To Kashiwazaki

We woke up with the sun today in order to catch our bus.

This time we a took a bus, and three trains and made it to Kashiwazaki by 3pm.

Saying our goodbyes to Fred and Chikako.

Getting onto the bus.

We sure scared the others on the bus with such a large group traveling with big suitcases.

As you can see we took up most of the bus.

Kenji's selfie.

On one of the trains.

The Kashiwazaki station.

Playing at the park.

Waiting for Kaitensushi (rotating sushi)

Ordering sushi.

And eating it. 

Last day in Ofunato

Today was our last full day in Ofunato. 

We visited more emergency housing units and ate some ramen.

In the morning we split into 3 groups and  two groups visited two different housing units. The other group stayed at home to make us a delicious fish lunch.

This is one of the bigger sites holding 300 housing units.

Once again they loved the bells.

Kenji decided to take a little nap.

He slept through the bells but as soon as they ended he woke up.

Most of the housing units had similar walls.

It's good to know many others have taken time to vist the people here.

Packing the van with materials and people.

The next kasetsu( emergency housing unit)

They loved the... Yup you guessed it bells!

After Kashiwazaki we plan on giving the bells to Chikako and Fred so they can continue to use the bells to reach the people of Ofunato.

But what they loved even more that the bells was the bingo.

The s'mores were a hit as well.

Some of the women noted "I feel like I'm an American" and that it reminded them of their youth.

We also sang songs,

shared why we felt we were called here to Japan,

and of course, took pictures.

We were surprise that they even made a flyer to help advertise our event.

One of the helpers posing with his neck warmer, and the clay An-pan Man they plan to make next month.

After the second housing unit some of us went to go see the local concert hall.

It was made out of concrete and the walls had rectangles with holes inside as texture.

They also had a book mobile outside!

After a long day of work we indulged ourselves by eating ramen.

Instagrammers or "Grammers" at work.  

Jared is showing us the "right way" to take pictures of food on Instagram, and Sarah is taking a photo-ception shot. 

We've been through a lot these past couple of days. Earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons... 

But it was a great time of ministry and learning not only for the people we reached out to but for ourselves as well.

Please pray for the continual growth in the Ofunato area and for Fred and Chikako's ministry. 

BAKED! Kit Kats!!!!!

While at the store we discovered something amazing.

Baked. Kit Kats. 

You take four Kit Kats out of their packaging and put them into a toster oven for about 2-3 minutes on 1000 watts.

Then they come out slightly darkened and super crunchy.

The picture doesn't give it justice.

The aroma can't even be described by words.  

Needless to say we are going to bring a few of these back.:)

As these delicious treats were cooking these three were busy cleaning in the kitchen. 

Ofunato Bible Baptist Church

For our Sunday service we attended the Ofunato Bible Baptist Church. 

Our service started at 3:00 and ended around 5:00.

The church does not have a pastor as of last May so they have several pastors from the surrounding area on rotation preaching every Sunday.

This Sunday the pastor was Kondo, Yoshia from Moriyoka Conservative Baptist Church. 

After the service we had almost an hour of fellowship time.

It was a great service overall.

The sermon was on Luke 21:1-4, titled Dedicate.

It was on the topic of "The Widow's Offering". 

Some of the main/interested points included:

•Jesus pays attention to everyone no matter how small, just as he payed attention to the small widow that nobody noticed.

•We compare ourselves to others and what we see, yet Jesus knows what we can't see, and knows us without the outside influences.

•The two copper coins tell us more than we think. The woman could have said that she would give offering when she was better off, or even gave one coin and kept the other to help her with living expenses. Yet she gave both coins and gave thanks to The Lord. 

•Another thing to notice was the fact that she did not negotiate with God. She did not give while asking God to give her double in return. She instead was thankful for the very little she had.

•At the same time Jesus was getting ready to give God his everything, just as the Widow had. 

Our Coast Trail Adventure

This morning because of the late service time we were able to spend some time at the ocean side.

First we went to a small pebbly beach and then we walked an easy trail.

They were both very beautiful.

It was full of all sorts of smooth pebbles and rocks.

As well as large,sharp rocks.

We saw some wildlife such as starfish and mussels.

Surrounding the area were trees and grass.

The trail was in a small forest, on a cliff.

 We had a great view of the Ranboya Channel. The waves beating onto the rocks created a rumbling thunder sound giving it the name Ranboya Channel.

Thee was a nice look out point with a bridge.

Aiko had fun picking flowers (mostly dandelions).

And Kenji had fun walking around.

Here we see Jared breaking the rules and crossing over the fence to get some pictures **gasp** and Sarah taking pictures while abiding the rules, as well as Aiko looking at the flowers she picked.

**Skip, skip, skip**

Kenji decided he didn't like walking THAT much and preferred to be carried.

Another look out point.

Almost done...

At the gift shop. Douglas, Elsie, Walt, and Glenn at checkout.

We also found some delicious matcha ice cream.