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