Spring 2018 (In Photos)

I came back to Japan in March, and hit the ground running. It's impossible to share about all the things that I have been up, but I wanted to share a few pictures with captions to share a bit of what I've been up to! 

My dear childhood friend, Hannah, visited for a little over a week.
We did lots of fun things like wearing traditional "Yukata" while enjoying a foot spa.
with Yurie and Rina  

With Tomoyo, we planned "Shaberanaito"
one of weekly BEST club events. 

We enjoyed a flower festival at a huge park!
with Rina and Ryoko

Ryoko and Hannah in the "Japanese Garden" in the park.

Carl and I have enjoyed many double dates,
including this one, in Shibuya, with our dear friends Chiba and Satoe. 

WELCOME CAMP! We had a huge camp to welcome new freshman to BEST club! We had a campfire, cooking competition, and lots of picture! 

These were the yummy foods that we made for the cooking competition!
The rule for the cooking competition was that we had to use mushrooms.
Everyone's dishes were creative and fun!

I enjoyed hiking at Welcome Camp.
Carrie and Enshyu enjoyed doing yoga at the top of one of the mountains. 

One of the great joys for me was leading, and Welcoming this summer team from Hawaii!! John, Reese, Mark, and Isaiah came for 2 weeks and joined all our events. We had so much fun with them and learned a lot from them! 

Our friend, Tomo, is a DJ! We got to experience one of his concerts and a little DJ Bar in downtown Tokyo.
Lots of fun!

Carl and I have been Skyping with Tom, Tiffany, and Justin! They will be joining us for 7 weeks, starting in Mid-June! We are excited for the relationships they will build with our students, all they will learn about Japan and BEST club, and all we will learn from them! 

We celebrated the birthday of my awesome roommate, Riko!
Students and staff had a surprise!
Carl baked his first (and amazingly delicious) birthday cake. 

I spend a weekend in Yamanashi prefecture for a retreat. I stayed in this incredible Airbnb called "Peace One".
I spent a lot of time reading, reflecting, praying, and getting good rest. 

I visited this beautiful shrine at the base of Mount Fuji. 

Did some yoga beside a lake at the foot of the mountains. Such a relaxing time.
It is hard living in Tokyo, I'm not used to city life, but I love living in Japan, and the easy accessibility of the places in nature. 

This is just a little bit of what I'm enjoying and experiencing recently! Lots of love to all of you back in the States!