FINALLY...fyi..this is a long one....lots of pics
Where to start………. well I have discovered that I totally loath not being able to talk to you. Some of you I talk to daily and not having that access makes me feel like the girl that can’t go to the dance cause she is how sick with the flu!!!!!! It just stinks!!!!! I am so not ok with my current situation of not having a clue about what is going on in your lives......jenna moved, julia had a birthday, kelly's fruit baby is growing....all while i have been gone. I’m a social person and I don’t like feeling behind on whats going on in your life. I have so much to say so I will try to break this up a little. I have just made a beautiful batch of brownies and some sweet tea and I am totally devoted to pulling an all night if that will get the job done. I even prayed about it this morning! It is time for me to blog.
oriental bizarre.......just like my favorite place to shop in all of Tokyo
our mascot, J-Rock, sharing the word of God in the subway...hahahah i am embraced to say that we did the silliest stuff in the long subway rides...oh i have way to many pics of j-rock.
Darling Cara and I after a very long day
Sundays we have church in the park and then a couple of hours off and then work and then meet back up for worship with new friends that we meet. One of the older ladies i met to me to a temple and we got to see this wedding photo op going on. The Bride was just so beautiful in her traditional Kimono
Nick and I .........posing with the largest cup in Tokyo....what is it with foreign countries and their lack of drinking......Every restaurant gives you like a very small cup of water and thats it! I take a sip of whatever it is almost every bit....i just like water or really anything with my meal as long and it washing it all down. We found this pizza place and were almost screaming when we saw that they offered "large cokes" hahahhh
and our happy after
how beautiful are the feet that bring good news.........yes these are mine and this is hours before I wrote you all about my day off. I barely had polish on them and I kept hurting my toes!!!! yes....that is blood and a lot of dirt!
worship in the park
with many of the Japanese people
told you I would get my hands on a baby!!!!!! Oh she was just wonderful and came right to me!!!!
OK...so this is where i lived for two weeks...with 6 girls
now you know why i was in need of alone time! I left off with my last blog talking with you about my desperate need for some R &R. That is exactly what I got y'all and you are not gonna believe what I did. It was wild! I told the students that their free day was theirs and they could do what you wanted and we will meet back up that evening for a group dinner. I went to the front desk of the hostel and said “girl I am in need of soaking in a bath…where is the closest one”.!!!!!! She had just the ticket and so then next morning I woke up early, shaved the legs and headed off to a part of Tokyo that we had never seen! ALONE.........yes i went alone.....was i not raised by David and Robin who love a good adventure to just stay back and dream!!!! No sir, I mapped out my long subway ride and headed out. 
This is the place....www.ooedoonsen.jp/ that I went to. You should go check the web page out just for fun. Be sure to push English!!!!! I got to head the the Pacific Ocean side and it was amazing. We had not been as a group and I really enjoyed the beach and stuff!
ok so this is my favorite part. EVERYONE GETS TO PICK OUT AND WEAR THEIR OWN YOKa..something, let me look it up in a sec...and this is what mine looked like!!!!!!!
now the mom of the family i met had a locker down from mine. Remember...this is a bath house...AKA boys locker room set up...............everything comes off and there is no hiding it!!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOO CRAZY!!!!! anyway, the mom came over in all my glory and helped me put the thing on! hahahahhhh She was so kind!!!!!
inside the place. it has food and activities and shopping along with a hotel. It is really an all day activity!
outside pic to the foot bath
The Japanese people do not play when it comes to taking care of their bodies....this is a few pictures of the foot river where you walk in water and out of water on rocks of different sizes and shapes.......some were like OUCH!!!!!!
I met 2 sisters and their girls along the foot river. They were from Calif and their husbands worked for Athletes in Action, a christian org, and had come over with them to spend the summer! Now that sounds like a good plan to me!!!!!! They helped me decide that i could not come all the way to Japan and not spend time with the "Doctor Fish".....you know the ones that eat the dead skin off!!!!!!! oh i loved loved loved it!!!!! SO FUN!!!!!!
seems gross but they really get after it and it was way better than any pedi I've had!!!!
I had an amazing massage....and I am not normally a massage person but girls it was a GREAT ONE!!!!! Then I headed to the bathes.........
WARNING!!!!!!!! IF YOU ARE A BOY READING THIS STOP NOW AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT PICTURE.........
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ok so girls.......there are like 14 bathes and they are all pretty much public...not like public pool public but like but your robe up in a locker about 100 yards away and walk butt naked with only a hand towel to the next location public!!!!!!!!!!
Breath........Breath
I TOTALLY DID IT!!!!! AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!! Remember that it is only woman!
I had to keep reminding myself that many countries have been doing this bath thing for centuries....so to them it was no big deal. However, I am kinda tall....well taller than them, bright blonde hair, really curvy and there was no just slipping in to the water when all heads turn to look at you hahahhahahahhahah! It was really interesting walking around naked with a bunch of other Japanese woman. At the same time...it was so fun talking with them, young and old. My favorite moment was when i was in the copper tub hot bath and turned and saw an elderly woman walk in that was a breast cancer survivor and had no shame showing off her one scar! That was when I began to pray a prayer of thankfulness! Oh how beautiful he has made us. Oh how I love being a woman!
