How Can I Keep From Singing?: "The stone was rolled away....His perfect love could not be overcome..."

Another day, another blog post. There’s a lot to write about this particular past few days…I’m most likely going to consolidate some stories and just hit the highlights and the take-away points. If you’re really interested in more details, well… ask me in person, I guess!

We’ll start with the social highlight of the week – my first trip to Tokyo! I had so much fun reconnecting with Sayaka and China. It was great to explore the big city for the first time, and having a Japanese speaker with me made it so much easier to feel confident. I love Japan, but it is not very “foreigner friendly” for people just trying to tour around alone. The train system was feasible and some restaurant menus, but otherwise, I’m quickly realizing how much you need to study the language. While in Tokyo I saw Skytree, Shibuya, Roppongi, and Akihabara.

Kakidori!!

And dinner on Thursday may have been the biggest highlight of the entire weekend, because we found an avocado café !! For those who don’t realize this, Sayaka and I spearheaded an avocado party when she was in the US last time. Everything we ate had to include avocado in the recipe. And they have a café, in Tokyo, where the entire menu is avocado. It was SO amazing!! She and I were overjoyed to find it and try things. We had avocado nachos, avocado margarita pizza, and an avocado filled with cream cheese, salmon, and salmon eggs.

Almost to the avocado cafe!

Excellent, and fairly reasonably priced. It was one of those random hole-in-the-wall places but I’m so excited that we had the chance to try it together! I’ve really missed my WSU-KSGD girls. I’m so excited to be in Osaka next month and spend even more time with them.

Seeing how Japan’s group focused culture works has given me a new appreciation for the friends from Japan that I’ve met. I mean, it’s uncommon for them to form new groups, and it’s rare for new people to be accepted into a group that’s already been formed. It’s such an honor for me to have been friends all of these wonderful women and feel like they reciprocate the friendship. I didn’t realize when they were at WSU how difficult it would have been to do the same thing in Japan… I’m so lucky. So incredibly lucky.

As for other adventures this week…I started driving! Driving on the left side of the road, anyhow. It’s confusing, but really kind of empowering. I feel like the world is just that much more open to me now! Claire, bless her sweet self, took me out driving on Wednesday so I could get the hang of things. And she showed me how to get to JICA, which I also did (successfully) and Friday evening! Rachel and I lead worship for the JICA service, with Jesse (from Angola) on bongos. It was actually a lot of fun! I’ve never done anything quite so… leading-esque. I’m doing a lot of leadership stuff here. It’s a little weird, since I try so hard not to be the “take charge” kind of person. That got me in so much trouble as a youngster, I’ve worked hard to tone that quality down. But this summer, I’m seeing it emerge a lot more. Not sure if this is a good or a bad change. I just hope that the rest of the team isn’t put off by this particular factor.

An old group picture, but still a good one!

Speaking of the team, really, they just continue to be more awesome! It’s so much fun getting to know everyone better and better, and I’m learning so much! Really, it’s like being in house full of people who are all experts in things I don’t know enough about. Everyone’s studied Biblical languages a little bit, and Andrew has his degree in it. Justin’s a film and broadcast guy, Alletha is biology, and Rachael, music (especially theory and history). So we make for a crazy mix, but it’s great. J Strengths and weaknesses are all able to be so complimentary. God knew what He was doing with this group, that’s for certain. I love it. So much.

The 5am return to TICA

It’s so much fun! We were adventuring on Mount Tsukuba at 2am on Saturday morning, driving these narrow mountain roads, passing Yakuza drift racers, singing hymns, and trying not to get lost. Our morning hike turned into a shunpiking adventure down the mountain, around Tsuchiura, and back to the city. It was early and crazy, and such a blast. Seriously, the adventures that make stories that make memories. :D

God is teaching me so much about what His community looks like this summer. It’s so wonderful. It’s also scary to think about going back to the States. Similarly to when I was in Haiti, you have to return knowing new things and being unable to completely explain them to other people, because they weren’t in that situation with you. With the Haiti team, there were others returning with me. This will be different, since my team in Japan will be all over the country. I’m going to have to work hard to communicate the things I’ve learned and seen, and also have patience and not expect other people to just “get it”. Though I am so excited to see what next semester has in store. I’ve already gotten some new ideas since being here.

I had a really interesting conversation with Asuka, a non-Christian who has been regularly attending the church here with her husband (who is a Christian). She has some great insights into both Japanese and Christian culture, and said some things that really made me think. I'll write about that later, maybe. For now, it still needs to be processed.