Seeing this was so familiar, but yet unfamiliar. The United States Embassy hosted a Friendship Day at the residences compound last Saturday. Four thousand five hundred tickets were made available to Americans living here in Japan and to other friends.

It was a day of fun for children and adults alike.

There was the color guard and United States Marine Band.

Lots of food that you don't find everyday..."Nawlins" style red beans and rice; nacho chips smothered in cheese, Domino's pizza.

What did I choose? A "swarma" much like we had in Israel. I figured it wouldn't be that long before I could indulge in the American fare before I would get back to the Middle East again.



I don't know if you can tell how wilted we felt. It was around 95 degrees with high humidity. We sat down to watch an outdoor show but decided that we needed shade more than entertainment.

It was a nice event and one appreciated. We had gone to the same kind of event when we were in Costa Rica and it brought back alot of memories of our homeland and how unique and special it is.

Here's our entire team of missionaries and interns at the Okutama Bible Chalet on the western fringe of Tokyo. There were 17 college and 15 high school interns from Texas, California, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, and Michigan. All of the interns had such a heart for missions! They were consistently bold in their witness, and gave of themselves many hours each day.

Our 9 weeks with the summer interns is officially over and during this time we hosted over 300 volunteeers. With their help, 250,000 Gospel tracts were distributed along with many personal contacts made.

The Tokyo team was subdivided into smaller teams, all named after Samurai warrior women. Our team, 3 college and 3 high school students, was the Miki team; what a great group of young men and women!

Left to right: Amanda, Kameryn, Dan, Julia, Jonathan, Jordan, Martin, and Melanie.

Of the three college interns: Amanda will be getting married in December and plans to go on into full-time missions with her husband; Melanie will be beginning her post- graduate degree in family counseling; and Dan will be working on his nursing degree with future work on the mission field. Of the high school interns : Jonathan will be a college freshman this fall and will pursue a degree in medicine; Kameryn, will be a senior in high school and Jordan will be a junior.

Above, I am holding a "sayonara" scroll doll which each intern received. Over a period of several days, all of the team members had an opportunity to put into writing, what each person had meant personally. It was hard to capsulize 9 weeks of work and experiences. (And there were the others on other teams that we had become very fond of!)

Our prayer for these young adults is to stay true to their beliefs and continue their close walk with God. As in Psalm 125 where it talks of the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, so God surrounds His people.It is our prayer that God will surround these young men and women.

Paul and his family visited us and Japan the last two weeks. It was good to have them here and to be able to share our part of the world with them. They were able to mix their traveling with visits with us.Here they are at Koganei Koen, a beautiful park that is located in the community where we live.

The sumo tournament is such a fun event to attend. The excitement level among the Japanese would be the equivalent of a Kentucky / Louisville basketball game going to the wire. A neat event that Michele especially enjoyed. This one was in Nagoya; they alternate wrestling sites with other cities and a month for rest periods.

The baseball games in Japan are also quite lively. The atmosphere reminds me of a college football game because there is constant chanting, clapping, and cheering.

Martin and I participated in a lottery for our seat selection. The seats that were assigned to us were on the first row, down the third base line. A good night with the family; and great seats.


At the Tokyo Dome, where the baseball game was played, there is also an amusement park. Claire wanted "Pop" to ride this "mini" roller coaster with her. Clarie really had fun; Martin still has a stiff neck!

This is not a Coke commercial. We were at the train station waiting for a shinkansen. It was just one of those fun "family" moments!

Claire is standing in front of the bronze statue "Hachiko", located at Shibuya station.This loyal dog would accompany his master to the train station everyday, then return in the afternoon to meet him. One day the man died while at work. Hachiko kept returning to the station waiting for his master to return. He did this for nine years until he himself died.This is a very popular meeting place for the Japanese.

This volunteer group of singers, from California Baptist University, worked with our team last week. They performed street concerts at several locations throughout the Tokyo area.

A group of ladies from Living Hope Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Kentucky joined us at Shinjuku one day . Here they are engaged in 5 Minute English at the train station; the busiest one in Tokyo. On other days they were involved in park ministry and at a women's center doing scrapbooking and American style cooking. The last day, the Japanese ladies prepared food for them; a neat cultural exchange.

Martin is engaged in 5 Minute English with a man that was on his way to watch a horse race. When he learned that Martin was from Kentucky, well, you can guess what he wanted to talk about. The man has in his hand a Hope tract that Martin had shared with him.

Park ministry is lots of fun... Ever try to follow directions for making balloon animals?

Annette is showing her group from Kansas where to twist and turn the balloon.

The children really enjoyed the volunteers. These balloons open doors of communication, not just to the children, but the parents as well. It was a great day.

Here we all are gathered at the park for our weekly Sunday morning worship. The states of Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, California, and Kentucky were represented well.

A very busy week!!

Japan is known for its gardens and we have not been disappointed with their beauty.

Along the paths, there are places to rest and reflect. Under this trellis of wisteria, you became "heady" with their fragrance.

I was hoping to capture how it looked as if it were "raining" purple droplets.

To me, this bridge captures the essence of Japan. Spaning the past with the future.


Martin has even become a fan of the gardens. I'm not really surprised since he enjoys his quiet places.

We still marvel at how in the middle of the bustling city, there are these pockets of quiet retreats.