The first word that comes to mind is....
HOT
Can you guess what the second word that comes to mind is?
HUMID!!!
Well, OK... so it does appear that words can in fact begin to describe my stay in Japan. However, I am 100% positive that words cannot fully describe my stay in Japan. My grandfather (Papa Hussey) was a God fearing, loving man whom I have many fond memories of. One of my fondest memories was reading his bi-monthly family newsletter. His letters were always so clever and funny, and it was great to get a chance to catch up on the important events going on in the rest of the family (My mom is one of his 9 children).
One of the benefits of this trip was realized by someone who didn't even get to come; My mother. My grandfather has passed on and is with the Lord. However, she got a chance to see a part of me that really reminded her of her father... my writing. I am happy that my corny, silly, brainless and oft' blockish sense of humor and overall writing style was able to remind her of Papa Hussey. Praise the Lord if I am able to even partially live up to his standard of writing.
I digress... Not everyone is here to read about just my experience in Japan. So, let us move onto our final day of the trip.
It started out at 4:45AM when Jey pushed me over. I was sound asleep after staying up way to late (around 1:30AM) when Jey woke me up for my turn in the shower at a bright and early 4:45 AM... I was sleeping on my side, and when he touched my sholder to wake me up... I literally FELL over on my back and woke up startled and scared becaused I'd just fallen. I think it scared him a little too.. but that was just a sign of the crazy busy hectic day we'd be having jetsetting around the world.
I'd been slowly packing over the last couple of days, so I just had a few minor things to pack up and I was soon ready to go. I used the spare time I had to add the video of Stephanie and Sam's performance from the night before to the blog. I hope you all enjoyed that as much as we did. I am pretty sure there were a few wet eyes in the room after that performance. I myself managed to swallow the worlds largest bull frog at the end of her performance. Strangely enough, today at home when Melinda and I watched it again that very same bull frog found it's way into my mouth and down my throat. I don't know how it happened... I mean... he must be the worlds craftiest over-sized bull frog to be able to hid in my luggage all the way from Japan and get past the US Customs!
About this time it's around 5:20 AM and everyone is up with one exception. Everyone is showered, everyone is packed, all the mens' beds are picked up, and everyone is finishing their last miniute prepearations... with one exception.
Will is still in bed.
People are walking over and around him... and even on him (I hope I didn't hurt your hand too much Will). At 5:25 I hear this muble from under his bedding: "I must have my last 5 minutes of sleep." Sure enough... at around 5:30 Will finally wakes up and begins packing.
Machiko went above and beyond one more time by having a bagged breakfast of melon bread (yummy! please mail me some!), banana, grapes, and nuts. So, everyone grabbed thier breakfast-to-go, loaded up the vans and waved off the first four people to the airport.
Even Custer, the Huggins dog, came out to say goodbye to Melinda, Breana, Kim & Jey.Once they were off the remaining 8 had 30 short minutes to load up and take off. Unfortunately there wasn't any room for extra passengers so Sam, Stephanie & Megumi had to say their goodbyes right there. I don't think Stephanie liked that idea too much so Sam's car ended up with 6 people in it (there is technically only room for 5). Mr. Huggins was happy enough because that meant he'd have a someone to ride with on the way home. So, everyone said their choked up goodbyes to Sam & Megumi and piled in the cars.
You couldn't see us Sam & Meg, but we waved!I know I speak for the entire group when I tell you this Sam, Megumi & Machkio... We Love & Miss you!!
We didn't have to say goodbyes to Sam G, Stephanie and Mr. Huggins quite yet... but we all knew the time would come all too soon. No longer would we be privilege to Stephanie's wonderfully gifted voice, or Sam's absolutely terribly, yet slide-splittingly funny jokes... or Mr. Huggins completely off the wall comments: "Kaitlyn's biceps stand out like kneecaps on a bird!"
The ride to the airport seemed to go by all to fast. Everyone really enjoyed the final few heartfelt moments of Christian fellowship with our brethren in Japan. The next thing we know we're at the airport. First things first... everyone makes a run for the bathrooms while Tim & Sam parked the cars.
We arrived at the airport with time to spare and the lines appeared to be moving quickly enough. Before heading off to security we all decided to spend a few final moments in fellowship at one of the airport restaurants.
Of course... it wasn't long before Sam entertained us with yet another corny joke. Unfortunately, I can't remember what it was. We did make a pact with Sam to meet up with him during his 2 weeks of leave in the first part of January 2009, so maybe he'll get a chance to reuse the joke again.
