federation will team up with two young men that have Cerebral Palsy and can’t walk but have dreamed about being wrestlers.  The ‘Great Mucha’ has been training them for months, and they are READY!!!!  The will face three professionals, including the SWF champion, but I am already thinking I know who the winners will be!!!!  Please pray for a successful event that everyone can enjoy.

​On June 2nd (Happy Bday, Ian!) we will be doing our annual cemetery visit.  We will go to all of the graves of those that were members of our church and sing, pray and place fresh flowers.

​Zack’s team finished second in the Kanto tournament.  It is made up of over 100 universities, and all the best in the country.  He was chosen one of the top 5 players! He was the leader in steals and offensive rebounds,  2nd in total rebounds and finished 5th in scoring.  As always we are so proud of him and his team.

By His grace, God continues to equip us for every challenge and opportunity thatHe presents. 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. Thank-you all so much for your prayers and giving hearts.

We hold you always in our hearts and prayers with praise and thanksgiving.          

In His love & always walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch   

Nagano, April 2013

God’s Blessings to you Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!

            Last month we told you that spring was here, well on April 21^st we had a BIG snow storm!  YUCK!  But we feel pretty confident that it will be our last for this year!  We had close to 20 people come to watch the Passion of the Christ movie on Easter evening.  Several non-believers so it was great to see the way the movie talked to them.  Two of the ladies that came are also members of our Tuesday Bible study group, and last Tuesday one of them had a great story that I will share with you.  She is continually growing closer and closer to believing but has trouble with her husband giving her the chance to come Sundays and to totally commit as a believer.  I always start each bible study asking if there are any questions.  She raised her hand and said, “I don’t have a question but I want to share what happened during last weeks bible study.  I told several of you that I had a terrible headache, (3 ladies nodded yes) but didn’t have my medicine.  I quietly prayed to God that He would take away the pain, and like that, it was gone! I could really feel His presence and that He loves me and answers my prayers!”  It was such a great moment!  PRAISE GOD!  I think that her family situation is the only thing that is really holding her back.  You have to understand the culture here to really appreciate the struggle that she is going through.  I ask each of you to please pray for her.  I won’t give her name, but I know and trust that our Lord knows.  THANKS!

            Last month we also told you about Kim’s class schedule being cut in ½.  Of course we knew that there was some kind of reason, but as humans we were still concerned!  We emailed many of you about our fellow missionary friend here in Nagano that was back in the states to attend her husband’s father’s funeral.  Unfortunately she had a terrible heart attack.  She was in the hospital for 20 days, and has now returned to his mothers’ home in Louisiana recovering and not sure when she will be able to return.  She had a fulltime job supporting their ministry working at a private school teaching elementary, junior high and high school students.  The money allowed her husband the freedom to only reach out.  Well, God is so awesome…..Kim was able to pick up 2 days of her classes until she returns, and another missionary’s wife that lives about 30 miles away is doing the same for the other 3 days.  So Liz is protected and her classes will be waiting for her return.  We ask you to please continue to pray for her full recovery and that they will one day soon be able to return and continue with their wonderful work here.

            If you have been reading our blog, you know that I may have made a huge mistake!  I will be making my professional (I won’t get paid) wrestling debut against the Chin Tiger on June 22^nd.  I need lots of prayers!  Ha, ha!  Actually last month Kim and I met a friend that we haven’t seen in several years who is now working almost full time with the ‘Happy Spot Club’.  It is a volunteer group that works with anyone that needs help, mostly orphans, handicap children and old people.  She is constantly posting things they are doing and Kim and I both wanted to get involved.  I see her father every week at our Tuesday Bible Study, but she has never responded to our request.  So when we met her face to face she said that on June 22^nd they were having a huge all day event and could use our help.  She asked me if I wanted to wrestle.  She said we have a group called the Shinshu Professional Wrestling Association that works with the Happy Spot Club with many of the same goals in mind.  They look similar to the WWE, but their goal is to show good sportsmanship and always leave a moral message after each event.  On the 22^nd they have invited a group of deaf wrestlers from Tokyo to come to compete, also two 20 year old local boys who are unable to walk and have always dreamed of getting into the ring.  The leader of the group, ‘The Great Mucha’ is making it all come true.  He has had their remarkable story published in the paper and is working hard for the local TV station to cover the event to bring people’s attention to how hard these kids are working to overcome their handicaps!

