The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug movie came out here in Japan. I had already seen it back in America during Christmas, but Aaron hadn't seen it. I enjoyed it a lot the first time and was willing to see it again, so we decided to check it out together. It was a really good movie. I really like J.R.R. Tolkien's stories (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) because you can see imagery and symbols that are very similar, if not the same, to what is written in the Bible. The language is also similar. There were a handful of scenes that stood out to me, but one in particular stays in my mind.
This scene is of Gandalf going into an old, abandoned tower. It looks empty and normal. But actually, there are hundreds of evil creatures hiding in the shadow. When he unveils the truth, he is faced and attacked by the darkness. He uses light to fight it.
On a spiritual level, this is what it feels like to be a missionary. In any country, I imagine. You go about your days and everything seems ordinary. But you're aware of an emptiness and an unseen darkness. When you pray and actively live in the light and try to bring that light to others, you're met with spiritual attack. And often it feels like you're one small person facing something much bigger than yourself. But seeing the light come from Gandalf, it's a reminder that God's light is inside of us. And how great is that light! I mean, He did create the sun.
The clip also reveals the character of the enemy. Evil is not brave, but cowardly. It hides and does not want to be exposed. It deceives and cheats. Gandalf goes into the darkness knowing he will be outnumbered, but he believes that good and light and truth have more authority.
In the end Gandalf is overpowered by the darkness, but in reality, darkness always flees from the light. It's physics. The yin-yang is bogus. Light and dark are not equal. God's light and power and goodness is ALWAYS stronger than evil and darkness. Sometimes we may get a little bruised up or fall on our face, but God will always win. And good will win in the end of this movie trilogy. Hooray for the little guys!
Don't see a connection between my geeky obsession with The Hobbit and the spiritual battles we face? Here are some of many Bible references to prove it:
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." -- John 3:19-21 "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." -- John 1:5 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -- Ephesians 6:12 "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." -- Ephesians 5:11 "I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness." -- Ecclesiastes 2:13 "You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:5 "The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble." -- Proverbs 4:19-20 'When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."' -- John 8:12
I thought last weekend was a lot of snow, but I was wrong. This weekend the snow came down harder and higher than the week before! When I stepped outside of my apartment Saturday morning, this is what I saw. And it didn't stop there. It continued to snow throughout the weekend. I woke up each morning to the sound of neighbors shoveling snow, their poor cars trapped and buried alive.
Snowed in!
One minor plus of all this snow, is that none of my students have been able to come to my Saturday night class. That means for the past two Saturdays, I've had the day off. It's like a real weekend! Aaron and I had made plans for this Saturday night, but the snow was so bad and the roads were so dangerous. Despite whatever proper judgment we might've had, Aaron decided to make the drive anyway! He left his apartment at around 5:30pm, but his car was stuck in the snow. Nearly an hour later, he finally called me to let me know he was on his way. Then 30 minutes later another phone call. The roads are nothing but ice. Traffic is at gridlock. Several cars are stuck in the snow ahead of him. He saw a car do a 180. He has to somehow drive up a hill covered in ice in a really crappy rental car. He doesn't think he can do it. Inside, I'm accepting the fact that our Saturday plans are going to be canceled. I'm also praying that my fiancee doesn't die out there. Somehow, and probably very stupidly, he pushes on anyway and finds his way to Ayashi. When I see him it's about 9:00pm.
After a really stressful drive and, you know, risking his life just to see me, Aaron wanted some burgers and fries. We drove over to McDonalds, which was another nightmare due to the horrible conditions of the roads. We drove in circles until we could make our turn in the ice. When we got there, the place was CLOSED!! WHAT?! What McDonald's closes down due to snow?! Normally, this McD's has a 24 hour drive-thru, which we were counting on. Aaron drove all way to Ayashi for a cheap, $1 burger and this is what happens! We were pretty disgusted at how this night was going and I was going to faint from starving all day. We settled for a restaurant not too far away and gorged ourselves on a $50 feast of tonkatsu, agedashi tofu, sashimi, fried shrimp, pickled cucumbers, miso soup, and chawan mushi. I was supposed to be on a diet, but I starved myself waiting for a high calorie fast food meal. I was willing to binge for one disastrously snowy night. The meal was expensive and it was the most I'd eaten in weeks, but it was worth it.