Mr. Swanson also showed up to trade vehicles with Mr. Huggins. Mr. Swanson was gracious enough to have loaned his van to us for the 2 weeks of our stay. He and his family hold a special place in all our hearts for his sacrifice. Thank you Mr. Swanson!
Stephanie had her last few moments with the girls. I'm not sure what kind of girly things they talked about... and I'm not sure I want to know. Suffice it to say all were smiling, laughing and having a good time.
Soon is was that time. The time which we had all been dreading. It was time to leave. It is because of these few moments that I know the frog made it into my luggage. The reason I know this is because I was doing just fine.. I was saying my good byes to Stephanie, Sam and Tim and all was good... then I looked up and noticed Kate's red eyes... at that moment of my distraction somehow that gigantically overgrown bullfrog leaped strait from my bags into my mouth and got firmly stuck in my throat. The lack of breath nearly brought me to tears... I had to put my sunglasses on just to keep my manly composure in tact!These three people gave me one of the most sincere, loving and "I miss you, please come back soon!" goodbyes I've had in a long time. Until the absolute last moment they were standing at the security line waving us off. Straining their necks just so they could get that one last "My heart goes with you" wave. It was a very touching thing and I myself sent them more than a couple of the "I love you" goodbye waves. I even sent what I'd like to call my "Arnold Swarchenegger" wave... it was what you could also call a "I'll Be Back" wave.
Eventually we turned the corner and lost sight of our Professional Goodbye Wavers and started our long sad walk to the plane. However... It just wouldn't be true to our nature if we stayed sad. So literally, within 60 seconds the corny humor began.
O-San and Pastor Will are both students of mine. They both signed up shortly after seeing the masterful "Flamingo Pose" I exhibited at the Bio-Park. In the picture above you can see my two students and I posing. They are attempting to perform the "Goofy Samurai Stance of Ultimate Doom and Destruction." As you can see Pastor Will has made significant progress. If you are to compare my Stance (or the Stance of the picture above me, both will work), you'll notice that Pastor Will has attempted to turn his body at an angle and plant his feet in the deadly stance necessary for a Samurai. Neither O-San or Pastor Will have yet to maintain the intense and stoic facial poise necessary. Also, neither of them have been able to exhibit the skill required to hold a Samurai sword... but I have complete confidence that should they continue to practice under me that soon enough they'll be able to master the "Goofy Samurai Stance of Ultimate Doom and Destruction!"Our moods significantly lightened (and American Tourist credibility significantly destroyed), we headed to our gate. This first flight was to be a short one, 1 hour 50 minutes.
Thankfully, it was a short flight and I didn't fall asleep too much. I was trying to avoid sleep as much as possible so I could sleep on the 9 hour flight from Nagoya to San Francisco. Upon our arrival in Nagoya we were surprise to be greeted by the "Missing Four." Jey had led the group in creating creative signs to welcome us to Nagoya.
Because we were returned to the whole 12, the "Unfaithful 8" and "Missing 4" became the "Disciples 12," the name that seems to have been given to us. We once again found our little air-conditioned haven in the airport.
Melinda was pretty tired so she volunteered to stick around and guard the baggage while everyone else went off and did some last minute shopping and got some lunch. I wanted to go check out the Duty Free shops, but that required us to go through security early and haul our luggage around. Kim & Kaitlyn decided they wanted to come along, so the three of us took off a few minutes early to do that.
On the way we ran into Cliffard the (almost) Big Red Dog. We had to wait in line with all the other 2 and 3 year olds to get a picture with him, but it was totally worth it!
Kim, Kait and I found some carts and began racing around and checking out the Duty Free shops. I didn't find anything to buy, however I think Kait and Kim did find a few things. We then headed off to our gate and boarded at the very last minute, much to O-Sans chagrin!They say a persons true colors come out when they're sleeping. I'm not really sure who "they" are, and I'm not really sure if "they" actually said that... but it is a good lead in to the next picture.
Kimberly's true colors came out on the flight back to the States. In the picture above you'll notice that Kim is no longer the Hyper-Manic-Duracell-Bunny-Non-Stop-Good-Cheer-Big-Grin-Great-Teeth-Sparkly-Eyed Kim that we've all come to know and love. Instead you'll notice that she's morphed into a Super-Stealth-Extremely-Deadly-Bringer-Of-Death-Ninja Killer! I now have pictorial proof that Kim was in fact the one who managed to take me out... me... the innocent civilian who does NOT work for the mafia. She brutally murdered me (along with the rest of the group, but that's only incidental). I mean... just LOOK at this face...
Isn't it the picture of innocence? Can you truly picture this face as a Mafia hitman? I'm innocent Kim!
