September 24, 2008

Hi Again ∆ this time from Toyonoka in Osaka City ∆

I spent a couple of days with our missionary Roberta Stephens in Tokyo. She has been in Japan for 30 years. Recently she took on the responsibility of setting up a volunteer program for people from the States who want to volunteer in Japan. It was a great two days for me to ask lots of questions about what has been happening in Japan for the last many years. Compared to the time when my parents were in Japan there are very few missionaries here now from the American Baptist Churches. None are here from the Swedish Baptist Union.

I have been able to make contact with quite a few people who knew my parents. The leader of the Japan Baptist Union, Mr. Nakamura, even had Dad as a teacher while in Seminary! He still had maps of the Holy Land that my dad had used in his teaching! One day we went to Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama. We lived there for three years while Dad taught there. Nothing about the place was familiar! All the buildings are new. What once used to be a magnificent view of the bay is now reclaimed land that has many houses on it. Far in the distance one could still see the bay where we used to go swimming. Kanto is a modern campus with a junior high, senior high and university.

On September 13 I headed for Osaka for my first assignment at the Sone Church. I was met my host family, the Watanabes. Mrs. Watanabe is the minister in the church. They have three sons ∆ a boy 11 and twin boys who are 5. CUTE!!! The first evening we went out to eat at a sushi restaurant that has the sushi on a conveyor belt. For 100 Yen you get a plate with two pieces of sushi (thatÕs about $1). At the end of the meal they count the plates and then you pay! The three boys out-ate me 3 to 1!!! They can really put it away!

My room is small. I sleep on a futon on the floor. I eat my meals with the family. Even modern Japanese homes donÕt have many built in closets or cabinets, so space is taken up by having to purchase cabinets and closets, making already small rooms seem smaller. But we have all the modern conveniences of running hot and cold water, dishwashers, clothes washers, and even warm toilet seats etc.

Two days we went on a church leadership retreat on another man-made island in Osaka Bay. You would have thought we had gone to the mountains of Colorado. No, there were no mountains, but the log cabins we stayed in could have been anywhere in the Rockies! The Sone church is small (about 39 members), but mighty! People are very dedicated to their church and the work of the church.

While here I have taught some English classes to 5 year old children in the churchÕs pre-school. Talk about CUTE!!!! Oh my! I want to bring one home! IÕve spent some time learning about what their activities are. IÕve eaten lunch with them on many occasions. You canÕt believe how well they put away the food! I generally get the same amount of food as they do ∆ and I am stuffed ∆ and these little ones clean up every morsel. Lunch usually consists of a soup, a bowl of rice, some fish or meat, a vegetable, Japanese pickles, and green tea. After lunch they all go outside to a basin to brush their teeth. Then off come their slacks and they all run around in their undies as they prepare for quiet time. They each pull out their little futon and towel and line them up neatly on the floor. Then everyone gets a cup of green tea ∆ then itÕs potty time! After a brief video it is nap time. And ∆ they actually are quiet and sleep during nap time!!! I donÕt think IÕve seen anything quite so cute in a long time!!! They all know the routine.

I have also had the privilege of leading a couple of Bible studies and even preached last Sunday morning. Mrs. Watanabe speaks good English so she has been my interpreter. Otherwise, when IÕm with people and they are having their conversations and meetings I try to catch as much as I can. I would say that I can understand maybe about 8% of what is being said. I probably know enough to be dangerous!!! Speaking is a different matter. Even though I can formulate sentences in my head I have a bit of trouble getting the words out. I think a 6 month stay in Japan would help my language skills immensely!

I spent two great days with a friend of RobertaÕs, the Mori family. What a great family and what a neat opportunity that was. Again Mrs. Mori speaks pretty good English, but her husband does not. But we got along just fine. Mr. Mori is a leader of youth rugby teams in the Osaka area, so on Tuesday we went to see rugby matches. You thought 5 year olds playing soccer are cute ∆ you should see 5 year olds playing rugby! Everyone attacks the ball at the same time and you never know where the ball is! There were hundreds of kids there ∆ and their families. Around noon they all sat down and brought out their Òbento boxesÓ to eat lunch. Most lunches consisted of rice rolls like California rolls, pickles, and a few vegetables. I had to take pictures of a little one year old girl who sat and chowed down on a rice roll with seaweed around it. Somehow I canÕt imagine Alexandria and Maia liking that too much. IÕve not seen kids drink anything except cold green tea.

