Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a week full of joy and surprises...

Christmas Day in Japan was different indeed...

a Christmas Eve service mostly in Japanese with a bit of English thrown in here and there

staying up till 2 am with a couple of my Japanese friends, both named Naoko (one of whom spent the night with me), talking about the meaning of Christmas
(Naoko, my closest Japanese friend) (a Naoko sandwich - inside joke) grins ;)

waking up in the Bengtson house (the missionaries in Akita who've been here for 18 years) with a stocking stuffed with peanut butter, chocolate pudding, peanuts, and random fun Japanese snacks and other things


met another English teacher, Brooke, who had asked to come to church with me (very much seeking God)

the service being in Japanese, we kind of had our own message in the back, talking about the "Branch of Jesse" - kind of random, but God used the illustration to bring together the progression of his promise to us... Abraham and the covenant... Christ, the fulfillment of the covenant... A new heaven and new earth to come


together, we made our way to another Eng teacher's apt and 4 of us (me, Brooke, Honey, and Glen) watched Sea Biscuit... oh so very random

headed back to church for an evening Christmas party (the party ended with a Rachel-led game of Christmas pictionary - it was absolutely hilarious!)

AND at 11 pm I walked a freezing 10/15 minutes (one way) to the post office (which is open 24/7) to pick up my mom's amazing Christmas cookies (wonderful Christmas present!)!!

December 26:
(I promise I won't break down every day) :)

a very very very early morning (considering I went to bed at 2am) - 4 am - to catch the 5:36 train to Takanosu... which I missed by ONE MINUTE because it took 40 min to walk from my apt to the train station instead of 30 min because it was snowy and icey and windy. grrr But thankfully, the next train left at 6:30. So, hamnashida.

and THEN! A WHOLE WEEK WITH AMY AND HER PARENTS AND SAM! grins Who is Sam, you ask? Well, ask Amy. grins
lots of fun and adventures and food and speed scrabble and boggle and hikes and talking and laughing and lots of hugs! :)

me and Amy pooped out on the snow

Amy and Sam pooped out on the snow :)

beautiful


our goal: the top of Kimimachizaka. well worth the 1km 2 hr thigh-deep snow trek.
absolutely breathtaking

on the bridge in Takanosu

And of course, the 5 of us passed the New Year together, ending
the day at the onsen (hotsprings).

Amy's a punk!

grins hffma! :)
(on the way to the onsen)

Last night, Amy and Sam took the night bus to Tokyo to catch their flights back to Thailand and the U.S. (Amy met up with Kat in Tokyo, too!). And today, I caught the train back to Akita.

I miss them already!