I didn’t think it was possible to set off a fireworks display in the rain. It is. Rainy season has been going on much longer than usual here in Japan. On Saturday, the city of Ube was scheduled to set off its annual fireworks display. The problem was that they were calling for rain on Saturday and also on Sunday which was supposed to be the make-up day. One of the Jr. High-ers in our English classes told us that it would be okay because “It never rains for Hanabi.” Hanabi (the Japanese word for fireworks) are a big deal here. The word literally means flowers of fire, and the Japanese seem to like anything having to do with flowers. Ube recently decided that they wanted to go to a class five display, which meant that they had to go over 10,000 rockets in an hour (they settled on 13,000 so they could be tied for having the best display in the prefecture). Some years, as many as 100,000 people come to see the display, which is set off from a pier in Ube harbor.

So what were they going to do? Despite the rain throughout the day, a small crowd had still gathered and the make-up day didn’t look any better. Well, you do the Japanese thing and say to yourself, “I guess we don’t have any other options. We might as well keep going and just make the best of it.” At 7:40, we got another blast of torrential downpour and as it started to wane around 7:50, the announcer came on the loudspeaker to say that they were still hoping to start at 8:00 as planned. At the same time, we noticed that the spot where we were sitting in the parking lot had become a giant puddle. This was particularly a problem since everyone in Japan observes events like this by sitting on big blue tarps on the ground. I wondered why my rear end was starting to feel especially wet…

As you can see (compare above my arms to below them), we and the Burwells got quite wet.

At 8:00, almost as if it were planned, the rain let up to a very light drizzle and the fireworks began. Over the course of the next hour, the rain came and went but the fireworks continued. Unfortunately, the moisture in the air created so much smoke that they were hard to see at times even though we were less than 100 yards away. But it was still a pretty good show. Hopefully, it will work out better next year.

Pray for our team leaders Chuck and Jan Burwell as they will be moving into the house here on the property (the one we just moved out of) in the next few days. Pray that the rain would hold off and that the movers and others coming to help would have safety.

This past weekend Colby and I had some fun away from the apartment spending time with fellow missionaries a couple hours away in the town of Yanai.  They had invited us to come see a famous bridge called Kintai, which, as you can see below, has five arches spanning the Nishiki River.  The bridge is shaped the way it is so that when the water level rises from the typhoons, it doesn’t get swept downstream.  To the credit of fine and careful engineering, this bridge has only been swept away twice since its construction in 1673.  We enjoyed our time with our friends and spent the evening with them and two other missionaries eating tacos and playing games.

Colby and I at Kintai Bridge

The next day, we had the opportunity to visit one of the churches we first visited when we came to Japan two years ago.  It was so neat to be able to go and see the members again, but this time to actually be able to talk with them a little bit in Japanese!  We spent the afternoon with our missionary friends and then went back to church that night for a BBQ.  This was an outreach they had for their English students and church members’ families and they were pleased with how the evening turned out.  This was not your typical BBQ though – there was plenty of meat and vegetables, but they were all cut and grilled in order to be dipped in a special sauce and then eaten.  Even though I came expecting cheeseburgers, everything was delicious.  Here is a picture of our Field Leader Bob valiantly stoking the flames in preparation for grilling.

Our Field Leader Bob

We are heading toward the end of rainy season here and soon we will have abundant sunshine, along with abundant humidity and high temperatures.  God has blessed Colby and I with two wall unit air conditioners.  We haven’t needed to use them as of yet and we are going to hold off as long as we can.  Some of you are shaking your heads thinking “of course they would do that”.  Well, don’t worry, even though electricity is on the expensive side here, we will certainly make good use of these once the extreme heat and humidity come.  Until then, as the Japanese say, we will try to ‘gumbatte’, which basically means we will try to do our best.

Once again we want to let you know how much we appreciate your prayers for us, our language, and our ministry.  Please pray for the English students and family members of the church people who came to the BBQ on Sunday that they would become more and more interested in who God is.  Please pray for Colby and I for special patience and energy as we head into this difficult weather.

