Where are Bob & Chris in Japan February 11

Bob and Chris are in Shizuoka City, Japan and living in Shimizu-ku in the parsonage of Shimizu Lutheran Church. Since the church is today part of a two point Call that includes Shimizu Lutheran Church and Oshika Lutheran Church in Shizuoka-ku the parsonage is now vacant. Bob and Chris moved in and learned the details of the appliances at the direction of Pastor Akehi on February 8th. That included a refresher course on how to run the kerosene room heaters safely. There is no whole house heating in the parsonage. Most of the rooms are not heated. The ones that are have room heaters that are either electric or kerosene. In the case of Shimizu the two rooms that are heated are done so by use of the kerosene heaters. The Japanese system in this part of the country; heating only individual rooms makes for a brisk morning for Bob & Chris each day when they wake up. Since the kerosene may not be safely run for more than a few hours it must be turned off before they retire for the day. That means a cold room when they wake up. The other room that is heated is the kitchen and eating area. That means every day the shower starts our very cold until the hot water heats up the room and the body. Like other places in Japan in Shimizu parsonage there is a tank less hot water system. After a fine orientation by Pastor Akehi Bob and Chris began the task of unpacking and getting acclimated to new surroundings. Shimizu-ku is a small place by Japanese standards; only about 750,000 inhabitants. It is a port city that has facilities for containerized shipping, receipt of grain from the Far East and a water side aluminum plant. Because it sits in the distant shadow of Mt. Fuji it is also a calling port for cruise ships. Public transportation consists of some limited bus schedules and taxi. This means that Bob & Chris will be using the greenest form of public transportation for the next three weeks; walking.

Keep praying,

Zen Ben