New year, New us
Hi friends,
The Wambles here, writing from our new home in Hokkaido. We spent some time in America to connect with family and friends and returned to Japan on New Years Day.
You may recall that we were in an apartment near Tokyo for about a year working with the YWAM base there and attending a house church. We had a baby there, grew through some tough circumstances and moved out of that apartment in August.
Now we are living in the northern-most island of Japan called Hokkaido. It’s a land of dairy farms, mountains and snow. Our town of Niseko has less than 20,000 people — a bit different than Tokyo! It’s also one of the snowiest places on earth.
During January and February it snowed almost every day. Those snowy days a man in a huge Mitsubishi shovel loader truck would come by just as the sun was peeping over the horizon. Sometimes I’d be awake to watch him scoop the new snow into piles and leave our driveway clear. He was as precise as a surgeon and we were grateful not to have to shovel out everyday by hand.
Our neighbor down the street is a different story. She’d be out in the early morning driving her own little earthmover around cleaning her driveway. She looks to be about 60, wears her hair short and said its just her mom and herself living in the little house with the smoking chimney. One day we came upon her mom unexpectedly.
We were driving down our street and saw an elderly woman walking slowly beside our very snowy road. I pulled up and asked if she needed a ride. She looked to be in her 80’s. Our town is a five minute drive away but it would have been a very long walk at her pace what with the snow too. She got in our van and talked nonstop on our way to town. Her Japanese was so fast that I could hardly keep up. We did catch that she wanted to go to the post office and we let her off there. After seeing our three kids in the car she pushed some money at us. We adamantly refused. She insisted that because we have children she’d give us some money. It was about $30.
Such was our first meeting with our neighbor’s mom.
As some friends have told us, the people who live in Hokkaido are pioneers. They are not the train-riding, briefcase toting, salary men from Tokyo. They are searching for a more simple, less cluttered life in nature. We have seen these pioneer types out everyday in all conditions buying groceries, taking dogs for walks and clearing snow. More than once we’ve watched elderly people on a two story roof scraping off gobs of snow. It makes me grateful for our pitched roof that sheds snow easily.
But now the weather’s warming up and roads are melting off and this month marks 2 months we’ve been in our little house. Here’s a few things we’ve done!
First, we connected with our fellow missionaries in YWAM Niseko and in the church. We have worship 3 times a week with the YWAM group and have spent a lot of time eating meals, talking and having kids play together. Our friends in YWAM Niseko are focused on growing healthy families and marriages and are hoping to plow and plant spiritually for the long term. They have been such an encouragement and inspiration to be around.
Secondly, we got Avila in school. We knew that to free up time to learn language, we needed kids to be engaged. Avi’s school is a half day kindergarten but has been great for her to make friends and learn language. The by-product of that is that we gotten to meet a lot of other families in the area. I guess I could call that number 3.
We’ve gotten to meet so many great families! Our town has a diverse mix of foreigners and Japanese so we have many friends who speak some English and don’t mind our poor Japanese. On Tuesdays after school a lot of families meet in the local gym so their kids can play on the trampoline and climbing walls expending that deep well of energy while the parents talk. We met a mom of a boy from Avi’s class and their family lives on our street. In so many other ways God is highlighting and connecting us with people.
Fourth, we’re practicing our language! We are still like babies but embrace the mentality that anything worth doing must be done badly first!
Fifth, Steph and Avila are learning to ski! As a kid growing up in Colorado, skiing was my favorite thing ever. It’s been fun to spend some time watching them enjoy it too. It is great exercise and learning to ski is such a good image of our life right now: a little wobbly but getting slowly smoother.
Last, we’re getting our house cleaned and furnished in a way that meets our needs. We have a little two bedroom home with lovely windows looking out on snowy fields and mountains. It’s still a work in progress but we’re so grateful for a place that is warm and inviting.
If you would like to pray for us, please pray that we would have opportunities to share Jesus with our new friends here. Also please pray for wisdom as we decide more about Avila’s needs for school as the time comes for 1st grade. Pray also for our parenting and life. Parenting is hard in any circumstance but can be especially challenging when combined with a new country and new routines.
Thanks so much!!
This is Annupuri — the ski mountain near the house
Just an abandoned picturesque cabin behind our house
The kids discovering snow. They love it!
Our van looking mighty cold with Mt. Yotei (the Fuji lookalike) in the background
Wambles in the big city of Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. Check out that classic Benji face.
Stephanie had a dream about this TV tower about 3 years ago, not knowing anything like that existed in Japan.