English Camp

Once again the blog post failed to upload completely. Here is yesterday's post.

These past few days have been filled with  kids, learning (teaching) English, and having fun. So much fun that I didn't get to write a blog post.

So here is the past couple of days in one post.

Our first meal ended with s'mores.

The kids all got to make their own.

And had tons of fun doing so.

Everyone got in on it.

One of the events we had was story time. We performed short bible skits. 

This is the Good Samaritan.

During free time we played games in the cabin.

Or said bye to the day campers.

One of the many group photos,

Here's another.

Another.

Yup! You guessed it, more!

Oh hey look! Walt and Elsie. 

And here we go again. 

I swear this is it!

Because the rest are individual!

Oh getting closer! 

Boo!

Showing off her American candy.

Lollipop AND dried apples? 

Psh of course not...

Oh more swing shots.

Close up.

Nice and steady.

Too fast!!!

Just right.

Just chatting.

Upside down.

Right side up.

And unfortunately leaving.

Fortunately in cars and not bikes. 

Or maybe even staying another night... Well that's what we're doing.

Everyone has packed up and cleaned the cabins.

Bought their last bit of American candy.

Signed their last autographs.

And hit the high roads.

As for us we will be boarding into a train early tomorrow morning to travel to Sendai, Osaka, and Fukuoka, respectively.

Please pray for safe passage and energy.

Kenji has once again gotten sick. Please pray for healing for him and also strength for his entire family as they will be traveling to Osaka tomorrow.

Prep day

This post was meant to go up yesterday but the internet connection must have failed while it was being uploaded.

Today we had a prep and cleaning day.

After an 8:00 breakfast we had some free time. Some rested, some went shopping, others prepped for their individual classes.

The area is really nice.

There are lots of trees and other vegetation. 

As well as many bugs.

We are currently staying in the new dorms. 

After the campers come however, we will move into the other cabins.

For lunch we had "Nagashi Soba" 

The soba noodles would come down the (clean) gutter and we would try to catch them with our chopsticks and eat right there. It was really fun to eat as well as really fun to watch.

After lunch we visited the new pastor and his family at the Kashiwazaki church.

He has 5 children, 2 girls and 3 boys.

Including the youngest (the little baby boy).

The three children around the baby are the Sasaki children.

The kids really enjoy playing basketball. 

And Sarah and Jared both get really into it. 

You can see them working up a sweat. 

For dinner we had a "Mexican Mountain".

It is basically a taco on rice.

After dinner, the guys (and Ami) cleaned up for us.

And after that was done we had a meeting to finalize some details.

Kujiranami School

Today we got to visit Kujiranami School.

It is a local elementary school with 60 students in total.

We first met with the principal in the lunch room.

He took us on a tour of the school.

Our first stop was the gym.

Most schools in Japan have a gym and a swimming pool.

We also stopped by the teachers office.

And the principal's office. 

The school is actually 141 years old. 

So old that they only have pictures of its principals from about 90 years ago.

We visited several "specialty classes such as the music room, 

The home ec room,

the science room, 

and the art and crafts room.

Here is a refrigerator from the home ec room. 

Walter is there for size comparison.

 

Some student art work.

The first class we went to was a sixth grade.

They came up to us individually and introduced themselves in English. 

The introduction included their name, their favorite sport, and any dislikes and likes.

We made origami shirken with them.

And performed with handbells.

They also sang to us, 

and in the spare time left, we played Duck, duck, goose.

We said our goodbyes, 

And took a group picture.

In between classes we sat in the lunch room again.

Our next class was the 1st and 2nd grade class.

We played bingo,

And some students won some prizes.

We then played color tag in the gym.

Color tag is a game where the person who's it calls out a color and everyone must find the color and touch it before the person who's it touches them.

After a (sweaty) group photo, 

we left the school. 

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and prepping for the for the camp.

Please pray for Kenji Yamasaki as he is down with a 103 degree fever.

He is currently in Tokyo visiting Michiko's parents and the family will be traveling to Kashiwazaki tomorrow.

Please also pray for the camp and it's members, both staff and campers.