Konichiwa!

Konichiwa is Hello in Japanese!
So much has happened since my last blog post! The mission team left this past Tuesday at 5:00am. They are all now safely home, and I have been settling into life here in the Winters home! I will try to give a quick summary of all the wonderful adventures we had while the mission team was here!

On our way to New York for our flight to Tokyo!

Our travels here to Japan went extremely smoothly! On our flight from New York to Tokyo there were many empty seats! I had an empty seat to my left with a kind quiet lady in the window seat. Jena was across the isle from me, and we had fun laughing at the plane food and making friendship bracelets in the dark! The other teens were about 3 rows in front of me, and Pastor and Mrs. Peragallo were in the row in front of me, with an extra seat in between them! The flight went very smoothly and it was actually relaxing for me! I studied my Bible lessons for the VBS, journaled, made many bracelets, watched "Up" and "Ratatouille," tried to sleep for about 30 minutes, and ate. They fed us one snack, two meals, and one "lunch" type meal. Jena and I were stuffed by the end of the flight!

Flying up over Canada towards Japan!

The Team - Safely in Japan, ready to sleep!

On Thursday evening, our first day here in Japan, we went to a Hawks baseball game. It was raining, and it was an adventure getting to the stadium, because we had forgotten umbrellas so Mr. Winters ran to a convenience store and bought some. We were all a bit tired and droopy at the game, but we all enjoyed it!

The opponent's cheering section!

Release of the balloons in the seventh inning!

The cheering squad for the opponent's team was really into their cheering! They had all sorts of songs, cheers, hand motions, and chants. It was quite distracting from the game, but very entertaining! The drums and trumpets backed them up, and there were a few flag wavers as well. We couldn't stay until the end of the game, and I don't remember who ended up winning, but it was a fun and new experience!

We are off to ride our bikes and get ice cream (well, I'm getting sherbet)! I'll write more soon!
God Bless!