We're home!!!

Well me made it home everyone! Frank and I left Japan at around 7pm on August 5th and landed around 1:15pm August 5th in the L.A. Cool how that works, we gained a lot of time and had the whole afternoon and evening to adjust. However right after dinner both Frank and I fell asleep because we were so tired and neither of us slept on the 9 1/2 hour flight.

Already missing Japan. All our friends, the food, the convenience of getting around... but not the heat and humidity, I always forget how hot it gets!

It was so awesome to see how the Lord is working in Japan. Catching up with old friends is always a blessing and seeing how the Lord is working in every one's life is truly a treasure. It's almost like having another family on the other side of the world and what's even cooler is they are part of our family, a family that won't be complete until we all see each other in Heaven with Christ! What a joy to know this isn't where it all ends.

The VBS ministry was really a great success. Takahashi Sensei told Frank and I at the airport that it was one of the best they had ever had, because we had so many unbelievers this year, moms and children. However we did have some return from years previous and it was just as great to see them!

Tuesday, our last day in Japan, was really a blessing as our homestay, Yuki and Mika, got up early to make breakfast for Frank and I, French Toast! It was really great. Then we said our goodbyes and they headed for work. Sensei opted to drive Frank and I to the airport which was a wonderful surprise and joy to spend the time with him. The drive was a little over 2 hours so it was a good part of his day,m being that he would have to drive home afterwords. But he kept saying it was alright, because it was an excuse to get out of the office, he likes to drive and he said this is his job to be with his friends. At the airport, after we checked in he bought lunch and coffee for Frank and I and we had a great chat. Such a humble man and blessing to know. Yoshie his wife spent all of Monday with us, and she as well, is such a blessing, it was really hard to say goodbye!

The people there in Japan is was keeps driving me back to want to help and just see them. I think Frank too has seen why I have fallen in love with the people. He as well wants to go back. Everyone kept asking us to come back next year.

Isaiah and Albert are still there for one more week. Isaiah, will continue to teach English lessons at the church this week and then on Friday moves to help at a camp run by Send International, while Albert is about 2 hrs north of Tachikawa visiting with his Aunt and Uncle on their farm working. They'll both be back next week Wednesday.

Thank you everyone for your support, your thoughts, words of encouragement and prayer! They are cherished. Both Frank and I are truly thankful to have such wonderful friends and family. I still have some video's I am trying to post so keep a look out on the blog, hopefully I will have them up soon!

Take care everyone and thank you again!
-Tony

Monday (last day with Yoshie & Nihon Bionics)

So today (Mon) was our last full day in Japan...sad times. We spent most of the day with Yoshie (the pastor's wife). We started out our day getting up and walking to the train station in more CRAZY-HOT weather. Today the weather was predicted to be about 36C which I believe is mid or high 90's so tons of humidity. It was SO uncomfortable. I think today was the hottest I've every felt. Tony and I walked to the train station in this heat and waited for Yoshie and Isaiah to meet us on the train in car five as Yoshie promised to take us all to Tokyo (downtown) for the day and to help me find Nihon Bionics (Advanced Bionics' Japan office, the company I work for). It took a good 45min train ride along with a train switch and also walking a bit but we found it! Check out the pictures, the AB team had printed a welcome sign for me! It was sooo kind of them. I had met a few of them in Valencia last summer when a group of Japanese customers who were brought out to our corporate offices for an Educational Visit about our company.

I got to meet a lot of people I had known the names of but had never met before. Tony, Yoshie and Isaiah came with and we all took time to introduce ourselves along with meeting all of them and finding out what they do. It was really interesting as the team is very diverse since they are one office for the entire country of Japan and also provide additional support to our China, Hong Kong and S. Korea office. It was quite an experience.

Yoshie spoke to one of the girls for ideas of stuff to do nearby so she found out where the nearest Starbucks was, (since we all needed caffeine after being on the train and waking up early) along with a good place for lunch and some nice spots for sightseeing. So we left the office walked to Starbucks which had their air conditioner on at full blast, so it was very refreshing, and we sat for a bit and chatted. Then we headed to a new area of downtown called Ropponingi Hills which is a new international business district in Tokyo. We ended up seeing lots of foreigners here which was really interesting as outside of downtown Tokyo foreigners aren't extremely common. Then we trekked our way over to a new skyscraper called "Mori Tower" I believe. Check out the pictures, as we went up to the 50th floor to the observation floor for really cool Tokyo skyline shots. It was a little smoggy but still really cool.

