a little update

Sorry, it's been awhile since I last updated things here. We've been really busy with the Fuse changing days, some missionaries leaving, and some new ones coming.
Brad, Becky, and Matt have left to go back to the States to go to school this fall. Brad and Becky left at the end of July, and Matt left a week ago. We all miss them tons, but we're all glad to have new people coming too. Vanessa came two weeks ago (she went to ORU with Debbie) and Tim just got here last week. (Tim's from the Ontario, Ohio church) Caren will come next Tuesday, she's also a friend of Debbie's from ORU. Joe is coming the first week of September, he's from Colorado. Vanessa, Tim, Caren, and Joe will all be here at least 6 months.
We are still praying for more missionaries to come. Specifically next spring when Debbie, Amy, and I will be leaving. We're currently looking for missionaries who have a heart for the Japanese and love to hang out and have fun but also are responsible enough to be able to live on their own and keep up with the many responsibilities we have here. If you know anyone who would want to come, or you would like to come, please feel free to Facebook me or e-mail me if you have questions. Or go to pazjapan.org and e-mail Tim and Christine Huber.
Lots of things have been going on with the Fuse. Originally we started with the plan to have meetings on Sunday mornings, but just like in any other country...college and high school kids don't like getting up before noon on the weekends. So we switched the meetings to Saturday afternoons at 3pm. We had a rough start the first two weeks because we changed times right as it became Obon (pronounced "oh" - "bone") season. It's basically the Japanese version of Day of the Dead, where they celebrate the life of their ancestors. So most of our friends all went home, and couldn't come to the Fuse for a couple weeks. But things are doing great again, we just had another meeting yesterday, and everyone was back again.
We all went for sushi last week, I tried three new types of sushi this time. I had red caviar, bbq eel, and sea snake. The caviar was great! I absolutely loved it. The eel was ok, it has little bones in it, so it had almost a hairy texture. The sea snake was terrible! That goes in the category of food I will not eat again. It had a mushy texture and tasted like bad fish.
Mark has been taking us to the beach. We have to catch a train at 5:30am to ride the train for an hour to go out to the ocean. We're all learning how to surf. It's a lot of fun, but very painful. Right now the only time anyone is aloud to surf is 5pm - 8am. Even though it's an early morning, we all have a blast!
Next Monday and Tuesday (8/24-8/25) we will all be going to an English camp and taking care of some kids. It's not a Christian event, but it's run by members of the Noborito church. All of the camp counselors will be Christians and people from the Noborito church. It's going to be lots of fun!