At one of our ladies Bible study, Marcia Haug had given us some persimmons. I had honestly never heard of or seen this fruit before. However, David said that he grew up with 2 persimmon trees on the farm. Marcia had made a persimmon bread for us and it was so good, when she gave us the persimmons I asked if she wouldn't mind sharing the recipe so I could try it out. She did and this is how it turned out.....
These were the persimmons that Marcia gave us, they were soft and ready to be used for bread.
I cut off the ends of the persimmons and the peels, this is what the inside looks like. I had to pick out each seed individually.
This is the persimmon insides after I took out all of the seeds.
These breads were so yummy. The pans are small so one batch in one pan in the states is about 3 little pans here.
Unless you can find things frozen, which is only at 1 or 2 stores that sell foreign items and it's very expensive, you have to cook and bake by what is in season. I had enough persimmons for 2 batches, so after I removed the seeds I froze the second batch of persimmons. It will make for a yummy treat later on.
David found some persimmons on sale for 100yen each, when shopping that week. 100yen is a little more than a dollar.
David said that these are some of the biggest persimmons he has ever seen.
Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan because it's a Christian holiday and the religions practiced in Japan are Buddhism and Shintoism. We posted about the difficulties of being a Christian at this link- Click Here -there is more information about Buddhism and Shintoism at the blog link also.
Some people have asked what we do or how we spent our Christmas. In the U.S. whether you are a Christian or not you usually celebrate/observe Christmas with family or friends and most establishments are closed or have shorten hours. In Japan, it's just another day. The current emperor's birthday is December 23, and is celebrated as a holiday.
December 23 was on a Sunday and if a holiday falls on a Sunday it is observed on the following Monday, which was actually Christmas Eve. So many people had Christmas Eve off. At our church we celebrate together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Some church members may be the only Christian in their family and it can be a lonely time for some of them.
On Sunday, the 23, we had a big church service at our main location and had a covered dish luncheon. I love these meals because we get to try lots of yummy homemade Japanese food.
All the shoes of those present at the December 23 church service.
There were 115 present at the service.
Getting the tables set up for the lunch.
Fun in the kids room!!
Eating
The Japanese have a unique way of gift giving. Whether it's Christmas or not, if you receive a gift from someone it is polite to return a gift back. There are a few things to know about gift giving though. Marcia explained everything to me, which has been helpful. If you are invited to do something, it is polite to return an invite to do something or have a meal together. If I am returning a gift, I should not put it in a food container or bag that is re-usable because then food or another gift will be put into the container or bag, returned as a gift and the cycle starts again.
Marcia said that we would probably receive some Christmas gifts from people at church. I prepared by making Peanut Butter cookies and putting them in one-time-use bags tied with red ribbons. My dad sent over Bath and Body Works Christmas scents antibacterial hand gels. They do not have scented travel size hand gels here and I asked for them for this specific occasion. When we received something, I had cookies or a hand gel ready to give :)
Peanut Butter Cookies!!
The hand gels.
On Christmas Eve, we went caroling at a local mall.
The group
After caroling, we went to the church for a Turkey Stew supper and a 'white elephant' gift game. They play this game that you can steal a gift as many times as you want. It was a great weekend.
After the Turkey Stew, someone brought these little cups with fruit dessert inside.
Everyone waiting for the game to begin.
The gifts.
Mr. Shimoda got some purple body wash :)
When someone opened a gift everyone would look very closely to see what it was.
This man opened an apron. Someone took it from him!!
He ended up with a Christmas mug.
This green pillow was one of the most wanted gifts and it got taken and exchanged so many times I lost count.
This little guy got our gift. It was a teddy bear/pillow and a red blanket. We were glad that a child opened our gift!!!
On Christmas day, Tony and Marcia Haug invited us over for Christmas lunch. We enjoyed spending time with them and their 3 kids, who go to college or work in the states, and Hilary, the other English teacher. We had an amazing lunch that Marcia prepared and played Rook and Scrabble.
We had a great weekend and then enjoyed Skyping with our families in the states :)
New Year's is a big holiday in Japan. Marcia told us that many establishments, including Grocery's, used to be closed for about 3-4 days or the whole week. The grocery next to our apartment building was closed most of the week of New Year's and there was no trash pick up. There are many Buddhist and Shinto traditions celebrated here in Japan. One Buddhist tradition that is done on New Year's Eve is the ringing of the Bonsho Bell. (bonsho bell means temple bell) At midnight, Buddhist temples strike a large cast bell with a pole 108 times. 108 for each earthly desire that is believed to cause misery to mankind. We have a temple across the street from us and bells are rung at various times through-out the day. At midnight on December 31, we sat in our living room and heard it begin. We eventually lost count but we knew what was going on.