Then we continued our way through the top of the tower through an aquarium called the "Sky Aquarium" filled with really cool tanks and decked out art looking presentations of fish, sorry not many pictures here as photography was extremely limited. Then to top it off we went even higher in the building (floor 55) to the Sky Deck! It was crazy. We were at the top of the building on the roof! The building security would only allow people up carrying a camera and/or phones, nothing else, as it could be a danger if it was thrown from the roof and hit someone below. Pretty much only the main center of the roof was made available for tourists to walk since the edges and were fenced. Check out the window washers who were working today! All of us decided that there is no amount of money that would get me to wash the windows of this building!

Then after all the building sites we went to a nice Chinese restaurant that was recommended to us by the Nihon Bionics team. It was very good and Yoshie treated! She kept treating for everything all day as she really counted the day special since it was our last day to spend time with her before we leave tomorrow afternoon. Once we finished lunch we walked around a bit then came back to Tachikawa. Where Yoshie expressed interest to taking us out for dessert and coffee as she needed energy to finish the long work night she going to have for a deadline tomorrow. =( She works so hard. On days where she hung out with us or helped at VBS she would run home do one or two things and then work late into the night to catch up on the hours of work she missed. These people work SO hard.

When we finished dessert we walked back out into the station and realized it was pouring RAIN! We had been in HOT weather all day and never thought to bring umbrellas with us and we had a good 10 min walk still to the church and Yoshie a good 20 min walk home a different direction. Yoshie looked at Tony and I (with teary eyes) and said she would miss us and very much enjoyed having us and that this would be the last time we would see her before we leave tomorrow afternoon. She asked that we come again soon, hugged us both and began walking toward home. It was a very sad moment but all joyful as we know God will criss-cross our paths again.

Tony, Isaiah and I then darted our way under awnings, ran across streets, shimmed along brick buildings all in hopes of avoiding the huge rain drops. Half way to church we were so soaked that our shirts and shorts changed colors so we gave up being careful and ran the rest of the way. We got to church, opened the main doors and sat under the air conditioner to cool/dry ourselves. Tony and Isaiah had still wanted be to see this really cool 100 yen ($1 store) a few train stations away so we dried off, headed for the monorail and went to the store where we picked up lots of fun souvenirs and nik-naks for ourselves. Then we headed back to the monorail station, said goodbye to Isaiah, as he will be staying in Japan until the 13th to help out at a camp and continue giving English lessons this week. We'll all meet up in California next week when he returns.

So Tony and I headed back to Tachikawa by Monorail (since the 100 yen store was out of town) and then back to church where we gathered up all of our stray things around the church and headed to Yuki and Mika's house back in Musashi-Sakai where we have stayed the past week. Before we hopped on the train we ran to a pastry level in the mall where we picked up dessert for dinner along with some more gifts. We got back to a warm house where Yuki and Mika had incense burning to keep the mosquitoes away and dinner just about finished for us. Mika had warmed up a traditional Japanese meal which her mom made for us (who lives in Northern Japan) 8-10 hours north by car, and overnighted it yesterday so we could have it today as our last meal! Japan has special refrigerated delivery service that people use to send food and perishables to one another! It's incredible and the food was awesome. We had sesame seed flavored tofu, roasted egg plant with Japanese herb seasoning, marinated pork, a picked root of some sort and Kirin Beer. It was a very refreshing dinner and dessert complimented it nicely (a lemon cake with Swedish berry tea which we had brought from the states).

Talk to you all soon. Thanks again for reading.
Frank
(p.s. pictures are of Tokyo skyline from Ropponingi Hills, observatory, skydeck and aquarium, lunch and dessert. We forgot to get pictures of dinner because we were so hungry! =)

Sunday (Church and good times)

So Sunday morning our homestays (Yuki & Mika), picture above, woke up and made us Belgian waffles for breakfast before church. They enjoy cooking and took the time to make us a very nice breakfast. We enjoyed fellowshiping with them over food before we all ran to the bus stop to get to the train station so we could make it to church on time. Sunday was CRAZY-HOT...it's in the mid 30's which is about the mid 90's with about 70% humidity. It's so hot that when you exit the shower you're sweating and after you've walked one block on the 5-6 block walk to the train station your shirt is dripping in sweat. I think the heat will be the only thing we WON'T miss once we return on Tuesday afternoon to L.A.

