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.

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.