The next day was church. Originally, Aaron had planned to drive back to Takamori and then drive back again in the morning. Well, no way was that gonna happen! When we got back to my place, there was nowhere to park due to the parking lot being snowed in. Aaron had to park at the church, but once he made the turn in, he was stuck. Again. Not only that, there was a huge mountain of snow blocking the driveway and we couldn't get through. It was pretty late at night, so we didn't wanna bug anyone. I got out and went around the other way to see if there was another way out. When I got back, Aaron had resorted to kicking the mountain of snow out of the way. (Not very effective.) Luckily, there were shovels that the church had left out, so I grabbed a pair and we spent the late evening shoveling snow away. It was my first time shoveling snow in about 4 years. Aaron was exhausted because he had spent the entire day shoveling snow at his work and now here he was again, shoveling even more snow! Finally, we cleared enough snow away to get the car unstuck and in the parking lot. We were both tired. But I actually thought it was exciting. It was an adventure!
I've come to realize that snow, a LOT of snow, is exhausting. Last year this time, I blamed my exhaustion on traveling and adjusting to Japan. Now, I know the weather is also a big part too. After all the excitement from the night before and just snow period, I was so exhausted. I spent the entire morning sleeping. The entire morning. I missed church! When I woke up, I was just in time to make it for lunch. We had sandwiches. It was nice and light.
Afterwards, I wanted redemption. I wanted my McD's, darn it! So we made our way back to McD's, which was open. Thank the Lord! We got there, I ordered my meal, and Aaron says he's not hungry. WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT HUNGRY?! But I got him to eat. Mwahaha. I gave him the last bite of my burger and he got in line to get his own. Hehehhee.
After McDonald's I was still exhausted. I spent the entire afternoon sleeping again. When I woke up, it was time for Night Service. It was my turn to share my "treasure." Each month, a member of church has a show-n-tell of their most prized possession. Up until now, I had nothing to share. I didn't bring anything of value to Japan. But thanks to last week, I now had the perfect thing. My engagement ring. Of course, everybody knew what it was and we probably didn't even need to have them guess. But I also shared a story with them.
When I got the ring, I was in the middle of a depression. That night, I asked God, "Who am I?" He then gave me the song "Treasure" by Bruno Mars. The lyrics go like this: Pretty girl, pretty girl, you should be smiling. A girl like you should never look so blue... Treasure! That is what you are. Honey, you are my golden star. You can make my wish come true, if you let me treasure you. If you let me treasure you... You are my treasure. You are my treasure. You are my treasure. You. You. You. You are.
It was a fitting song. I asked God, "How can I remember this? How can I know this is true?" Then He said, "Look at your finger." That's where my ring was. Aaron had said that the diamond was nearly flawless, a really good quality diamond. It's not the biggest, but it's nearly perfect. God was saying that the ring is not just a symbol of Aaron's love to me, but also who I AM in Christ! Who I am to God!
Anyways, I shared this with the church and it really fit in well with the message that Pastor Hisashi shared. I think it all came together well, even if it wasn't surprising. When God speaks, it's wonderful and it's always a great story.
Bruno Mars is a Hawaii boy. Represent!
To top it all off, I got a surprise Valentine! Ryu-kun!
The Friday before this crazy weekend was Valentine's Day. Normally, in Japan, the girls give chocolates to the boys on Valentine's Day. But I was pleasantly surprised. Ryu-kun came to class with a bouquet of pink roses and heart chocolates for me! It was so cute and sweet. I had to take a picture of him. I'm really thankful (mainly to his mom because I know this was her doing!) and it was a nice Valentine's Day gift.
The last two weeks at church have been a nice change of pace. Two weeks ago, two girls from Taiwan came to visit and they had lunch with us. It was during the Chinese New Year weekend, so we got to talk about food. While eating food. They were very nice and it was a shame that that was their last day in Sendai. It would've been nice to get to know them a little more.
Aaron, me, and Sandy from Taiwan
We also had a nice talk with Maitta afterwards. Aaron and I really appreciate him. Even though he has a lot of trouble getting his words out and social interaction makes him very uncomfortable and tired (due to having Asperger's syndrome), he still opens up to us in a very honest and sincere way. It's very refreshing and it gives us the opportunity to pray for him, which we are always happy to do. When we do pray for him, we always see immediate results. His speech becomes clearer, he's able to sit at the lunch table with others, or he just seems less anxious. It's a real testimony to see God's power flowing in him, and it's a blessing. He also shared about how he's started a new goal for himself. Blogging. In English. He writes every day and it's his desire to share his story with others. His English isn't perfect and his entries are brief. But him expressing his story is something that I respect about him and I hope that others can check out his blog too some day.
Can you see the fourth car?
Last weekend, we had a lot of snowfall. According to the report, it was the most snow Sendai has seen in 78 years or so. It sure was a lot! As soon as I stepped outside my apartment, I was knee deep in snow. The poor cars were trapped. We saw so many people shoveling away and it took them hours just to clean out their driveway.
