These last few days have been crazy!!!!! There is so much to
tell but I would rather not make you read a novel of a post to get an idea of
how awesome of an experience this is. So I am going to do what I did in a
previous post and give you the high lights of the last week. I also have been
working on the other Exodus 16 series but keep getting side tracked by research
articles… and then when I am ready to come back to writing it is already late
at night… I will finish though and get it up here by the end of the week.
Oh yes! If you are having trouble commenting on the blog do me a favor and send me your comment in an email and I will post it up there! (hieb.jah@gmail.com) Thanks!!!
So from last week Wednesday:
02/22/2012
This was an exciting day! Mainly because class went well but
more importantly because I got to learn some magic!!!! I have a student who
actually had actually made initial contact through the Jaspersens. He became an
English student with in the first week of me being here. We have some pretty
awesome classes/hanging out time. Besides the magic I found out that he is
skilled in two martial arts and won first place two years in a row in Miyagi
Prefecture for bodybuilding. Now you may ask, “what do you mean?” What I mean
is that when this guy was 30 years old he was a gorilla. He maxed out on his bench,
squat and dead lift for a total of 600KG, which converts to somewhere around 1322.77357311.
I mean that is pretty impressive. Now if you saw him today… it’s a little
different story. He explained his size this way: “I deflated”.
02/23/2012:
Thursday night. My first Toastmaster’s meeting ever! I won
best Table topic of the evening!!! And got a pencil to prove it! I heard three
speeches about the day of the Tsunami… it was really quite interesting. We were
in a very emotionally secure environment for the people speaking, which allowed
for some extremely emotional speeches. Until this evening I had very little
understanding of the thoughts and emotions that some one would have been
thinking. Tonight gave me an even better understanding of how to communicate
with some one who has been through this natural disaster. The information I was
privileged to hear I would never have expected. I could tell you about it but
to be honest that would not be fair to the people who used tonight as more of a
group counseling session than a speech club. So I am not going to give you
detail but I am going to post another article about this night in about two
days.
02/24/2012:


The fun part of this day was in the evening. As tradition I
treat myself to meeting new people by going to the Temporary restraints every
Friday evening for dinner… This Friday was no different. I walked into a new
restaurant. I struggled through the ordering process (because my reading is
still bad and there are no pictures). I ended up asking him to surprise me! The
owner asked me what the LECC was…he saw my fleece that has the logo on it…
Thank goodness for branding and marketing!! I obviously struggled through
explaining this…until (dun dun dun duuunnnnn) a young chap walked in and said,
“Hey what’s up! Who are you? (In English) turns out this young chap was my age
and was Japanese but had rocked out a year in California and spoke English like
a native. He also was a wormer employee of the rastaurant I was sitting in. He
now became my translator/friend. This turned into meeting two other guys that
were there that also spoke some English. These guys were cameramen for a
Japanese news station. In the end we had a pretty awesome evening talking about
God, food, some new Japanese dance comparable to the cupid shuffle (I will
teach it to any one who wants to learn), and the fish market. The night ended
with me agreeing to meet my new friends at 5:00AM the next morning at the fish
market to watch some sharks and gigantic tuna come in to port. Pretty awesome…
we are pretty much best friends now.
02/25/2012:
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Kesennuma Horumon (pig intestine) |
THIS WAS THE BIG DAY!!!! This day definitely fits the
criteria for top five days in Japan. It might even take the whole cake! Today
the center was open for a few hours. But because of the snow all of my English
classes canceled… but happened next was a million times better. I had been
invited to a toastmasters meeting where clubs from around Japan were coming to
Kesennuma to encourage the people of Kesennuma. I decided to go ahead and grab
on to that opportunity. It ended up being a trip not even Bob Marley could
match. We had a few minor hiccups but this is the very fast version of the
night: had a super Japanese meal including raw shark brain (kind of sweet
tasting), Kesennuma Horumon (fried pig intestine, a Kesennuma specialty),
amazing emotional speeches in English and Japanese, I met and befriended a
Buddhist Zen Monk! (He is going to let me come to his temple that he is in
charge of and have a look around!!!! Pretty stoked about that! Ooo and he has
email… who would have thought?), Laughing, crying, more eating, pictures, a
rainbow colored wig, many many toasts, more laughing, more crying, giving a
speech at the end of the night to wrap up the event…making people cry…making
people laugh. The end… or so I thought J
The number of connections made for the LECC through this
event was priceless. The amount of support and appreciation received tonight
was incredible. God blessed the LECC center in more ways than any of us could
believe. This made me extra excited for the month to come. The blessings just
keep coming… now we need to make sure that we effectively and efficiently use
those blessings!
02/26/2012:

I had another superb set of English classes lined up for the
day! The “Lions Chaser” was first up and this proved to be a very educational
couple of hours as we talked about the origins of Buddhism and some difficult
beliefs of Christianity mixed in with some talk about food and family. This was
followed with a little adventure through Kesennuma for the yearly festival that
takes place by the harbor… pretty awesome. They made the Guinness book of world
record largest apple pie! And yes I bought some and ate it… Amazing!!!
This was later followed by a surprise revisit from “the Lion
Chaser” who brought me a slice of heaven… chocolate pie that his sister baked.
I am pretty sure he comes from a family of dessert makers… because this was
better than the apple pie!
08/27/2012:
The center was closed today. It is closed every Monday to A.
give me a chance to run errands B. to have a break C. to hand out fliers if
available.


