Kimono Christmas

 This year I had the opportunity to get dressed in Kimono, traditional Japanese clothing.  I really wanted to wear Kimono to Christmas Eve service and one of the wonderful ladies at church arranged it. Three of my friends also decided to wear Kimono.  We were the talk of the night, especially us Americans.

Getting dressed in Kimono is not an easy process.  In fact,as there is much preparation.  There was shopping, and we kept getting measured.  The Kimono teacher met with us at least twice to make sure we had all the proper undergarments, layers, and accessories.  There was ironing and discussion of footwear and hairstyles.  Then the night of the big evening came and we had to arrive early and stand very still as we were dressed.  Nothing in Japanese culture is ever simple.  I was amazed at how complicated putting on a simple looking piece of clothing can be.  Every time I thought we were close to being done, Sensei pulled out another rope looking thing and tied something else around me. It took me more than 45 minutes to get dressed...more complicated than my own wedding dress.

I loved wearing kimono.  It was difficult to walk in, but this was the one time being a married woman with a child had an advantage.  My kimono had short "married" sleeves.  My obi was also tied in a way that I could bend over, lean back, and sit down to hold a child.  It was tight, but it felt really good to have back support.

Christmas Eve was beautiful and went well.  (Except for that part where Nozomi was upset that I forgot to take my keys when I went to read the texts and ran screaming across the sanctuary. A good reminder that we were all there to celebrate the birth of a noisy little child).

Christmas Day we celebrated by holding our annual evening Christmas party.  Over 30 people crammed into our tiny apartment to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Singing Hymns outside Tokyo Lutheran Church before worship.
(picture by Sachie)

Kaori, Cassie, Tauna, and Nozomi in Kimono.
(picture by Louise Lystig Fritchie)

Missionary Family on Christmas Eve.
(picture by Nozomi N.)

German Mulled Wine during our Christmas Party.
(picture by Junko)

Merry Christmas from the Roths!

Why I Love Christmas in Japan

 Nozomi is still napping and there is a little lull before our festive holiday activities continue.  I image there was a moment similar for the Holy Family.  Jesus sleeping peacefully at his mother's breast.  Joseph exhausted napping in the hay.  Mary just sitting back reflecting lovingly at her family, amazed by all things, never expecting that a bunch of shepherds are on their way to greet her son and things are about to get crazy.

This will be our fourth Christmas in Japan.  For a country that lacks Christianity, they sure love to celebrate Christmas.  I don't think most Japanese know why they are celebrating, but there is something marvelous in the way they've embraced our western Christmas traditions and put their own spin on it. How many other places how you seen a Christmas card with Santa and Baby Jesus?  Jesus has a way of sneaking into Christmas.  O' Little Town of Bethlehem plays in a department store. Stars top Christmas trees.  He's there if you are willing to look.

I love about Christmas aboard.  It's easier to focus on why we are celebrating.  It's been four years since I've been bombarded by Holiday commercials. We never have to make decisions about whose family to visit on Christmas.  And we can always blame the postal service when presents don't arrive on time. We can celebrate Christmas in our own way.

I'm so excited for this upcoming week.  Tomorrow we have the congregational worship and Christmas party.  Japanese parties tend to feel boring, but I love the Christmas party because everyone is in a festive mood.  I also get to dress Nozomi up in a pretty Christmas dress and show her off.  One of my first memories of coming to Japan was attending the Christmas party, so it holds a fond place in my heart.

And I'm excited for Christmas Eve.  I talked several friends into wearing Kimono, traditional Japanese dress reserved for holidays and special events.  It's not common to wear it Christmas.  In fact, I've never seen anyone wear Kimono to our church.  But I really wanted to, so now a group of us is getting all dressed up.

My favorite thing Christmas Eve is walking home from church.  All the convenience stores have made their employees dress as Santa and sell Christmas cakes on the street.  We greet each one with a cheerful Merry Christmas.  Our little family makes our way home to our quiet apartment, exhausted and happy.

