Lake Mashu

On day 1 of our travels, we went hiking, had lunch and went on a cruise.
旅行の1日目にハイキングしたり、昼食を食べたり、クルーズをしたりした。

On day 2, we got up early to go explore the lakes and get to Asahikawa not too late.

2日目に湖と旭川へ行くのために早い起きた。

This is us in front of L and my first ever minshuku!

Lと私の初めての民宿！

Before we left for the lakes we went to go see a gorgeous view.

このきれい眺めがある所へ行った。

Stunning!

きれい！

It seemed to be a park golf course in the midst of a bunch of farm land.

農場の間にパルクゴルフがあったらしい。

Lake Mashu. It reminded me a lot of Crater Lake, in Oregon.

摩周湖。オレゴン州のクレーターレイクと似てると思った。

If you turned your back to the lake, you could see for miles.

湖の反対にきれい眺め。

The water was such a stunning color.

水はとてもきれい色だったね。

The sky was really cool, too.

空もすごかった。

After this, we headed for Lake Kussharo.

この後に屈斜路湖へいった。

Some highlights from today

It was the perfect morning for a walk.

歩くのためにいい天気だった！

I challenged my elementary students to organize their ABC cards from Z to A. This group had a bit of trouble. 

今日小学校生にチャレンジをあげた。ZからAまで。このグループが少し困った。

The sky on my drive this evening. Isn't glorious? 

夕方に運転時にこの空が見た。

Another sign of spring!

Another sign that spring is coming . . . it’s not dark at 7pm!

春が来る！　７時に暗くない！

Photo Challenge Day 31

March 31: Sky (Last day of this photo challenge)

The sky was gorgeous today, so there are two pictures: morning and evening.

Shot on my way to church this morning. I love these mountains. Every time I drive this route, I want to stop and photograph them.

Shot on my way home from church this afternoon. I feel similarly about the mountains on this route (they are likely the same mountains, just from a slightly different angle).

*  *  *  *  *

On top of Easter Sunday today, we had a baptism. What’s really amazing about M’s story is that she met Jesus while she was in Africa for a short time. Somehow God provided a translator and someone to mentor her when she came back to Japan.

Here she is getting baptized. Along the bottom are all the other people taking pictures.

Because it was Easter, Sisters Gospel Choir (my church’s Gospel Choir) sang a couple of songs for us. It’s always fun to hear praise songs in English!

Then we started prep for Easter Lunch. It was potluck, so everyone brought something.

Here are a few of the teens and a couple of the little ones at church.

The sanctuary transformed from place to listen to the teaching to party room.

These girls are getting their contributions ready.

She’s making yakisoba – a church tradition for the Easter and Christmas potlucks.

A few more of the teens at church. The one in the green is one who I talk to almost every week. The other two I haven’t talked to very much.

Part of the line up of food. Doesn’t it look good? Also, my friend Maki makes things other than rice in her rice cooker too! There was soup in the rice cooker at the bottom of the picture.

A couple of the super sweet ladies at church. The one on the right lived in the UK for a while and she sometimes translates for me.

Cake!

Maki, the other person who takes lots of photos at church gatherings (actually, she probably takes more).

A fun conversation.

These ladies are trying to decide how to display this cake.

The yakisoba prep.

Two of my favorite kids. They are constantly sitting on me, pulling me along to play or doing my hair.

He is risen!