This Monday was spent doing a little of each. In the morning
I did some errands and then in the afternoon I decided to go check out Oshima
Island because I had heard so much about it. The ferry ride was fun!!! I walked
a few parts of the island. Saw some beaches that were pretty awesome… found some
gigantic star fish… tried to find the temp housing units but was not so
successful…climbed the island’s mountain for a view of the sunset… When I
returned to Kesennuma later that evening I decided to go to the temporary
restaurants for dinner. I went to the same place I had gone with the
toastmasters crew a few days prior. When I walked in the door the owner’s of
the shop said “JESSE!!!! You came back!!! We had so much fun with you! How long
are you in Kesennuma for? (In Japanese)!!! The temporary restaurant owners
pretty much all know me and most of them have the center’s flier hanging up in
the shop. This particular restaurant actually has a picture of me pinned up on
the wall!!! If you ever make it to Kesennuma go check it out!!!

02/28/2012:
Pastor Nadaira and Pastor Nakamoto arrived today around
2:00PM! They surprised me with some presents of quilts and five huge boxes of
clothes!!! I was not expecting this at all so this will be nice to have
something extra to do during down time. These clothes will prove to be quite
interesting as well I am sure.
02/29/2012:
Today was interesting… I have to switch hotels because the
one I have been in is full for the next two days… I will move back in on the 2nd
of March. As I left, the hotel staff told me they were eagerly waiting for my
return! It is nice to be missed J! I went with Pastor Nadaira
and Pastor Nakamoto to hand out quilts to people in the destruction zone. This
proved to be a very interesting experience…
In the afternoon we went to the “home depot” here in
Kesennuma to get a pole to hang the clothes that the pastor’s had brought with
them. While we were there a man came up to me and started speaking in English.
He asked, “What church are you with” This question was likely prompted because
I was wearing a fleece that had the LECC logo on it. There are four of these
fleeces. Pastor David Habben and his family paid for these fleeces to be
embroidered. We recognized there was a need for some branding and marketing so
this was one of the minor steps that were taken…Good thing!!! Turns out the man
was the project coordinator for Samaritan’s Purse. This is actually a really
awesome organization. Turns out they have been here since August and are
building houses for those who lost theirs. They hope to have built over 120
houses in the Kesennuma area before April. AWESOME!!!! Anyway we talked for a
while and I am going to be heading over to their center to see what is going
down and maybe utilize my slightly rusty carpentry skills for a day or two.
So there you have it folks! Kesennuma is working hard!!! the anniversary of the Tsunami is just around the corner! Today marks my half way point. I return on March 31st to Milwaukee. Its going fast! I still have to get in a lil winter camping!!!
Enjoy your weekends!
Hey Jesse! Greg and I are in Tucson with Tom and Wanda and are reading your recent posts. They keep up with your entries too. Sounds like every day brings something and someone new. I'm sure you are being a blessing to many. I can just picture you---being yourself and endearing yourself to everyone you come into contact with. Isn't it great to share God's love with them? Keep up the great work that you are doing. We will keep you in prayer and continue to follow your blog. God bless! Jana
ReplyDeleteDear Jesse,
ReplyDeleteYou won't recognize my name most likely, but I've known your mother since her first teaching years at Grace School in Portland, Oregon, and she has sent me your blog from Japan. What a very interesting blog! And what a marvelous experience you are having. I so very much enjoyed reading about what you are doing--I tried hard to not gag at the thought of some of the food you had to eat--ha! You write a very interesting blog and I'm so happy to read about your days over there.
Praying our Loving Lord will continue to be with you and bless you in all that you do, giving you many wonderful memories from this time.
In Christian love,
Faith
Jesse! Hello! Thank you very much for your faithful work in Kesennuma area. I am sorry that I decide not to go this time. I have many work to do in Mito,now. I am very exaited to hear from Pastor Nakamoto about activities there. You and people there are always in our prayers. We keep praying so that He guide you and strengthen your faith in the Lord, and Bless people in Kesennuma so that they will have the hope in Christ! God is with You!! Ganbatte
ReplyDeleteJesse, We love the pictures! What beautiful scenery. You'll have to frame some of them. I can't believe that woman yelled at you! That's nice that you are protective of your Keen shoes! However, I hope they are not becoming an idol for. You have mentioned them several times in your posts. (just kidding) I love seafood, but the stuff you are eating does not sound edible to me. Are you going to ask the wedding caterer to use some of those things in her dishes in October? (I hope not!) I guess I'd be willing to try anything once, but I doubt you'd get Andrea to give it a try.
ReplyDelete