Sorry for the long absence...

I am so sorry not to update this blog in more than a week. It has been so hard to do all that I have to do this month. As most of you know, I will be spending 5 weeks in Brazil. I leave in less than 2 weeks from now. The reason I am so busy is that my classes are almost finished at university and there are so many papers, articles, and presentations to conclude until then. Also, I am planning to do a research while I am in Brazil, and the preparation is taking me so long. I am staying at school until night time and going there to study even on days I have no classes. I am also trying to manage some time with Mansur, since we will be apart for so long! I know it will be so hard on him not to have me around for 5 weeks. I will miss him dearly but I will be busy with my studies and with family reunions. He will be living his usual life in Kobe, waiting for me to return. So he will surely suffer more than me. So, I ask all of our dear friends in Japan to pay him a visit once in a while! He will really need friends while I am away. Please call to check on him and invite him to do things!!! He might be so depressed that he'd rather stay at home alone, but please beg him to go out and have some fun with you guys. He will really be comforted by your support. I will try to keep you all updated, by posting pictures and comments while I am up-side-down, in Brazil.... (hahahaha) Anyway, please forgive me for not sharing anything interesting these days. I will hopefully do better in a week or two. God bless you all!

In Odaiba

In Shibuya

Mansur and his friend Andy!

Some old and new friends at TGI Friday's!

Mansur and I at Shibuya Station

In Gunma

Mehdi and Mansur drink beer while the other Mansur has some green tea.

Mehdi, Mansur and Noriko

Nice couple!

Smile!

Gunma is a prefecture right beside Tokyo. It is a typical representation of Japan's countryside. You cannot survive without a car, the streets are extremely dark, the nearest convenience store is 3km away, there are onsens everywhere, and all you see in the horizon are rice fields. This is where Mansur's cousin (also named Mansur) lives!

A few years ago, at the gym we go to, we met Noriko, a Japanese lady who lived quite close to our place and worked as a hairdresser in the neighborhood. She had lived in Malysia for a while and ended up becoming a Muslim there. She was still single, since in Japan there are not many Muslim men available. So, Mansur and I arranged for his cousin to come and visit us in order to meet her and see if they liked each other. He was also looking for a Muslim lady, but he wanted a Japanese one, which made everything as difficult as it could get. Making a long story short, they dated for a while before getting married. Noriko left Kobe and moved to Gunma, but still dreams of the day she shall return to the Kansai area.

New Year's Eve

After enjoying Tokyo for a few days, New Year's Eve came and we had not particular plan. We were taking a day at a time, since there were so many friends to see and so many places to go. At the very last moment, we went to Majid's place and chatted for a few hours while eating a tasty kebab he had prepared. Majid is one of Mansur's friends from waaaaaaaaay back.

Majid then told us that some Iranian friends were planning to go to a karaole box and take along a keybord to play Iranian music all night long. Mansur knew about 6 of the 11 people planning to attend, so we joined them in an extremely Persian celebration.

It was a great experience for me. I remembered 3 years ago in Brazil, at the time of our wedding, when his family would stay up late and dance to Persian music at our balcony, inviting the Brazilian relatives to copy them. It looked easy, but I couldn't manage figuring out what to do with my hands when I danced with them. Swaying my hands in the air is not as simple as I thought, but one day I hope to dance in the smoothness and elegance that I see in Iranian women's movement. GAMBARIMASU!

The guys were so funny! They loved to dance and begged Mansur to join them.

Later on, they decided to play lambada, a Brazilian rythm that for some reason is known by every Iranian I meet! I tried to sing it, but I couldn't figure out if the song was that boring or if I only knew 3 phrases of it!

It is amazing how they all dance in unity!

Majid and Mansur looking a little tired...

Timothy and Amanda's Wedding at Tokyo Baptist Church

Mohammad, or Mamali, has lived in Japan for about 15 years, the same amount of time as Mansur. Both of them come from the same country and lived in the same neighborhood in Tokyo for quite a long time. After Mansur became a Christian at Tokyo Baptist Church (TBC) he started to share his faith with a few Iranian friends. He invited Mohammad to attend a service at TBC and Mohammad kept going to church on Sundays until he became a Christian as well. Back then, Mansur moved to Kobe and could no longer support Mamali, who at the time had no English ability to even understand the pastor's message completely. However, God is good, and sent great friends to help Mohammad in his walk with the Lord. Judy, the pastor's wife, decided to choose a Christian name for Mamali and since Mansur was known as Paul, she thought that Timothy suited Mohammad quite well. Since then, he has been known as Timothy, though I still prefer to call him MAMALI, which in Iran is a cute nickname for Mohammad!

After about 4 years as a Christian, the Lord has blessed Mamali with a beautiful American lady named Amanda. Their story is quite interesting, but too long to be shared. Mansur and I just remember how he suffered with his feelings towards her, not even being able to build a friendship since his English was not good and her Japanese was not that great either. Once we went to his place and saw a pile of dictionaries on his desk, noticing that writing her an e-mail was quite a hard homework for him. But, God is good, and has decided to put these two people together for his glory. We pray that they may live happily, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit! AMEN!

Amanda walks in with her dad! They look happy... Unfortunately, her mom was not able to attend the wedding! ZANNEN!

Don't they look great together???

Judi Folds and Mansur read a Bible verse from Proverbs!

Hamid also joined us in Tokyo, but came back to Kobe right after the wedding. Mansur and I could stay a whole week in Tokyo! We had a lot of fun with some of our old friends!

This is a very special shot, with our pastor Dennis Folds and his wife, Judi. In July of 1999 Mansur was baptized at TBC by Dennis!



Our dear friend Miho, from Kobe, is now living in Tokyo and attending TBC. She has developed a special friendship with Amanda, but the funny thing is that she had met Mamali a few years ago when he came to visit us in Kobe. Back then, no one had any idea he would be getting married to Amanda! I don't think we even knew about Amanda at the time. Interesting how things work out, NE??!!!

This is us, the love birds!!! KAWAII NE?!!!!