Masaaki-sama’s Sacred Word One evening meal, knowing that Mami was creating various designs for the children’s bento boxes, I unconsciously let out, “Can you do the Angolan and Brazilian flags?” Needless to say, what followed was a moment of excitement from the whole family, including the children. “You can use this ingredient for the Brazilian yellow part!” “Actually, maybe this ingredient would match better!” And the cogwheel part of the Angola flag—what attention to detail! That morning, as I was working in the room next door, when I usually hear a little more noise from the kitchen, this time, there was not a sound for quite some time. Wondering what had happened, I took a peek, and there Mami was, cutting out the cogwheel in all seriousness. The key colors of the Brazilian flag, green and yellow, pop out—the vibrant green of the flag was truly captured by the field mustard greens. Reproduction accuracy: high. To Mami who put my love for Angola and Brazil into form like this; to my children who came up with many ideas for the bentos and who happily ate them; to the Japanese members who present us with ingredients as offerings that go into making bentos like these; and most of all, to the Angolan and Brazilian members—if they did not exist, we could not have this love for Angola or Brazil—to those members who let us have this love for the two countries: I express my deepest gratitude to all. *** Reading Masaaki-sama’s Sacred Word, my heart was instantly warmed by the scene described, of the family getting so excited by Masaaki-sama’s spontaneous idea at dinner one evening! ☀️ And the Brazilian flag, which Masaaki-sama said, “Reproduction accuracy: high.” I gather this bento was completed with the whole family coming together as one and contributing their ideas. This time, in a complete change from the cute cast of characters, Mami-okusama took on the challenge of national flags. This bento made us feel Mami-okusama’s amazing ability to respond to any request with results that exceed imagination! The completed bento was a huge hit! The children were absolutely delighted, and it seemed that some of their friends who recognized the flag exclaimed, “It’s Brazil! 🤩” With Masaaki-sama and his family’s profound long-distance love for Brazil, the Brazilian members are surely dancing the samba right now, sending their exuberant love back! [Bento Menu]• 30% polished rice cooked in clay pot (250g) 🍚• For the flag section, I used salt-boiled field mustard greens (grown at my parents’ home through Masaaki-sama Farming), kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), and daikon radish. For the central round section, I used homemade yukari (a tangy, purplish seasoning made from pickled red shiso leaves).• In the circle of the Brazilian flag are many small stars, but because they are too tiny, I arranged star-shaped salt-boiled carrots, kabocha, and daikon around the flag instead. I added a face to one of the stars using nori and pickled plum.• Crispy Japanese-style chijimi (savory pancake) using simmered daikon greens (toza-ni style) Burst of Brazil LOVE! Mami-okusama’s super cute vegan bento, no. 17Likes, saves and shares are most welcome! ✨ ***About Mami-okusama (Mami Okada)She was born in Aichi Prefecture and grew up in a farming household. She is also known as “Japan’s vegan beauty.” During her studies at University of Tsukuba, she became actively involved in volunteer activities such as refugee support. She was also repeatedly asked to participate in the “Miss Tsukuba” contest and was approached by many modeling agencies, but she declined all of these offers as she wanted to focus on refugee support activities. In recognition of her efforts in refugee support, she received the “University of Tsukuba President’s Award” in 2012. She holds a license to teach English to intermediate and high school students. After graduating from university, she began working for World Church of Messiah in 2013. In 2014, she married Masaaki Okada (Masaaki-sama), the great-grandson of the founder of World Church of Messiah, Mokichi Okada (Meishu-sama 1882-1955), and the representative and successor of Kyoshu-sama. Currently, while raising three children, she is single-mindedly walking the path of God, including working more energetically unlike anyone else on the Sacred Word of the founder, “In the world of Miroku, humanity will follow a vegan diet,” which was resurrected in our day by Masaaki-sama. She currently resides in Atami City.