            Well, I told her since I broke my neck that I was ‘handicapped’ too, and also OLD!  YUCK!  But I would be happy to dress up as Santa and give all the kids candy canes!  (I know it’s not Christmas in June, but the joy of Christmas is EVERYDAY!) So she said that would be great. Several minutes later she brought the director and sub-director of the Happy Spot Club to meet Kim and I.  It was great talking with them, and they were glad that we could join them.  About 1 hour later another friend of ours (also comes to the Tuesday Bible Study) came in with a group of elementary school moms for a goodbye party as one of them  was being transferred.  I asked her if she wanted to meet Tochan’s (the name means father, because our friend brought her dad to the bible study, so I nick named him Tochan) daughter and she said YES!  So we went into the back of the room and met the Great Mucha face to face!  If you go to our blog, you can see some of the photos of that first meeting.  Also in the same room was a group of young boys and their dads from a local soccer club, and one of them was a former student of mine.  So when the Great Mucha faked a punch to my chin, shows of strength, headlocks and no-holds barred fun took place!  I had a BALL and brought back so many memories of watching wrestling with the kids.  The next thing I know the match for June 22^nd was on!  So we are coming up with our character.  I think I will go as ‘Big Bad John’ and use that same song as my entrance.  We have a cute video with the song that we are going to post on facebook to our wrestling friends to help stimulate interest in the event.  I want to purchase 300 red bandanas to give to all the kids and make them honorary ‘Little Johnnies’!  It should be lots of fun!  But I do need your prayers!  They promised me that they won’t hurt me and it’s all for such a great cause!

            Ian has finished his work at the ski resort and has headed off for a new adventure.  He loves music, but is so restricted in our town.  (not many young people) So he went to stay with a friend that lives near Tokyo and now has 2 new jobs.  The first and least exciting is working at an Outback Steakhouse restaurant.  He hopes to learn cooking, so will spend sometime in the kitchen and because of his skill at Japanese and English, will also work sometimes waiting on tables.  The second job, and really only part time, is doing DJ work at  local live music houses.  He is really excited about the opportunity and is also still active with his hip-hop group, but the distance he is living apart from them prohibits his practicing the amount that they like to.  We are hoping that he will connect with some new friends and will be able to continue that love too!  Zack’s team has the Kanto tournament in May, stay tuned!

We will let you know next month the outcome. 

          By His grace, God equips us for all that He presents. 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 addition to our needs, if your heart leads you to send us financial aid for the 3/11/11 victims please make a note with your love offering that it is for the on-going disaster relief. Thank-you all so much for your prayers and giving hearts.

We hold you always in our hearts and prayers with praise and thanksgiving.            

In His love & always walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch  

Spring...?

With spring starting to show itself and it being my last free Friday before I'm back at classes John and I hosted his 'Friday Friendship' group at our house.


We had four ladies,

and two little guys join us.

On the menu was John's infamous potato chip salad,

home made hamburgers!

and home made strawberry shortcake - yum!
The ladies, kids and I all enjoyed everything,
but since John has been trying to watch what he eats
he had no bun with his burger
and NO shortcake!

Trying to eat as few as possible carbs
I've tried to get a little more creative with his breakfasts.
Like cabbage tacos filled with eggs, sausage and

some leftover stir fried cucumbers and onions from the previous nights dinner.

Though the nights still get pretty chilly
we felt like spring was at last making its way here.

Our plum tree was sharing delicate pink blossoms.

Daffodils, tulips and others were brightening our days.

 

Trees all over were decorating our days with their many colors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then....
on April 21st,
the day of the annual Nagano City Marathon...
We woke to this outside!!!??!

Our fuji (wisteria) bush
that John has trained to be a summer shade canopy
had been starting to bloom and fill in.