While we were in church, the boys and Joshua were having the time of their lives playing in the snow and building some really awesome igloos. I'd seen snowmen before, but I'd never seen an igloo before. I had to hop in! And the boys climbed to the top. It's amazing how it was able to support their weight without crashing down on me. It was too good of a photo op to pass. The pic below is probably my favorite since coming to Japan. They boys' faces are cute.
The igloos were the fun part of the snow. The bad part was the roads! Sendai doesn't clean the roads when it snows. Walking to and from my apartment is always scary. I live at the bottom of a slope and it's pretty scary to walk down ice while going downhill. Luckily I haven't fallen yet (this year). Aaron and I also spent the 11th together. It was a holiday (don't ask me which one), so we decided to make it our Valentine's Day. Aaron drove to downtown Sendai and I was shocked. I thought they would've at least cleaned the roads in the busy city, but it was even worse. The roads were covered in ice and we had some close calls! We slid a couple times in the middle of the city, going really slow, with pedestrians crossing all over the place. I've been told that all of Japan is not like this, that only Sendai doesn't clean their roads because there isn't much snow in Sendai. Maybe that's true in downtown Sendai, but every year that I've lived in Kuriu or Ayashi or worked in Osawa, I've seen a lot of snow. I think the city would definitely benefit from some snow plows! It's just too scary without proper road cleanage.
We spent the day going bowling. It was pretty fun. I actually won. And I actually sort of bowled how I used to back in the day. Like above average. The bowling alley we went to was pretty small and they had a lot of business that day. There was a young Japanese couple bowling in the lane next to us. The girl kept stealing my ball (the only one with the holes that fit my fingers), so I blame any bad frames I had on her. We bowled three games and I was already tired after the second. I'm paying the price today because I'm a little sore of doing those lunges!
After bowling, we headed to a Thai restaurant for dinner. We ordered a spicy seafood soup and pad thai. Two pad thais. We really should've only ordered one. After our meals, the owner gave us tapioca on the house. It was really delicious and I ate Aaron's too. After our long day in town, we finally drove back. That's when Aaron finally gave me this:
Finally!
It's been an exciting weekend. Next weekend is also expected to snow. Hopefully, not as much as this weekend. Even though the snow was fun, I really would like spring to come soon. Sunshine and flowers I like much better!
After a week spent crazily planning my wedding in Arizona, I returned back to Sendai shortly after the New Year. When I got back, the New Year celebrations were still in motion.
At church we had a special mochi pounding event. The staff cooked tons of mochi rice and set up two mochi pounders outside. One was a mini one and one was a regular sized one. The kids all lined up and I watched as they pounded (or attempted to pound) away! Aaron assisted the kids as the mallet was really heavy.
He got a few good whacks in too!
And so did I.
When the mochi was all pounded up and mushy and sticky, we all went inside to turn it into something we could actually eat. The church tables were set up on the floor and covered in mochiko flour. We then used our hands to roll the mochi into little balls and coated them in the mochiko flour. After covering ourselves in stickiness, we dipped the mochi balls into warm water and then stuck them into plastic baggies filled with different types of powder. One was traditional kinako powder (which is made from sesame) and the other was cocoa powder (or the stuff from hot chocolate packets).
The cocoa powder wasn't very effective. The wet stickiness just turned the powder into goo and it didn't really stick to the mochi and give it flavor. Mostly it was just a mess. The kinako was the winner.
It was my first official time pounding mochi and definitely eating them right after. This was Aaron's first time eat mochi for New Year's period. Also his first time pounding and eating mochi in the traditional fashion. It was his first time trying kinako. He loved it. He didn't really like the chocolate either. I'd say it was one of those cool "Yay, I'm in Japan!" moments where you get to appreciate the Japanese culture for what it is.
The next Sunday we had a special Christmas service. The children and some ladies played some Christmas carols on hand bells, and afterwards we had a great feast. It was a potluck and people brought many interesting and good foods.
The next day, we had a children's service Christmas service. The kids all gathered on the sanctuary floor and Haruka and Tomowari hosted the event. There was a short message, more carol singing, and several performances. One was a repeat of the handbell performance. The other was my Christmas Flashmob that I taught to the kids. I used the same routine that Bluewater Mission had done several years ago and several of the English students and staff members joined in. It was pretty fun.
Handbell carols.
After the singing and dancing, Santa and... Mrs. Claus (?) and Rudolph came in for a surprise visit. We had another round of Secret Santa, this time with the kids separated into two groups of boys and girls. Hisashi led everyone in a candlelit service. Children and open flame candles, AHH! Fortunately, the building didn't burn down. Afterwards all the kids got a present. And so did I. Yay!
