Catching up a Bit

OK, let's see if I can catch up just a bit!
The days go by and before I realize it's a new week, then a new month!!!!

Where to begin...?

Not on, but shortly after Christmas, Ian made it home for a short visit. He had lots to fit in while he was here so was in and out but we're thankful for any time we get together.

Make no mistake! It's not just the actual snowboarding that wears you out but the preparation!

On New Year's Day at the church service we were thankful to witness Morihiro

being baptized into the family of God! It's been a blessing to see him grow up over the past ten years and choose the Lord for himself.

He and his older sister (who was baptized last year on New Year's Day!) attend the afternoon English service John leads on Sundays and often bring junior high friends.

On Jan. 2nd we were off to Tokyo to cheer Zack's basketball team on in the annual Emperor's Cup.

This has the top high school and four top university teams playing with the top semi-pro and pro teams. 

The Tokai Seagulls (Zack's team) were the only non pro team to get into the top 8! and as evidenced below they were ahead of the pro team that went on to win the tournament!!...at least for a bit ;-)

We thought  that would be our last time to see him for a good while, but he surprised us and made it home for a couple of days!!!

All the folks at church were happy to see him - especially the younger ones!!

Ebony still gets pretty lonely since Onyx died last November, so she really likes all the extra attention and snuggles she gets from Ian & Zack whenever they make it home ;-)

Not sure about all those 'snow days' we keep hearing about in the states...

I'm pretty sure they've never heard the term here!

These are two of the schools I go to and the other one (not pictured) is the one that really gets the snow!

In the 2 sixth grade classes at one school we just finished doing our original versions of the "Peach Boy" ( a very well known children's story - Momotaro) play in English. I helped the kids all do original scripts in English and then each class presented their play. We spent a good bit of time on it, but they enjoyed it and I was proud of their efforts. They each made their own headband for the character they were playing.

John has a group of three young men that come to the house for English once a week. They sort of remind me of the 3 Musketeers... or perhaps the 3 Stooges! (I mean that in a nice way!) They've been best friends since junior high. So one of them had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and another surprised him at class with a birthday cake. The third was absent that evening so I got to enjoy the cake with them after we sang to him...lucky me!

As the  school year here is soon coming to a close, quickly followed by the start of the new year, John and I are both trusting that God has a great plan for our work schedules in the new school year. It's always a little unsettling not knowing until the last minute what your next schedule will be. The schools here don't even tell the regular full time teachers where they'll be or what grade they'll teach until just before graduation - and the new year starts only about three weeks later!! So any prayers are always welcome - not just for this but for any and all that may be on your heart to share with Him on our behalf.

This little video is a tad over a minute and a half. I'm adding it because everyone can use an extra smile and this surely will bring one to you. These 4 kids are in a young family at our church here and their Mom taught them the Lord's Prayer song in English. The youngest is 3 and often strolls around church singing this. Whenever John plays the tune on the piano, no matter what she is doing she stops, looks at  him, and begins to sing. I love it! 

(P.S. - please remember we have no control over what may appear on YouTube following this)

We miss and love you all and can never thank you enough for all the ways you help to make what we do here possible. May you each be richly blessed as you so bless us!

Christmas for Some English Students

Every year John and our friend, Mako,
get together and do a Christmas party for their English students.

This year was John's turn to do the program planning.
He recruited students and friends to do the Nativity play.
They all did a great job and it was well received by the 150 or so in attendance.

There were several fun activities for the kids and perhaps their favorite was wrapping presents!
Being the thinker that he is, and with more than 1000 bibles (thanks to dear friends!) to wrap,
John came up with this idea as a game and the kids loved it!

The kids all got a present from Santa and most got their picture taken with him.
This little girl came again and again just to smile and hold hands with Santa :-)

After a long morning of spreading joy, Santa was all tuckered out!

It was a great time and so good to be able to share the true meaning of Christmas with so many.

A tidbit to tide you over...

Wow! Can you believe it's Christmas 2013!!!!

Had lots of fun with several different classes and kids of all ages celebrating Christmas

To the young at heart...

Santa was kept busy spreading the True Joy and Reason for the Season with Nagano City

and the young in years

Christmas trees of every sort could be seen

The Tokai Seagulls are two time National Champs!!
Zack was interviewed on national TV!!

He was also featured on one days ticket!!

Just had to share...
a dear friend treated us to dinner after the basketball
at his favorite tempura shop

these little darlings were but a small share of the delicacies we were served!

I hope to have lots more added on here close to the beginning of  2014!!!! (really?!? 2014!!!)

Merry Christmas from Nagano!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our Dear Loved Ones & Prayer Partners!

            What a great month we are just wrapping up!  December is definitely our favorite, but also with all the joy comes the sorrow of being so far away from most of our family!  This is our 11^th Christmas since coming back to Japan as Missionaries, and also marks the 11^th Christmas spent apart from so many of our children and family members.  This was the first year that our house had no children, both boys were busy, one at college (Christmas is not a holiday here) and the other working too far away to make it home.  So after prayer, thought and talk we decided that we should do our normal routine, so early Christmas morning we were off to spend a little time with one of Kim’s elementary schools and participate in their Christmas program.  Each class sang a wonderful Christmas song, then in came Santa to spread more Christmas cheer.  Along with the cheer each of the children received a special candy from Santa!  They were all so pleased and wonderful.  Later during their class time, Kim was able (as she is at all the schools she works at) to tell the true reason for Christmas.  We are looking forward to the end of the year and a little (we think well deserved) rest.  The country basically closes from December 27^th until January 5^th, so we will get a good time to catch up (Kim is hoping to post LOTS of Christmas activities on the blog) and John has time to get ahead with his Tuesday Bible Study.  They are presently studying the book of John and it takes about 3 weeks on average to cover one chapter!  It is a very great study and he can see the change in many of the non-Christians that have been attending as they are opening their hearts to God’s wonderful love more and more each week.

