Tuesday, August 5
Shibuya & The Oriental Bazzar
Today we tried to fly solo and take the train to Shibuya to go to the Oriental Bazzar to get last minuite souvieneers (however you spell it). Well, we got there alright, but then got lost trying to find the place. It's been a little while since I've been there see, and I don't really remember it so well from the last time because we were walking around so much.
We got half-way lost, and decided to go to Denny's for lunch. Good stuff! I had the Chicken Ceasar with bread and a melon cream soda. I had to help order because we didn't have translation today. It was good practice.
We finally found the Oriental Bazzar after lunch, it was only about 5 min away. We shopped for a while, and enjoyed hearing English for the first time in a while. There were alot of foriegners there. Americans, Europeans, Australians. Isaiah said that one of the people there were also missionaries. Tim said he talked to a guy from Ventura.
Enough cheap, yet somewhat authentic, Japanese things. It's time for Snoopy.
Isaiah remembered that the Snoopy store that we saw a few weeks again was really close. So we sauntered up the street and went to Snoopy Town. Yeah, it looks like a Peanuts gallery, but the place had mostly Snoopy things. And when I say things, I mean just about anything you could think of. But, I never really was a Peanuts fan, so I just moseyed around for a while then waited for everyone to finish. And we made it home alright, in a much quicker fashion. We found a shorted way home and got on one of the faster trains.
Honestly, at this point, I'm beat. I think I'm getting Chris Mortimer's cold, which isn't a good thing because his is really bad. Plus, I think that as I am writing this, that it's starting to rain outside, and I have a 30 min walk home. I'm tired. I can't wait to be back home. I'm sure I'll be there soon enough, missing this place.
Tomorrow we meet at the bus stop at 6:30AM, then we'll get to the airport around 9AM and fly out at about 11AM. I heard that we arrive on Wednesday at about 8AM in the States. I'm not really sure, so just go look up Korean Air Flight KE001, NRT to LAX.
Meanwhile, Sayonara, Nihon!
We got half-way lost, and decided to go to Denny's for lunch. Good stuff! I had the Chicken Ceasar with bread and a melon cream soda. I had to help order because we didn't have translation today. It was good practice.
We finally found the Oriental Bazzar after lunch, it was only about 5 min away. We shopped for a while, and enjoyed hearing English for the first time in a while. There were alot of foriegners there. Americans, Europeans, Australians. Isaiah said that one of the people there were also missionaries. Tim said he talked to a guy from Ventura.
Enough cheap, yet somewhat authentic, Japanese things. It's time for Snoopy.
Isaiah remembered that the Snoopy store that we saw a few weeks again was really close. So we sauntered up the street and went to Snoopy Town. Yeah, it looks like a Peanuts gallery, but the place had mostly Snoopy things. And when I say things, I mean just about anything you could think of. But, I never really was a Peanuts fan, so I just moseyed around for a while then waited for everyone to finish. And we made it home alright, in a much quicker fashion. We found a shorted way home and got on one of the faster trains.
Honestly, at this point, I'm beat. I think I'm getting Chris Mortimer's cold, which isn't a good thing because his is really bad. Plus, I think that as I am writing this, that it's starting to rain outside, and I have a 30 min walk home. I'm tired. I can't wait to be back home. I'm sure I'll be there soon enough, missing this place.
Tomorrow we meet at the bus stop at 6:30AM, then we'll get to the airport around 9AM and fly out at about 11AM. I heard that we arrive on Wednesday at about 8AM in the States. I'm not really sure, so just go look up Korean Air Flight KE001, NRT to LAX.
Meanwhile, Sayonara, Nihon!
Debreif
It's debreif, so what are we going to do? Talk about things that matter? No. We're going to be tourists and go to Tokyo Disneyland! (Again!) Well, I won't complain, aside from the fact that I'd rather go to Tokyo DisneySea.
I did have a camera this year, which was nice. I finally was able to get a good picture of the castle, it is so much better. Plus, I got a decent nigh shot of the castle, too.
