Only 10 more days until I will fly to NY to meet Hannah and Ezekiel. The last few days here without them have been busy, cold, lonely and a bit stressful. Coming home and not having Hannah and Ezekiel there to great me is just no fun. And the house is so cold now because it’s been staying around 45 degrees most of the days now. The stressful part comes form the fact that we have a to-do list that is at least 3 weeks long and we only have 10 days to get it done…..

On another note thought, I was able to get our new prayer card done today which you can find in the previous post.

Here are a few photos form our recent trip to Tokyo.

A lot has been going on for us the last few days. Hannah and Ezekiel flew to NY to be with her family and I had some meetings in Tokyo last week and now am back at NORTHSTAR working on final preparations for my trip to NY in just 10 days. It’s coming fast.

Today I got our new Prayer card done, you can download the PDF version below. We will also have printed ones to hand out at Church when we go to share about the last year. It’s going to be fun to see everyone and to let people know what’s been happening here.

2010 McAllister Prayer Card

You may have heard that we are planning to come home for a visit to both NY and OR this Fall. We have our tickets and we are getting things packed for our trip. We will be staying with family on both coasts during the times written below so if your around during those times in the NY or OR area please contact us via email, we would love to meet up with you.

NY TRIP
Hannah & Ezekiel – November 3rd ~ 25th
Seth – November 17th ~ 25th

OR TRIP
Seth, Hannah & Ezekiel – November 25th ~ December 13th

The other morning I woke to a crisp cool Fall morning here in Norikura Kogen. I didn’t know we had gotten any snow as my home is hidden from the mountain. As I walked to work Dan came out on the front steps with a huge smile on his face and was just looking behind me and saying “isn’t that great”. I waswondering what he was talking about and then I turned around to see Norikura with a fresh layer of snow on it.

We are looking forward to the snow season, thanks for your prayers.

So I know it’s been a while since we have written much and we are sorry for that. I can say that it’s not for a lack of things to write about.

The thing I want to share with you now is something that happened last week. Almost every Thursday we have a time of prayer and worship with our staff and anyone from the comunity who want to come. We invited the Raicho family to come and have dinner with us and then stay for worship. We have invited them before and actually their son has come many times to Church and our staff worship nights. But the other night Mr. Raicho came with his son Toru and stayed to hear the message which was about how we as a body need to keep encouraging each other (Phil 1:1-3). This was the first time that Mr. Raicho had ever come and the message was very timely for him. And Mr. actually took home a bible that we gave him. And we later heard from his wife that he was very encouraged by the message and he has been reading his Bible.

Please keep the Raicho family in prayer. We work with them from time to time and have a good relationshi with them so we are praying that we could speak more about Jesue with them. When this kind of thing happens it really reminds me of why we are here and that we must keep pressing on toward the great commission.

I am writing now to ask you to pray for a friend of ours who’s father recently passed away. Dan Junker’s wife’s father passed away two days ago after having a sergury. Dan’s wife Tina is flying to Hawii tomorrow to help with preperations and details for the funeral. This all happened very sudden and has been very hard for their family. Please pray for the Junker family and the Takeuchi family as they go through this time of mourning.

Love from Japan
Seth & Hannah

Yesterday Hannah, Ezekiel and I headed out for a day in Matsumoto for the annual Soba Festival which is held at the Matsumoto Castle Grounds. It was a beautiful Fall day and we had a great time enjoying time with each other and seeing the sights around the castle. The funny thing is that we didn’t end up eating any Soba because we didn’t want to wait in line for like an hour for food. So even though we went to the “Soba” festival we just ended up eating some Gelato and some BBQ beef and our bento that we brought from home.

Hannah was in heaven of corse because there was some street vendors selling stuff and also this cool old antique shop that we found which had a lot of neat old things. Hannah found some cool old sunglasses from the 70’s that she got and I ended up getting a cool old TLR camera from the 50’s. I will post some photos when I get some of the film processed.

For now here are some photos form the yesterday.

These last 3 weeks have been kind of slow. We finished our Spring season but because the weather is not so good until July so don’t get many guests. Most of the staff have taken some off time to be with family and travel around a little bit. From tomorrow we are all back and ready to start our summer prep which consists of a few key things.

1. Training New Short term staff (this summer we have 1 new staff from the US named Andrew)
2. Cleaning, Cleaning and more Cleaning in under and around the lodge.
3. And of corse we will spend a good amount of time in Prayer about the upcoming season.

Summer is one of our longest seasons and should have a lot of people coming to Norikura but this year has been a bit slower than normal I think partly due to the state of the economy. Please pray for us and the staff as we desire to have guests to serve. We have started to feel the hit that the economy has taken and things are getting tight for us.

This photo was taken from our living room window. The summer skies here are so beautiful.

