This week has been one to be thankful
for. We’ve had heavy coat days, t-shirt days, sunny shine, and
blankets of clouds. The fall foliage stuck with us through it all.
I’d guess that the leaves around here are at their peak. There is
often snow on the ridges of the mountains that we can see from our
fields. Fall is here, but winter is on the way. The week has been a
time to welcome our ARI family back, to be warm by the fire together,
to cook a big dinner or two or three, to sing out loud, and to say
thank you to everyone and everything.
Participants Return!
Jenny has been heading up the effort to
prepare a surprise for the participants returning from their Western
Japan Study Tour. Since the participants would be leaving before
Christmas came around, we decided to celebrate with them. We found
some boxes of Christmas decorations above the office. Sunday night
after dinner, we put on some seasonal music and decked the dining
hall out.
By Monday night, we had a welcome
banner hung, light’s and tinsel twinkling, and an ARI all-star
dinner on the table: pork adobo, fried noodles, fried fish, chicken
‘n’ dumplings, salad, peach cobbler, blonde brownies, and of
course, rice! Jil, the training assistant who works most with the
pigs, met the returning participants in the parking area leading “Joy
to the World,” on his guitar. Veny, a graduate intern who is
working mostly in the kitchen, had prepared a dance which we
performed during dinner to the tune of Jingle Bells. Finally, Santa
Claus (Jil) stopped by and passed out some small gifts (cookies and
coconut chili paste) that we had prepared.
Farm Work
In the spirit of fall, the farm workers
spent a couple of days raking leaves around the ARI campus. This was
not for aesthetic purposes but for making hot beds in early spring.
We will pile up the leaves nearly four feet deep under our green
house. Their decomposition will produce enough heat to grow tomatoes
and other veggies before the cold leaves.
The wheat grains we planted out in the
fields are now 3-inch sprigs of green. Contradicting our nurturing
instincts, we were ordered to go out and step on the young wheat
sprouts. A good stomping pushes their roots deeper so they’ll grow
stronger this spring. American volunteer Peter likened it to times
when we are seemingly crushed by the heavy burdens that life places
on us. Through these trials we become strong enough to grow through
the spring and bear many fruits in summer.
I spent one afternoon butchering ducks
with Ban-san, Peter, and his wife Anna. We butchered three; one was
used to test the radiation in the meat, the other two were for
Thanksgiving Dinner, which we were rushing to pull together.
Wednesday Night
The volunteers went out for dinner at
our beloved Indian Restaurant down the road. We were saying goodbye
to Anna and Peter, who had surprisingly already been here for the ten
weeks that they planned to spend here. They are a young couple, both
fresh out of Seminary, planning to be Lutheran pastors. Just like
Jenny and I, they were married one year ago on September 24th!
So back in September when they first arrived, we shared our special
day with them by, you guessed it, sharing a meal at our favorite
Indian Restaurant. It was neat to eat one of our last meals with them
there this week.
After we returned from ARI we headed
back into the kitchen to do some major prep work for the Thanksgiving
feast we were planning to share with everyone on Thursday night. As
most traditional American Thanksgiving dinners are, ours was a bit
oven heavy. So we got some baking out of the way. Before 11:30 we had
whipped out two pumpkin pies, three pumpkin bread loaves, a sweet
potato pie, and an apple pie, and were well on our way to a hearty
pumpkin soup.
Community Work Day in the Forest
On Thursday, the whole community woke
up and headed out to the forest to work up an appetite. ARI has a
share of forest land nearby which we often visit and care for. On
this day, some of us cleared out underbrush while others scaled the
Japanese cedars and sawed off dead limbs.
Thanksgiving Feast
When we returned from the forest, Jenny
and I went straight to work on the Thanksgiving dinner. Other
American volunteers were already tending diligently to our two
turkeys, stirring pumpkin soup, and kneading rolls from scratch. We
then started in on the mashed potatoes, the dressing, roasted roots
(carrots, radish, burdock), and oven-roasted ducks.
Thankfully we had some extra help!
Rachel’s parents were visiting. They helped make the pies (crust
from scratch!) and carve up the birds. Also, an American family,
living and teaching in Tokyo, was visiting ARI for the holiday. They
brought their adorable children along. Something about kids climbing
around the room, crying, and generally being cute made it feel like
the holidays. Eleanor even helped me fix the dressing!
Before digging in we introduced the
holiday. Peter talked about the pilgrims and the natives. Kelly led
us in a small prayer service and the song, “For the Fruits of All
Creation.” I explained what dressing was and the many ways to use
gravy and cranberry sauce.
Everyone really enjoyed the meal. We’ve
been getting compliments and thank-you’s all weekend. Fuji said
that the meal made him consider applying for American citizenship.
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| Our ducks in a row |
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| Not too colorful a meal, but D - lish! |
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| Giving Thanks |
Minngos Concert
Friday was a national holiday here so
we all got the day off. It was nice to get an extra day of rest after
all of our work in the kitchen. All Jenny and I had to do was feed
the pigs right before dark. In the afternoon, the gospel choir,
Minngos, performed a final concert in Koinonia. They even sang some
Chirstmas songs like, “Silent Night,” and, “Ding-Dong Merrily
on High,” so the Christmas decorations from Monday were still
working their magic.
Wind Family Cookout
On Saturday night we grabbed our last
two broiler chickens and loaded up on the bus. Gussan, the farm
manager, was hosting a cookout at his farm, Wind Family Farm, to
celebrate the end of farm work for the participants.
There were two grills set up. We
gathered around and threw on onions, potatoes, pork, fish, and the
chickens we brought and butchered. We all stayed warm by the fire
eating, drinking, and singing songs into the night.
Nishinasuno Church
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| Pastor Joseph |
The kind folks at Nishinasuno Church
hosted a final ARI Sunday for this year’s participants. Joseph Kora,
from Papua New Guinea, gave the sermon. He talked about Mary who
poured expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus and how she shows us we
should give even what is most valuable to us. After church, we shared
fellowship over a fine lunch that the congregation had prepared for
us.
Last Few Moments Together
As we move on into December, the
participants are counting down the days and hours they have left here
at ARI. Graduation will be on December 8th. After that
people will begin departing. We are all aware that our time here
together is coming to a close. As this happens we become increasingly
thankful that we were able to meet here and share these beautiful
times together. We will pray for them as they prepare to re-enter
their lives in their communities and use the gifts they have found
here at ARI.
