Guess the Meaning....

Again, if you've lived here, restrain your comments, please.

What is the purpose of the yellow tiles?

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Christian Tourist in Shinto Shrine?

Horrors - I missed a day or two! Thursday, we played at the Weasel's Den....miniature golf and walked all over main base again. Friday, we went on the Hachinohe tour. I'm waiting for a zillion photos to load and trying to figure out the best way to blog it....topics or one very long post! LOL
The recent days did raise a question that I'd love to hear thoughts on. All thoughts are, of course, welcome, but I'd especially like to hear how Christians who have lived in other cultures or how missionaries have handled it.

We love Japan. We are finding new things to respect and admire daily. This is a culture that STILL, by and large, has boundaries of respect, honor and kindness as their foundation.

On a tour to a Shinto Shrine yesterday, Jared and I encountered new thoughts.....where do we draw the line? We do NOT want to be rude Americans. We do NOT want to offend our hosts. We were uncomfortable being told we had to purify ourselves with a water ceremony before entering the shrine. I sort of got around this by thinking of all sorts of verses about purification....and such....and figuring it could be a symbol in my heart of what I know God has done internally. We didn't have to figure it out, because the man who worked there decided it was taking our group to long to purify and said the 10 who had purified made us all pure. ::snort::

We were asked to pray (which includes bowing, throwing coins, ringing a bell, clapping your hands and such) at the Shinto Shrine. We didn't. They said Shinto accepts prayers to all gods...but I felt that my God doesn't allow me to bow to other deities.... though I COULD have prayed to God...but I didn't want to bow to the thing.... AGAIN we were a big group and so they moved us on and I'm sure no one would have FORCED me to do this...but I was unsettled, wondering if I'd offended the guides...and hating that....not sure if I'd made too much of a deal of it in my thoughts.....Then Jared mentioned the same thoughts. He wondered where the line is between being a polite tourist and being a Christian tourist in a Shinto Shrine.
Kim? Tammy? I would love to know what Japanese CHRISTIANS think about this. Would they do it as it's cultural? Would they NOT visit the shrines? Do they consider it a big deal?

What guidelines would you use to determine if something is o.k. to do as a tourist, or crosses the line as a Christian? At this point, we simply pray and act...and maybe that is the best policy. Certainly God knows our hearts and the Holy Spirit is capable of stopping us from crossing lines.

For instance we were the only family who didn't buy good luck amulets for all the children and horoscopes/fortunes. LOL If those photos would load I could put the Shrine photos right here....maybe I'll come back and update this post.
Thoughts?

Feeding the holy fish

Ummm....it's official Jared...the longhorn sign IS obscene. ::snort:: We were asked, "Please to ask young boy not to make finger signs in sacred place."

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Tuesday, we grabbed the camera and walked through the parking lot.




Mitsubishi Town Box


Honda Step Van


Toyota MOVE!


Honda - LIFE


Toyota Noah


Subaru Swift


Move seems to be popular....
Honda That's

Not sure who makes this, but I think it would be a funny chaplain's car

I suspect there will be more to come. Which is your favorite?

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Adjustments

Above is a photo of Stacia attempting to go to sleep a night before last. She was crying and wouldn't settle down and I KNEW she was exhausted. It's a fight for us to stay AWAKE from about 2- 7 p.m. and it was 10:00 p.m. and she was wide awake and crying.

When I went in she was hugging the basketball and crying...."My brothers are gone. I want Jamin and Josiah." ::sigh:: It was very eerie as the basketball glows in the dark...and yes...I DO keep the camera in my pocket these days...never know what I'm going to see. ::snort::

So...we DO love Japan. We ARE adjusting....but thanks so much for the prayers of our tender hearts. Once the children feel settled, once we begin to make friends....I think some of the missing will be easier...not that we'll ever NOT miss the brothers and sisters....who....well Zander tells all he meets, "I have 2 more sisters, Bre and Krista, and 2 more borthers, Josiah and Jamin, and they didn't want to come with us to Japan." ::snort:: {We do correct him!}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

QUESTION

for those who have lived and blogged etc in foreign countries.

I changed the time in blogger to match HERE instead of WA. NOW all the headers, ads etc are in Japanese.....I can GUESS where to click...but it's a bit annoying and I worry about clicking the wrong link some day. The posts and such are in English....but why is google, blogger etc all showing up in Japanese?

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

DISCLAIMER

WE LOVE Japan. We are finding so many truly ADMIRABLE things to LOVE and RESPECT about the Japanese people. I've NEVER been in a culture where the hosts are more willing to help. I am thrilled with the polite greetings every day. We feel safe here. Theft is nearly non-existent off base, as it brings such dishonor to families. I've heard that some families even disown those who steal. I respect so much about this culture already.

As Americans plopped down in the middle of a totally new foreign country - things will look "strange/different".....just as they do to immigrants in America. Since I tend to find humor in most places, things do make me smile and laugh. I plan to share some of our thoughts and such, but would pray that no one ever take those thoughts as demeaning to our new Japanese friends and country. We love it here.

We have had many discussions about how a Buddhist country seems to operate day to day in a more Christian manner than our Christian country.

My time is up just now for blogging.....but I will be posting...

Toilet Story
Funny Car Models
Money
Signs
Stacia's Adjustment

as I can.... maybe a few hours from now at the Weasel's Den. ::Snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sticker Shock

Mike had some groceries in the room when we arrived. Tuesday night we had to go buy some more. I was shocked. This is a Class 2 Commissary. So is Goodfellow's commissary. However, there is much less organic/natural options here.

I bought 8 potatoes (that didn't look good and weren't the baby reds I had on my list ::snort::) for $5.00. The watermelons were sold out. There were no bananas. The apples (Jonagold) were $1.49 EACH.....and I am used to buying apples in the case. The only lettuce on the shelf (though there are spots for various kinds) was $2 a head: iceberg.

The milk is sold by the 1/2 gal and was $3.50 in the Shoppette on Monday night but only $2 and change for 1/2 a gal in the commissary. MILK - get this the dates are good until late August/Sept. This can't be good. I'll look around off base and see what I can come up with.

I couldn't find whole grain penne or swirls or macaroni.....no veganaise... As soon as our things arrive I'll be making all our bread, english muffins, bagels and tortillas...because I didn't find any really GREAT list of ingredients but the ones that are OK are EXPENSIVE.

I need to call Renee (chaplains wife) today. She had told me there are things here that I didn't find. I'm hoping I simply didn't look in the right place. I have been told that things are often out of stock. They DO have the ice cream that Zander can eat - though I'm looking forward to making our own. When talking with Connie (chaplain's wife) last night she mentioned that she's talked with the commissary about various organic items she would like to see....there is a chance they could order cases of things from Okinawa....and there is still the option of ordering quarterly from our old food co-op and paying to ship in a priority flat rate box. BUT how many boxes would that take?????

There were NONE of the convenience items that we stock so Zander has options at places like AWANAS, VBS etc....Cheddar bunnies, Sharkies, EnergG, Newman O's.....he loves POCKY but this is not a good option. ::snort:: I'll be baking a lot of cookies, brownies and such.....because there isn't a lot of fruit around just now either.

I DID find Delmonte Organic Pickles. These are the ones Krista and I discovered at a commissary in CO. They have no dyes and taste good. LOL The pineapple was only $3.67...but it's sorry looking and we'll need to eat it quick. LOL

I plan to check the fresh produce markets off base. I know that things will be seasonal and so we won't have the variety we are used to in TX....but they'll be fresh. I do wonder about the pesticides used in Japan and guess I should begin to do some research on that. I know that my brother says there are lots of "bad" ones used in China.

Thus ended our first shopping adventure in Japan.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...