Christmas Preparations

I made the mistake of telling my toddler the nativity story. She loved it.  Sheep, twinkly stars, presents, and a cute cuddly baby.  She now expects there to be a live newborn baby at Christmas Eve service.  I'll just add that to my to-do list.

This week leading up to Christmas was going to be low-key, but it's getting packed with Christmas festivities.  Monday we woke up and watched the Packers while eating green french toast made by the little one.  Then I ventured out and showed the new J3 the international market.

Today we took a trip to Costco and IKEA.  We don't have a car, so we bring a large suitcase on the train.  It takes us about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get there because of elevators and transfer trains. we at meatballs at 10:30am because they looked so delicious. We decided to get a turkey for New Year's Eve and Erik carried it home in my backpack.

Tomorrow I'm going to take Nozomi to the aquarium to see Santa.  I also read there is a Sea Lion show where they preform to handbells.  She'll love it.  Then we are going to eat curry for lunch and head to Toys R Us.

We have a guest staying with us for a few days, so I'm going to clean the house on Thursday and prepare room in our inn.  Erik is going to take Nozomi to her favorite place: A-so-bo-no, an indoor play park.

Friday we have an international potluck at playgroup.  I love potlucks with our international community.  They are scrumptious.

We have a day of rest on Saturday (maybe a good day to bake the 200 cookies I need for Monday), and then our marathon to Christmas Eve begins on Sunday with a large congregation worship and party.

It seems stressful and busy, but we love it.

Missionary Life

"You don't get mail!"

 I recently said these words to one of my best friends, Sarah, who is a YAGM (Young Adults in Global Mission) Coordinator alongside her husband in Cambodia.  (Read about them here).

We often exchange emails and try to find time to Skype to discuss our lives as missionaries.  We were roommates in Seminary and have perfected the art of having two different conversations at the same time.  I was super excited when she and her husband moved closer to me.  (Cambodia is in Asia and only two hours behind!!)

Recently we discussed the challenges and benefits of being a missionary and expat.  I had just been to the library and was feeling down because I was in a room full of books that I could not read.  I really missed my local library and being able to communicate in my language 24/7.  So I gave Sarah a call to vent and cheer myself up.

But then she took me back to reality when she explained the way of getting mail in Cambodia. They've been there almost a year and never received mail.  We get mail two times a day, everyday and can have a package redelivered the same day within the two hour time frame of our preference.

Really, neither of us lack anything in our lives.  It's hard to be homesick when Shake Shack and Taco
Bell both opened in Tokyo this year.  This also makes it hard to explain to people why we are here in Japan.  People often think of missionaries in impoverished remote places.  But just because we have drinkable running tap water and trains that are never late, doesn't mean we can't bring God's love here.

Japan has many things, but religion is does not.

The people here are very spiritual poor.  Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world. People are lonely. Fewer people are marrying and having children.  The birthrate is declining and the economy is not doing well.

Sarah and I at Luther Seminary Graduation.

We've worked really hard to let the Holy Spirit work here.  We have invited people into our lives and home with the message that ALL are welcome and accepted without condition.  It's a blessing and a daily challenge to be able to see God work in people's lives. The Holy Spirit comes in many different forms, and here in Japan it comes in friendship and acceptance.

People back "home" may not understand or "get it," but we are in the right place doing God's work with our hands and it's a blessing to have friends to share our journey.

Giving Thanks

Pastor Erik reads a Psalm before we start.

Each week during worship, we celebrate a meal.  We gather around the table, break bread and drink wine while we remember and celebrate Christ's presence in our lives and world.  Meals are important to the Christian faith.  Jesus's first miracle takes place at a wedding feast.  Jesus eats with sinners and tax collectors.  Jesus feeds 5,000 hungry people on a grassy hill side.  Jesus himself was born in Bethlehem, Hebrew for House of Bread. And Erik often reminds me that they word 'companion' literally means "one you break bread with." Jesus always shows up when there is food.

So it should be no surprise that, for our family, sharing meals with others has become the heart of how we do God's mission in Tokyo.  From women's group, to dinners, and afternoon lunches on Sunday, we love to enjoy a meal with people.