We hope your all doing well and enjoying your start of the summer. Here in Norikura things are going well and we are enjoying some down time before the summer season really gets going.

We have been talking and talking about starting a garden (hatake in Japanese) to grow some of our own vegetables and so finally the other day we went and asked our landlord if it’s okay to use a small plot in front of our apartment. They said it was fine and so this morning we went out to cut some weeds and clean it up a bit. We didn’t have a lot of time so I thought we would maybe work for 30 min or so and they I would go to work. About 15 min into cutting small branches and not really know what was okay to cut or not cut, our landlord shows up with a machine and clears a plot 3 times bigger than we were thinking. Needless to say I was not able to get to work until a little later. He pulled out a bunch of small trees that were blocking the sun from hitting the garden area and dug down so we could sift out all the rocks. And boy is there a lot of rocks. The soil is about 3 pars rock and 1 part dirt so it will take some time to sift through it all.

Kayo, Brad and Michie all came over this afternoon and helped us with the digging and sifting out of all the rocks. It’s a real blessing to have their help. This week we hope to finish our plot and then next week we will work on the other plot for a garden near NORTHSTAR. Fun fun fun. We will let you know how it goes.

So a few nights ago the staff decided to have a BBQ at NORTHSTAR. The only bad part was that it started raining that day and so we couldn’t have the BBQ outside. Instead we had it on the front steps of NORTHSTAR which is still outside but out of the rain. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with the other staff and hang out together.

At the moment only the full time staff are here which is Ken, Kayo, Michie, Brad and I. Dan is in the US on a support raising trip and will be back next week. He is speaking with many pastors and missions leaders about NORTHSTAR and how people from the US can get involved with ministry in Japan. Good stuff. If your interested in hearing more about that please let us know and we would be glad to give you some more info.

Some people think that skateboarding is dangerous and other think that little kids should only play in the sand and grass where they can’t get hurt. I think those people need to meet my son. Here is a photo from last June when we bought Ezekiel his first skateboard when we were in the US. He was only 5 months old then. Now he is a year and 5 months old and has been practicing a lot lately. We keep the little skateboard in the living room and he uses it after meals. Pretty funny and cute.

Then the other day we decided it was time to let him have a real go at skating outside. We borrowed a helmet from NORTHSTAR and let him go for it. He was so stoked to ride outside and to watch me skate around, too. He actually likes sitting on the longboard with Mom or Dad better but he will get the hang of it.

Enjoy the photos.

Hannah, Seth, Ezekiel

Happy Easter!

Praise God, our Savior is risen! We hope you all had a great Easter remembering that death has been conquered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that we have been given everlasting life in Him! How great a salvation!

I feel like it’s been a while since I posted anything and let me tell you it’s not because there is nothing to post about. The end of our winter season was super busy but at the same time super good. Let me share a little bit about each thing that went on at the end of our winter season.

We had a great season in the snowboard park this year and were able to spend a lot of time with people who would come and ride in the park.

To give you a bit of background about the park, the ski resort here has been struggling financially and was planning to shut down the park due to lack of funding. We went to the ski resort with a proposal to run the park with volunteer staff. It was not immediately accepted but they ended up letting us (NORTHSTAR) manage the snowboard park. We had a YWAM team from Switzerland come and volunteer as the park staff along with some of our snowboard instructors.

The season ended with an annual event that we call the “Norikura Hotdog Jam” which is a free slope style competition where the riders get to judge each other while riding together. We also setup a hospitality tent and served lots of hotdogs to the competitors. It was a great end to a great season.

Some of you may remember our friend So. He use to work at one of the rental shops here and come to the community English classes. Through those classes and the relationship we built with him we were able to share about Jesus with him and he later accepted Christ and was baptized. He came to visit on the last day of the season and I got to go riding with him for a bit and spend some time together. Please keep So in your prayers as he is struggling to get plugged into a local Church where he lives now.

On March 29th we all took one last ride together through the snowboard park and then closed it down for the season. It was great working together and seeing how our staff worked so hard to gain trust among the lift workers and local staff. In the past our relationship with the lift workers had not been so good but through a lot of prayer and hard work we have earned their respect.

After a few more days of cleanup and work to close down the lodge before our spring break we all went to Tokyo to see our seasonal staff off. We had staff from the US, Canada, Finland and Switzerland this year and they flew back to their homes the first week of April. But we got to spend a day or two together in Tokyo before they flew out. I always think it’s good to go to Tokyo and experience (for a few days at least) what a lot Japanese deal with on a daily basis.

Harajuku Town

This is a photo taken in Harajuku which is one of the fashion centers of Japan. Millions of teens and young people go there to find something new or different to wear. It’s also right across the street from one of the largest shinto shrines in Japan, Meiji Shrine.