But, that's OK! No hard feelings. ;)
The rest of the flight went more or less without incident. Nothing to unusually, just sleep, a little fellowship, reminiscing, and funny faces. I'm not sure how we managed to get this picture of Kaitlyn and Kim making a normal face tho. Usually they make weird faces... they must not have been paying attention to the cameras. I'm pretty sure their "Ham-It-Up Radar" was pretty worn out by this point in the trip.
We all made it stateside safely enough, got our luggage and re-checked it for the flight to Portland. Melinda and I were happy to be that much closer to home.
Our layover in SFO was 1hour 45min, as opposed to the 1 hour we had before. Thinking we might have some extra time I called my brother and invited them to come stand in line with us at the SFO airport. I'm really glad they did!
I got a chance to introduce most everyone to my brother Kevin, his wife Jen, and their three beautiful kids Marybeth (oldest), Aeden, and Madealine. After a too short visit we took off on the last leg of our journey.
Our flight was delayed 30 minutes in San Francisco... so many of us took the extra time to get a treat. Once we'd all ejoyed our San Francisco treats we boarded the plane, snapped a few last pictures, and then we were landing 1 hour and 18 minutes later. It was a pretty "plane" ride, but I just had to get a "rudder" picture before we disembarked.
Once we got home, said our hellos (yes, those of us who had them wore our Samurai hats), got our luggage, and picked out our Kongi's, we all posed for our final group shot.
Geneva tried to escape up the elevator... but the remaining 11 of us just wouldn't stand for it. So, she was able to make it for one final picture.
Dearest Huggins & Loving Grace Bible Chapel - We love & miss you! Thank you for having us!
I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who made this journey possible.
O-San (the IT tech formerly known as David Overlin)
Without you we never would have made it to Japan. It is your hard work, planning, and dedication that got us to and from Japan. Not only that, you went above and beyond the call of duty and even drove us around in Japan. Thank you so very much for your hard work O-San. We all appreciated it.
Pastor Will
If you hadn't agreed to go speak for GBC's Bible Conference this never would have happened. Thank you so very much for taking us along for the journey of a lifetime. We will never forget this.
Trinity & Hillcrest Chapel
Thank you for helping us in every way that you did. It is the support of our Church that enabled this trip to be such a blessing to everyone involved.
Mom & Dad
Without you I'd have never been born. If I hadn't been born then I couldn't have gone on this trip! If not for you two, I wouldn't have been able to experience this trip of a life time. It is also your financial help that enabled Melinda to come along. My Sis and I really had a great time and grew closer together on this trip... Mom, and Dad... Thank you for all you've done.
All the other Parents
The same as my parents goes for you and your kids. We all truly thank our parents support in this trip.
John & Junko
Thank you for having the BBQ Mixers at your place! That was a wonderful thing you did bringing us in your home and exposing us (some of us for the first time) to the Japanese culture. Thank you very much Junko for your translations of the songs... we really had a great time singing them. Mr. Huggins even had us perform it for the entire Grace Bible Chapel on Sunday morning.
Grace Bible Chapel
Thank you for having us. Thank you very much for the pound cake at the end. Mine is nearly gone. My Dad, Brother and I made short work of it. I think we've all got our eye on my sisters... but she'll probably be hiding it. She's used to having 3 older, hungry brothers. I'd also like to thank you for everything else you did, seen and unseen. It is truly a blessing to see God's work thriving in Japan.
Mr. Swanson
I hope I've spelled your name right. ;) Thank you very much for letting us use your van for our stay. We all appreciated it and hope that some day we can return the favor. God Bless you!
Huggins Family
We all love you, and are honored to have you as brothers and sisters in Christ. Your family has truly touched our lives. Even now as I write this, that silly bullfrog has managed to jump into my mouth and lodged itself once more in my throat. I'm not sure how he does that because I didn't even open my mouth!
Your family was truly a blessing in many ways to us. Our lives have forever changed for the better because of you and God's work in you. "Thank you" doesn't even begin express the gratitude I have for you... but it's a start... so THANK YOU!
Sam Green
Oops! I almost forgot you! Thank you for setting up the Ultimate Frisbee game with the Navy Divers. Thank you for driving us around and helping out. Thank you most of all for joining our group, adding to the fellowship, and all your corny jokes!
Other I may have missed...
Blame the Jet Lag. It's 3:45 AM and I'm realizing I shouldn't have taken that nap from 6pm - 9pm PST tonight.
1 comment:
Is it the 'log' that was in your eye that got LODGED in your throat?
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