Trip to Mainland - Recap

OK, here's a look at what I've been up to the past 8 days.
この８日間のまとめです。

Moving／移動：

Sapporo to Tokyo to Okutama to Iruma to Tokyo to Kobe to Osaka to Kobe to Osaka to Kobe and back to Sapporo.
札幌→東京→奥多摩→入間→東京→神戸→大阪→神戸→大阪→神戸→札幌

Modes of Transportation／交通手段：

Van, car, bus, monorail, subway, train, airplane, and of course, my own two feet!
ヴァン、自動車、バス、モノレール、地下鉄、電車、飛行機、足

Activities／活動：

Calvary Chapel Pastors and Leaders Conference／カルバリーチャペル牧師及びリーダーの研修会
Kansai Gaidai Festival／関西外大の学際
Kobe Port Pier／神戸ポートピア
Mino Falls Hike／箕面の滝
Spa World／スパワールド
Takawa Church／高和教会
Kachoen - Flower & Bird Park／花鳥園
Kobe Chinatown／神戸の中華街

People blessed by／祝福ピーポー：

The entire Calvary Chapel crew／カルバリーチャペルの皆さん
Bolinger Family (their kids are sweet!)／ボリンジャーご一家（子供たち本当に可愛らしい）
Sam & Grace／佐伯ご夫妻
Keegan／キーゲン
Yumi／友美
Christina／クリスティナ
Aaron／アーロン
Shuji and Shimada／主子と島田
Paulo, Ryota and Keiko／パウロ、良太、ケイコ

I will update with pictures of most everything you can read on this update. Well, not the transportation modes. This has probably been one of the best weeks of my life - thank you Lord for all the blessings! I do not deserve this!

今度は写真入りの更新をします。本当にこの一週間はすんごく祝福された時でした。神様ありがとう！私の必要以上をいつも考えてくださり、満たしてくださって感謝いたします！

Snowed in?

Unbelievable, it's still October and already, we have snow! I had forgotten how short the fall season is in cold climates... just at the start of September I was crying about not having A/C in my apartment. Then a month ago, it started to cool off and the leaves started to change colours a few weeks ago. And just as I was starting to enjoy the cool weather and the beautiful scenery when Tuesday it snowed! So yesterday I took a picture of my car. First time this Okinawa car has seen snow!

まだ１０月なのに雪が降ったなんて、信じられない！このような天候は久しぶりで、秋の短さに驚いています。９月の始まりに「アパートにクーラーがない」と嘆いていたのに、数週間後に涼しくなって気持ちよかった。そして紅葉の季節に入ったばっかりと感じてたのに関わらず火曜日に雪が降りました。まぁ、神様が雪を降らせたので文句言えないんだよね。昨日は沖縄ナンバーの車を発見して初雪の沖縄車の写真を撮りました。

Prayer Answered!

I already posted on this nearly 3 weeks ago, when the certificate of eligibility came in, but now it is officially in my passport and on record: you are looking at the first Calvary Chapel Sapporo missionary! And I was given a 3 year visa! PRAISE THE LORD!

３週間前に認定証が届いた時にも投稿しましたが、昨日から公式になりました。私は史上初のカルバリーチャペル札幌の宣教師です！しかも３年間のビザが与えられました！主に感謝します！ハレルヤ！

Autumn - Beautiful Hokkaido!

今日はちょっと暇があって地方にドライブしに行きました。支笏湖は日本の最も深い湖の一つです。その周りにある森林はちょうど今、紅染めの真っ最中！残念ながら、札幌から出発するのが遅くて、いっぱい写真は撮れなかったけどこのような景色だった。

Today I was able to take a drive out the the countryside to a place called Shikotsuko. It is one of the deepest lakes in all of Japan. Well anyways, the weather report also gives a foliage report, and they said Shikotsuko was "in season" whereas some of the other spots in Hokkaido are already "out of season." So I went and here's what I saw:

Yuni Once More - 由仁・ワンス・モア

木曜日の夜はいつも通り由仁町に行って伝道をしました。今回はキーボードがなかったため、スティーブさんが御言葉を分かち合ってくれました。由仁町のSさんがいっぱい質問して、本当に救いが近いと思います。続けて祈りましょう！

Thursday night, as always we headed out to Yuni to do ministry. Since we didn't have a keyboard with us, we mostly did ministry through the Word. Steve shared, and Mrs. S had lots of questions. I think salvation is near! Let's keep praying for Yuni!

TOO SOON!

