Saturday morning was the first day we had our car. We were so excited and so we decided to venture off on our own, into the city of Misawa. We first tried to find our church. To no avail, we could not find it. Bummer. So we eventually gave up and went on to task #2, finding the beach. We drove in the general direction of the beach and we came very close to it, but then some big thick bushes and trees got in our way. Luckily, Dave found a remote path. We took it in an off-roading sort of manner, (Shhh don't tell, we don't know if it was legal, but we saw no signs saying otherwise) Alas, we made it back to a normal road and found the docks. It was covered in a wet slushy mush from the rain, so we took a picture from a little bit of a distance.
Beautiful Pacific Ocean. Can't wait to swim in you.
Here is the crew getting muddy at the beach.
We then went to find a microwave. This was no easy task. We decided to pass on the Japanese ones, only because we wanted to know which buttons to push. Buying things that require you pushing buttons is a no go unless you can read their writing.
Also, on a side note, communicating with sales people is no easy task either. Especially when you know about 5 words all together. It does make for great stories though.
We did find the DIASOs which is there $1 store. We found a few fun things and a fun treat. The kids loved the chocolate poxys.
After getting lost a few more times we returned home to cook our crab. He was delicious.
We ate him down to the bone. Kids seemed to like it.
Another very adventuresome day. We did eat McDonalds for lunch so the kids could see it isn't all different here in Japan.
Sunday we found a wonderful family that let us follow them to the church. We had actually passed the church 3 or 4 times in our driving excursion the day before, just didn't know it.
Church was wonderful and we actually have quite a large ward, probably around 30-40 families.
The church pews aren't really pews though. I don't know why but they have chairs instead. At least my kids can't crowd each others spaces. The chairs are zip tied together so someone would have to take a whole row if they wanted to borrow a chair. (this made me laugh)
The ward family was amazing and we got invited to dinner on Tuesday. I love it that we are being welcomed so openly. It was a wonderful day.
I know what you are thinking..... Where is the opposition? Everything seems amazing. Don't worry, we just aren't there yet. I really do have a point that I will make soon.
Monday and Tuesday was spent getting the kids into school and picking up supplies for them. we also did some tedious shopping, laundry and cleaning up after birds. Yes, I said birds, crows to be exact. They are large in stature here and they seem to get into everything. The smell of the crab was very strong and I didn't want the garbage can to stink, so I bundled the bag on top of it waiting for pick up day. Bad choice, the crows got into the bag and dragged the crabs body all over my yard. That was fun, cleaning up crab carcus, I guess I won't do that again.
On Tuesday we went on found our first great deal in Japan. The kids needed white sole shoes for gym. On base you can buy them but they are about $40 each. Off base we found a place and bought all 4 for about $40. Yay, for starting to figure out where to buy things.
We also got to have a wonderful dinner with a family from our ward. Our twins are the same age as their daughter and Landon has a friend too. Just a little older but still within the same age. Yay. The kids hit it off instantly and everything was amazing. We are excited to get to know them better.
Now, the opposition slips in. My kids were off to school, even Courtney switched to a full day of kindergarten. My husband was off to work, I had non of our belongings, no car to go anywhere and I was stuck. Stuck at a home that doesn't feel very homey (yet). No friends, at least non I feel like I know well enough to call up. Then when I was able to talk to my family, it made me home sick.
I went from excitement and busy to doing nothing. Just being lonely and sad. It was hard and no fun. And then, to top it all off, the weekend came where we could play but instead everyone got sick. Courtney got sick, then the twins, and Dave. Everyone was sick, achy, coughing, and feverish for the weekend, my birthday weekend.
Luckily, Dave planned ahead and we celebrated my birthday. He wanted more than anything for it to be special and it was great fun. We had cake and presents. He even bought the candles that you can't blow out and wrote 32 with them. He is so thoughtful.
I got a new crock pot and gravy boats. It was fun to take a few min out of being sick and enjoy.
It was fun and I felt very loved.
Our sickness lasted 4 days and it was hard to see them all so sick. I felt blessed that I didn't have to participate in the sickness, but it was defiantly hard to be cooped up on the weekend too.
My actually birthday came and went, nothing special, and again I started to sink down into sorrow and sadness and loneliness. Satin is tricky when it comes to helping us doubt ourselves and to help us feel like are alone.
It seems like sometimes it rains a lot in our lives. Things don't go as planned, but the good news is that when there is rain, shortly after the sun comes out shines and creates a rainbow. My birthday night, when I was feeling down, I received some sunlight. , right before bed I received a phone call from a sibling. It was a wonderful conversation and all that loneliness dissipated. The next day my phone rang and rang. Some people who I hadn't talked to in a long time, people who I love and miss dearly called me. My facebook was blown up with love and kind words. I felt loved and cared for. All the loneliness left and I again was reassured that we were supposed to be here and serving the Lord here in Japan.
"Just because you are far away does not mean I have forgotten you."
No matter where you are today, whether you are in the rain, feeling alone or lost, feeling like no one cares or understands, or whether you are just starting to see the sunlight, where you have hope for a better day, or whether you are in the rainbow, enjoying the beauty. No matter where you are right now, know that the rain comes the sun will come and so will the rainbow.
Everything has its opposite, and it shall be for our good.
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