May Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from warm and sunny Sapporo. Although the snow pile at the nearby soccer field has not yet melted, I think it’s safe to say that Spring is here.

It's Sakura season! So glad they were still blooming when we got home from Tokyo!

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been busy getting to know our church. Gradually our church responsibilities have been picking up; we’ve started teaching Sunday school for middle school and high school, attending weekly prayer meetings, playing piano and cello for worship services, and inviting church members for supper. In addition, thanks to conversations with Takahashi-sensei and various church members, we’ve had a lot of food for thought about “being the church” in Japan. We’re very thankful to be at Wakaba; we are confident that the next two years will be full of opportunities to learn and serve.

A good deal of a missionary’s work takes place outside of the church building. We’re trying to meet people in our community through common interests. Keith continues with choir; Celia played a concert shortly after Easter and is already preparing for fall and winter concerts. We’ve started tea ceremony classes along with another member of our church. We rented a plot in a community garden close to our house; today we chatted with a neighbor as we planted. What a great opportunity to meet people!

Easter concert

Keith practices Tea Ceremony with Fujiyama-sensei

At our vegetable garden with Tamura-san, a friend from church

In May, we spent about 2 weeks in the Kanto area (in and around Tokyo) attending “Indigenous Biblical Church Movement” training and visiting friends and colleagues in the area. The training, simply put, gave us the opportunity to think and process what it means for a church to reflect its community here in Japan. We’re looking forward to putting the course content into practice. (Also during our trip, we went to see Sumo, and Celia had 2 viola da gamba lessons, the shorter of which was 3 ½ hours!)

Sumo!

***

Prayer Points

• We continue to thank God for his guidance in leading us to Wakaba Church. Our relationships with Pastor Takahashi and other church members are going very well.
• Please pray for our endurance with language--for us to be able to listen for long periods of time without losing focus. Sundays and Wednesdays can be hard.
• We have started to transition from observing to supporting various events at church. Celia will be preparing an Italian-style meal as part of a movie outreach event in July, and Keith will start preaching monthly from August.
• Please pray for our involvement with PB Kids, the children’s and youth program at church. Pray for our relationships with the other teachers and with the students. There are currently 4 high/middle schoolers who regularly come and many others who occasionally come. 
• Please pray for adult children of church members who can’t find jobs, who are too busy with work to come to church, or who are uninterested and disconnected from church.
• We attended “Indigenous Biblical Church Movement” training in May. We had many meaningful conversations and times with friends.  Pray that we will reflect well on and apply what we have learned.
• Pray also for us to continue building relationships at church and in the community through gardening, tea ceremony and kimono classes, and music.

***

The First Wednesday

It would be hard to explain in detail all that we do now at Wakaba Church, so I (Keith) thought a snapshot into Wednesday morning and evening prayer meetings might give some insight into our new weekly routine. Let me first say that most churches associated with OMF in Hokkaido have Wednesday prayer meetings. I have also heard of churches that have a daily early morning prayer meeting (6:30 am or earlier), but fortunately ours are at 10 am and 7:30 pm on Wednesdays. These two prayer meetings, although slightly different in content, follow a basic two hour schedule of worship, Bible reading and sharing, prayer request sharing, and then splitting into pairs to pray. For Celia and me, four hours of prayer meeting in English often leave us drained, so when you multiply that by Japanese, at the end of a Wednesday, coherence in any language becomes challenging.

The good news is that our endurance is growing as well as our relationships with key members of the church. Of course, the bad news is that no matter how hard we try to keep concentration, there are times when we are completely lost. For instance, at the first Wednesday prayer meeting, I was trying to remember everyone’s name and follow their prayer requests. As each person shared, my memos became shorter and shorter until I was simply writing down random Japanese words here and there, some that I didn’t even recognize, in hopes that they would be useful if I were called upon to pray for one of these items. After we all shared, we numbered off to decide which portion of the church’s prayer bulletin we would pray for, and then we paired off to pray. The sweat pooled in the palms of my hands as I attempted to remember the person’s name with whom I was praying, decipher my poorly written memos of her prayer requests, try to read the complicated Japanese of the church’s prayer bulletin for the first time, all while trying to craft sentences using the specific set of rules of Japanese prayer language.