Other than that, I just tried to enjoy the rides. We went on It's A Small World, which has this nice, indoor waiting area. Big Thunder Mountain was my favorite again, it's in the background there. And of course, the (now) classic, Pooh's Hunny Hunt. Unfortunately, I really didn't get any good shots of the inside of the ride, but it's awesome! I think that the highlight of the day was Jessica and Joy getting in trouble for screaming on the Haunted Mansion ride... go figure! The fireworks got cancelled again, but the electric light parade came through instead. So cool! And, yet again, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner.
Despite all of that fun, we did spend some quality time waiting in line with Yoshie, Maki, Tomo, Hiromi, and Hitomi. And if we weren't waiting in line, we were enjoying snacks in the shade.
Though after all of that rukus, the train ride back was the best experience. A drunk Japanese guy just leaned over and asked, in English, if he could talk with me. How cool is that? I got a share a little bit about why I came to Japan and say that I was a Christian, but I forgot my tracts at home today. Isaiah and Tim were both out too, because they had been giving them to the prostitutes that approached them almost daily in Tachikawa. Chris had given me some for such an occasion, but alas, I didn't have them with me today. It was a good experience, but I was frustrated that I couldn't communicate what was really important.
And I got home about 12:30AM, took a shower and crashed until Sato woke me up at about 7AM.
I did have a camera this year, which was nice. I finally was able to get a good picture of the castle, it is so much better. Plus, I got a decent nigh shot of the castle, too.
Other than that, I just tried to enjoy the rides. We went on It's A Small World, which has this nice, indoor waiting area. Big Thunder Mountain was my favorite again, it's in the background there. And of course, the (now) classic, Pooh's Hunny Hunt. Unfortunately, I really didn't get any good shots of the inside of the ride, but it's awesome! I think that the highlight of the day was Jessica and Joy getting in trouble for screaming on the Haunted Mansion ride... go figure! The fireworks got cancelled again, but the electric light parade came through instead. So cool! And, yet again, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner.
Despite all of that fun, we did spend some quality time waiting in line with Yoshie, Maki, Tomo, Hiromi, and Hitomi. And if we weren't waiting in line, we were enjoying snacks in the shade.
Though after all of that rukus, the train ride back was the best experience. A drunk Japanese guy just leaned over and asked, in English, if he could talk with me. How cool is that? I got a share a little bit about why I came to Japan and say that I was a Christian, but I forgot my tracts at home today. Isaiah and Tim were both out too, because they had been giving them to the prostitutes that approached them almost daily in Tachikawa. Chris had given me some for such an occasion, but alas, I didn't have them with me today. It was a good experience, but I was frustrated that I couldn't communicate what was really important.
And I got home about 12:30AM, took a shower and crashed until Sato woke me up at about 7AM.
Sayonara Sunday
Well, this is our goodbye Sunday, probably one of the most depressing days of the trip.
We started this morning in Sunday school. Jessica and I taught in the elementary age group. She taught the lesson from 1 Samuel 18 and I taught a song. It really didn't go that well. We were putting so much effort into Gospel Night, that we forgot about Sunday School and had to rush the preparation for it.
During service, David shared about his experience in Japan. He did great, and I really appreciated his message. As for the main study, I don't remember it. I was having too difficult a time stayinga awake, just like everyone else. This last week has been very tiring. Plus, the waking up early is really wearing on me now.
At the end of service, they had us all stand up front and say goodbye to the church body. Jon invited them all to the Sayonara Lunch which was upstairs after the end of announcements. He preceded this announcement with his usual "maybe there is a..." which is rather funny in this situation, because there was a 100% chance that it wasn't a maybe.
As for the goodbye lunch, just look how packed it is, I had to take three pictures: Left, center, and right.
We said our last goodbyes there. Some of the Japanese people shared about the trip and we also shared on different topics, unlike last year's homestay thank-yous. I got to talk about our ministry at Josui Church, which is what I really wanted to share on. We finished the lunch by singing "I Will Call Upon The Lord". Then it was that awkward goodbye time. I had already said goodbye to the Saoshiros.
