Road Trip to the Beach

Futsal at Canadian Academy -

Last Friday the KCS elementary futsal team made a one day road trip to Kobe to play in a tournament hosted by Canadian Academy. I guess last year was the first year KCS participated in the tournament and this year they were much improved. They played three games winning two and had a great time. Thanks to Noah for coaching the team and for working with the kids.

While at the tournament, Bob and Stephanie were able to catch up and spend some time with three more MFWI students. A great time was had by all and we hope to see the Yuki’s and Ai again soon.

Yuki's and Ai at the Canadian Academy

Birthday Celebrations -

Friday my English class surprised me with a birthday party and Oreo cheesecake. What a fun group of kids and thoughtful too. (See the photos of our party on FB) After the futsal tournament, my family took me out for dinner at Coco’s. Thank you to everyone for the wonderful cards, Facebook wishes and delicious treats. I had a great birthday and really feel blessed to have some many thoughtful and caring friends and family.

My birthday dinner at Coco's

Atashika Beach –

Our family took a long road trip to Kumano and spent time together on a couple of beaches in this region. Stephanie has been aching to get to the ocean since we arrived in Japan and we took advantage of a long weekend to take a road trip. The water was warm and our family spent the day beach combing, swimming and having lunch with strangers.

Alex on the beach

Yep, apparently Bob started a conversation with a group of guys fishing on the beach and they invited our family to have crab miso soup with them. We ended up spending about 3-4 hours hanging out with this group of civil engineers from Osaka who were about our age and on their annual camping trip to Atashika.

Catching Moss crab at the ocean

They had crab traps, vegetables, tofu and miso soup cooking in a pot on the beach. They showed us their traps and after seeing what the crabs looked like Stephanie and Alex took off along the beach and caught two more with their bare hands. The group of guys were amazed since they had purchased bait and set traps and here our kids just went and caught two more crabs. We were thankful to contribute something to the meal and they were surprised to have additional crabs for lunch.

Crab miso soup for lumch!

Alex tried his first crab and we really enjoyed their company as we shared a meal together. A couple of the guys had been to California for work and one studied at USC so they knew some English.  What an experience it was and after the meal a couple of families on the beach joined the kids as they explored the rocks along the side of the ocean.

What a day at the beach

In the pot you go little crab!

Alex and Stephanie's contribution to the meal

A haircut and Sweet Potatoes –

We seem to be meeting people pretty quickly as we were invited by the local crosswalk guard/barber in our neighborhood to attend a festival of sorts on Monday. We have befriended the crosswalk guard near our house who has in turn brought us corn, persimmons off of his trees and recently cut Alex’s hair. We have had some laughable attempts at conversation since he does not speak much English and we do not speak much Japanese yet.

Alex went to the crossing guard’s barber shop and got his haircut last week. He said it was an amazing experience! Got his hair washed like three times, a shave with a straight edge (I am not sure what he was shaving) and the back of his neck trimmed with a straight edge as well. He said it was a little unnerving but definitely an amazing experience. When I picked Alex up our neighbor kept trying to give me products from his shop.

He then gave us an invitation to a local sweet potato harvest and party in our neighborhood on Monday. He told us to take the sheet to another neighbor who lives close to us that is bilingual. Turns out he invited us to a neighborhood block party if you will, where they dig sweet potatoes and cook them in an open fire. My family smelled of smoke upon their return but seemed to enjoy the outing and met more people in our neighborhood. It amazes me how much we are able to communicate in spite of not speaking the same language. Never a dull moment and we always seem to find an adventure.

Sweet potato harvest and fire

Straight from the fire, sweet potatoes for lunch

I continue to be blessed and amazed by the people God is bringing across our path. We are grateful for this experience and are trying to drink in every encounter to the fullest. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the hearts and minds of those we meet that they will come to know the Lord and we will bring glory to God through out interactions.

In Christ,

The Chadducks