So it's been awhile and I have lots to report...

Like what Amanda and I did over Christmas/New Year's. OR all the snow we've gotten in the last couple of weeks. But I thought I'd start with the most recent stuff and go backwards. Maybe I'll report on the vacation stuff by the time of the wedding, at this rate...

Well, some really good news: A week ago, we had a double baptism at the church! Two nursing students, one first-year and one second-year, made the decision to be baptized. I actually know both of them so it was all very exciting. The second-year student is named Michiko (but goes by Michi) and worked with us as a CMC staff member before. She's been quite active in helping with worship stuff even after that, so it wasn't exactly a surprise to hear, but still really great. The first-year student's name is Mayumi and she's from Okinawa. I had a get-together with the Okinawan club here and she came. She's been threatening to make me eat natto but maybe she forgot about that over vacation. Anyway, very exciting and wonderful news all around.

The only thing: they did this baptism last week, in the dead of winter, with only an outdoor baptistry. I was a little worried about that, as they had a baptism last year around this time and it was cold. Not snowing or anything, but still pretty miserable if you ask me. But hey, this was the time they chose, and I suppose if you're going to do it no need to wait, right? So I woke up on Sabbath morning, all excited about the baptism, and this is what it looked like outside:














Oh yes. LOTS and LOTS of snow all over. Now, you might think that they'd call the whole thing off, but NO WAY. They plowed on ahead with it, the two young ladies biting the bullet and getting dunked in the freezing cold water. Later on I asked them if they were cold and they both said "yeah, but it wasn't so bad." I didn't believe them. I was vicariously freezing just watching the whole thing.

So yeah, baptisms are serious business here. The non-HARDCORE need not apply. While we were all watching this go down, I was thinking "I hope this remains a symbolic death and doesn't cross over into a literal one." I've seen the brand spanking-new disciples of Christ walking around on campus over the past week, and they don't seem any worse for wear. So that's definitely a good thing.


MORE TO COME! (I hope).