Walking Together

"Accompaniment is defined as walking together in a solidarity that practices interdependence and mutuality." ~ELCAWhat a beautiful thing.Except as humans we often mess this up from time to time.  No matter how hard we try, and how good our intentions are, occasionally, our experiences, education, culture, and agendas will muddle this up. Thank goodness for forgiveness and being able to try again.And thank goodness for little children who can teach us how to do it right.We decided to have one of our members and his family over for dinner.  He had his children with him for the holidays and Nozomi had enjoyed playing with them at church.  We made some lasagna and pizza and sat down to enjoy some good food and company while our children played.  It sounds like a normal night with friends, but at our table three different languages were spoken.  And what was going on with the children was even more amazing.Our daughter is two.  Our friends children are five and seven, the oldest a boy. Our daughter speaks mostly English, and the other two children speak mostly Korean.  None of this was a problem. They happily ate pizza and played for well over two hours. It was amazing to watch Nozomi play doctor with the little girl.  The little girl would speak Korean, and Nozomi would respond in English.They were truly present with each other. They treated each other with Christ-like love.  
This is how the ELCA does mission.  We walk together and learn from each other.  We are present with each other.  We struggle and succeed together.  We open up to each other and become vulnerable.  We share and live in Christ's story together.  No matter what our zip code, we are all missionaries sharing God's love.  We are one church.
You don't always have to be the same age or speak the same language to walk beside each other.  You just have to be willing to give the Holy Spirit some space and open your heart a little.  You just need to have a little faith like a child.

Rice Bowl

The 69th Annual Rice Bowl at the Tokyo Dome
2016 is the Year of the Monkey

We took Nozomi-chan to her first ever American Football Game.  Our friends invited us to go with them to the Rice Bowl at the Tokyo Dome. After church we all got dressed in our Packers best and made our way to the Tokyo Dome (which is EXACTLY like the Metrodome: where we had our first date at the Twins game and I studied Summer Hebrew...ah memories!)

There was a long time to get in, but it moved quickly. Security checked our bags.  Big difference here then American stadiums, you can bring foods and drinks, including beer.  We entered the revolving door and my ears felt the pressure.  People were opening your beer for you and pouring it into cups.  (I later found out this was a safety thing to prevent people from throwing full cans of beer). There was also a place for me to check our stroller.  I call it "valet baby car parking."  I threw our coats into a locker for 300yen.

Mesmerized by the Marching Band

So what is the Rice Bowl?
The best college team plays against the best company team (I think similar to when the Packers were the ACME Packing Company Team).  We cheered for the college team, the Ristumeikan University Panthers who played the Panasonic Impulse.  

The game is very entertaining in of itself.  There were so many turnovers, it was hard to keep track of the ball.  We are unsure of the exact rules that are played, but the game has the same skill level as a D4 game.  I've never seen so many lateral/flea-flicker plays trick plays.  On one play, the Quarterback for the Impulse intentionally grounded the ball.  All the referees had to gather and discuss what exactly happened before they threw the penalty flag.  They then had to explain it over the loudspeaker because no one knew what was wrong. I think there were maybe 4 flags thrown the whole game.  We joked that it would be very dishonorable in Japanese culture to get a penalty against you, so no one breaks the rules.

Nozomi LOVED the game.  She never got tired of looking around.  We were seated near the college team and their cheerleaders.  She really loved Panta, the mascot panther.  We had been seated only about five minutes when the camera caught us and put our blonde hair cheerleader on the Jumbotron. Her other favorite part was watching the Band at Halftime.  She would not stop pointing.

Mama Look! 

Other notable differences:
-Beer/Soda/Food is not marked up significantly.  Prices were about the same as at many restaurants.
-People eat Takoyaki (fried balls of octopus) & Yakisoba (fried noddles)
-There was "Quarter Time" between quarters
-Everyone is careful to throw their trash away in the bins.

Sadly, the Panthers lost to the Impulse.  It came down to a missed field goal.  The whole game was close and exciting.