A Baptism & the 1st Christmas Party

Two Sundays ago, we had a really special day.  Yuki, one of my former English students and mother of some of the Sunday school kids that attend, got baptized!  This is a big deal in Japan.  To them, this is the major step to say, "I'm a Christian."  I've never taken baptism so seriously in my own Christian life.  Of course, I recognize it as something important, but I supposed it's something that I never really focused on very much.  When I got baptized, I suppose it felt like no big deal.  But this time with Yuki, it WAS a big deal!

I made a yarn lei for Yuki (not easy in Japan!) and gave her some flowers, but I think I was outdone by the pink poinsettias!

Yuki got up in front of the church and shared her testimony.  It was very educational for a westerner like me.  For most of her life, she's felt an extreme amount of pressure, fear, and worry.  She's worried about everything!  Her husband has been largely unsupportive in her seeking out God.  She has to deal with something that I certainly know nothing about.  Having to obey her husband!  In fact, she had to sneak out in order to show up for her own baptism!  It's something that I don't think I'll ever understand.  The Japanese tradition of the husband being "the king" (as one Japanese woman put it) and the wife being the servant.  It's something that Yuki is facing and I'm sure many other women pursuing God must also face.  But seeing all the spiritual battles that Yuki has been fighting for many years, and how God has always fought for her... It becomes quite understandable why a baptism is something so special and important for a Japanese person.  It's also a blessing to hear how God has used past English teachers and missionaries to bring her up.  Many of those teachers have left, but they made an impact that lasted longer than their stay in Japan.  It's a reassurance that God will continue to use us and our servant hearts in ways that our bigger than we can understand.  It was a beautiful moment to see this fruit of their labors and God's ever-pursuing love.

Yuki getting baptized.

Another note that I found interesting was their style of baptism.  Most Protestant baptisms I've seen involve the pastor submerging the person in a body of water, either a tub, or river, or beach.  Instead, Pastor Hisashi baptized Yuki by putting water from a silver cup on her head.  I do know that in submersion water baptisms, it signifies a person dying (going underwater) and then being resurrected into a new life (coming out of the water).  I wonder if the symbolism and significance for the Lutheran practice is different or if it means the same.  And if it is different then that would also make sense why the emphasis on baptism also seems different.

Mana-Su fell asleep during
Hisashi's message!

After the service and lunch, Fileo had a Christmas party.  It was the first of many Christmas parties to be held at ACC.  Aaron and I showed up and we were very surprised to see people dressed up in costumes.  Manami wore a Santa dress and hat.  Ryunoske dressed up as Rudolph.  Tomowari was some sort of yakuza guy (not Christmas related at all), looked like he stepped out of a shooting video game.  Haruka was Mario (also not Christmas related at all).  Manami Suzuki was a pink prince (again, not Christmas related).  She looked like she belonged in Sugar Rush from Wreck-it-Ralph!  Hajime.. was in all black.  Including black face.  Literally black face.  I'm not really sure what he was supposed to be, but I'm sure he wasn't a black person so it wasn't racist.  But he was black.  I thought maybe he was a lump of coal, but seeing a theme of non-Christmas related costumes made think maybe I just didn't get it.  Lol. Well, Aaron and I didn't really know we were supposed to wear costumes.  Manami mentioned dressing up.  I thought that meant wearing Christmas colors or a Christmas sweater, so I wore a red sweater.  Joshua showed up in a Christmas sweater, which made me feel a little more normal.  But I guess I didn't grasp that she meant wear costume.  It's not exactly a traditional American thing to do.  I think Aaron was also confused.  But it was entertaining.  Especially when we found out our mission.  Head to the local supermarket, purchase a bunch of stuff to decorate a cake, and then decorate the cake.  Prettiest and most delicious cake wins.

We all ran into the store.  Manami Suzuki stood out the most since she was wearing bright, neon-pink tights and a wig.  She was extra embarrased.  Haruka looked mostly normal except for her Mario mustache, which she tried to cover up most of the time we were there.  I don't know why they were embarrassed.  I would've totally embraced the moment!  Maybe I just love being weird.  Being weird is awesome!  I enjoyed being the weird group in the middle of Yorkbenimaru.

We had only an hour and $8 to do everything, so after buying all our stuff, we rushed back to the church to make our cake.  Our original idea was to make a Christmas tree.  Then we saw that the cake was really tiny.  We improvised and it turned into a totally new monster.  A Christmas tree cake turned into a cake Christmas tree forest.

Our tree forest cake.

When time was up, we presented our project to the 3 Wise Men: Hiromitsu, Hisashi, and Toru.  I BSed our presentation by saying the three trees represented Father God, Christ, and Holy Spirit.  But even my BS didn't win us first prize.  The winner was... Hajime, Aaron, and Moe.  Personally, I think they should've been disqualified because they left the paper between their two layers of cakes AND because they stole our Pocky sticks.

The winning cake.

Although, if I were the judge I would've chosen Manami, Ryunosuke, and Joshua's cake as the winner.  There's was just really pretty.  Of course, they had Joshua the artist on their team!  And I thought theirs was the yummiest.  They were smart enough to put loads of almonds and chocolate chunks all over the place.

Manami, Ryunosuke & Joshua's cake!

After the cake contest, we exchanged Secret Santa gifts.  Again, I was totally confused by the different Christmas practices in Japan.  Usually in America, when we do a Secret Santa, everyone picks out names from a bag and then buys that person a gift without revealing who they are.  In Japan, however, people all show up with a wrapped gift and distribute them randomly to everyone in the party.  Well, I guess I assumed we'd be picking out names that day, rather than giving out gifts.  I felt like a jerk for not bringing a gift and we were once again unprepared for the party.  Fortunately, Joshua brought 2 gifts, so we were still able to participate.  Thanks, Josh!  Aaron and I got a gift from Hajime.  Yeah, not really a secret, lol!  But it was a really nice gift.  It looked kinda like an ash tray.  But it was a glass tray from Okinawa.  Even though the tag said "Made in Taiwan."  But everyone seemed to know that this was some sort of specialty from Okinawa.  So... I guess it's Okinawan!  It was still very nice, and Aaron and I are racking up a lot of random gifts given to us from people in the church.  I have no idea what to do with them all since we don't have our new apartment yet!

Well, that was the end of our Fileo Christmas Party.  One down, a bajillion more to go all before December 25th!  I'm pooped.