The Sasaki Family also invited me over to their house for their annual Christmas tradition. We had a dinner around the table that was very American. It included a carved Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cake. Cake part not so American.
Hisashi carving the turkey.
After dinner, everyone gathered around the living room and exchanged presents. Each member gave a present to everyone in the group. I was surprised when even I got presents. It was a very kind gesture. Everyone got really nice things. Hiromitsu got a nice sweater vest. And Hajime got two cases of energy drinks. Everyone was amused.
In nearly every class I taught this week, we had a Christmas party.
The first was a Ladies Party held at one of my student's house (Mika). She had a really nice, spacious house that was decked out with lots of Christmas decorations. In one room, she had a Christmas tree and a huge pipe organ. All 3 ladies have experience playing the organ and Yasuko especially loves playing the organ. We all encouraged her to jump on and play a few songs. We gathered around and she played various Christmas carols. Mika and Junko sang along to the organ. Listening to the big organ and the ladies sing very classically was definitely like stepping into an old black-and-white Christmas movie, like It's A Wonderful Life. I couldn't sing along because it was a different sound and style that was really new to me.
Afterward the organ, we sat at the kitchen table, sipped coffee, at a delicious apple crisp Mika made, and talked story. They were really kind and surprised me with a gift. Two small gratin bowls. I don't think I'll ever make gratin, but I know I could use it to try out some other stuff. It was a thoughtful gift as they know I'm trying to teach myself how to cook. They're preparing me for the married life!
The rest of the week continued with various kids parties and small talk with the older students. Each class included lots of junk food, and after doing a vegan fast for two weeks, my tolerance for sweets and junk really went down. I was really feeling sick for the first several days.
For the high school party, Hiromitsu, Yoko, and I took the teens out for a night of bowling. It was really fun. I was amazed once I saw the bowling shoes dispensers! You just push a button and the shoes pop out at the bottom! Genius! By far, the coolest thing of the night.
Asuka going for the split!
Yoko and Riku.
For some of the students, it was their first time bowling. A few were already very good. I had a lot of fun and it was nice to spend time with the students outside of a stuffy classroom. I think we all enjoyed it. Our first games we were split into two random teams. The second games we were split according to skill. I got placed in the more experienced team... and lost. Riku and Hiromitsu were both very good.
When we were done bowling, we found a pair of Evangelion Bowling Pin costumes. I wanted Asuka to jump in the red one, but no one seemed to get that joke. (Get it? Asuka was the pilot of the red Eva. Get it?) Riku was happy to try one on though.
Looking good in Eva 02 and Christmas sweater.
At the end of the night, we had a Secret Santa and I got a pair of polar bear snow globe salt and pepper shakers. Yeah. It was a good night and I hope to do it again one more time before I leave.
Earlier in the week, the church through a Christmas party for all the ladies who attend church or lady neighbors. Most of those in attendance were on the older side. Little, old ladies. We had a young mom and her baby. And Hiromitsu and Hisashi were also there.
The New Chapel was all decked out with Christmas decorations. We also had a nice little lunch. It's something I'd stereotypically expect from England: cute, little sandwiches, tangerines, and tea. There was also a variety of Japanese pickles that I tried but didn't like. After lunch, we had cake. Christmas cake. It's a Japanese tradition. It's mainly a white sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries. It was good. Very light. But the cold Christmas season always makes me crave really rich foods, like hot cinnamon rolls!
Hisashi gave a sermon about Mary. I liked the spin he gave on it. He said that Jesus was not the hero of Christmas. It was a woman, Mary. The mother. It was a nice way to reach all the women and make the story of Christmas personal to them.
After lunch and sermon, we exchanged gifts. I was prepared this time! I made another yarn lei with the stuff I had left over. It was a lot of fun to exchange the gifts. It was kinda like musical chairs. Finally, the most stopped and I got my gift. It was a ceramic cup. It was really nice for 500 yen! Plus it was wrapped in a really nice handkerchief. It was like getting two presents instead of one. And who got my lovely pink lei? Hiromitsu! Not quite fit for a guy. At first he thought it was some sort of scarf! But maybe Ayumi would like it...
After presents, we had a candlelit service. I don't remember everything that was said. But, Hisashi lit his big red candles. Then one by one we each lit our own little white candles. In the end, it looked quite nice. After saying a prayer, we blew our candles out. And that was it!
It was a nice little service/party for the ladies. I hope they enjoyed it and were blessed by it. Now, on to my third party...
