Snow and Celebration

Snow fell on Friday night and delighted all the participants who had never seen snow. They were like kids at the first snowfall. The ARI Opening Ceremony was held on Saturday, and we saw native dress from the Philippines, Nepal, India, Kiribati, Sri Lanka, Mynmar, Ghana and other countries. Dignitaries and guests came, and there was a reception following.

We met ARI's founder, Takami-sensei, who is elderly now. He and another pastor had a vision for this rural training center 38 years ago. We are thankful we had the chance to meet him.

At night, we had a celebration and danced to music from different countries. Lots of energy from the young crowd!

We attend church at the United Church Of Christ in Nishinasuno. The ARI bus takes us there, then stops for food shopping. Sunday afternoons are free, and we walked to Nogi Shrine and enjoyed the cherry blossoms. After, we found a German bakery! Ah, tea with milk and sachertorte!

Getting oriented

We are rapidly becoming acclimated to our new surroundings and duties. There is no other choice! ARI is a mini United Nations. Learning so many new names is a challenge, but we are all in the same situation. Staff members are teaching participants and volunteers to manage this farm together. The responsibilities are many.

I have poultry section this month. Each morning before breakfast and each afternoon before dinner, my team waters and feeds the Rhode Island Reds and turns their fermented floors. We collect, weigh and clean eggs. Some go to market. Guess who gets to eat the cracked ones! These are the freshest eggs we have ever eaten, for sure.

Bob works in the pig and cow section, where we are awaiting the arrival of a calf. Afterwards, he works with maintenance to replace doors, flooring and fix whatever needs fixing. Soon he will renovate the couples' quarters so we can room together!

Mornings and afternoons I work in the office assisting with Ecumenical Relations. In addition to proof reading and editing, I am working on a promotion piece to show ARI supporters the need for a new wood chipper.

We are getting used to eating rice at every meal and changing to slippers in each building we enter. Crickets in the bathroom are becoming not so unusual. We are surviving!

The End of a long travel day

Here is Bob at the End of a long travel day, eleven hours on the plane, 1.5 hrs to get on the bus, 2.5 hrs on the bus, schlepping bags across the street to the train station, and the final 40 minutes to Nishinasuno.

Vancouver, BC

it was cold and windy on Thursday but we braved it because the sun was shining and so Bob could take pictures. Got some nice shots of the Dr. Sen Chinese garden, totem poles in Stanley park, and Vancouver harbor and snow capped mountains.

on our way

Yesterday we had a great family gathering, and our church commissioned us as missionaries to ARI. It was a wonderful send-off. We are as ready as we will ever be. Tomorrow the journey begins and we'll fly to Vancouver on April 7 and on to Japan on the 9th.

Live Online

The blog is live and online with 3 days to go before we leave.

what to bring

We have never packed for five months! Traveling light is not an option this time, unless we want to buy everything once we arrive. So we have tall farm boots, work clothes, better clothes, work shoes, nicer shoes. This layout is only Joyce's portion. And here is the packed luggage. It is heavy, but we made the weight limits. I wonder how we'll schlep all this around a train station!

I guess we're ready. A yoga friend loaned us Japanese phrase books today. The Yakkan Shoumei (import certificate) arrived! Now I can legally import 5 months of prescription drugs!