Hello again, everyone!

I have some wonderful news, and then I'll tell you all about my Tokyo Tour. We have received a departure date! The four of us (Tom and Mary Lou Ellison, Nate Jahnke, and I) will be driving up north to Samaritan's Purse Tome Base Camp tomorrow (Thursday, February 23) morning! The drive is about 6 hours from where we are now, so Tom and Mary Lou will stay there for one night to make sure we're all settled in, and then they will drive back to the house we've all been staying at. Nate and I will stay there until March 15, and Nate will drive back down to Tokyo while I am transferred to another relief organization, although I'm not sure which one that will be quite yet.

Now, onto the Tokyo Tour!  Yesterday (Tuesday), Nate and I went on our Tokyo Tour. The goal was to see as many places in Tokyo as possible and to kind of get our bearings as to where we are now and where other things are in relation to us. It was a fun but long day of riding trains, walking, and enjoying the sights in Tokyo. We went to two observatories - one in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and the other in Tokyo Tower. Both had amazing views of the city, of which I took many pictures (which will be viewable in a bit since my internet connection is too slow to upload photos). We also visited a shrine in Harajuku and saw a little bit of the Imperial Palace (didn't get any pictures of that, unfortunately).

We did a ton of walking while we were out, so we both came home very tired, very sore, and very ready for bed. 

In other news, today I went to the CRASH Japan headquarters (CRASH stands for Christian Relief Assistance Support Hope and they have been very helpful in the relief efforts up north) and spent some time with a dear friend of my parents who I have been getting to know as well. After some good ramen for lunch out on the town, another friend of mine who is at CRASH as well right now gave me a short tour of the CRASH offices and then we took pictures together! Diane has most of them, but here's one with fellow missionary Roberta Peabody - we are both supported by my home church, Boston Japanese Christian Church.

It was wonderful to be able to spend time with people that I know, and I am especially grateful that I got a chance to see them before I went up north.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new adventure... I am so excited, but also nervous about what I'll be doing when I get there, and what it will be like to live there. Please pray that I can be effective as a worker and that God will work through me to reach the people there.

I can't wait to update you all with the work I will be doing up north! Stay posted for more :)

後でお会いしましょう！

See you later!

~Chloe