We had a wonderful time at church as Takahashi Sensei taught on Luke 22 (which is a passage that John MacArthur has been in for the past year or so...so it was a nice reminder and recap of what left at home before we came to Japan! During church Sensei had Tony and I stand up and speak about our experience helping the church and also to great everyone with departing words. I expressed my joy in teaching the little ones and interacting with the kids and their mothers. Based on the "thank you" cards and kinds compliments I received from numerous parents I believe our impact on the lives of these families was significant. Praise the Lord!

Tony expressed how great it was to see old faces and to reconnect with everyone he's known over the years. He also expressed the fun he had in teaching a baking class to the mom's of the VBS kids and also working with the kids throughout the week in various ways. It was a nice time for us to share our thanks to the church and visa versa.

After church we all went upstairs for a church meal of a Curry dish over rice. It was VERY good. The Curry was prepared by Ms. Omura who was the kind lady who had us over for dinner the night before. So we know the sacrifices she made to have us over the night before she prepared a meal for 50-60 people at church! What's amazing about this church family is how HARD everyone works. Most of these people (moms and dads, widows and singles) all work crazy long weeks and then spend all their extra time at the church serving or serving other church family members. It's such a blessing to see how they all live out the model of a New Testament Church as described by Paul.

Then Tony, Isaiah, Maki, John and I all went to the train station to go shopping! I have to admit the shopping in Japan is soooooo much fun. You can find ANYTHING here and the experience itself is a once in a life time thing. First off, like their food, the Japanese present everything wonderfully. All the stores have very artistic displays of whatever goods the stores sell. Plus when you buy something in a Japanese store everything is wrapped very neatly when you check out. Many stores will ask if what you are buying is a gift. If you respond with "hi" (yes) that means they'll remove the price, wrap it and then write a not (IN ENGLISH) of what the package contains! It's incredible....plus most stores do it for FREE. It makes you think twice about the service you get in the States.

Then that evening we went to the Takahashi's house (Yoshie and Sensei's house) for dinner. The three of us went along with Isaiah's home stay family (the Hosukawa's) and our homestay family (the Fukayas) along with both Takahashi daughter's and one of their daughter's husbands. We had a good size group in a small house. We had a wonderful dinner and then played "Mafia" which actually went really well given that we had two languages to play in! Luckily, Tomo, the narrator was bilingual so she translated for everyone. We really had a blast and was probably there until 10:30 or so.

Thanks again for praying for us everyone.
Frank & Tony
p.s. Yuki and Mika are the couple pictured, Isaiah dressed up in a Yukata (female summer kimono as all the girls were giggling with excitement from all the attention he was giving them), plus some street shots outside Starbucks as the mall and also some shots of fruit displays at the grocery store. Check out the price of the Grapes, 5,200 is about $48!!!)

Saturday's Cake class

Well, it’s now a little after midnight Sunday morning as I type this right now… Saturday was a long day, but very productive!

VBS was of course over but many of the children and mother’s returned to the church around 2pm for a cake decorating class that I taught. During this past week at VBS Yoshie announced that I would be teaching a cake decorating class, many of the mothers were interested. But the icing on the cake, no pun intended, was the offer Isaiah and Frank made… they offered to babysit the mother’s children while they took the class. It was great for them because the kids already knew us from VBS and of course the Moms trusted us and were very excited about the class. What Frank and Isaiah didn’t know, nor I for that matter, was that the cake class would run 1 hour over… By 5 o’clock Frank and Isaiah were beat after playing with the kids for 3 hours and Isaiah had changed one too many diapers… it was a first for him and he has now sworn that it will be a very long time before he has children.

The cake class was a lot of fun and the ladies all enjoyed themselves. I showed them how to mix and bake a cake, make a filling for the cake and fill it, ice it and decorate it. However, it was incredibly hot, even with the 3 airconditioners I had running the butter cream still managed to run a little, and I blew a few fuses. I believe today may have been the hottest day so far or at least the most humid, but all in all it was fun! It was amazing that 6 out of 8 of the ladies were not believers, and they had such a wonderful time and felt very welcome at the church. Seeds were planted and I hope and pray they will come to fruition.

