Today was much easier, except that my camera battery died before Joy English Club even started, so there’s nothing in the way of pictures today.
If yesterday’s Hokey Pokey wasn’t enough of a work out, we decided to do Father Abraham instead, because it involves lefts, rights, hands, and feet. They all did quite well, even though we only had sixteen students. Then we split into two groups and made the shapes of letters using people. I think we’ve got photos of that somewhere. The boys were great at making letters with straight lines, but only the girls managed to make a proper “Q” and “S”.
Craft time went much better because after Isaiah’s teaching of Jesus healing the blind man, we painted lanterns. Since I couldn’t think of anything else to paint, I made mine a globe. Then everyone wanted to know why I didn’t paint Okinawa or Hawaii. It’s a five inch lantern, there’s no room!
We managed to get lunch with the Takahashi’s today at Coffe & Curry, our annual favorite. Since we didn’t have time for day trips with them, Sensei really wanted some one-on-one time. We chatted up a storm amongst ourselves, then talked about the Takahashi’s empty nesters syndrome now that their children are all married, and discussed the growth and future plans of Tachikawa Ekimae.
Since Michelle was changing homestays (unexpectedly for her) to Mrs. Omura’s, we went over to Takashimaya (on my foolish recommendation, it appears I have very expensive taste!) to shop for a homestay gift. It turns out, that’s the most expensive mall, even though I’ve constantly seen people at Tachikawa Ekimae use Takashimaya bags when giving things to each other. After perusing floors of things outside the budget, we found some delightful looking sweets on B1 that we got wrapped by a kind inquisitive, English speaking employee.
Since both girls had to go home early, us men decided to run over to First Kitchen for some Melon Floats. Walking over to the resturant, we discussed spiritual barriers to belief that men like Mr. Bear have. What is it that makes Christianity so difficult to accept?
Isaiah left to go home early, so Mike and I continued the conversation later into the evening, and walked over to Bic Camera to shop for video games and awesome toys.
I got home at about 7pm, and forgot Mr. Bear was out bowling that night, so Nobuko had eaten dinner by herself. Oops! I had planned to start writing these last two entries at the time, but instead, she and I launched into a two hour conversation in my broken Japanese, discussing accountability, Japanese and American culture, our respective testimonies, church planing, missions in Japan, tatemae (Outside face), soto (Outside group), uchi (House, or Inside group), and a plethora of other philosophical, anthropological, and theological things. I had managed to successfully communicate who my accountability partners were; those men who ask the hard questions in my life and don’t talk around the core issues in a Japanese fashion. We talked about the importance of Japanese Christian leadership in missions. It was amazing, but I’m frustrated that I knew so little Japanese to explain these things that, of late, have weighed heavy on my heart.
And then, there’s been nearly record breaking heat here too!
