Holy week.

Before I start this post, I should probably clarify that while we are not Roman Catholic, but Lutheran, we have been attending Mass at the chapel pretty much since our arrival. We are not attending the only Lutheran church in Guam. Many things played into this decision (not really something I want to get into here) but this fact does play into my experiences over the last week.

Mass on Palm Sunday was wonderful, and served as my first glimpse into many traditions that while not key to salvation stand as beautiful symbols and reminders of our faith. The priest started the service walking around with baptismal water sprinkling the congregation as a reminder of our baptisms, a beautiful reminder that our baptism ties Christ to his death on the cross.

When we were at the service on Maunday Thursday, I was reminded about something our pastor said in Charleston. Maunday Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter vigil services traditionally were not three separate services, but one continuous service that carried over from one day to the next. This idea was made very clear that night, when the priest consecrated enough of the sacrament for both Maunday Thursday and Good Friday, and then at the end of the first night we took the sacraments back to another room to be held until the next evening. 

cars and people everywhere

Friday morning we took part in a local island custom. The tradition is that  early on Good Friday Catholics get up and hike to the top of MT Lamlam, the tallest peak on the island (which is not very far from the deepest point in the ocean, the Marianas trench). To be clear: EVERYONE does this, no matter what the age old or young. One of the churches (the Basilica I believe) starts the custom off by carrying a cross to the top just before sunrise that will remain up at the top. We went a bit later, starting at 9 with the chapel when most islanders were already done with the journey and heading out. Once I saw the line of cars parked in all directions really far away from the trail head, I was kind of grateful that we showed up later and I could slip into a closer spot as people left.

we're off!

I've never prayed the stations before, but I was highly impressed by the power fullness of the prayers and how they really forced me to focus on both the cross and the journey there. Of course, the views were amazing as well (unfortunately the overcast weather made it great for hiking, but not so great for picture taking. These in no way do the views justice).

Father Tom

Can't tell if he's having fun...

note the number of crosses
there are more behind me

baby with no shorts and no shoes
totally an island baby

we made it!

This tall one was put up in 1980. I can't figure out
how they got it up there

how he got up and back

kinda cool. They go up the day
before to clear the path. of the grasses
that are taller than I am

  That evening it was back to church for Good Friday and another dark and yet somehow beautiful service.

Unfortunately, between the 2 nights of late services, the hike Friday morning, and Adam being at work all night Saturday I had to miss the Vigil Service. It was just too much for the kids and they needed to go to bed early.

Thankfully, though, they let Adam out of work early and he was home before midnight and able to easily head with us to church the next morning (had he stayed the whole time he would have left work after mass started at 9am). As an added bonus: this year our anniversary fell on Easter Sunday and I got to spend it with him! We celebrated with a yummy rack of lamb dinner and quiet family time at home.

Happy Easter!

Love you all and hope you had a wonderful and blessed Easter. HE IS RISEN!

Details

In the last few blogs, I've made a weak attempt to explain all that we learned and observed in Japan in only a few days. There's just so much to cover that it was hard to cover in a few blog posts, so I'd like to add in a few more details now.

It seems as if every person in every job that we interacted with in our time here did their job without complaint and to the best of their ability. From a customer perspective this is an amazing treat too often missed in the US.

Tourist Expenses- I heard many complain about how expensive everything in Japan is before we came. I suppose Tokyo is probably a bit worse than Narita, but Narita is about on par with LA from what I saw (except gas-but there are plenty of buses to get around that expense). I think one key is that everything is priced to include tax and tip, so there's no getting $50 in food, paying $5 in taxes, then tacking on another $10 in tip for a total of $65. $50 is $50. It can be shocking when you see your first 3600 yen bill for lunch, but if you account for the exchange rate that's $47 total: for 6 people, way better food than Applebees (which I'd probably spend the same on) and it includes a beer...... really not that bad at all.

And since we had to buy baby formula while there-even that was the same price as the US. It's not the brand we normally use, but it works well and the baby hasn't reacted to it at all. One of the few things on the can in English is that the company has been around since 1917. Figured that was a good sign of a good company.

Avoiding the real tourist spots can have it's advantages. The kids got to see tradesmen cleaning eel in Narita (a popular and common food in the city), see local markets, try random things along the way and interact with locals. There's so much to be learned and gained from that. Also, places that cater to locals and not tourists tend to cost much less. Of course, you have to be willing to try new things and eat what the locals eat, but there's a lot to be gained from that as well.

Preparing eel

Some drinks we bought off a street vendor. Tasted good,
and the kids loved the marbles that had to be popped down into the
bottle to open it.

Babies are a universal language. The baby was well loved on everywhere we went. Everyone we met was quite friendly and loved all the kids, but of course the baby was the star

He crawled right over to her. She was so excited to hold him

Just sitting and watching Japanese TV is a good time. There was one channel that gave calculus and computer programming lessons, which we thought was crazy, but watching their shows and commercials gave an interesting look into the culture.

Picture menus are great, and how we ordered everything we ate. They serve as a great way around language barriers.