Those first few Wednesdays were rough, but by God’s grace Celia and I not only got through it but were able to contribute. There were times when complicated Japanese forms or words I didn’t even know that I knew came from my mouth while I was praying. There were times when the person for whom I was praying was moved to tears. Many times I felt the presence of God in my prayers and others’. I am positive that my Japanese prayers were and are riddled with mistakes, but even so, I trust God knows what I’m trying to say, and my Japanese prayer partners understand the kimochi or feeling behind my prayers even if they don’t entirely understand its contents.
***

Language Corner
Last Sunday, we were celebrating our church’s 32nd birthday. Yes, that’s right, Wakaba Church is the same age as me (Celia). For a while, everyone listened attentively to Tamura-san, who was leading the meeting. Then the photo albums came out, and everyone started flipping through the albums while excitedly reminiscing among themselves as the meeting descended into happy chaos. So, in celebration of Wakaba Church’s birthday, here is a lovely Engrish from the cover of one of the photo albums. It reads: “Let’s have a fun! Why don’t you go out and play games with us under the shinning sun? Every member is a super hero in our happy team.”

***

Thanks for your continued prayers! Let us know how we can be praying for you too.

            Love in Christ, Keith and Celia

This month I grew a flower... and it smells really good!

March Newsletter

Seasons
Keith and Celia Olson
Newsletter #21

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s been a while, and a lot has happened! Christmas concerts, finishing our formal Japanese studies, graduation, vacation, moving... all completed! February 17 was our goodbye party at Kita Hiroshima Church, and last Sunday, March 3 was our first Sunday at Wakaba Church. We’re looking forward to serving and learning as we work at Wakaba over the next 2 years. Thanks for praying!

Love in Christ, Keith and Celia
***

Christmas Concerts

In November and December, I (Celia) played 5 Christmas concerts together with pianist, Shino Inoue. We played Christmas carols and cello and piano works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Schubert. We also performed Bach’s first viola da gamba sonata. My shamisen made an appearance at two of the concerts with my own arrangement of “I Wonder as I Wander.” I think playing the shamisen (and presenting the Christmas story and my testimony in bad Japanese) helped people feel comfortable talking to me after the concert. I think I am connecting with the audience much better than I did 3 years ago.
***

New Year’s and Cultural Study

Once all the concerts and Christmas festivities were over, I made Osechi (the Japanese New Year’s feast) together with my friend, Sharon. Kimono classes continue; my latest topics of study were formal obi and my graduation hakama.
***

Takaki’s baptism

Our friend, Takaki, whom we first met over 3 years ago when we were short-termers with OMF, was finally baptized on February 3 after about 5 years of seeking. We were privileged to hear his testimony of how God used many people to show and explain the gospel to him. A Japanese person often takes many years to come to a decision to be a disciple of Jesus, but baptisms like Takaki’s show that God is indeed working in this land.
***

Graduation

On February 8, 2013, we graduated from OMF’s language school. As a farewell present to the school we made a Costco turkey for the graduation potluck and dressed up in hakama (Celia) and kimono (Keith), which are traditional Japanese formal wear, although they do make carving a turkey a bit tricky. Our Japanese is far from perfect at this stage, but we are excited to do some self-guided study at a slower pace.
***

Prayer Points

• We thank God for many things this time. The Christmas concerts went well, Keith successfully completed his first (and second) sermons in Japanese, we’re finished with full-time language study, we were able to have a short vacation, God provided us with a house, and moving went well--there were snow storms before and after, but we had good weather for our move.
• We’re thankful to be working at Wakaba Church! Please pray for good relationships with Takahashi-sensei and church members, as well as with our new neighbors.
• As we’re starting a new life outside of school, please pray for us to use our time wisely and to form good habits of music practice, Japanese study, Bible study, etc., and that we would know how much work to take on and when to say “no.” Please pray also for wisdom regarding Japanese teachers and conversation partners for our ongoing studies.
• Celia and Shino are preparing for a concert on April 10 for the women of Minami Church. Please pray for us as we plan and rehearse.
• Celia has struggled with sinus issues since last September; please pray for healing and good sleep.