This weekend we got to share our love of eating together by breaking bread with over 60 people.  We hosted the annual Tokyo Lutheran Thanksgiving Party.  Erik and I have been planning for over a month.  We invited people from Tokyo Lutheran, Hongo Church & Student Center, Nozomi's friends from playgroup, and other friends.  We really enjoyed having all the children there.  After dinner they ran around the tables filling the air with the sounds of their laughter and joy.  It really made it feel like a holiday.

After we feasted, everyone introduced themselves and said what they were thankful for.  Many were thankful for the opportunity to have Thanksgiving away from home.  Some were thankful for new friends and community. Many were thankful for their family and spouse.  It was very humbling to hear all the people that thanked us personally for inviting them not just to our party, but into our lives somehow.  I was near tears after everyone had finished talking.

The two delicious turkeys Pastor Erik roasted.
The key is butter and an oven bag.

An abundance of bread.

This year's Thanksgiving Spread.

Over 60 guest gathered at Tokyo Lutheran Church to
give thanks to God and celebrate life with each other.

Trick or Treat Tokyo

Nozomi rocking her Tiger Costume.

I'm still giddy with excitement from the fabulous night we had.  Tonight was Nozomi's first time trick or treating.

Halloween in Japan continues to grow in popularity each year.  In every train car this Halloween night you could see young men and women dressed up in costume. People love to dress up here and they love holidays. The Hyaku Yen (Dollar Store) has a bigger Halloween display each year and our okashi shop (candy/snack store) had big bags of candy for sale.  Many people make a special trip to Tokyo Disney for Disney Halloween and Halloween parties and parades are can be found in many different regions.

Trick or treating is spreading to more neighborhoods.  We chose to go to the Hiroo neighborhood. There are many foreigners that live there in very nice houses and apartments.  It was also well organized with a circulated list of participants.  Each house put out a pumpkin to show that you could trick or treat there, but most people just stood outside their gate or in the entryway and handed out candy.  Apartments pooled their candy together and there were huge bins of candy!

There were so many kids! They were dressed as Anna, Elsa, Batman, witches, pumpkins, and princess and on and on.  It would had been impossible to ring doorbells.  I couldn't believe how many people came out.  Most of the adults were in costume, too.  I thought it would just be foreigners, but there were many Japanese kids and their parents.  I heard French, Australian, Japanese, American accents and more!!

Oh, and Nozomi totally rocked her first real Halloween.  She fussed a little bit in her costume and was timid at the first house, but once she realized she was surrounded by other kids and got candy, she put her game face on.  She patiently waited outside each house, carefully selected her candy, said "thank you" and bowed.  I've never seen her take something so serious or behave so well.  I was so proud and overjoyed.  Tonight I feel truly blessed to live in a safe city, to have a supporting community, and to have such a wonderful little family.

Kids lining up outside a complex waiting for candy.
We had perfect weather.

Nozomi patiently waits for her turn to pick out a candy.
She takes Trick or Treating very serious.

Trick or Treating on the streets of Tokyo.

Nozomi's goodies.  The perfect amount for a slow toddler.
Other kids had much more, and we ate some on the train.

Kaimono o shimashou ka! (Let's do shopping!)

I just had to share this picture.  I often had this look on my face when we first moved here.  What dose this box say?  What is this?  How do I make it?  After 3 years in Japan, we can navigate the grocery store very well.  We actually shop at 3-4 different stores.  All stores have the basics, but some shops are less expensive or carry special import items.  We go to the store every day.  This is common in Japan because people buy fresh ingredients.  We also have a very small fridge. (Remember your college dorm? It's about twice the size of that).

We're getting very excited for many upcoming activities.  Last week we celebrated Nozomi's 2nd Birthday with a few of her friends from playgroup.  They really enjoyed carving a pumpkin.  For my birthday I went out to karaoke.  Next week we will go hiking for Erik's birthday.