I can't believe my eyes... look at the weather forecast here! (You don't need to know Japanese to understand what it says.) SNOW in OCTOBER? I'd like to say "bring it on" but I'm not mentally prepared for winter yet! Nor do I have enough winter clothes! Couldn't we have at least another month of snow-free weather, God?


これは早すぎるよ、神様！１０月の雪は悲しいよ！まだ冬服は持ってない！あと１ヶ月ください！まぁ、神様は全能全知だから大丈夫だね！がんばります！

#1 Professor

OK I probably should not choose favourites now, should I? But I have to say I have been inspired by this lady. In my eyes, Kathi Bailey is the ultimate professor: she is extremely intelligent but very down-to-earth; she is friendly and personable; she has purpose in everything that happens in her classroom; she treats her students with great respect; she has a wonderful sense of humour, she has the power of observation like none I know; she knows the answers to many questions, and when she doesn't, she knows where to direct us to find our answers. I really hope to have her as my thesis adviser. Of course that will depend on my topic, but I almost want to do something in her area of expertise just to increase my chances of "getting" her! Thanks, Prof Bailey, for the inspiration!!! I look forward to that lunch in Monterrey if/when I swing by!


英語で僕の気持ちを言い表すのに奮闘しましたので、日本語ではなおさらだ！ベイリー教授は僕の中で完璧なプロフェッサーです。簡単に言うと、抜群な知識に人間力。模範生じゃなくて模範先生だ。僕がベイリー教授のようになりたい！いろいろありがとう、ベイリー先生！もし良かったら僕の卒論の指導者になっていただきたいです！そして、カリフォルニアのモンテレイに行くなら必ず連絡します！一緒に食事でもしたいです！

Dinner on Day 3 with the AU Classmates

Saturday night after the class sessions, a bunch of us (6, I think) went for a walk towards the main road, towards the subway line. We found a place that served dak galbi - you gotta try it to understand. Now I know why Pastor Tommy told me I couldn't leave Korea without trying it! It was so spicy but so tasty! It was awesome talking to Arun about his agricultural career, his novel-writing career, his machinery career, and all these things before the age of 14! Man I have interesting classmates! Anyways, it was a delicious meal, and the guy helping us (the only guy in the place who could speak English) was cool. I walked out with my bib (on purpose) to see if they would stop me, and they didn't so I ran back in and gave it to them... couldn't live with myself for 'stealing'! Anyways, thanks all for partaking with me in my final supper in Korea!


土曜日の夜、授業終わったら６人で街を歩いていた。みんなお腹空いてて最後の日だからこそ韓国料理が食べたかった。ので、ダッカルビ屋に行きました。すんごく美味しかった！トミー牧師が「韓国料理といえばダッカルビ」と言った理由はやっと理解しました！食事しながら僕と同じ血を持っているアルンといっぱいしゃべれて最高だった！アルンのお父さんはインド人でお母さんは白人です。僕も同じです。二人ともクリスチャンで二人ともインドに行った事がない。二人ともアジアに関心があります。（アルンは中国、僕は日本。）とにかく楽しい一時をありがとう！僕はアナハイム大のクラスメート、大好きだ！

Lunch on Day 3 with the AU Classmates

This is turning into a food blog, isn't it? We went to a pizza place because we were all spiced out... anyways, the sign there said "Love for Women" so we had to have a picture next to it! I had no idea pizza places in Korea preferred female clientele! But I guess they do. Well, the pizza was tasty and fairly reasonable in price... better than most J-pizza I've eaten! Woohoo!

なんか、食べ物ばっかりだね！土曜日は女性陣と一緒にピザを食べに行きました。男性も何人かいたんだけどレストランの窓に「ラブ・フォー・ウーマン」って書いてあったから女性陣だけの写真を撮りました。可愛いでしょ？

Dinner on Day 2 with the AU Classmates

Tonight we ventured out a little farther to get our evening meal. Itaewon is kind of like Gate 2 Street in Okinawa, but bigger and with more shops. So I bought me a Jarome Iginla jersey for around $30, and got some good food at Gecko Garden. Then we just hung out and talked for a few hours before calling it a night. I gotta finish my homework for class, after all! Good times with the classmates, though!


今晩は昨日よりちょっと遠く行って夕飯を食べました。そして人数も昨日より多かった。国籍、個性、多様性のあるグループだったけど同じ勉強をして同じ苦難を受けているから仲が良い。今日は空港通みたいな雰囲気のある街に行ってアイスホッケーのユニフォームを買って「家守の園」というレストランでアメリカンフードを食べました！その後、違う場所に行ってしばらくクラスメートとおしゃべりをしました。少し早めに帰りましたけどまだ宿題が残ってるからそれに取り組みます！また明日、時間があれば更新します！