***

Hokkaido Winter Fun

Hokkaido is famous for its winter: skiing, Sapporo snow festival, and the ice floes. Although Hokkaido’s latitude is the same as southern France, due to the influence of winds from Russia, we have cold winters and a lot of snow. In the east of Hokkaido, the Okhotsk Sea is covered with floating ice. We spent 3 days in Utoro looking at the ice floes, hiking, eating, and onsen bathing. We continue to be thankful that we live in an awesome place like Hokkaido!
***

Keith’s Sermons

I (Keith) preached on December 30 from Revelation about the new heaven and the new earth; it was well received. In fact, I was asked to preach again on February 17; I spoke from John’s Gospel about the spiritual growth of Nicodemus, which was also well received despite my Japanese stuttering. Each sermon took around a month to prepare, thus automatically disqualifying me from weekly preaching. Fortunately.
***

Goodbye, and Thanks!

I (Celia) prepared 2 new hymn arrangements for our goodbye party at Kita Hiroshima on February 17. I wore kimono accessories which I received from various members of Kita Hiroshima church. These precious gifts made me feel like I have a lot of Japanese moms. (Yes, it is possible to play viola da gamba while wearing a kimono, provided you also wear a hakama.) After church, we enjoyed eating “Jingis Khan,” a Hokkaido lamb specialty.
***

New Home, New Church, New Address

As you can see, we’ve moved to a place (Ishikari) with even more snow than Sapporo. This picture is from the morning after we moved in--we’re thankful that the blizzard waited until after all our belongings made it safely into our new house. Yes, it’s a house! And that’s our car parked in front! (We still get excited that we have finished registering our car.) There’s plenty of space for us to cook, entertain, and practice our instruments. We’re looking forward to having meals and movie nights with lots of friends.

We already wrote a bit about Wakaba Church in our last newsletter. Our work will start out slow; this month we will attend meetings and services and generally observe how things work. We will also do our best to get acquainted with the church members; many of them have already offered help and advice. Our first Sunday at Wakaba included a welcome feast! We are blessed to be well cared for here.

Since we have a new house, we also have a new address... but I'm not going to post it here. If you want it, email us.
***

Financial Update
Last year, we finished with an overall 99% support level! Even though there was an increase in our 2012 budget and an unfavorable exchange rate, we received a number of unexpected donations which covered that gap. We are truly blessed to have so many supporting us. Every month when we see our donation summary, we thank God for each of you who, as part of the Body of Christ, provide for our financial needs.

Our 2013 budget is roughly the same as 2012. The exchange rate is slowly becoming more favorable, but our support level for this year, like last year, has started out on the lower end. However, we trust that God will supply for what we need in His time.

Look how much I grew!

12 Days of Christmas

As a musician, I have long known that December is not a restful time. Patrons of the arts want to see performances of Messiah and the Nutcracker, and maybe even people who almost never attend concerts will come to a Christmas concert.

Now, not only am I a musician, but I am also a member of the clergy (not to mention Japanese language student). Churches in Japan do their major outreach in November and December, since even people with little interest in Christianity are interested in Christmas. Thus, this year I had 5 Christmas concerts, starting November 23. Keith also performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Sapporo Symphony Chorus.

Although most of the onslaught of December concerts in any given year will inevitably be Christmas-related, this doesn't mean that personally I am able to celebrate Christmas in the middle of all of that. Well, that's okay, actually. Many Americans, and certainly most Japanese, do not observe Advent. For me, although I was working on Christmas music and Christmas talks since the beginning of November (and the Christmas tree went up mid-November, since we didn't think it would go up at all otherwise), Christmas didn't really start until Christmas Eve, after the last concert finished and I was at home eating cookies and fruitcake with a Keith and a few of our friends. It was a long Advent this year.

First attempt at fruitcake! There are a few Japanese touches--ume plums and yuzu peel in the cake, and a frosting which is made with homemade ume jam.

This year we get 2 weeks off from school--our last day of vacation is December 6. Perfect! Let's celebrate Christ's birth with 12 days of feasting and time with friends!