Our special English Christmas choir has been practicing.  The flyers for our Thanksgiving turkey dinner have gone out.  And Erik and I keep looking at our living room thinking about how we will arrange our furniture for our annual Christmas Party.

The air is full of excitement as we prepare for the birth of our Lord.

Worshipping on Vacation

Do you attend worship while you are on vacation?  Honestly, I would have never thought about doing this before we moved to Tokyo.  Vacations are usually full of activities, guilty pleasures, and rest. Worship just never made my list of "vacation activities."

Almost every Sunday at Tokyo Lutheran Church, we have visitors on vacation come through our doors. We love visitors.  As an international congregation, they often connect us to our own countries.  They bring opportunities to speak our native languages and share similar experiences. They give us a chance to share our current city and culture. We give travel advice and take them to unknown locations. It's a reminder of God's global church.

This summer we took some time off to go visit family.  While we were home we had the opportunity to visit several congregations.  Nozomi and I worshiped at Messiah Lutheran Church, in Galva, Illinois.  This was a great chance to visit one of our new sponsors.  While we were in Wisconsin, we all drove down to Green  Bay, where Erik preached at Calvary Lutheran Church and Nozomi and I made an early morning visit to Grace Lutheran Church.  It was great to reconnect with old friends and co-workers.  It was wonderful to sing in 4-part harmony with a large congregation.

We also had the joy of taking Erik's 91-year-old Grandmother Betty to her church, Shepherd of the Bay in Door County, Wisconsin. Nozomi sat quietly for an hour and half next to her great grandmother.   (Nozomi had so much fun with the busy bag, she asked to go to church the next day). While we were there, we met another couple and their toddler from Tokyo that were also visiting their Grandmother.  We also bumped into two ELCA missionaries that serve in Hong Kong.  After a short conversation we learned that the husband serves at Sekino Sensei's advisor at the Seminary in Hong Kong.  What a small lovely world!

When we visit other churches on vacation we are reminded that we are really one church.  It's moving to sit with strangers on Sunday and sing the same liturgy.  It's powerful to know that around the world Christians are saying the same words together: asking for forgiveness, praying for each other, building community, hearing words God's grace, mercy, and love that give us hope for a better world.

Pentecost

How many churches in Japan?

This was a question raised by a pastor at an interfaith worship service we attended.  The pastor went on and on about how there were NOT 300 and NOT 400, etc churches, but there were something like 7,000.

BEEP!  Wrong!  We both wanted to shout.

There is only one church in Japan. God's church.  God only has one church in the whole world.

On Sunday we celebrated the birth of that church.  At Tokyo Lutheran we gathered as one body and worshipped singing songs in our two languages: English & Japanese.  One can imagine what it would have been like that day when the Holy Spirit came upon everyone.

At the end of the service, the children throw rose petals to symbolize the Holy Spirit coming upon us.

After worship we had American style hotdogs, Slovakian soup, Korean Kimchi, Japanese Rice Balls, German Cheesecake, Cookies from Paris, and more!!

If We Worshipped like Toddlers...

If we worshipped like toddlers, our Sundays might look like this:

On your way to church, be sure to wave hello to everyone, especially babies and dogs.

When you arrive to church, run through the halls greeting everyone hello, especially the office workers. Take your time. Even though the bulletin lists worshipping starting at 10, this is merely a suggestion. There is always time to say good morning.

Run into the sanctuary and go straight to the front.  Smile and wave to your pastor, but do not walk up the two steps to the altar.  Stand in front and look at the cross and altar with awe.

Bring friends: there is always room at God's house for more, even baby dolls and stuffed animals.

Sing loudly and joyful whatever is in your heart...whenever the spirit moves you.

Empty out all the money of your wallet into the offering. Trust God to take care of you.

Take turns sitting with everyone in the congregation.  There is not such thing as "your pew."  For extra fun, find a new spot after each song, prayer, reading, etc.  Nobody should feel lonely on Sunday.

Question everything.

Get close.  Get close to people.  Get close to the altar.  Get close to the organist.  Get close to God.

