As many of you know, Martin and I were involved with the Ronald McDonald House in Lexington. This past Tuesday, our personal ministry day, we went to visit the Tokyo Ronald McDonald House. It is located in another smaller city about two hours away by rail. There are six RMHs in Japan and we learned during our visit that another one will open on our rail line in March of 2010. We are excited because it will only be 30 minutes from where we live, and we will have an opportunity to do volunteer work there. The house was very similar to the one in Lexington. You can see that some things are "lost" in the translation.

We thought it was cute how the slippers they had for us also had the RMH insignia on them. All guests remove their shoes at the door and wear these slippers inside the house. We were given a tour of the facility and found the house manager and staff very welcoming; just like Lexington. All of the houses in Japan have been built since 2001.

Today on our day off, we wanted to take advantage of the nice fall weather, so some of our team climbed the nearest mountain, Mt. Takao.

L to R: Jude, Sharon, Whitney, Amy, and us. Jude, Whitney and Amy are interns working here for 3 months. They arrived shortly before we did. We, and Sharon, are working as a team to establish a church in Tachikawa in early 2010.

Our day started out as a fun day outdoors, but having shared the same adventure, it turned out to be a bonding time for us.

On the way up to the 2,000 ft. summit, we came across an active Buddhist temple: leading to the temple were the "108 steps of sin" of Buddhism; each step representing a Buddist teaching.

I am thankful for a living and forgiving God that is with me at all times.