On the First Day of Christmas I felt miserable, so we sat around in our pajamas most of the morning in the kotatsu while we enjoyed the Christmas tree and opened presents. We both talked to our families via skype... and wrote the New Year's cards, since we hadn't gotten to those yet. Oh, and there were cardamom rolls for breakfast.

The cold I've had off and on since September finally moved south into my lungs. Yuck. That didn't stop us from having homemade natural Sourdough rolls with Roast Beef and vegetables for Christmas dinner with our friend, Takaaki. (Thankful for Costco, where we have purchased turkeys and roasts and our Christmas tree. :)

The Second Day of Christmas was a blizzard. We didn't leave the house. I managed to recover somewhat from my cold. We had roast beef sandwiches for lunch.

Hibernation Day!

On the Third Day of Christmas we went to the dentist. Very exciting. But what really is exciting is that I made Hainanese Chicken Rice. We should eat that more often.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas we brought the harpsichord home from the church where we had the Christmas Eve concert. Due to the recent blizzard, the roads in our neighborhood were reduced to 1 lane with huge snow banks in either side. Crazy! Keith made a delicious pizza for dinner.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas our friend, Sharon came over and we planned our New Year's feast. I was getting hungry just thinking about it, so it's good that we went out for dinner with Takaaki.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, Keith preached his first sermon in Japanese. I think it went pretty well--and our pastors got a much-needed break! Keith chose Revelation 21:1-8 for his text.

After church we braved the crowded grocery store to get the ingredients for the Japanese New Year's feast.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, Sharon came over again, and we prepared Osechi, the Japanese New Year Feast... but that gets its own post when I get around to it. It was nice to prepare the meal with a friend... good company, good coffee, and we finished before 8:00 p.m.! We also ate the traditional "toshikoshi soba" for supper and stayed up until midnight watching the Iron Chef marathon on TV.

Our version of Toshikoshi soba--probably the chicken topping is not very traditional, but it sure tasted good.

There was also KFC. What can I say? Certain people were craving it... ;)

Our finished Osechi boxes!

On the Eighth Day of Christmas we went to church for the New Year's Day worship service. I wore my Sakura-patterned homongi kimono for the first time. (Homongi is equivalent to an evening gown--although I would say it's more flexible, since I certainly wouldn't wear an evening gown to church unless I was playing a concert.) The obi was a gift from my friend, Mikiko's mom.

Some of our friends at church

After church, Sharon and some other friends came over for Osechi. We also had fruitcake. And super-spicy kimchi ozouni.

Drum roll please...

 

Of course there was also coffee!

The "after" picture

In between, we watched Beauty and the Beast (with sing-along) back to back with Howl's Moving Castle--two movies which are very similar in some ways and very different in others.

Enjoying friends, Taiwanese oolong tea, Christmas tree, kotatsu, and Beauty and the Beast sing-along.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas we ate more osechi and ozouni, and rested at home. I made a new year's resolution to get over my cold. We tried to get some flashcards done... and I blogged about Christmas concerts.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas we went to the onsen (not pictured). Ahhh! :)

We also ate even more ozouni. Perhaps I should explain. Traditionally Japanese eat no rice for the first three days of the new year. This is to give the cook of the family a break from cooking, as the family eats osechi and mochi (pounded rice cakes). There are many delicious ways to eat mochi; one of our favorites is ozouni, a simple soup with toasted mochi. There are many varieties, but this is one of our favorites.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas I had a rehearsal. Shino and I are joining a clarinettist from Shino's church to play a Beethoven trio! The concert in January 19, if you would like to come. :)

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas... we made sure we got enough feasting in to last a couple of months. First, I went to my kimono club's 新年会 (new year's gathering), where we dressed up in our nicest kimono, ate a delicious lunch, had coffee... and then moved on to another place where we had matcha and manjuu.

We also had a lesson today. Naoko (on the right) is preparing to help a friend get dressed for her Seijinshiki (coming of age ceremony) in mid-January. Therefore the study topic was decorative ways of tying the obi. Akio served as a model.

Manjuu and Matcha

As soon as I got home, we headed to the home of our Swiss friends and had fondue together. Eating fondue is a Christmas tradition in my family, so I'm glad we had the opportunity!

We brought the cheese and bread, but left the cooking to the experts.

