because you can't just study all the time...

more highlights from our time in shizuoka...

kyle and junpei who is now studying UT Austin!

marifu and jen flashing the peace signs!

outside the house where we stayed during our language study

our teacher's daughter, mariko. she was a delight!

be sure to continue scrolling down for pics from our language classes!

Japanese 101

here's a couple shots from our recent 2 week Japanese refresher course!

Natsukosensei reviewing Japanese sentence structure

hittin' the books :)

summer camp style #2

goofy poses with fresh veggies :)

enjoying the fruits of our labor from the garden!



smiling faces at the beginning of the trip back home. six hours later we arrived after driving through the mountains in a typhoon. oh yeah, and did we mention jennifer was driving on the highway for the first time since coming to japan?!? :)

summer camp style!

ahh, the fresh air of NaganoNorio, a Tokyo BEST alum
picking potatoes at Norio's parents' farm
Kyle in his element

enjoying the beauty of the countryside
the guys at dinner
the setters organized a fear factor game. the ultimate challenge: a raw egg, whole octupus, sports drink and raw carrot chunk in a glass. bottoms up!
Kyle and Mary recovering after eating half a raw onion. Kyle hasn't eaten onions since!
Rebekka and Chris bobbing for limes in a bowl of yogurt mixed with wasabi and hot peppers!

Thank You Setters!!!

Ariel teaching Keigo how to play the guitar

our little family - Ariel and Rebekka stayed with us most of the summer :)

playing games at the last Shaberanito (BEST club meeting) of the summer...

a day at Tama Zoo!!!

the whole tokyo summer team sharing lessons from their time in Japan...

thank you for your sacrifice, service and for sharing your hearts with us and with the students this summer! you will be missed!

An Old Japanese Saying: "Climb Mt. Fuji once, you are wise; climb it twice, you are a fool!"...

10:30pm we left for the mountain!

Still smiling on the way! The way back they don't look as happy :)

There are 10 Stages of Mt. Fuji this is stage 7.

There were 3 groups of people who climbed the mountain: Fast, Medium, and Slow. Meaghan, Lisa, Chris, Masashi, and Kyle were in the fast group. The true Mt. Fuji champions were the women in the group. They were super genki!!!

On Top of Mt. Fuji 5:00 am! God's creation is so BEAUTIFUL!!!

This is a great picture of Masashi that represents what it feels like after climbing Mt. Fuji...

Maybe the saying is true, maybe I am a fool... :)

please pray...

we felt the earthquake around 10:15 am here in tokyo, but not nearly the way it was felt in niigata...hundreds injured...seven dead...i honestly hadn't thought much about today's events until getting online now. i was so alarmed to read these sentences from an article concerning the earthquake:

Japan sits atop four tectonic plates and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. The last major quake to hit the capital, Tokyo, killed some 142,000 people in 1923, and experts say the capital has a 90 percent chance of suffering a major quake in the next 50 years.

...90 percent...in the next 50 years...no wonder it's dubbed "the city that's waiting to die"...

makes me realize how much this city and this country and this people need the gospel. i'm a little jolted now...sad...realizing we don't always have as much time as we might think... i'm resting in God's sovereignty and goodness and amazing ability to use the insignificance of our lives to impact His Kingdom...

please pray for this country and this people, that they might know the truth

here's the link to the whole article if you're interested: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19778870/

the set'ers!

Here's some pics of our summer team folks (or SET'ers as we call 'em in Tokyo - Student Exchange Travelers) They have been great to learn from and learn with and we're excited for what their final month in Japan has in store for them, for the students and for us!

Lisa, Ariel and Meaghan

Lisa, Rebekka and our teammate Mary (notice the couch theme anyone?) :)

Jennifer and Ariel

Curt and Meaghan

more pics to come soon!

girls night!

here's a few pictures from a recent girls night. and by recent, i mean two weeks ago! it was so fun to get together with some of the BEST club girls. we had a great discussion on love and relationships and what the Bible says about both.

the spread: jin's tuna salad sandwiches, jo's homemade biscotti, mary's cucumber sandwiches and crackers with cream cheese and jam and my fruit salad! kie brought yummy apricot cookies too! eating in style, don't you think?

kie and jin admiring our goodies!

clean-up is a breeze with these girls by my side! kie, jo, saaya, ayumi and mary in the kitchen!

it was a great night; i'm very thankful for all these women and what they mean to me!

simply the best!

this post is dedicated to kyle, my partner in crime.

you're great, i love you and i'm thankful God chose you for me!

now more than ever, i appreciate your listening ear, your kind heart

and how you can always bring a smile to my face!

you are the best!

more than names and faces

i apologize. i (jennifer) am not as committed to blogging as i'd hoped, sorry it's been so long! these past weeks have been busy getting ready for the summer impact japan (SIJ) team to join us here in Tokyo (the program kyle and i did in 2005) it has been a huge task but at the same time, an great refreshment to see our 9 new friends arrive eager to dive into life in japan and into friendships with the students. introducing these american college students to our friends has made us realize how much we've grown to love them. they are no longer just names and faces that we trying to memorize and learn about, but beautiful people with amazing hearts. we wanted to take some time and share more pictures of them and our recent activities... in no particular order... please pray for these wonderful people!

our fourth year friend Megumi all dressed up after a day of student teaching at her elementary school. asako, on the floor, is a third year with the most warm personality.

meg and asako in the foreground and ariel and meaghan, two SIJ'ers from arizona in the background. can you feel the love? :) we had a great night chatting about life and topped it off with a slumber party in our living room! sweet!

this is definitely a "you had to be there" picture. masashi, keigo and yasushi were three of the six students that joined a student panel discussion to give the SIJ'ers a chance to ask questions about BEST club and life in japan. here, the guys are deep in thought about what their favorite part of BEST is. what an amazing time for us to hear their thoughts on God, the Bible and what BEST means to them. more on that later!

jennifer ran into ayumi at the train station on the way to a job interview. PRAISE THE LORD ayumi has since gotten a job as has her sister and keigo. thank you for your prayers!

the four midterm staff here in tokyo: mary, joanna, me and kyle. we continually feel blessed, challenged and loved by these two girls! we're so thankful to be on a team with them!

kyle and yuuri cutting way too many onions and getting a bit teary-eyed. yuuri is such a servant, with a real concern for all the people around him!

saaya is a freshman at chuo. she is incredibly patient (especially with my japanese!), eager and excited to hang out, and joyful to be around!

here is kanako, a staff from Shizuoka BEST, and ruth ann, staff from Utsunomiya BEST, at the end of SIJ orientation. they, were a refreshment to be with for sure!