Yesterday I spent the day with a 91 year old woman who belongs to the Sone church. I went to her home. She lives in a 75 year old house that looks almost identical to the house we lived in in Himeji. The floor plan was so similar. She speaks very little English ∆ but we managed quite well with dictionaries in hand. She has never been married. She has travelled extensively ∆ twice to Sweden, to Norway, Denmark, China, New Zealand etc. What a sense of humor she has! She has just purchased a bed because she thinks itÕll be easier to get into a bed instead of sleeping on a futon on the floor! She kept on feeding me ∆ first tea and rice crackers, then a little later a pudding, then she brought out some grapes ∆ and finally ended with some pumpkin soup!

IÕm still doing very well with food. Rice three times a day! Often we have miso soup with tofu for breakfast, plus pickles and green tea. IÕve not felt the need to eat American even when IÕve been in town by myself and needed to eat lunch. Next week I will be moving to another church and will be living in their guest house. IÕll be responsible for my own meals. I wonder what I will choose to eat then!

I donÕt have daily internet connection ∆ so I am not sure when this will be sent to you all.

Margareta/Margie

October 1, 2008 ∆ ShinAi Church in Juso, Osaka City

Well, IÕve moved to my new place. IÕve not been able to use my own computer to send off attachments, but today I am connected to a land line, so will write a few more lines about the past few days.

My time at Sone is over. The last few days I really began feeling sad that I was leaving these neat people. The children that IÕve had in English class have really endeared themselves to me. I have taught them the chorus ÒI am H-A-P-P-YÓ and they sing it with gusto! Whenever I see them they start singing it to me! They know it well!

One evening I went to Kobe to have dinner with another missionary family, John and Tomoko Armagost, and their children. Tomoko is Japanese and they met each other when John was here teaching English at Hinomoto GirlsÕ School in Himeji. Their two children who are still at home attend an international school in Kobe. Their oldest daughter is in college in Canada.

One day I participated in a field day in a local elementary school together with the children from the pre-school. You should have seen these little ones dressed in identical red hats to protect them from the sun. What has been fun about these kids is that they donÕt even know that I canÕt speak Japanese! They just keep talking to me like I know exactly what they are saying!

On Sunday I met with the womenÕs group from the church. I showed them a CD about Calvary (thank you Denise Wylde!!) and had a chance to share a little about what women are like in the US! I also had the chance to work with the children in Sunday School.

The head of the preschool invited me to dinner one night. I thought we were going to her home, but no! She and two other ladies took me to a most exquisite little Japanese restaurant for an amazing meal. Of course, we sat on the floor. But even the Japanese have become accustomed to sitting in chairs. So, even if we sat on the floor, our legs rested comfortably under the table. A Òboat loadÓ of sashimi (raw fish), egg plant, sliced beef, some tempura, pickles, sushi, a sushi roll, topped off with green tea ice cream was the menu of the day. To say that the Japanese people are tremendously generous is a huge understatement. It is like they cannot do enough to please. The four of us had a really great time together ∆ with dictionaries in hand in case we needed to look up a word!!!

My last night with the Watanabe family, I took them out to eat. When I asked them where they wanted to go, the boys all shouted ÒMcDonaldsÓ ∆ except it sounded like ÒMakudonarudu for hamubagasu and furiesÓ. Needless to say, the food was not exceptional, but the company was great!!! Kokoro (the 11 year old) has decided that he wants to come to the US for a Òhome stayÓ!

So I have said goodbye to this lovely family and am on to new adventures. Juso is only 4 train stops from Sone, so I hope to see them again.

Hopefully I can get these two accounts sent off today. Thanks for following along on this journey.

Margareta/Margie