Bonsho Bell
We stayed at home and celebrated our New Year's, knowing it would be our last one as just 'two' and not wanting to go out and get caught in any crowds that may be around at that time. On January 1, we began 2013 with a church service at our main location. I love when all 3 locations meet together at the main location. Each year a new verse is hung at the front of the church.
In the upper left-hand corner is last year's verse posted at the Center location downtown, where David and I usually go and the Pre-School is located.
The verse for 2013 is 2 Timothy 1:6 "For this reason I remind you to fan into the flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands." NIV We were challenged to choose 3 people that we work with or know of in our neighborhoods or friends and to pray for them everyday in this upcoming year. To invite them to events, to reach out to them, to minister to them, and to present the Gospel to them. We do not know what 2013 holds, only God does. Pastor Tony left us with 3 challenges: 1-Love God more this next year 2-Give more time this next year for Jesus 3-Next year this time be ready to give a testimony of who we prayed for and what happened. We trust that ya'll had a great Christmas and New Year's. We look forward to what 2013 holds and we appreciate your prayers and interest for us and our ministries here in Japan. We will continue to update as often as we can about our ministries here in Shimonoseki.
We were very thankful when arriving to Shimonoseki to find that our apartment was very spacious and has 3 rooms not including the kitchen or bathroom. One room we use as a living room, one for us and one for Samuel. We were only expecting 1 or 2 rooms and a small kitchen/eating space.
Our style of apartment is actually refereed to as a Japanese mansion because there is so much space and the walls are thicker then most other Japanese apartments. The Shimoda's, that took us to the Samurai Residence, (Click Here), helped the church in finding an apartment for us. We are very thankful for it and the extra space that we were not expecting. It's perfect for us and our size family, until baby #2 comes along ;)
Entryway view with the bathroom door on the right and our bedroom door on the left.
We come through this door from the entryway to get to the kitchen.
This closet is in the hallway between the entryway and the kitchen.
The middle shelf holds extra food and various items because we do not have a pantry.
The bottom shelf is perfect to store our suitcases.
The top shelf is great for storing boxes for appliances when we move or for storage later.
Looking into the kitchen from the entryway. The storage closet is on the left and the sliding doors to Samuel's room are on the right. Curtains are hung in this photo also and you can see next to the table on the right the sliding doors to our living room.
Samuel's other sliding door.
We purchased a shelf to keep our oven on and other items that we use on a daily basis as well as our wonderful Japanese style refrigerator.
This is our kitchen!! It has lots of cabinet space. I actually had to purchase a step stool because I couldn't reach the top shelves.
Dishwashers are not commonly found in Japan unless they are purchased separately and they are about the size of our oven that would sit on the counter. We found an awesome dish-strainer!!
There is no central heat or AC, so we only heat or cool portions of the apartment at a time. For this reason being able to section off certain rooms of our apartment is great. We only heat or cool the room/rooms we are currently in or using if at all. (Click Here) to see our first pictures/blog post of 'Our New Home! in Japan.'
One year ago, we began this blog for the ease of keeping in contact with people and updating them with our life and ministry. We announced that we would were preparing to go to Japan and work with a church to help with their English teaching ministries with the desire to see the Japanese people come to know the one true God. During the first few months of 2012, we sold many personal belongings, found a renter for our house in Lynchburg, VA, moved to a temporary apartment and began putting some things into storage. Before summer began we finished our jobs in Virginia, moved to North Carolina to live with David's parents to be in our sending church, First Christian Church of Ramseur, and found out that we were expecting a baby. During the summer we prepared to pack and leave for Japan in August. We visited with family and friends one more time and packed our bags.
Since moving to Japan, we have transitioned to a new way of life. With the help of Tony and Marcia Haug and many of the church members here in Japan, we got settled into Japanese life. We began to learn about Japanese culture and language. We began to work in our English ministries and have seen the need first hand that is here for the Japanese people to know the truth of the Bible and what Jesus Christ did for them. We want to say thank you to those who have been supportive through your encouraging words, prayers, and financial giving. It makes being away easier when we know that there are so many back home that support us in what we believe the Lord has led us to do. We look forward to 2013 as we prepare to continue to work with the Haug's, Shimonoseki Christ Bible Church, and the English teaching ministries here. On January 5, we will celebrate 5 years of wonderful marriage and Lord willing in a little over a month (or sooner) we are expecting a baby boy. We have been so incredibly blessed and we give all the glory to God!!!
