Our neighbors invited us to the annual “Burn Your New Year’s Decor” party! After cutting down a bunch of bamboo, they prop them up into a tepee of sorts, light it, and listen to it pop and burn. It sounded like gunshots echoing off the hills!

We were able to spend several hours with our extended neighbors, eating pork soup, rice balls, grilled chicken, and grilled shiitake mushrooms. Yum! We met many new people, and Norman was invited to take part in a relay race coming up in two weeks, also a part of our new community.

We are so thankful to be here in Japan! God has a plan, and we are honored and thrilled to be a small part of it. Thank you for your prayers!