It went from this, yesterday...

to THIS today!

You just never know what surprises God has waiting for you!

Find the joy in them all!

Livin' the Life!

Always room for improvement, but I am doing a little better at not letting quite so much time lapse between postings.
Even in this, our 'slow' time (at least for classes), we've all been keeping pretty busy.


 In March, John and I celebrated another year of being blessed to share love and life together as husband and wife.                                         

God is so good!

Ian has just finished up another winter of work at Hakuba Resort. He took full advantage of the free boarding on his days off, often visiting the snow park to hone his skills on the rails, jumps and all that other stuff I don't know the names for ;-)      Lots of bumps, bruises and sore parts, but thankfully nothing was broken... well, except for his favorite board on his last day out - OUCH! Better the board than the body I believe! (and he did have boarders insurance to cover it - yay!)
He's doing more and more music events all the time, too, so keeps him busy.


Zack and several of his team members just returned from Taiwan, where they had some special practices and games with both university and pro teams there.  Always busy with basketball, and classes for his junior year start up next week.  As defending national university champions they have their work cut out for them in the coming year! 



Aaaaannnndd.....
then there's this!
John and I have always tried to have a regular 'date night' to share together, it's good for the marriage relationship :-)


So, last week we were at a local restaurant and happened to see a friend that was there with a group of folks. She asked us to come back where they were sitting and meet some of them - a couple were members of the Shinshu Pro Wrestlers.
Introductions.. handshakes.. then WHAMMO!  A chin chopper!

Then hands were locked and it was on!


Arms in the air!!!

Grimaces!

Scowls and growls as the arms went down!



YIKES!!!!!

And then John managed to get the masked man in a head scrubber!

Whew!!!!

The challenge was made and met!
They will meet in the ring on June 22nd!!!!!!!








OK....
maybe I got a little dramatic...
                                                    maybe,
but it was fun ;-) !

So the friend we saw is a care worker. She is also very involved with a local group in Nagano - The Happy Spot Club. This group does many things in the Nagano area to benefit the under privileged such as handicapped persons, children that have been abused or orphaned, the elderly, and those living in care centers.  The two masked wrestlers that were there that night volunteer lots of time to do events with them.  We told them that we would love to  get involved and help out at events whenever our schedules would permit.  Immediately we were told of their big event coming up on June 22nd. Initially John offered to be a summer Santa for the event, then after meeting the wrestlerrs they thought it would be great if he were to have a match with "Great Mucha"... and so... after a lifetime of watching it on TV with our children...  Big Daddy is entering the ring!      All prayers welcomed!

Nagano, March 2013

God’s Blessings to you Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!

             YEAH! Maybe spring has come!  But like many of you, we still have the occasional cold snaps and even snow come through, but the trees are starting to bud out and in a matter of days the plum trees will begin blooming followed quickly by the cherry and other fruit trees.  For the next month we will be able to see God’s splendor in the beautiful blossoms where ever we go.  We are blessed that every month here, including the winter months, some tree or wildflower is blooming.  We are constantly watching God’s wonderful paintbrush.  I always kid my students that the reason for the flowers to bloom all year is because God even worries about the little bee!  They need those flowers to continue their lives and provide us with honey.  Is it no wonder that honey is the only food that never spoils!!!!  What a wonderful God we serve!

            Last month we told you about the school system here and how it changes every year.  We are still waiting to hear from one of Kim’s schools, but it looks like there will be scheduling difficulties this coming year and about ½ of her classes will be canceled or given out to another teacher.  We are making plans now to how to adjust, and know and trust that God has the answers, and it will all work out for His GLORY!

            This coming Sunday, Easter Sunday, we will be showing the movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’, during our English service.  We hope that some of our non-Christian friends will come to watch and that the film can touch their hearts and they can see how much Jesus loves them. 

