Minnesota State Fair

It is 7 p.m. on Thursday. We've had a busy day. This was the first day of the state fair. Square Dancers are scheduled to dance each day of the fair and our club signed up for this first day. It was cloudy all day and misted and then rained a little as we took to the dance floor at 10:30 to 1:30. We danced in three hour-long sets rotating squares so we didn't get too tired. We got a little wet, but continued dancing anyway. We spent a few more hours looking at exhibits and eating our way around the fair grounds. We met back at the car at 4 p.m. and headed home. It took an hour and twenty minutes for the 45 minute drive home. However, we made it home before the rain hit for real. It came down in sheets with big winds just a few minutes after we got home. We turned on the TV to listen to the news and found that there have been tornados and huge hail in southern Minnesota since 9 a.m. this morning. We feel really blessed to have been spared the heavy rain this noon. This later afternoon they got more rain at the fair but we were safe at home by then.
We actually enjoyed the cloudy day so that it wasn't so hot for dancing and walking around the fair.

Mayo Camp at Gull River Lot

The weather cooperated with beautiful clear skies and dry warm weather both on Saturday and Sunday. The Mayo cousins gathered at Manny's River Lot where Shawn and Mary, Eli and Kaleb live now. Some of us camped but most came Saturday and/or Sunday to share food and fun. Sunday featured Family Fear Factor. Teams dunked for apples in minnow infested water. They slurped gooey stuff with eyeballs and maggots rolling in it. Then they had a challenge on the rope swing and swimming raft. Leslie and Skyler were the winners. All the teams did a great job. What will they come up with next year?
Fishing and swimming kept the young children happy. They also rode on the hot dog pulled behind a boat. We hope to have even more families join us next year.

NEWEST PICTURE OF GEN

Anne's sister took this beautiful shot of Pete and Gen (3 months). Gen's eyelashes are really long and curly and she has big blue eyes like her mom.

We are enjoying being home. Larry was not feeling well for a couple of days but both of us are fine now. We have been getting the camper ready for the family reunion this weekend in Brainerd. The sale at Wayzata was yesterday and today. We came home with many bags of bargains. It is such fun to think of ways to use all this stuff.

We also have our slides pretty well organized so we are ready to show them to anyone who is interested in our trip. You'll have to give us a timeline so we don't over stay our welcome.

Love, Larry & Marlys

Home in Minnesota, Safe and Sound

We are home safely. Today, Friday, we slept in and have been doing wash and reading emails and cleaning up the computer mailings.
We were unaware of all the problems in London until we reached Paul's house. When we arrived in Detroit, they announced that there was an orange alert and all liquid and gels would not be allowed on the plane. If we had them we had to put them in the checked luggage when we went through customs. We did that and then our carry on luggage was scanned as usual. There were no more problems for us but the Japanese girls ahead of us had a bag of cosmetics as carry on and these were dumped out. Anything with liquid or gel was tossed into a dumpster.
There were lots of inspector people in the customs area. Our plane had about 400 people and they ran us through the hoops as fast as possible. Still, we would have missed our connecting flight if it had been on schedule. We ran through the airport and arrived 5 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. But, no problem, the plane had not yet arrived from Indianapolis! It was rescheduled for one hour later. So we relaxed and called Paul with the news so that they would check at the airport before driving out there. As it turned out, Paul was able to get us instead of Leslie and the children. Paul had been in a meeting downtown in Minneapolis so just came to the airport after that. He was waiting at the baggage area. We were soo glad to see him!
It was a long day. Up at 7 a.m. in Japan. To the airport before 11. On the plane at 1 p.m. Plane ride was 12 hours. 2 1/2 hours in Detroit. 1 1/2 hour flight to Minneapolis. 5 hours later hit the bed. Total: 27 hours - all on August 10th! We slept a little on the planes but not much. We slept a good 11 hours last night. Now we feel fine but we are supposed to go square dancing tonight and I doubt that we will make that. I bet we will get to bed early again.
We are enjoying the cooler weather at home. It is about 72 degrees. The humidity is high but the coolness feels so wonderful! I've washed two loads of clothes and have the backpacks unloaded. I have read the first batch of mail. More will be delivered today. We've had a bit of breakfast but need to go to the store later to fill up the refrigerator. Tomorrow Pete and Pat's families will be here for lunch. Today we will stop at church to see the end of the Sport's Camp. Sunday is the church picnic and square dancing at the Fiddler's Contest in a nearby town. We thought the Mayo Reunion was this weekend and were so happy it is next weekend. (I had forgotten the dates.) We are going to camp in our camper at Manny's River Lot where Shawn Sundquist has built a house.
Thanks so much for praying for us. We felt very supported by prayer. We were not sick at all and managed well in the heat and humidity. Our assignment was different than what we had envisioned but we sensed God's presence and know that our being there was what was needed, not what we actually did.

Praising God for a wonderful trip,
Larry & Marlys

Ready to Fly Home Tomorrow

Hi from Osaka, Japan
We are at our hotel in Osaka with free internet so thought I would give one last report before we head home. Our time with Rachel was really great. We went to Hakata on Monday and found the showroom and shop of Hakata dolls. I have a small bell to show off their work as well as the pieces I collected in the 60s when we lived here. We also found a folk museum which had several different crafts displayed and a video showing how things were made. We enjoyed both places. The heat and humidity were very oppressive especially on Monday but we walked through it. Rachel cooked some great meals for us and we had a good time sharing pictures too.