            Before we start about all of our activities this month, November ended and December started with Zack and his team playing in the National University Basketball Championship.  THEY WON!!!!  For the second year in a row they are National Champions!  Zack was chosen as one of the 5 best players in the tournament.  He was interviewed on TV and his picture was on one of the ticket stubs! (Hopefully we will show you on the blog)  They start out the New Year with the Emperor’s tournament, which is for ALL the teams in Japan, the top high school, university, company and professional teams.  The tournament lasts about 3 weeks, and our boys usually do great until they face the professional teams who are much bigger and stronger, but this year their goal is to win one game against the pros!  Let’s go TOKAI!!!

            OK, back to our month.  We had many wonderful events that Santa was invited to, the best was our joint Christmas party that we do with our wonderful friend Mako.  We had about 200 people there, and using members from our church and a few of John’s students, they acted out the Nativity story.  We are blessed that one of the missionaries here has made costumes and he graciously lets us borrow them.  It was a wonderful performance, and surprisingly even the youngest children paid close attention.  We do four parties a year with this group, so they are really starting to build up their trust and faith, so are very open to hearing about God from us!  Of course Santa was busy leading games, songs and passing out presents to all of the children.

            Our most wonderful experience was the passing out of OVER 1,000 BIBLES!  It was truly wonderful.  Kim always comes to assist Santa, and keep him loaded up with gifts, but waits at a distance and sometimes hears comments.  This year one lady after receiving the present, walked away, opened it, and said, “WOW! A Bible!  I need to go get one for my husband!”  Now if that isn’t enough to make you want to give out more, about 30 minutes later she returned with a friend and told her, go get one of Santa’s Bibles!  Just that one lady makes it all worthwhile.  We pray that the Bibles will touch many, many people’s hearts and the gift that YOU made possible will change their lives!  So a special thanks to all of you that donated to this wonderful work that God allows us to do!

            Our church’s children’s Christmas party was held last Saturday and we had 24 children and 11 adults attend.  We sang songs, most in Japanese, then John taught them Silent Night to sing in English!  Surprisingly they were louder singing in English.  After the singing our Pastor gave a short message about the true meaning of Christmas.  Then we broke up into groups and made snowmen (wrapping toilet paper around one of the children) complete with buttons and bows.  Then they made wonderful Christmas decorations to take home, followed by some yummy snacks and finally presents from Santa!  Two wonderful ladies from our church put on the party and provide EVERYTHING!  Praise God for them!

            December 24^th, was our annual Candlelight Service!  We had a good crowd of over 30 people (6 of John’s students) and special music provided by our friends from Kanta Kiara.  The leader of the group is one of the main Buddhist Priests from our local Zenkoji Temple!  He gives an explanation of each song and why it was written.  The music is all classical Christian music written hundreds of years ago.  Then some special music from our English service members, 3 junior high students, one on the drums, a flute, and saxophone plus the father of two of them played the electric bass and John joined in on the piano.  They did great and the ‘little drummer boy’ will be baptized at our January 1^st service!  PRAISE GOD!!!!

            We also had some other things, a couple of cooking parties, lunch out with students and the reading of the Christmas story with our community center class!  So yes, we are ready for some rest time!

            For most of you this month was filled with lots of family activities, and parties with friends! For us here, it will be times when we are apart.  So please to all of our family and friends, know that even if we aren’t there, you are ALWAYS in our hearts and prayers!  We love you all so much and TRULY miss spending time with YOU! Especially this time of year, it helps to remember that Christmas isn’t about OUR family but HIS!!!! So this year,  remember, it’s not about you but HIM!!!!  GOD LOVES US ALL!!!!

By His grace, God continues to equip us for every challenge and opportunity that He presents. Should any of you feel God asking 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, the 3/11/11 victims still need much so if your heart leads you to send us financial aid for them please include a note that it is for the on-going disaster relief. Thank-you all so much for your prayers and giving hearts.

With praise and thanksgiving, we hold you always in our hearts and prayers.            

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

Overnight!

We went from the relative comfort, meaning not really cold, of autumn with all its vibrant colors...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to THIS and COLD!!!!!
Literally over night!
 

 

 

 

 

 

In fairness though I must admit that it lasted only a couple of days here in the city and daytime temps warmed back up a tad - temporarily. Those mountain area schools I go to every week though are getting whiter by the day...brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The Best Mexican food in Nagano!

The junior high kids that come for English service on Sunday afternoons are all in the band.
They just finished competing in the National Junior High Band Competition and received a Champion Award!!! WOOHOO!!! They've worked so hard, practicing for hours before and after school and on weekends, so it was awesome to see their joy at being rewarded for all their efforts and time.
 

We'd been planning to have them over for a fun and casual get together and decided this was the perfect chance. Two of the kids are brother & sister and their family belongs to our church. Due to having band practice every morning, weekends included, they couldn't attend morning church. This was the original reason they started coming in the afternoons even though their English was near non-existent. (It's really improved) John puts lots of thought and effort in to making the talks interesting and engaging for the kids and it shows because they really enjoy coming now - it isn't just something they 'have' to do. With encouragement they started inviting friends to come with them and it warms our hearts to see them willing to openly share their faith.
 

Back to the Mexican food!
We wanted to do something they could help in the preparation with and that they don't get regularly.
 

John had precooked the meat but other than that they made everything.
He instructed them in the steps as they made seven layer bean dip, guacamole, pico de gallo and cocoa krispie treats for dessert (I know, not Mexican, but quick and easy and yummy)
 

Everyone helped and everyone enjoyed the fruits of their labors!!