            We just finished our annual church meeting, and many different things were discussed.  We are hoping to start a new women’s group, and possibly change our children’s church from happening before church, to being conducted upstairs during the service.  For both of these ideas, they may sound easy to most of you, but remember here our church only has a total of about  8 women, so scheduling ‘when’ is a huge difficulty.  Quite different from a church that has 50 plus women, where it is very easy to get 10 to commit to any certain date or time.  Please pray that the women can find a date and time that will allow all of them to at least participate sometimes.  For the children, even though we are a small church, weekly attendance averaged last year 17.4 people (data from the annual report) of those 6 are young children, 1 kindergarten, 3 elementary school and 2 junior high.  So we would need to provide only 1 class, but reach all the groups.  Hopefully the junior high children will remain in the adult service, but the next question is which person wants to do the class.  Remember out of the 17.4 people 6 are kids, 4 are the pastor and his wife and Kim and I so that leaves only 7 people available.  Definitely it seems many days we are facing uphill battles to grow the church. 

            This coming year we have tentatively scheduled many events.  The first will be the showing of the movie on Easter Sunday, then during May our church will work with others for a retreat, our annual March For Jesus, where we go down town and spend about 2 hours marching and singing songs for Him.  In June is the annual Ladies Luncheon where we normally have between 150 and 200 people attend.  During the end of July or the beginning of August we will be having our annual ‘Summer Bible/Sausage party’.  We usually get close to 100 people come out and enjoy the bible study, play games and enjoy the sausage and salad that John makes.  October will see us helping with a large Halloween party to build friendships and relationships.  Last year over 150 people attended.  The beginning of December is our community Christmas Party at a local hotel.  Last year John played the piano and other members from our church sang.  We plan on 200 people to attend. We also participate in a couple of Christmas parties for students and church children.  On December 23^rd, we have our annual Christmas Caroling at the main train station, followed December 24^th with our Christmas Eve service!  Last year 50 people attended!  Not bad for a church with only 17.4 average people attending!  Of course December also brings out Santa and our passing out of bibles and candy to many people.  Last year we were able to pass out 450 bibles and about 3,000 candy canes, so Christmas joy was spread to many.  This year with your help we hope to pass out ONE THOUSAND BIBLES!  To do that we need your help as each bible costs us about $1.50, so if you start setting aside a little each week, maybe you can help with 10 bibles come December!  If 100 of you will each contribute $15, we can make it HAPPEN!

            As you can see, we have a few things planned, not including the things we do during our normal week!  John has started a new Friday friendship group, with one member already coming to the Tuesday Bible Study, he hopes that this coming year will bring several more. We do several cooking classes, last year the summer children’s class was televised!  John was left alone as Kim was back in the states and our pastor had a previous scheduled meeting, but some how John enjoyed the 3 hour class and the pressure of being televised during the whole time!  So with the things that we have listed and the other normal activities, it looks like we will have no trouble keeping our plate full.  Luckily God is a great scheduler and still gives us time to support our children here and hopefully provide a way for Kim to come back this summer to visit everyone.

            This past March 11^th was the 2^nd anniversary of the tsunami that devastated much of the north east coastline of Japan.  I would like to say that all is back to normal, but that just isn’t true!  The government is reacting so slowly to the troubles of those affected.  Over 100,000 people are still without homes living in some kind of temporary housing with absolutely no idea when or where they can eventually move.  The government said 2 years ago that they would help in the rebuilding or relocating of those affected, but so far NO MONEY!!!!  Only government talk!  The good part is that the churches in those areas have grown stronger and more visible.  I don’t know how many people have found God since the disaster that killed over 20,000 people, but I know it’s a lot!  In our area, outside of a talk sometimes about the nuclear fallout from the Fukushima plant, or should we use nuclear power, you would never know that the disaster happened just 2 short years ago.  We pray that the government will finally release the money to help those families and they can return to a normal life, and in the meantime the churches continue to grow and strengthen. 

By His grace, God continues to equip us for every challenge and opportunity that He presents. 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 addition to our needs, if your heart leads you to send us financial aid for the 3/11/11 victims please make a note with your love offering that it is for the on-going disaster relief. Thank-you all so much for your prayers and giving hearts.

We hold you always in our hearts and prayers with praise and thanksgiving.            

In His love & always walking before Him, the Baranski Bunch