There is one more funny/awkward thing. The showers are straight up like football locker room. The bathes were in this massive glass room that had bathes outside.......covered from the boys side of course. But then on the back wall there were the showers.....that you had to use or they would not let you back in. Each person had a little section but it did not come out and cover you and the height of it only to your waist. So you sit down on a little bench in front of your area and shower.....it was crazy cause you have a mirror and then you look behind you in the section and BAM.......all the sudden your looking at your own butt in the sitting position. it was so funny. They give you the most amazing shampoo and body wash. i love it!
This is the sand bath. it is in a sweat house and the sand is about 1000 degrees...not really but that is how it felt. i thought i was going to die but i def lost like 5 pounds!!!!!
hahahahahh they follow you everywhere with your camera!!!!!!!
afterwards....i was mush
I then showered again and played. I ate there and had yummy green tea ice cream. They then did my make-up and hair!!!!!!! SOOOOOO FUN. All this for $45!!!! what a deal!!!!! I spent almost 6 hours there and just spent that much! I will do it every time I go back for sure!!!!!
You know, this may sound funny but i have never felt more beautiful as I did that day. Between putting on that robe that fit my body just right....to walking around as free as a bird.....I felt beautiful. Maybe cause I'm single and you tend to not celebrate your body as much as maybe someone married...i don't know....but I just loved being with woman of all shapes and sizes that didn't even recognize that we were different. It was just a wonderful day!!!
Here are some pics of my ride home.....this is the ocean and bay side of tokyo
beach
they sale the most beautiful flowers in the subways...this is my new favorite grouping!!!!!
Tokyo at night
our last morning to meet together, pray, read scripture, and sing!!! Oh how is just fell in love with this group. They were just so much joy and happiness to me!!!! these next few pics are them singing.......
are they not just soooooooo darling!!!! oh i love them!!!!
The most exciting things happened to me the evening of our day off when I was waiting to meet the team in Starbucks in Shabuya.....
God kept using all the loves that I have in my life to connect me with people. Like the artists that I met....instant connection and appreciation for the craft. The jazz prof and having the love for exercises and teaching. well i went up to the second floor that evening hoping to get a seat to look out over shabuya but knowing that it was impossible because their were so many people. there was exactly one seat (looking out over the city) with two girls on each side. I looked to see if anyone was coming and then made a dash for it. I set their for several minutes and notices the girl to my left was reading a book in English.....so i tried to see what it was called...no luck. So I just sat. WELL not even 5 minutes later she flips the front cover over and there it was....."The Redemption Series book 2" by Karen Kingsbury............JUST MY FAVORITE SERIES EVER EVER EVER! So I turn to her and say "SHUT UP!!!!!!!! THAT IS MY FAVORITE SERIES" and she turns to me with a big smile and says in English....her English was amazing...."ME TOO!!!!" again God is so good for the instant bond. So I said "are you a believer" and she did not even hesitate and said "YES!! I was baptized last year"!!! Praise the Lord. She is a student at Pepperdine University in calif and became a Christian there. Oh so wonderful. So I shared with her about all the missionaries and jman and interns that are in tokyo and she was so excited. I then shared with her about how the Japanese have been talking about the fact that there is a Christian movement happening!!!! She instantly started crying...which made me cry... and she said she had been praying for that every night. She also shared how lonely she was to be home and away from her church. That she had no one to share about what she was reading in the bible that day and stuff. So I got her info and before she left invited her to our friendship party the next night!!! She hugged me.......but really hugged me you know what I mean. I love hugs but some people give terrible ones...hers was so genuine and I just loved it!!!!!!
Here she is!!!!!So she came the next night and began sharing with our other Japanese friends about Jesus and it was just a beautiful sight!!!!! Isn"t God so good to give us divine appointments!!!!!
Our friendship party the last night before we left was sooooooo amazing. We had such a large group and we were laughing and having just a blast....even busted out in Aladdins "A whole new world"......aka....our theme song hahahahhahhah. we are dorks.
jsi's....junior summer interns...most are in high school or college and living in Tokyo for 3 months!!!!!! I loved these girls!!!! They were so wonderful!!!!!
sunrise on the way home......I just want to PRaise God work how he works things out. This trip was a perfect fit for me.....a little teacher, a little mom, a lot of 26 year old, a little 4 year old, and a lot of discipleship! Now that is my perfect mix!!!! I hope that I can do this every summer and maybe even do it when i have a family of my own. It was just wonderful. Thank you all for praying and sticking with me! I have about 5 other blogs to post but i will spread them out. I thank you for those of you that will be faithful to keep reading...even when I have not been able to read yours! i love you...each and every one of you!