We left Rachels Tuesday morning and took a slow train up the west coast to Matsue. The views of the ocean and the rocky coast were very beautiful as well as the mountain terrain we drove through. These mountains aren't very high but are covered with forests. The trees are different from those in Minnesota. We took a bus and hiked 10 minutes to the youth hostel in Matsue for the evening. We ate at the bus station while waiting for the bus. We were glad we did because we didn't see any stores when we got off the bus. The driver just motioned for us to keep walking. We found the hostel and had a wonderful welcome by a woman and child. Later we met her husband. He was fun to talk with and encouraged us to take a walk in the morning. Larry did hike up to some of the park he described at 5:30 a.m. Marlys slept in - of course! We did leave early for the bus stop. But before we left, the manager and his wife sang to us - a country western song, Shenandoah Road.

Today we continued by train to Osaka. We arrived by 2 p.m. at the hotel and then left again to ride the train on our rail pass one last time. We just chose to go toward Nara on a local train. We got off in Oji - it was the end of that train trip. Instead of continuing on to Nara, we went out to the street and found a big department store to explore. We also saw some other shops along the road and went back to the super market to get supplies for breakfast and lunch.

We will leave here about 9:30 a.m. and take the train to the airport. Our flight leaves at 1 p.m. Continue praying for journey mercies. We look forward to seeing many of you soon. However, we will be in Brainerd for the weekend so will miss the church picnic and square dance on Sunday.

See you soon. Larry & Marlys

Sunday in Japan

We wanted to share a picture of us in Nagasaki and then to tell about church in Shimonoseki with Rachel. We were welcomed to the service with three other American guests. Rachel played keyboard for the music which were familiar hymns and choruses. The text was shown in English as well as Japanese. It really helped to include us in the worship. The scripture was also in both languages and in Chinese too. The sermon had been translated into English and written so we could follow along. It was communion Sunday so we felt a bond with other Christians at home also celebrating Jesus' death for us. After the service we prayed in small groups and then had lunch. It was a good time of sharing with the other Americans and Japanese too.

Larry took off on his own for the afternoon but didn't go far. Marlys and Rachel took the bus to antoher part of town and saw an old temple on the national register of historic places, a beautiful Japanese guarden and the old part of the city.

Nagasaki

Saturday night and we are back in Shimonoseki after an overnight trip to Nagasaki. Rachel did a great job as a tour guide. We had reserved seats on the two hour ride from Hakata (45 minutes from her house). We walked all over the city and rode the trolleys to see the sights. The peace park and museum show the power of the atomic blast of Aug. 9, 1945 and the strong message of peace which resulted from this tragedy. The paper cranes symbolize peace.

Nagasaki is also known as the first place that Christianity entered Japan. Christianity spread at first but was outlawed for over 200 years and many, many Christians were martyred during that time. We visited the early Portugese and Dutch trading sites and the memorials to 26 martyrs from 1598. We enjoyed the beautiful city, interesting food and very comfortable accomodations.

We are looking forward to going to church tomorrow with Rachel. Another American teacher has three guests from home so there will be 5 extra Americans tomorrow. We are also praying for the congregational meeting held Sunday night in Buffalo.

Love to all,
Larry, Marlys and Hi from Rachel

Konnichi wa

We arrived safely in Osaka on the 2nd and found our hotel. It had free internet so we updated our blog and added some more pictures. Japan has a different look and feel than Taiwan did. We saw individual houses along with apartment buildings. Bicycle riders instead of motor scooter riders.

Now we are in Shimonoseki with Rachel Starr. She also has internet connections so we are updating again. We have seen this area today and are leaving tomorrow for Nagasaki. Rachel made reservations at a hotel for tomorrow night. Today we rode the train and a ferry and then went under the sea in a tunnel when coming back to Honshu island from Kyushu island. The harbor area is very busy with ocean going vessels steaming to and fro all the time. The ferry had to time its crossing to miss the larger boat traffic.

It is just as hot and humid here as it was in Taiwan. The sunset was beautiful and we hope the good weather holds. The laundry is done and we are packed for a two day trip. Thank you for your prayers.

Larry & Marlys

Reunited in DanShui

The Taiwan Covenant church provided the Taiwan 2006 a great get-away at the end of our three weeks of teaching. We stayed at the Green Bay resort in the northern part of Taiwan. Then we ended the time in DanShui at the Fisherman s Wharf.

Larry and I were able to meet four students from the Peitou church we served last year at the Wharf. What a grand reunion we had. It was difficult for a couple of them to switch back to English, but we still communicated. We enjoyed the lovely sunset on Friendship Bridge and then strolled through the streets to get some food and share with one another again. They accompanied us to our hostel and left us with bittersweet memories. It really was time to leave.

We are now in Japan. Tomorrow we will meet Rachel and begin a new chapter of travels in western Japan.

Thank you for your prayers.
Marlys and Larry