This morning Tatsu Asaka met me in the lobby of the hotel at 8:00AM. He escorted my by train to the home of one of the friends in Itani. This included about 1 hour and the train , 30 mins on a bus and 15 mins walking and waiting. Between switching trains and finding the bus stop, I never would have made it if Tatsu had not helped me. It was a treat to get to see some more "normal" Japanese life. Up to now it has been all hotels and tourist areas. When I was back in the residential area, there may have been some of the young people that had not ever seen an American because they watched me very closely.....maybe I just looked suspicious.
Upon arriving at the meeting, we took off our shoes and put on slippers. I could tell that the lady of the home put out the best slippers for the guest. According to Tatsu they get very few foreign visitors because they are not very near a major city.
The meeting was in Japanese, but Tatsu wrote down each testimony in English for me. The lady of the home was very good with English, so she wrote hers for me and handed it down the row. I prayed in English, but Tatsu interpreted my testimony. It is amazing to feel the same spirit - in a place so far from home. The people were so warm and wonderful, it was a truly enriching experience. After the meeting they had tea and cookies. I don;t know if that is a normal custom, or if it was because of the visitor.
One of the saint ladies drove Tatsu and I back to his batch after meeting. We ate a nice American meal at the McDonald's near his batch. Yoshihisa Sorimachi, his companion, was in another city for the morning meeting, so he met us at the batch around 1:00PM. I rested on Sorimachi-san's mattress until meeting time.
The gospel meeting was about 25 people, and one outsider. There were two families there. One family had 4 children and the other had 3 children. It made me miss my kids SOOOO bad. It was amazing to see these families - just like us serving the Lord with the same spirit and purpose. Tatsu and Yoshi both summarized their testimonies in English for me, which I was very glad for. They sing the hymns with the same tunes as us - but in their language. The singing was very beautiful. After the meeting we had tea again with cookies, but I think this time it was for an outsider that had come. A young Japanese girl is engaged to a professing Italian boy, so she came to the meetings while she is home - but has not yet made her choice. We stood around and talked for about 1.5 hours. Several of the Japanese folks enjoyed practicing their English with me, and I enjoyed practicing Japanese.
After then meeting Tatsu and Yoshi accompanied me back to the Hotel - once again if it were not for them I would still be wandering about. We walked around Kobeland Harbor, which is very touristy and enjoyed the nice afternoon weather. I wanted to try some more Japanese food with them, so we went to a Japanese place that served Pork Cutlets. It was very good, and the workers seemed to enjoy it as well. We shared our testimonies around the dinner. Tatsu said he had a wonderful day, but his only regret was that he did not have me share my testimony during the gospel meeting......I was very glad that it was already too late for that.
They helped me back to the hotel, and when we parted ways, we all waved until we could not see each other any more. So now I am back in my room, wishing the day was not over but feeling so thankful that it did.
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