A Full Christmas

Several events for community people, including an afternoon with our two Praise Time congregations,

...and then on the 27th turkey time with friends at our apartment.

Family Christmas Party

We had a room full of people for our annual Family Christmas Party. It's a great opportunity to explain Christmas and encourage people to be part of Bible studies. Children and parents from our various outreach programs attend.

Heather had just returned from Calgary, so she helped Kimiyo with the actions for the songs. What they're doing right now is the sign language symbol for Jesus. You point with your index finger to the palm of each hand. Aiko is doing that. Two Christmases ago Aiko was baptized.

Carol did the Christmas story using flannelgraph while Miwako read the story.

What people didn't know was that Miwako was reading an English book and translating into Japanese in her head. To hear her do it, you would have assumed it was Japanese she was reading.

Decorating Christmas cookies is an annual tradition. Obviously some children have the philosophy that "more is better"

They also made "yuki daruma" or snowmen, out of coffee cup liners, modeling clay head, and gloves cut up to make hats and scarves. Once again the hundred yen store (dollar store) is a vital source for materials.

It's good to have so many parents attend the party.

Kimiyo brought some donated merchandise that people could take for a donation to relief efforts in Tohoku with the group that serves lunches in Ishinomaki every weekend. On the previous picture you'll see an attractive maroon leather jacket that is now Carol's.

A Holiday Visitor to Harumi

No, not Santa Claus. The Kaiwo Maru is a training vessel for students from universities across Japan who are planning a maritime career. It's docked at the pier at the end of our island for the Christmas/New Years season. While the rivers to the north, south and east of Harumi are narrow and there are bridges joining them to other islands, to the west of Harumi is an expanse that opens onto Tokyo Bay, so we are looking northwest in this picture. You can take a look at the area through Google Maps:http://maps.google.ca/maps?rlz=1T4TSCA_enCA441CA441&q=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E6%99%B4%E6%B5%B7%E5%9F%A0%E9%A0%AD&gs_upl=0l0l0l13321lllllllllll0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl