Jean Of mArc

One thing that I’d spent some time doing during University was hiking. Whether it was Blomidon, Cape Split, Keji or even in the Alberta Rockies, I definitely spent more time just walking through wilderness than I ever had before. But I have to admit that even so, I’ve never been wildly motivated to do it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy anything about it, but rather it’s not something that I get fired up to do. Why? Because when we get to the destination (if there is one), I don’t always know what to do! Some people say that the hike itself is the motivation, or the scenery once you’ve arrived somewhere. But although I am able to appreciate those things and feel good afterwards, I don’t have the drive to go do it like other outdoorsy people have. I like to DO things. I like to keep my mind mentally occupied with things to consider, weigh options, and execute solutions. So on hikes, rather than spending time just absorbing whatever is around is around me, I often spend a lot of time thinking over a particular matter, usually something that I had been doing before I went hiking, so that I am eager to return home or work or whatever to try and execute those thoughts. This is why things such as programming and games are very appealing to me: they involve a lot of mental thought. They involve goals and things to do, and (the best part) coming up with ways to get there. Of course, the flip side to this is that I do enjoy being around people, so often that is one of the main reasons I’m willing to go hiking: just to spend time hanging out somewhere else.

Why am I going on and on about this? Because I want to bore you!

No, actually it’s because I’ve realized that geocaching changes everything for me! What is geocaching? Basically, people from around the world hide little boxes of “treasure” in various places, usually in a key spot in the wilderness. The treasure consists of small items from the dollar store, coins, logs, etc. Then the location of the cache is posted online so that everyone can download them to their GPS-enabled devices. So anyone from around the world knows where to search for treasure! Once you get to it, you sign the log, take a picture of yourself there, exchange a new item that you brought for an old item in the box, and then be on your way.

This works perfectly to motivate me to go hiking!! Now there is a goal!! There’s something to DO when you get there, not just something to look at!! It’s quite rewarding too, because you don’t always know if the treasure will still be there, or what it will be exactly, until you get there. And then you get some new little trinket and leave your own behind, and sign the log and post a picture of you with it online for other people who have been there to look at. It’s probably especially rewarding for the person who hid it initially to see people actually making treks out in the wilderness just to find the bobble-head they hid in a box under a rock. This may seem silly to most outdoor enthusiasts, but for me it changes everything! It’s like a game now! A treasure hunt! An adventure! It even involves some technology, which is a plus for me!!

As you can tell, I’m excited about this discovery. Steve (a friend from Acadia who is also an Aomori JET) and his girlfriend Helen and I went out geocaching on Saturday and had a really fun time! The first place that we went to was actually not in the wilderness at all, but rather in this somewhat off-the-road location that just had a leveled field next to a forest with some construction going on. The description was that it was hidden under a large rock in a triangle of trees. The location was super-easy to get to: probably only like 20 meters from the car, but we still had to search for like 30 minutes. Why? Because there were quite a few “large rocks” and none of them seemed to contain any treasure under them!! There was one rock which looked like it ought to have something special under it, but no luck. Helen even had to lift some of the rocks so we could look under them:

So, that was rather disappointing. On the upside, though, there was a slide!! Here is a picture of Steve and I being 5 years old again:

Also, we stopped at a random combini (convenience store, though “combini” is a much better word) and they had delicious sandwiches and cinnamon buns!! Bikurishita!! (I was surprised!!) Such things are rare treats here in Japan, so it was delightful to have found it. In fact, for me, that was the treasure we were looking for!!

Next stop was also not the wilderness, but actually a look-off. It was a tower sort of deal which you could climb up to get a good view. However, it was way up in the mountains. Although it is spring here in Hirosaki, and the snow is gone, this is not yet so up at higher altitudes. So this look-off was still dump-covered with snow!! We had to climb a big wall of snow just to get into it, and even then it was very windy, cold and dangerous because the snow was mixed with wet ice, which isn’t a welcome sight when you’re trying to climb steps!!

This particular cache was a nano-cache (about the size of your fingernail) and was described as being hidden “under a chair”. This could have been a major problem, because half the chairs were still covered with tons of snow, and we didn’t have a shovel… Not to mention that even if we did, it would have been very hard to find such a small item.

Thankfully, though, Helen found it!! It was under a bench at the very top of the tower, but was not under much snow because of the way the roof was built over it!! So we got lucky with that one. We signed the tiny bugger, which finished it off and was the only one signed in winter, put it back, took a picture (which I don’t have) and headed off on some more adventures!

Next we went to a jazz cafe/restaurant, which again was located out in seemingly nowhere. It seems to me that a lot of places here are in obscure locations, but maybe my idea of “nowhere” is broader than necessary. Anyhow, it was a very nice wooden cafe with a fireplace in the center and a stage complete with jazz instruments, waiting patiently to be played. I enjoyed some expensive “Pizza Toast” while other more Western-style dishes were enjoyed by the others. It would have been really cool to be there if something had been going on too.

Finally, we came to a wilderness cache. This was the “big” one. The whole wilderness was covered in snow. Deep snow. Probably about thigh to hip deep the whole way. Lucky for me, I happened to be wearing my winter boots, and I was dressed pretty warmly, so I was set. The other two, not so luckily, only had their sneakers and jeans on. But they are both good sports and we went ahead to get it anyway!

The first obstacle was that to begin there was a very short but steep hill to climb, which might not be so bad in the summer, but in the winter provided more of a challenge. This hill alone took a good 10 minutes or so to climb. We mostly just grabbed on to trees to use as leveraged and hoped for the best. After that, things got easier. The rest of the way was a climb, but a very moderate one. The hike there probably took about an hour, since trekking through snow is obviously a lot slower, especially when you sink in to your thighs every few steps. I led most of the way, since I had the best footwear for the job, with Steve’s Android as a guide. There were obviously some people out skidoing at some point because there were visible tracks along the way that we could follow to make things easier here and there. And then we finally made it: it was at the end of a river which became a lake, and from a certain angle the mountains went up on both sides, which reminded me of Lake Louise! Minus the tourists. This place actually had signs and such, and our clue was that it was by the roots of a tree about 6-8 feet away from one of the trees with a sign. We were talking the whole way about what a disappointment it would be if it weren’t there like the first one… but then I spotted it!! It was cuddled in the root of a tree!! And then we did a victory pose:

Inside were little trinkets, out of which Steve & Helen took a geocoin (which lets users track their coins as they travel from place to place) and I took out a wooden puzzle. We put in a Mario Kart coin holder, some Canadian coins, and a mint. The mint was mine. Yes, it is lame. It’s all I had to put in though. Except for a cough drop. But that’s just as bad.

We enjoyed a good laugh when we were deciding what to put into the box:

Steve: “Let’s put in the nickel.”
Helen: “Okay.” *Takes nickel and puts it in the box*
Steve: “Wait! No! Let’s take the nickel out and put the penny in instead!”
Helen: “Why? What’s the difference?”
Steve: “4 cents!”

Anyway, so we signed the log, took a break, discussed our victory, and then look some pictures of a us next to an oddly-spaced tree:

Actually there were many oddly-spaced trees in that forest. It seemed like there was some disease that was affecting a lot of them, although many were surviving regardless of their illnesses, but were quite twisted as a result.

Then we headed back. One of the biggest advantages of having done this in the winter was that it was impossible to get lost as long as we followed our own tracks (the ONLY tracks). It was a lot easier because of this, and also a lot faster because we could just step in our own footsteps, it was down-hill, and we slid down a lot of slopes penguin-style to speed things up:

Finally we got back to the car. Mission successful!! On the way back, while winding though the curved sloped mountain roads, we were ALMOST hit by a sports car who was coming at us in the wrong lane. He we obviously trying to race/dare his friend, who also was driving a very expensive car in the CORRECT lane. Thankfully, Steve’s reactions were quick and he blared the horn, though unfourtunatly in my experience horns don’t cure stupidity.

Anyway, just wanted to share that fun adventure with you guys. I hope that in your own way, you were able to live out the experience in your own minds. If not, get an imagination! And try geocaching yourself!

Have you ever noticed how adding spaces between letters in a title makes it a bit more dramatic? If so, I’ve already got your attention, because that’s what I did for the title of this post. If not, please read on anyway because you’re my friend.

This past weekend I went down to a JET Christian Fellowship Retreat in Okutama, which is about 90 on a train due west of Tokyo, yet is still technically within Greater Tokyo. I tell you that city is HUGE!! Anyway, it was a very lovely and off-the-path location out in the mountains, hosted at “Fukuin no Ie” (or “Gospel House”). Recommended spot if you’re wondering. Here are some pics I nabbed off Facey-Booky without permission (shh… don’t tell!!):

Group Photo!!

Eating one of the Dericious Meals! (I think this one was Bacon-wrapped Salmon)

Looking at the results from the HILARIOUS picture-telephone game!

If you hike out from the cabin a bit, it looks kind of like this…

This is us, musicing for worship time!

On the train back to Tokyo Station

It was a GREAT time, and I really feel like I learned a lot about God and myself while I was there. The guest speaker who came to join us for the weekend’s name is Lewis Rice. He is CRAZY energetic, is very loud, loves his life, and is very passionate about discussing God. But before I get too much into where he is and what he said, there should be something mentioned about me.

For the past few years I’ve been feeling compelled to do something more public in my life. By that, I mean becoming more vulnerable by putting myself out there in front of people on a regular basis. Secondly, the reason I would be in front of these people is to both energize them as well as to share God’s love for them. Thirdly, my heart is broken for the youth of Japan, as I read story after story of Japanese youth who feel they have no identity, they feel unloved by their parents, they tie their self-worth to academic success, and are committing suicide when things don’t work out. So many of them don’t realize that there is a God who loves them unconditionally, who has a plan for their lives, who will forgive them for anything they have done, who birthed them diliberatly, who will free them from any bondage and who will offer them eternal life in heaven. It hurts them if they don’t know that, and it hurts me if they don’t know that.

Now back to Lewis: when he was 15, he had more-or-less the same convictions that I have now. When he was 18, he worked for a few months in New Zealand (his home) to get enough money to get to Japan. When he arrived, he had no place to stay, no where to go, no work, and he knew nobody. He prayed about it, and within a week he had an apartment, work and was a part of the people at Jesus Lifehouse in Tokyo.

Now he spends his days in front of Japanese youth, sharing about God’s love for them, and spending the evenings doing outreach. He basically has a life that is pretty much exactly the kind of thing I have been envisioning. He has amazing stories to tell of lives transformed, from lives of hatred, depression, parental abandonment and suicidal thoughts, to lives that are completely transformed by the gospel of Jesus. They have become loving, happy, people who couldn’t say enough about God’s love.

Lewis shared about many different things to consider and think about. Here are some of the points I can immediately remember:

• Vision vs Goals – Having goals in life is a good thing, because it keeps us focused on what can/should be done next. Things like getting married, having children, getting a house etc would all be example of goals. But these are not God’s “vision” for our lives. By that, I mean that our life is not considered complete just because the goals have been achieved. If that were true, then one you had a wife, children and a house, you wouldn’t know what else to do with your life. The problem is, so many people, even Christians, settle on goals, and then go through mid-life crisises (crisi? Ug… English…) because they don’t know what else to do. Contrast this to vision, which is an endless goal. For example, sharing God’s love with youth. There will always be more youth to share it with, and even after it is shared the relationships and fellowship that comes out of that is endless.
• Don’t think, pray! – So many times we try and figure out our own problems by thinking and mulling over them endlessly. I sure know I do! My general strategy when predicting things is to think about the worst-possible scenarios so that I will be prepared to handle them. Then think of the bes-possible scenarios so I remain optimistic. Then think of the middle ground between the two and realize that’s probably what’s going to happen. But still, my brain will endlessly think of it more and more until I can’t even concentrate on things anymore. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does I hate it. But for those of us who know about Jesus, we know that we can cast our cares onto Him and let Him take care of them. We can turn our thoughts and worries into prayers and petitions, and if we get in that habit we will have a consistant relationship with Him. And trust me, God’s a good guy to be talking to! Even if He answers in sometimes very strange, difficult, or hilarious ways…
• Only God and People matter – The only thing that we can take with us to heaven are the people who go with us. Any goals which don’t involve people ultimately won’t matter after we are dead. And since we are only alive on Earth for about 70-90 years and we are alive in heaven for eternity, I would say that goals that focus on the latter are much more important!

When I first came to Japan, I didn’t know where things would lead. Now I feel like they may lead to the big city, to the youth searching for meaning.

For now, though, I am here, in Aomori. And I am more than in my place here for the time being. I feel like there is still a lot to be done here and a lot to learn, not to mention that the free time I’ve been having has been great for learning Japanese and maintaining a strong relationship with my wonderful fiancee Solveig. We will continue to pray about all these things and see where God takes us from there.

This blog post leaves me curious though, what’s YOUR v i s i o n ? Not your goals, but what means the most for you to do while here on this Earth for such a short time? Who will you serve? What will you do? Who will be affected? What is the purpose?

Dan and I were sitting around playing around, playing Evony, when Dan’s mom came home and reminded us that the outdoors still exists. She recommended that we go to the Quabbin Reservoire. Dan said he hadn’t even thought about going there, but she informed us it was a really beautiful tourist spot close by and she rightfully added, “we often forget about the amazing places that exist in our own backyard.”

So we headed out to the Quabbin, and indeed it was very close. We had no trouble finding it, and it was indeed a very beautiful place. Its history, according to Wikipedia, is this:

Metropolitan Boston began to outstrip its local water supplies in the early part of the nineteenth century. Many possible sources of water were explored, including groundwater and rivers, but none was considered adequate in quantity and cleanliness to meet the needs of the rapidly growing city. After several years of controversy, the Massachusetts General Court (the official name of the state legislature) authorized the construction of the Cochituate Aqueduct to bring water to Boston from Lake Cochituate in Wayland and Natick, Massachusetts.

However, Dan gave a more Dan-like explanation of the history behind the place:

Once upon a time, there was a big city in Massachusetts named “Boston”. Its existence extends to this very day, and in all likely hood it’ll be around until even after the rapture. One day the people of Boston woke up and realized they were thirsty. “We’re thirsty, but we have no water,” said Boston. They scouted out their state and found four small towns to exploit. They told these towns, “Hello, we’re Boston. We’re thirsty. Give us drink!” The towns replied, “We haven’t much water to give.” So Boston said “That’s okay, we’ll just flood you and use that water as a reservoir.” And the four towns said “We don’t want to be flooded!” But Boston replied “Yes you do!” and they flooded the four towns. And that is how the Quabbin Reservoire was formed.

Anyway, we took some pictures while we were there, but they are on Dan’s mom’s camera, and I don’t have them right now, so I had to choose some pictures online that resemble the sights we saw there. They are not quite accurate, but they give you an idea:

Pretty nice place, eh?

For the next few days, while Dan was at work, I got to spend time with his whole family: I went to Dunkin’ Donuts with his mom, I went to see a movie called The Soloist with Dan’s grand-parents, and then I went out for lunch with Dan’s dad. It was good to spend some time with them because I hadn’t seen them much since being there. And on Friday evening, we went to his sister’s place to meet up with her, her husband Rocko (from Rocko’s Modern Life fame), Dan’s brother Andy and his brother’s wife. We watched an episode of Lost, but I had never seen Lost before, so I was completely “Lost” myself. *Comedy Drum Hit* And then we played a bit of Wii and went home. I kind of wish that we had done something together that involved more direct interaction, but it was as it was.

On Sunday, Dan and I went to church, and I noticed that the area that he goes to church has some amusing street names. Among them? “Kellogg Ave.” (where I’m assuming breakfast cereal is made), “Fearing St.” (where horror movies must take place) and “No Pleasant St.” (which sounds pleasant enough):

Afterwards, we went to a games shop called Worlds Apart, which, I discovered, is a non-profit establishment run by volunteers. They let us come in and play games all afternoon! Dan’s brother Andy had suggested that we play a game called Dominion, and when we arrived that was the very game that a volunteer there recommended that we play! So we played it with him, and had a lot of fun. It took a long time though, between Dan and I having to use the washroom and Alex (the volunteer, whose birthday it was) having to attend to customers.

Oh, and don’t use the word “washroom” in the US, they don’t seem to know what that is… It’s only “bathroom” down there… even if it doesn’t have a bath.

We then continued playing the game with Aaron, one of Dan’s friends from small groups and church, and his brother. If you want proof, here’s a picture! (Aaron’s on the right… the one that’s not me.)

We played there the whole afternoon, and I was seriously considering buying the game. Because it was only a card game, I figured it would be about 30$ or so. But it turns out it was 45$…. AMERICAN!!! *Dun dun duuun*
So I decided not to buy it, and soon after that Dan and I headed out of the town… but on the way out, I had a thought: this is a non-profit organization, all of the people there are volunteers, and they let us come in and spend the whole day playing games for free. Don’t I at least owe them something for that? And I’d like to support what they are doing. Even if I could buy the game elsewhere at a lower price, I wouldn’t be supporting their organization by doing so. So I asked Dan if we could go back so I could get the game, and he graciously agreed. I went in and bought the game, and I felt really good about purchasing it as well. It made me realize how I should think about spending my money. Originally I was just thinking about “How much am I willing to pay so that I can be the owner of this game?”, and when it was more than I had wished for, I backed off. But I really should have thought about it in terms of supporting them. I guess I’m just used to thinking the other way around since most commercial things I buy are from bigger companies that don’t really need my money.

By Sunday, it was time to wrap things up. To do so, we first made a trip to Dan’s workplace: Pride Gas Station! That’s right, I was there… in person! But not in the following pictures:

And finally, after that, we made a trip to Boston, to visit the city a bit before I flew back to Halifax. On an airplane. In the sky. Dan had never really spoken highly of Boston before, but we thought it would be cool to explore a bit before heading out anyway. We were going to visit the New England Aquarium, but then we decided it made more sense to spend the time outside, since it was such a nice day. The first thing we did was go to Omni Parker House Hotel, which was where the very first Boston Cream Pie was ever created! Naturally we each got one! Although… it’s more of a cake than a pie, but I’m sure they are sick of people pointing that out by now:

And for those of you who are curious what ours looked like:

The pie/cake had about a 3 or 4 inch diameter and was about 2 inches high. The outside had a light frosting with chocolate on top and vanilla (?) along the sides. Also covering the sides were some sort of sliced nut- I think it was almond, and lots of it. Whatever it was, it tasted kind of like coconut. The inside had soft, moist cake and in the middle was… uh… oh yeah! BOSTON CREAM! It was quite a good little treat, though expensive at 9.00$ each!

Overall though, I was surprised because the Boston cream taste that I’m used to from Tim Horton’s Donuts wasn’t nearly as distinct in the real thing. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it just didn’t taste quite as strong. Although I was glad to have the chance at trying the real thing, I think I actually prefer the donuts. Go figure.

After that, we went around the city of Boston’s Freedom Trail, which is a set path, laid out by red bricks along the downtown of the city, outlining special places still standing from America’s early history. We were going to go on the tour, but it was more than we wanted to pay for, and Dan said he would give me the same tour for free. So off we went.

One of the most interesting stops we made was to the Old North Church. It was from here that Robert Newman, the sexton at the church, organized a plan with Paul Revere to signal him using lanterns as to where the British troops would be located that night. It was from this signal that Paul was able to make his famous ‘midnight run’, to warn the Americans that the British were coming to disarm them. This happened right before the battles of Lexington and Concord. He has since then been much “revered”. (Cue to laugh out loud)

I won’t write up all the details or post all the pictures, but I will leave you with this one clip of Dan and I visiting Boston’s Old City Hall. It will make you feel like you’re going back in time…

Last night, Dan and I took a trip all the way to Amherst. That’s right, I took a plane all the way here, and then we went to Amherst, of all places. And we drove there, if you can believe it!

Well, okay, it was Amherst, Massachusetts. But they were impressed that I could pronounce it correctly! It was actually a nice University town, something I have grown fond of.

Driving around here is pretty nice right now, although we really haven’t seen much sun since my getting here. This state is a little further into spring than we are; there are already quite a number of leaves springing out. Hence why it’s called Spring. Most of the drive is woodsy, and is actually pretty nice that way. Our only hold up on the way was a sign that said “Do Not Pass”. We weren’t really sure what to do about it, but we decided that in order to continue, we had to pass the sign. I hope we didn’t break any laws.

Anyway, the House Church was interesting. It was hosted at a church called MERCYhouse. We met a guy named Aaron who we’ve determined is Dan’s twin: he works at a gas station, watches anime, is a Christian, and has a similar sense of humour as Dan. The only difference is he looks older, and has a big awesome red beard. And he’s really good at mental arithmetic. I said to him “Quick! What’s 3 + 2?” and he immediately said “5!” I figured it might have been a fluke, so I said “Oh yeah, well what’s 3 x 2?” and he said “6!”. Wow… Dan jumped in, figuring that maybe our numbers were too low, and said “Well, what’s 3,843,946 x 0?” and without missing a beat he said “0!”. Impressive. I guess he really is just that good at that stuff.

But, he didn’t join our small group, because I guess there were two male groups. Seemed unnecessary to me considering the small group of guys there, but anyway he joined the “old people” guy group (as he called it) and we joined the “other” guy group. There were a grand total of four of us: Dan, myself, Steve, and Mike.

Mike mostly sat there with his arms crossed, so I’m not really sure what he was thinking. Steve was leading the study, and Dan was doing most of the response. The form of the study was looking at John 14 and analysing the meaning of the story. The reason I didn’t say much (and the reason I often don’t say much at these things when something about them is new to me) is because when I hear new ideas, I like to have time to process them and develop them before having opinions and thoughts to share back. So, Dan did most of the responding. It was about when:

Jesus told his disciples “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” But Thomas was confused and (understandably) asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus gave him a Jesus-style answer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” And then Jesus answers with “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

So, we were discussing this passage, and the point of it basically broke down to this:
Jesus was telling them that to near to Him is to be near to the Father. However, the disciples didn’t understand that and were all like “But we don’t know how to get there! Show us a road map!”, but Jesus was explaining that there is no roadmap to get to the Father: being near to Jesus Himself IS the way, the “road map” if you will.

Most Christians know this, but he also wanted to apply this principle to God’s will. To paraphrase, let’s use the example Bible example above, but re-write it to be about God’s will. No, this is no longer quoted from the Bible. Please don’t flog me for hearsay.

Jesus told his disciples “My Father has a will for your life. You know this will.” But Thomas was confused and asked, “Lord, we don’t what that will is. Can’t you tell us what God’s will is for our lives?” Jesus answered: “I am the way and the truth and the life. If you really knew me, you would know my Father’s will as well. From now on, you do know his will.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father’s will and that will be enough for us.” And then Jesus answers with “Don’t you know me, (insert your name here), even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who knows me knows the Father’s will.”

So, basically the argument is, rather than always trying to find a road map of God’s will for our lives, we should just be focusing on being closer to Jesus. And the more we do that, the more our thoughts and decisions will be in line with what God would want us to be doing.

He extended the argument further and said that if everyone has a roadmap of how they think a Christian should live, it would be very difficult to find two road maps exactly alike. And that’s where a lot of hurt can come into the church, when everyone thinks that their road map is the road map. Of course, the Bible is clear on a lot of subjects, but there are many in which it is not. Many Christians have differing opinions about alcohol, swearing (without the Lord’s name), free will, etc. And a lot of these opinions clash. However, if a brother has sinned against you, it is important to restore them gently. (Matt. 18:17). However this suggests that when someone is sinning, and sinning means missing God’s mark, it does not mean they are an awful person, it means that there is some part of them that isn’t fully given over to Jesus. Maybe they haven’t given a part of their life over, and therefore still have the power to control it and do whatever they want with it. But rather than just rebuking them with your own road map, it might be more significant to find out if there is something that they are keeping from Jesus, the source of what is causing them to sin.

Anyhow, I thought that it was pretty interesting stuff, and a new way to think about some things. Look into it however you would like.

Afterwards, Dan and I went to a board games shop. I like those kinds of shops, but never know what most of the games are like. The owner of the store said we could come back any time and test out any game we’d like, so we think we might take him up on the offer, to check out a game.

After that, we went to a little ice cream shoppe called “Bart’s”. It was a pretty nice shop and actually had a huge menu of non-ice cream things as well. Dan and I had a good chat about his life and where he is and how he’s trying to find out where to go next, while I sipped on a great lemonade and Dan munched down on this cause-of-death in 50 years: a really thick sundae thing with lots of chocolate and sauce. I saw a shirt there that said “What Would Jesus Brew?” and below it it said “100% Organic 100% Fair Trade”. And then I thought about it. Jesus wasn’t a coffee roaster. But if he were, would he sell organic and fair-trade, or would he just draw water from the well and turn the water into coffee? I have no idea. It probably wasn’t meant to be contemplated, actually.

After that we headed back to Dan’s, nearly hitting a deer along the way.

The End.

I am now in the House in Belchertown, Massachusetts with the one, the only, Dan O’Shea! I just arrived in Boston on Monday evening, and was welcomed with a treat of Dunkin’ Donuts. But in America-land, you can buy their breakfast sandwiches at any time in the day, and their “mediums” are actually “extra larges”. This really is the land of the free.

Dan and I have been having a good time just saying ridiculous things, talking about and studying Japanese, making meals mostly involving onions, sausage and perogies, teaching Dan some JAVA, playing games, watching anime, etc. The anime is called Zipang and is about a modern war-ship that accidently travels back to World War II. It’s pretty interesting because they are caught in the cross-fire of real battles… except that they have a ship that could easily help out the Japanese. The question is, should they? Pete would be proud that we are being so productive.

We are planning to go to a small group, or “house church” as they call them here, tonight. Should be fun. It’ll give me a chance to meet some of Dan’s friends, since so far it’s been mostly Dan, myself and Shen (Dan’s dog).

Also, we might be going to the store to grab an iPod Touch. I’ll mostly be using it as a Japanese-English dictionary while in Japan, but there are plenty of other uses I’ll discover for it, such as keeping contacts and calendars.

Right now we are playing a free online strategy game together called Civony. The whole game is in real-time, so set something to build and if it says it’ll take 14 minutes, it really means 14 minutes. It’s not intended to be played all in one sitting.

Oh, and later we’re going to try and make some Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce. Yum!… I think…

Dan wants me to say that what is going on here is significant. That’s all he can say for now, because he doesn’t want to put any of his operatives who are in the field in danger. I’m sure we all can understand the sensitivity of this subject matter.