Honeymoon Pictures

Golden Temple, Kyoto

Himeji Castle

In front of Mt. Usu's smoking crater!

Jim at the big shrine gate in Kyoto


It was great to be back in Japan. I was surprised how much I had missed it. It was an incredibly busy trip, but I loved seeing my friends and colleagues and seeing how the churches have grown since I was there.



Sekiyado Chapel's church plant in Kasukabe has some new members and emerging leaders. The format is now an interactive Bible study, which is working very well.



The Mareppy Kids Club just outside of Date has around 20 kids every month--singing, playing games, and learning about God, and of course, snack time!



LIP gospel choir is going strong. I'm so excited for Nobuo Igarashi as he has just submitted one of his original pieces to the Gospel Music Workshop of America for possible publication and widespread distribution. If not this time, Nobuo, it will happen eventually! I'm looking forward to hearing the orginal LIP cd. It would be super cool to help them do a US tour. There are a couple of new families in the church in Date as well. That church just celebrated its 50th anniversary.



I had fun going to places I had never been such as Himeji Castle, and catching up with my friend Bobby Baden, a missionary with Christar, who've I've been in contact with since 2001, but met for the first time in person.



Because there was an electrician's conference in Date to prepare for the Summit, and because Nobuo had forgotten to make our reservation for us with the Kazumata's, we couldn't stay in Date. Poor us, we had to stay on the banks of Lake Toya, my favorite place in the world, in an inn that had an onsen! The church was very gracious to let us use their car!



I highly recommend the rail pass! Yes, it's a significant up front cost, but you will save big $ if you get them. We got our money's worth out of them the first few days we were in Japan. Trains are great. I sure wish they would improve the rail system in this country!



And to have good sushi again! I did miss going to my favorite ramen shop, but I did get to go to my favorite Indian restaurant. Coffee in Japan is pretty bad. The only decent coffee we had was at the Takazawa's house.



My Japanese came back nicely. I was glad that I remembered it.