One of the first Japanese phrases our team leader taught me was ichiban yasui. It means, “whatever is cheapest.” Like many in full-time ministry, we share a propensity for being frugal (some by choice and some by necessity). Frugal people (as opposed to people who are cheap) don’t mind spending money; we just want to get the biggest bang for the smallest buck. So naturally, I was very excited to have made a discovery at one of our local supermarkets. But let me give you the back story first…

Theresa and I both try to eat very healthily, but around 9 or 10 o’clock at night, I get what one of the elders at our sending church used to call my “fat attack.” I’ll eat anything as long as it’s high in carbs and/or protein and preferably deep-fried. I am happy to eat whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, soy, and beans for the first ten hours of my day, but in those last two, I want junk. The drive between our sending church and our apartment back in Pennsylvania took us right past Wal-Mart and we would often stop on our way back from church on a Wednesday night to pick up things we needed. Shortly after were married, we made a discovery. If we left church at just the right time (not too early, not too late) we would arrive at Wal-Mart just as they were closing up the deli and selling any unsold deep-fried goodies (chicken, shrimp, potatoes) at 60% off. I convinced Theresa that we needed to take advantage of a bargain and pick up a pound of chicken fingers. This evolved into our regular Wednesday night ritual for over two years until Wal-Mart stopped offering the discount, sighting some sort of health risk (not the heart disease kind – it was something about the food being allowed to cool below bacteria-killing temperatures). We were crushed.

So fast-forward to 2009. Theresa and I have been taking a Japanese class offered by the city on Wednesday nights and after one particular night, we swung by the local supermarket to pick up a few things for the next day. Much to our delight, we came to discover that after a certain time of night, they too discount all of their prepared food. Not only do they have little bite-sized pieces of fried chicken, which rival Wal-Mart’s, but other yummy Japanese dishes like chicken shishkabob, octopus fritters, sushi, deep fried fish fillets, and croquets (deep fried potato patties). The Wednesday night tradition was back!

The red characters on the sign on the left are the key. They say "half-off."

On another food related note I thought you would enjoy, I was talking with one of the deacons at the lighthouse church this past Sunday and was describing for him some of the food I have eaten in different countries. One of my favorites from Cambodia was Lok Lak, which is beef stir fried with garlic and then served with a lime, soy sauce, and peppercorn dipping sauce. When I described the dish, he seemed to be confused, even though they have something similar in Japanese cuisine. He was asking me questions that sounded like he was picturing pudding. So finally, I turned to our team leader and asked him to help me in describing the dish. As he did, the light bulb went on in this Japanese man’s mind, but in mine as well. It was then I realized that I had been using gyu-nyu (the word for milk) instead of gyu-niku (the word for beef) as I described this stir-fried dish.

Please pray for Colby and Theresa as we continue to sort through our items and get settled into the apartment. We continue to praise the Lord for the relief of being moved in!

This past Friday, Theresa and I went shopping for Ochugen gifts. In Japan, more than being celebrated as a holiday, Ochugen is one of the times of the year when it is customary to give gifts to one’s associates. The level of giftyness varies by person, but the general idea is that the gifts are meant to repay (or at least thank) a person to whom you feel particularly indebted. We had a list of a few people, but wanted particularly to find a nice gift for the Japanese contractor who acted as our consultant (not to mention volunteering a lot of his time) renovating our apartment. We decided to go to a Japanese gift store, called Daishin.

A beautifully laid out coffee gift set is one of the many items available for giving.

When the Japanese give a gift to someone outside their family, it is usually something practical. Things like coffee, soap, fruit, or cooking ingredients are very common (more on that some other time). They are usually very nicely packaged and in shops like this one, you hardly have to do anything. Theresa and I walked around and browsed all the displays. As we decided on gifts for particular people, we took one of the little cards next to the display and wrote the person’s name on it. When we were all done, we went up to the counter (which reminded you of a jewelry counter) and handed one of the staff our cards. She and another staff member then proceeded to go around the store and collect all the things we wanted to buy and brought them behind the counter where they wrapped them all beautifully for free. They then proceeded to copy the people’s names to little post-it notes and attach them to each package. After we paid the bill, they even loaded them onto a cart and took them out to our car for us. If we had wanted, they would have also prepared any of them for delivery around the country. All in all, a very pleasant experience.

But here was the part that really impressed me… After our gift shopping, we went to another store to pick up some groceries and headed home. On the way, we realized that I had left my computer at the gift store. (To any of you who know me very well, this is not a surprise.) I had taken it in to help identify some of the pictorial characters that we didn’t know, and set it down on the counter and left without it. As we were about to turn around and go back to the store, hoping they were still open, my cell phone rang. It was our team leader, who was over at the church doing some painting. One of the employees who had helped us went out of her way to stop at our apartment on her way home from work to drop the computer off. She insisted on waiting until we got home and giving it to us personally (which fortunately gave us a chance to thank her personally). I am sure there was some special dispensation since we were foreigners, but that takes treating your customers well to a whole new level!

Pray for the Japanese, as they are very aware of the gifts they must give to each other, but are unaware of the gift that God has given to them through his son, Jesus. Pray that many of the non-Christian Japanese who we will be giving these gifts to will come to know the truth of the gospel as they see it lived out in our lives.