Reasons my 24th birthday was totally awesome!!

There is a Japanese proverb that says, "You're a fool if you never climb Mt. Fuji, and you're a fool if you climb it again." I'm a fool. Four years ago when I was a summer missionary in Tokyo I climbed Mt. Fuji. It was awful and painful, but I got to the top. I did it again because I am forgetful and forgot how hard it is to climb Mt. Fuji. However, it made for the best birthday yet!! I am writing this with sore legs, bruised toes, a sunburned face, and an utter distaste for Mt. Fuji, but despite all these physical pains, my 24th birthday was by far my most memorable and fun birthday ever!! Here's a rundown of my day...

• I am one year closer to spending all eternity with my precious Lord and Savior...hmmm, makes me so joyous and full of hope thinking about it.
• My sweet parents sent me a package full of all kinds of birthday goodies...makeup, "The Princess Bride" DVD (Inigo: "I don't mean to pry, but you don't happen by any chance have six fingers on your right hand?" Westley: "Do you always begin conversations this way?"), the best of Queen CD ("Somebody to Love" is my new favorite song), the Carrie Underwood CD, and a Las Vegas T-Shirt they got while visiting my sister and my brother-in-law.
• On Thursday night, Shiona, Liz, Kaori, Chi, Shoko, Kaylie, and I got on an overnight bus to Tokyo. We arrived in Tokyo 6am Friday morning and crashed at Amy's (another Journeyman in Tokyo) apartment in downtown Tokyo. This is us with Hachiko, a famous dog statue outside the Shibuya Train Station in Tokyo. If you watched the latest season of Amazing Race, you will remember that they went to Japan and had to find Hachiko to get their next clue.
• From Tokyo, we took a train and a bus to Mt. Fuji. We began climbing at 8:10pm on Friday night and started at Station 5 which is about half way up. Look how happy and clean and pain-free we all look.

• At midnight we stopped and rested at one of the rest stations. Shiona stood up and shouted to everyone at the station that it was birthday and lead them in singing "Happy Birthday". Very embarrassing.
• Saw a shooting star...not kidding, I saw a real live shooting star while climbing.
• I used an oxygen tank for the first time. The altitude got to me a little bit, but thankfully Chi packed oxygen.

• With a nice August birthday, I have never been cold on my birthday. Climbing Mt. Fuji, I almost froze to death.
• We climbed for 9 hours...9 HOURS!! The hardest part of it is that it is not some nice paved or dirt trail, but you're hiking through volcanic rock and ash. There are times while climbing you have to use all four limbs. It is hard. And it was so was crowded!! I think one third of Japan was climbing the volcano with us.

• The sun starting rising before we actually made it to the very top so we stopped along the way and watched the sunrise. "...He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it..." Isaiah 42:5. It was so beautiful and peaceful...and cold.
• The crater of the volcano doesn't look like what I imagined. It's capped off with ice and rock so it just looks like a big rock valley. Mt. Fuji is classified as an active volcano. Here's me with the crater behind me.
• We all climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji!! After 9 hours, five rest stations, numerous rests, a few tears, several pumps from the oxygen tank, crowds of people climbing along with us, and several threats to quit, we reached the top without us nor Mt. Fuji erupting. In the front: Liz and Chi. In the back: Shiona, me, Kaori, Shoko,Kaylie, and Amy.

• On top of Mt. Fuji a bottle of Coke cost me $5 and I used a co-ed bathroom for $2.
• Took 4 hours to climb down. I think going down was the worst part.
• Got a nice sunburn.
• After Mt. Fuji, we went back to Amy's apartment and had my birthday dinner...Pizza Hut Pizza. It was great!! A medium and a large pizza cost about $55 American dollars, so it was a real treat to have some pizza.
• Chi made me picture magnets for my birthday. She took pictures from our various adventures together and glued magnets on the back of them. They were so cute and creative!! We're laughing because she made one big one with just Liz's face. It's what I've always wanted...a big Liz magnet :)
• After climbing up and down Mt. Fuji, taking two buses back to Tokyo, celebrating my birthday with pizza, taking a Japanese bath, it was time for us to take an overnight bus back to Osaka. Unfortunately we couldn't find it, so we ended up running all over downtown Tokyo trying to find the bus. Imagining running with a suitcase in flipflops after climbing Mt. Fuji and just eating pizza...not too fun. But we found the bus, and my birthday ended with me fast asleep on a bus home to Osaka.
• And I made a promise to never climb Mt. Fuji again.