Smile and dance during communion.  This is the feast of our Lord and not some somber party.

Love Thy Neighbor

Japanese people are polite, but they are also very shy.  They rarely talk about their personal lives. There are a few people that we found out they were married...over a year after knowing them.  This can make living in Japan very lonely.

This past week we got to know our neighbors in our building a little bit more.  Erik accompanied two seminary students to India to serve at the Mother Teresa house.  Nozomi and I had 10 days to survive.  We made it two and a half.  One night, she was throwing a tantrum and landed in our recycling.  She sliced her finger really bad on a tin can.  After a few minutes, I realized I was going to stop the bleeding and she needed stitches.

I rushed downstairs to our neighbor, an older woman who speaks beautiful English.  I explained the situation and she asked, "Do you want me to go with you to the hospital?"  "Yes Please!"  She knew a clinic around the corner and walked with me as I held Nozomi.  She even carried my bag for me.  She helped me fill out forms and went into the office with me as Nozomi was stitched up.  She even sang to Nozomi who was crying hysterically.

The next day I baked her cookies to thank her for helping us.  Nozomi delivered them herself.  The woman even came to check on us a couple times during the week so see how Nozomi was doing.

I feel so grateful and blessed to have such a kind and helpful neighbor.  Truly God was acting through her to help us.

Over the weekend we were walking back from lunch and a couple of the little girls in the building asked if they could play with Nozomi.  They came over and entertained her for over an hour.  They had so much fun, that they came back and brought some friends the next day.  Erik and I kept looking at each other as the kids ran in and out of our apartment.  This was wonderful!  We really felt that we were now apart of our community.  Our daughter has playmates!  It was great to have them entertain Nozomi, and we felt good because we knew their mom was having a well deserved break down the hall.

This past week we have really felt at home in our building and neighborhood.  We've been here two years and it's really starting to feel like home.

(Christmas in Japan) On the 9th Day of Christmas...

Merry Christmas from Tokyo Lutheran Church

Happy 9th Day of Christmas!  Even though the Christmas lights and trees have been replaced with  sheep (2015 is the year of the sheep) it's still Christmas at church.

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve service.  Our new English Choir stood outside the church and sang hymns before the service.  It was fun to see people pause as they walked by and look at us.  Some even stopped to read the sign!  Our small choir even sang during the service.  We wore lights around our necks so we could see our music. Some visitors joined our choir since we were singing traditional hymns.

This year we had a record number of visitors to our service.  Somehow the word got out.  We had 88 people commune and probably another 10 or so that received blessings.  It was a amazing.  Two years ago we only had about 30 people, a rusty praise band, and someone's hair caught on fire.  We are growing.

Christmas Day is not a holiday in Japan.  Many of our regulars at church also go to their home country to be with loved ones.  We have started a new tradition for the evening of Christmas Day: the Roth Christmas Party.

Making Hot German Wine Drink

Since many people can't be with family and friends or their family and friends aren't Christian, we have them over to our apartment for appetizers and drinks.  Everyone brings something and it's a lot of fun.  This year we had an American-Japanese-Chinese-German party.  The highlight was definitely some hot German wine (Gluehwein?).
For New Year's Eve we celebrated by having the J3 Missionaries over for dinner.  Some of them went to join the millions of Japanese people at the temples to welcome in the New Year.  We stayed home and played games.  We also watched TV.  At midnight the temples and shrines open and everyone goes in to pray so that they have good luck this year.  On TV they showed many of the beautiful temples in Japan.  We were all commenting "I want to go there!" after each one.

It's very different than New Year's in the US.  It's a very quiet serious event...not an excuse to get drunk.  I found it very interesting that in a country of atheists the biggest event of the year is going to the temple to pray for good luck.  I couldn't imagine spending New Year's in the US watching the media show different churches.  Most people go to the temple out of tradition, but I also think it really shows that people here are looking for something more...and in a culture of rules and tradition will they find what they are looking for in a religion with a God that breaks all boundaries and frees us from ourselves?

Merry Christmas from the Roths!!