Many apologies for disappearing and reappearing at random points on FB. There are reasons for that. 

We've been traveling like troubadours around the region of Tohoku and Morioka, staying in one place no more than three days, and most days being overnights before heading out again in the morning with all our bags back in the trunk. It has its ups and downs, good points being that it forces us to stay organized (which is good for me because I have the organization skills of a pack rat but aspirations of OCD level cleanliness,) but the bags are heavy, and continue to grow more so with every shopping trip to the 3-story Japanese second-hand store (of happiness and joy.) 
The other upside- backwoods Japan is GORGEOUS. Imagine Tucson with more mountains and all the trees in Prescott times five all packed together on it with water running through like veins. Mountains interlace then fade into the clouds in shades of ao (green and blue- the word can mean both in traffic settings, but here it is befitting as well.) I've never seen so much green in my life. The countryside has to be my favorite part of Japan. Luckily, where we have been for a good chunk of this week, Morioka is a city right in the middle of many forests, so we don't have to go very far for all these spectacular views. If you want pictures, though, think fast and have a designated picture taker- they go by in the time it takes for you to realize you should be taking a picture. (I ended up just videoing out the window so I could screenshoot what I wanted. Only downside is memory space, but it's worth it to take home the views when the traffic runs by so fast.) Also, the mass amounts of trees block the camera by the time it focuses, and sometimes artificial walls, too. But other than that, it's jaw-dropping. 

Each of the places we have stayed at have been missionary houses. They are designed to take in people, as short term missionaries to Japan are becoming more and more numerous since the tsunami. At one point, we were living in a house with 11 girls in it including us. Think hostels for missionaries, and the long-term missionary heads it. Most speak Japanese to a good extent, one being fluent in both British English and Japanese, and some only knowing bits of English. They are much cheaper than staying at hotels, but because they run on support, the wifi isn't anything to play World of Warcraft or anything like that on. One person could be on at a time, and usually that person was calling home on Skype, unable to see their loved ones though they could see the missionary- basically 80% capacity for Skype. Due to this, I am out of room on my phone for pictures and unable to free up space by uploading to Photobucket or Dropbox, even after 10 attempts at several hotspots. And free wifi is nearly impossible to come by in Japan, even at Starbucks. 

Driving in Japan is farther than freaky. Besides spectacular views to distract you, lanes permit about a foot's slack on each side of the cars, which also must be shared with bikes. Not to mention we also drive on the left side of the road. Add in some one-lane streets, and a bicycle starts to sound like the ideal form of transportation. Buses are nice and are generally pretty cheap- even getting lost only cost about $4.50 (and without getting lost, $3.25.) The system is efficient, schedule-wise and payment-wise. You walk in and get a ticket with a number of your stop on it; up at the front is an electronic sign with stop numbers across it, telling you how much you must pay for your ride from your stop to the stop the bus is arriving at; at your stop, look for the price under your number, and that is how much your ride costs. Pay in exact change, too. 

7-11s are the most amazing things. They're convenience stores, not gas stations here, and you can get candy, cake, flan, lunch, manga (comics,) magazines, cold drinks, necessary items, Star Wars Pocky, anime-themed merchandise, gadget accessories, gifts, 2 liter water bottles for a buck, and very nice service. Suz has fallen in love with Meiji brand chocolate crunch bars and Poiful (Jelly Beans.) I'm addicted to C. C. Lemon (vitamin C citrus soda) and the dollar water supply, and Elissa tries all the things she can read the labels of. When in a rush, just get an onigiri, or a rice ball, with one of a variety of other ingredients inside (plum, seaweed chreds, salmon, ect) and it will satisfy your stomach for a while for a buck. Family Marts are the next best, but 7-11 takes the cake... cuz it has cake :3 Then Daisos, or 100 yen stores, are our favorite for obvious reasons.