After we had cleaned up, it was a little after 6pm, Isaiah, Frank and I were kindly invited to one of the church’s most wonderful Christian widow’s home, Omurasan. She is fluent in multiply languages including English and she was also the humble servant who took me to the hospital last year during my escapades with a stomach virus.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening of traditional Japanese cuisine, fellowship, games and a lot of laughs. Later a friend from the Church; Akiko, who is the sister of the husband of the couple we are currently staying with and her friend from Hong Kong; Tracy, joined us for some continued games. At around 10:15pm Isaiah, Frank and I made our ways back to our various homestays after Omurasan was so kind to drive us to Tachikawa station being that it was a 20 minute walk from the house or a 5 min drive, so we could catch our trains and monorail to our destinations. Frank and I arrived about 11pm at our home stay, after our 15 minute walk from the station to the home we are at.

It was a great day of blessings and fellowship. God is so good and it is such a joy to be among Christians from different walks of life but all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Well church is in about 8 hours so I must go, Frank and I will update again tomorrow. God Bless!

5th Day of VBS

So Friday was the last day of VBS. We had lots of fun with the kids and enjoyed spending time with them as our week long program came to an end. We actually had the biggest turn out of the whole week! We had 21 kids in all with probably at least 10 moms. Sensei and Yoshie told us this year was probably the best year they've had for VBS. Many families continued to invite more friends and each day we grew in numbers. Lots of non-christians came to our VBS program which was really great. Probably 80% of the kiddos that came were from unsaved families. Yoshie and Senei both said it was a great opportunity for the people to see what a Christian church was like. Most people (unsaved) in Japan are intimidated by churches or tend to shy away from them because of bad experiences so the first step (walking into a church) was taken by many mothers this week. It was really great interacting with the moms while we spent time with their children.

Friday started with songs as usual followed by English lessons. My English lesson mainly consisted of review for the little ones. I spent time going over numbers, letters and colors all week so I figured Friday would be a good day to review. So I started the lesson out by dumping two buckets of colored balls out all over the sanctuary and then distributed cards with numbers and English letters on them all over the room. Then I had all the kids sit in the middle of the room where I took out my puppet ("G-san") who would then call out for them to go find a particular letter(s), colored ball or number. (check out the video)The kids had LOTS of fun and the mothers loved it! It seemed like my class continued to grow all week! Albert's class grew as well. He spent time going through pictures and having the kids identify in English what animal/thing they were looking at. Isaiah's kids played Guess Who and Tony spent time baking, prepping snacks and also setting up the craft.

After English lessons we had snack (animal crackers) which we finished off with a song and a story by Sensei. He went over the story of Jesus walking on water and when Peter tried to walk out and fell into the water because of a lack in his faith. It was a great time and Sensei was very animated so the kids loved it. Plus all the moms stayed too and enjoyed the time. Then after the story we went up stairs for craft time where the kids decorated cloth backpacks to take home with them. While we were working on the crafts Tony worked on the American Lunch we put together for them (hot dogs, coleslaw and Doritos), the kids LOVED it!

Then after the long day with kids Tony, Isaiah, Albert, Sensei and I all went to Akihabura (Electric City) where many foreigners along with Japanese go to buy electronics at resonable priced rates. We really couldn't find anything that we wanted so we mainly spent the time walking and talking with Sensei. However he did take us to the Government building in Shinjuku (sp) where we took an express elevator to the 45th floor in 55 secs! It was fast and we could feel our ears popping but it was an awesome view, check out the photos. After all this Tony and I along with Isaiah rushed home on the trains because Isaiah had a 7:30 English lesson at the church and Tony and I needed to get to Yuki and Mika's (our homestays) because we promised to make them dinner! However we still had to get back to Tachikawa, go grocery shopping, hop on another train to Musashi-Sakai and then walk to their house. So we didn't get to their house til 8:30 or so and then made dinner for them. We made Hawaiian burgers, sweet potatoe fries, had maui chips and then peaches and tea for dessert.

All in all Friday was a great day but very tiring. We really enjoyed the time this week at VBS and know that God is sovereign and will have touched the lives of those who visited the church. Thank you all for praying.
Frank