So, at this time it was farewell to Yuki, all of the girls from college group, and Ai and Prio who came to church and Sennen-kai.
After the lunch, we had Sennen-kai. Isaiah shared again, and it went really well. Then they went around the circle sharing their experiences with us these past few weeks. Ai and Piro were both really encouraged to come to church and be involved. A few Sundays back, Mr. Yoshizawa prayed that they would come back to church, and here they were in Sennen-kai sharing that they were really glad we came because it encouraged them to come back to church. Hopefully, Maki will be able to help encourage them to come back after we leave, since they are her friends. But it was cool to see an answer to prayer so quickly.
Then things got a little chaotic when Mrs. Hosokawa got out two yukatas for the girls to wear in pictures. Guess which two boys volenteered to wear them for photos: Tim and Isaiah, of course! Enough said. You know how crazy that got.
I took a relaxing walk home and took this picture of shin-yoen which is one of the major cults here in Tachikawa City. Its a weird sect of Shinto or Buddhism, I cannot remember exactly. However, people come here in droves, filling multipule tour buses, just to pay money for special prayers. The whole cult is money based. The place is huge too. It's several city blocks long. And every building has that gold symbol. Its very mysterious, but it all sounds like one of those pyramid-schemes.
And then, its been a while but, I have a golden camera award for this photo: Moon in the Sunset
We started this morning in Sunday school. Jessica and I taught in the elementary age group. She taught the lesson from 1 Samuel 18 and I taught a song. It really didn't go that well. We were putting so much effort into Gospel Night, that we forgot about Sunday School and had to rush the preparation for it.
During service, David shared about his experience in Japan. He did great, and I really appreciated his message. As for the main study, I don't remember it. I was having too difficult a time stayinga awake, just like everyone else. This last week has been very tiring. Plus, the waking up early is really wearing on me now.
At the end of service, they had us all stand up front and say goodbye to the church body. Jon invited them all to the Sayonara Lunch which was upstairs after the end of announcements. He preceded this announcement with his usual "maybe there is a..." which is rather funny in this situation, because there was a 100% chance that it wasn't a maybe.
As for the goodbye lunch, just look how packed it is, I had to take three pictures: Left, center, and right.
We said our last goodbyes there. Some of the Japanese people shared about the trip and we also shared on different topics, unlike last year's homestay thank-yous. I got to talk about our ministry at Josui Church, which is what I really wanted to share on. We finished the lunch by singing "I Will Call Upon The Lord". Then it was that awkward goodbye time. I had already said goodbye to the Saoshiros.
So, at this time it was farewell to Yuki, all of the girls from college group, and Ai and Prio who came to church and Sennen-kai.
After the lunch, we had Sennen-kai. Isaiah shared again, and it went really well. Then they went around the circle sharing their experiences with us these past few weeks. Ai and Piro were both really encouraged to come to church and be involved. A few Sundays back, Mr. Yoshizawa prayed that they would come back to church, and here they were in Sennen-kai sharing that they were really glad we came because it encouraged them to come back to church. Hopefully, Maki will be able to help encourage them to come back after we leave, since they are her friends. But it was cool to see an answer to prayer so quickly.
Then things got a little chaotic when Mrs. Hosokawa got out two yukatas for the girls to wear in pictures. Guess which two boys volenteered to wear them for photos: Tim and Isaiah, of course! Enough said. You know how crazy that got.
I took a relaxing walk home and took this picture of shin-yoen which is one of the major cults here in Tachikawa City. Its a weird sect of Shinto or Buddhism, I cannot remember exactly. However, people come here in droves, filling multipule tour buses, just to pay money for special prayers. The whole cult is money based. The place is huge too. It's several city blocks long. And every building has that gold symbol. Its very mysterious, but it all sounds like one of those pyramid-schemes.
And then, its been a while but, I have a golden camera award for this photo: Moon in the Sunset
