2nd Day Here

Well we made it in yesterday, Friday the 25th safe and sound. The flight was a bit bumpy, but not surprising being that we've flown in at the cusp of the typhoon season. We actually didn't get to Tachikawa until almost 11pm Friday night, so we were quite tired when we arrived and didn't have time or the energy to update the blog. So we're doing it now.

It is so great to be back and reminisce with our Japanese friends. Also it has been fun showing Frank everything, he hasn't been to Japan in 10 years, so he is seeing many changes. Even I have as well, so much more English everywhere. Most of the trains now repeat everything in English right after the Japanese is said.

Our first full day began at the church where Isaiah had an Enlgish lesson with an adult lady inquiring about English conversation. Then Albert, Frank and I went to the Post Office to get some Yen that we could use for purchases where credit cards aren't accepted. The three of us went to a local bakery called Crown Bakery right down the block from the church where we picked up savory and sweet bread/pastries along with iced coffees. It's been in the high 80's with lots of humidy so iced anything has been the norm.

We then met up with Yoshie (Senei's wife) at the church for a meeting to discuss the VBS schedule. We went over song ideas, english lessons, bible stories, crafts and the overall schedule for next week. VBS starts on Monday. We've each volunteered for a different age group when it comes to separating the kids up for English lessons. Frank is going to teach the little ones (2-4 y/o), Albert the 5-8 y/o, Isaiah the middle schoolers and I'll teach the high schoolers. After working out our schedule for next week we went to lunch with Yoshie at Coffee and Curry a local coffee shop down the street with wonerful homecooked Japanese food with an Indian infusion.

Then we spent most of the evening at the Hannabi Festival (firework festival). It was on and off rain so the festival almost got canceled but us along with about 50,000 people (not joking) went to a local park to watch the fireworks. They were pretty amazing. Similar to fireworks in the States but coriagraphed in such a way that they worked well for the show. It was 1.5 hours long! Then after we walked for a bit back to the church, hopped on a train and are now at our homestay...Bruce Harris a Send International missionary who's letting us stay in his home. His wife and three grown children work at a local camp so it allows for us (all four) to stay here and not really bother them.

Tomorrow will be our first day back at church during a service. It should be great seeing old friends and reconnecting with everyone. We'll have church, sunday school, a fellowship meal, cleaning day, trip to costco and prep for VBS tomorrow...so it will be a packed day. Please pray for all of us that we would have discernment in preparing our lessons for next week along with a flare of creativity to help make our English/Bible lessons enjoyable and rewarding to the kids.

We'll have more to update soon. Thanks everyone!