And today is Epiphany. Why stop? Ramen for lunch with friends. :) Tomorrow we'll be back in school, but our first day back is Japanese Culture Day--we get to take mini-classes in a variety of traditional activities. Fun!

Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us!

2012 Christmas Concerts report

It was crazy... and then when it all ended, I just wanted to sit in the kotatsu and stare at the Christmas tree. I can't believe it's been over a week since our final concert. Here are some pictures and a few comments about each of this year's concerts.

"Christmas" started early this year. Back in about February, Shino and I received our first invitation for a Christmas concert--the church had been trying to hold a concert on Christmas Eve for a number of years, but had been too late to invite a musician. I was surprised, but accepted the invitation. In the end, I had more invitations than I was able to accept.

Shino and I were already practicing for our 2012 Christmas concerts before we even received the first invitation. However, we really got serious around the beginning of November in preparation for our first concert on November 23. In addition to practicing my instruments and rehearsing with Shino, I also wrote introductions for each piece we played and a 3-part Christmas talk, in which I told the story of Advent, the coming of Jesus, and finally my testimony. I used part or all of the talk in 3 of the concerts, interspersed with music.

I practiced and practiced... and the day before the first concert, the neighbors complained. We'll just say I'm excited to move next month.

The first concert was November 23 at Sakae Church. Our concert was part of Sakae Church's quilt exhibition. We played Bach's first viola da gamba sonata, a couple of Christmas carols, and each of us played a solo piece. There were also tasty cakes, delicious lunch, and beautiful quilts to look at.

Using the organ presented some unique challenges, but it was fun, and sounded great!

A number of friends came, including our friend from the local tea shop.

Our second concert was November 24 at Wakaba Church. I have to say, this was the concert I was most nervous about, since we will be working at Wakaba church starting in March. The morning of the concert, I remembered that this concert isn't about me, and I was able to get through it calmly, despite a number of things going wrong--including a cello string coming unraveled during a performance of one of the most difficult pieces I've ever played... (I've learned my lesson, and I'll change my strings regularly from now on...)

It was a special pleasure to talk to people after the concert, since we'll be getting to know them from now on. About 80 people came, more than expected, including many people invited by church members. Also, we were provided with lunch--and it was fantastic. We're looking forward to enjoying meals together with the members of Wakaba church. :)

We played Schumann's Fantasiestücke and Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata on piano and cello.

I gave all 3 parts of my 3 part talk.

We played Bach's first sonata, this time with harpsichord.

I played and sang my own arrangement of "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence."

The third concert was December 8 at Nanae Church. We weren't sure if would get there--Nanae is about 4 hours away by train, and there was a blizzard the day before we left (and we were both sick). There was also a blizzard the day of the concert, and the church members were convinced no one would come... but plenty of people showed up! I guess people in Hokkaido are not deterred by bad weather. The concert went well, and I felt like people engaged well with the Christmas talk. Perhaps the best part personally was the chance to spend time with OMF colleagues, Tim and Miho, and with Pastor and Mrs. Kimura, who attended Lighthouse church with us 3 years ago.

Schubert, Schumann, and Christmas songs on cello and piano

The shamisen also made an appearance with my own arrangement of "I Wonder as I Wander"

With the Kimuras after the concert

The fourth concert was at Tonden Church on December 15. This is the church where my shamisen teacher attends, and a number of her other students came to the concert. We did our first complete performance of the Arpeggione sonata, and of course, the shamisen made an appearance. There was also tea time with excellent cookies.

Shino read Luke 2 for me for the Christmas talk... which is nice, since she reads faster and better than I do. :)

My shamisen teacher is in the foreground wearing green.

The final concert was Christmas Eve at Immanuel Church. This one included Candle-light singing of Silent Night, and Christmas cake. And I didn't have to give a talk, just introduce the pieces. Also, this was our second complete performance of the Arpeggione sonata and the fourth performance of the 2nd and 3rd movements, which helped us to be confident. Some of my friends came!

In addition to Schubert and Schumann, we did Bach with viola da gamba and harpsichord.

Conveniently Immanuel Church is a few blocks from our house, so we had a Christmas party afterwards, with cookies, cardamom bread, and fruit cake!

And then the next day I sat around in my pajamas.