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| Wearing my dress... |
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| ...and flowers in my hair! |
I headed for evening church. There, several people mentioned that I was going to go dancing. I was a bit disappointed that the surprise had been so quickly revealed. After the service, I was ushered into Haruku's beautiful Audi and joined by Joanna and Mami.
Before I continue, I need to introduce these key players in my birthday surprise; Joanna, my pastor's daughter (and main coordinator of the event) is an amazing bubbly Christian woman who I have been privileged to get to know this past year. Her love for Christ and life has been such an inspiration to me. Mami, a lovely, sweet, caring, Japanese woman, rents a room at the Pastor's house. Soft-spoken, she is such a genuine, loving lady. Haruku, is an intriguing man. He has a very profitable job as a pharmaceutical rep and has many lovely things (including his prized Audi), but little contentment. While he is a very kind and giving, he isn't a Christian and has been on my prayer list for several months now. He always enjoys being with us church friends and is always eager to join in our activities.
Anyway, back to my story:
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| Joanna and I |
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| Haruku -- our fearless driver -- striking a "cool" pose. |
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After about 40 minutes of driving and discussing all kinds of ballroom dancing, Joanna made Haruku stop the car at a deserted gas station and told me to get out. That's when things started to get crazy!
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| I soon found myself blindfolded with sweet Mami by my side. |
After about another 10 or so minutes of driving on an obviously windy road, the car stopped. Everyone got out and I was left alone in the utter silence.
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| I couldn't see anything! |
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Finally the car door opened and a cold hand pulled me out...
My blind-fold was lifted, and who did I see but Tiki in the shadows! I screamed!
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| He immediately hoisted me on his shoulders and carried me down some really dark stairs... |
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| ...and into the smoke... |
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| ...where I was met by Joanna with fireworks! |
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| "Where are we?" I exclaimed. |
We are at "your river," I was told.
My River with the big rock! One of my most favorite places in Japan. It was where, exactly one year before, I had met many of the members of my English-speaking church, including Joanna, Mami, and Tiki. At that time, I had happened to mention that I had never been camping before in my life -- and they had remembered! We were going camping! In a tent! By the river!
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| Daisuke and Tiki had come earlier in the day, made a campsite, and set up two tents -- all for my birthday surprise! |
"We have a tent. No, we have two tents. One is for the boys and the other is for the girls."
1st Grade Sunshine English
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| Night swim... |
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| ...in the dark! |
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| Midnight excursion to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" Cove |
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| Covered in cobwebs and shadows, it looked too scary for any of us to venture in. |
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| The moon was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed watching tiny silvery fish dance in its light |
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| After snacks, coffee, and a campfire, we all squeezed into the girls' tent to play games until, finally, at 2:30 am we said our good nights and parted ways |
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| Morning view from the tent |
Mami was the first to get up to start preparing the most amazing campfire breakfast including...
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| ...fresh pineapple... |
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| ...coffee.. |
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| ...homemade fresh bread... |
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| ...sausages... |
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| ...and eggs! (As an aside, did you know that Japanese people don't add water when they fry their eggs?) |
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| Tiki and Haruku (whose snores could be heard across the campsite and in the girls' tent) needed a bit of metal-pan help to wake up |
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| the crystal clear water |
After breakfast, we decided to venture back to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" cove, which was completely transformed in the daylight.
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| This time we were brave enough to enter... |
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| ...where we found a really cool-looking tree that seemed like a perfect photo op. |
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| ...but it wasn't the photo we were anticipating! Five adults was just a little too much weight! |
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| And so concluded Part One of my birthday |
After breaking up camp and loading all the gear into the car, I was whisked away to the actual big rock diving spot.
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| Here I was greeted by many more members of my church.... |
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| ...who presented me not only with a beautiful signed birthday card, but also a $150 donation in my honor to the Tohoku Earthquake Relief fund |
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| They had also prepared a wonderful American Style BBQ with all of the works -- hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, corn and DORITOS!! |
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| The Japanese way of chilling! |
We had so much fun playing together in the water, jumping off the big rock (and Tiki's shoulders), swinging like Tarzan (sorry no pictures), throwing a frisbee...
Then it was time for me to try the Japanese version of a pinata -- the
suikawari (watermelon smash)
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| First I was blindfolded... |
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| ...then spun around 28 times... |
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| ...handed a golf club (because there wasn't a bamboo stick to be found) and instructed to hit the watermelon. |
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| After many, many unsuccessful swings, I finally did it! |
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| We girls, then had a watermelon spitting contest |
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| Soon I was presented with a carrot cake cupcake tower |
The afternoon proceeded with more swimming, food, fun, and conversations... which ultimately led to the most amazing thing that I have ever experienced!
The past twenty-four hours I had felt deeply love. I could experience Agape love by my church friends and I could rejoice with them. But I wasn't the only one who had felt this love, who had seen Christ reflecting in their faces, who felt the warmth of their generosity and kindness. Haruku had too! He told Pastor Ben that he wanted to be a Christian, that he wanted to be a part of the family, that he wanted to be loved and to love. He asked Pastor Ben to teach him how to be a Christian. So right then and there, by my beloved river, we all gathered in a circle, clasped hands in prayer, and brought Haruku to the throne of God. We were privileged to eavesdrop on his first conversation with Christ. What a blessed experience and what an answer to prayer -- for just the day before I had told God that the best birthday present would be to see this new brother be saved!
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| May God be Glorified! |