Japanese people love when Americans speak Japanese, as well as speaking English to them. Even when they're drunk they can manage to put their learnings from class into a sentence in attempt to impress us, generally with "HAY SISTA!" and "YOU'S GOOD DANCA!" sort of things. Some sober people I've been able to hold up a pretty good conversation with while the I leave to the interpreters to translate the words I don't understand. The kids can pick up on the accent fairly well, and the older ones have trouble with not having a vowel after every consonant and the L/R difference. Such mistakes, however, make for some fun T-shirts with what we call "Engrish." I like to compliment the Japanese on their English, and they're fun to talk to in both languages. Also, if you dance their dances, they love you. I caught about 20 people videoing us gaijin (foreigners) dancing the traditional dance at the matsuri (festival,) including one professional from a television station. 

The kids are wonderful, and more than just in English. They are fun, adorable, and hilarious with Pop Rocks. They like to have fun, yet are well-behaved. Suz absolutely adores them. 

That's a brief overview of the first week. More detailed versions will be up soon, when the internet permits it. Thanks for reading and supporting the mission!

Time for T-shirts! 

Using this t-shirt press we found at our friend's neighbor's garage sale,
t-shyatsu o tsukattandesu! (We made t-shirts :D)

Mom and I used this thing at over 300 degrees for 12-15 seconds to make the magic happen while Maxwell Smart conspired against the Chaos Organization's doppelgänger of himself. And zey are beautiful! (The t-shirts that is)

So now to celebrate we're watching "Get Smart".  #LifeIsGood #EternalLifeIsBetter 

THIS

This is premiering while we are gone. And unfortunately I do not know enough Japanese to catch all that they say. Suz realized this and we were all D8 (This is a scared face with a dropped jaw. Turn your head to the right.)

Does anyone know how to record this beauty? Both Suz and I will love you dearly.

On our last Google+ meeting, we discovered the magic of Google Effects. Nuff said.

This is going to be a growing point. Yet, it's still sort of talking? (Close enough)

One of our street performances is going to be a mime drama based off of this lovely children's book here. It is about a teddy bear who gets rejected in the store, then swept away in a tsunami that takes him to where he would truly be loved by a little girl who has a bunch of friends who had plushies they loved. It's a lot like the story of the Christian life, where we fail, go through tragedy, then are brought by them to God, with the added element of fellowship. Kinda like "God Bless the Broken Road" only kinda like "God Bless the Broken Waves" ish... yeah!

We'll be doing this one in Morioka, where the tsunami hit pretty hard a few years ago. Please pray that this will reach the people there!

Almost done getting packed now!

Which includes making our t-shirts with our handy dandy.... *Ding!* T-shirt press! 

After finally realizing that the iron-on transfers were in the OFFICE section of Wal-Mart and not the craft section (go figure,) team shirts are finally back on!

[Designs by the lovely Suz (the happy girl on the end of the banner!)]

Packing also means mass amounts of packing and repacking, considering I realize after I zip up my suitcase that I need said items I just packed. This is usually the reason I set aside packing for the night before, but that's not a very lovely habit, now is it? 

But now I have everything I need, save for the morning-of-packing items and said t-shirts. Yay for planning ahead. Which in this case also means time to move on to packing for college. The fun just never ends, does it? *insert noisemaker here*

Two more days then Chicago, and a day or two after that and off to the 20-hour bonding time we like to call overseas flying. The way time zones work, I think we may be time travelling into the future as well an extra twenty-four hours as Japan is 19 hours ahead and usually in tomorrow...... if ya carry the one and multiply by the square root of x to the power of pi......... oh never mind. I bought gummy bears and strawberry cheesecake cookies for the flight so Elissa and I will likely care less. Suz will have it in her High School Musical Binder of Life. She schedules everything in there. Hopefully this

Anyways, off to make the shirts! Backs will be finished tonight and the front emblem shall be pressed on tomorrow morning before a completely unrelated lunch meeting.

And as I do this Dad is enjoying his after-work hours watching John Wayne movies. Life is good.