Happy Boy

The last photo I will show you is this nice photo of Ezekiel. He is such a blessing to us and we can’t believe how fast he is growing up. Every day brings some new thing or some new sound he makes. One of these days he is just going to blurt out an entire sentence. At the moment it’s more of a series of grunts in different tones. Pretty cute though, even if we don’t know what he is trying to say.

Please keep us in your prayers as we start our Spring season here in Norikura. We will have a camp from tomorrow for 4 days then next week we have 5 days of first aid training for our full time staff. It’s going to be a busy next few weeks as we get back in the swing of things and start prepping for Summer as well.

God Bless

The McAllisters

We went to Tokyo last week and said goodbye to Sarah on Saturday when she flew back to OR. It was really fun having family here these last 3 months. I can’t wait to go visit OR in the fall.

We went to Ueno park to see some art and the cherry blossoms that are out now. There was so many people there, it was crazy. There was some cats who were sleeping in one of the trees and people were freaking out about the cats and taking thousands of photos of them. I didn’t think the cats were all that interesting so I took a photo of the people taking photos. See if you can count how many cameras there are.

More photos and an update coming soon.

On Thursday night we had our worship service here at NORTHSTAR for our staff. It was so good to worship God together, pray together and fellowship. I played guitar and Michie helped lead a few songs then our pastor named Takeshi from our home church, Azumino Family Chapel was there and shared from Matthew 11.

He shared about “Rest for the Weary” which seemed like such a timely word for all of us as we are getting to the end of our winter season and have been working so hard. He reminded us to keep our eyes on Jesus and to come to him to be refreshed.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 

This last Sunday some of the NORTHSTAR staff got to lead worship at our home Church called Azumino Family Chapel. Given the fact that we are a hospitality based lodge we are normally not able to go to Sunday service so we have our own service usually held on Thursday nights. Michie, Sarah, Anni, Amanda and I led some worship songs and Ken gave preached. It was really cool to see how the team worked together and we had a good time leading together.

Please pray for the Azumino Family Chapel. Pray that they would be a Church that goes for God and want’s to see this country changed. 

Here are a few photos from the day. 

So I got some paperwork in the mail from the Japanese government asking me to file my taxes. I opened up the letter and what did I find? A very nice colorful map with yes/no questions to guide me through the Japanese Tax game. The top says start and then goes down with all the yes answers being pink and all the no answers being blue. Japan is so confusing sometimes….. It’s like the game of life, I will let you know if I win. 

Thanks for reading

I guess you can say that life has seasons and these last few weeks and months have been challenging. Some of you may have heard about Dan Junker and how he was diagnosed with cancer in the fall. After we found that out everyone at NORTHSTAR was pretty shocked that something like that could happen to someone so close to us.

Then about 3 weeks after that we got news that a man named Mr. Morita, a father of 5 and one of the pillars of Azumino Family Chapel was diagnosed with lung cancer and was only given 8 weeks to live. He passed away just last month after a short but hard battle with cancer. Last weekend a friend of ours his family to ski at the Norikura Ski area. It was the first time he had brought his wife and 2 young sons to the area. On Sunday morning the older son was in a bad accident involving hitting a fence. He was treated on the scene and although the ski patrol and the doctors in the helicopter worked so hard to save him he passed away the following morning from the injuries. His name was Sei Kawabe and he was only 9 years old.

I was on the ski hill when the accident happened and was at the site a short time later. Our staff was praying and I was praying with the father. Although he is not a Christian he prayed with me and asked God to save his boy. Why God didn’t save him I don’t know and I am still asking God to somehow use this tragedy to bring that family to the foot of the cross.
As I watched the wind rip past the boys body and the patrol working and the father screaming out his sons name, all I could think was how little hope we have without Jesus. This makes me think of one of my favorite passages from the bible found in Romans.

Romans 8:28-39
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I don’t want to sound like there is nothing positive going on. There is. We have had some great chances in the last few weeks and months to share with local people about what we believe. Our weekly English classes at NORTHSTAR have been packed every week and last week one of our staff was able to share her testimony and people are hearing about Gods word through that.

Lastly, I ask you to pray for the Morita family who lost their father and the Kawabe family who lost there eldest son. Also pray for the Junker family who are still not out of the woods with Dan’s cancer. He recently had some tests and they found that there could be another lump. Pray for hope in Japan to be found in the savior Jesus Christ.

We celebrated Ezekiel’s 1st birthday a few days ago and we wanted to share a little movie with you. Ezekiel got so many great gifts from family and friends, he was very happy and we all enjoyed watching him open the gifts. We can’t believe that he is already 1 year old. Time is flying by now and it seems that no matter how hard we try, we just can’t make it go any slower. We are trying to enjoy each season we go through as a family and are always reminded of how blessed we are. 

Thank you all so much for keeping us in prayer.