Friday, July 26th -- End of EEC and A Relaxing Evening

Dear Friends - It's 11:15PM and everyone's been in their rooms for about and hour now.  Kawano-sensei sleeps in the sanctuary, which is connected to the dining area, and he asked if we could allow him to go to sleep, then.  The Kawanos put in long hours preparing for the activities we do here and they are often up when we go to sleep, and also up when we awake.
     EEC ended today and everything seemed to go well.  There were only 14 children attending the camp, which makes supervision and the presentation of activities easier than with larger groups.  But this was also the first year of EEC for this church and a first-time for some of the volunteers to work with children in this type of setting.  So considering all those things I think we had a successful camp.  Mason put together a video to show the parents and campers at the end of the day.  When it finished, someone called out "encore" and so we watched it for a second time.  I hope that the parents will want to bring their children to this program again, calling out "encore" for EEC.
     After lunch, Jayden, Mason & I went to the laundromat to wash some clothes.  We shared a machine for about $12 that washes and dries the clothes - all in one hour.  I need a machine like this at home.  Throw the clothes in the machine, push start, and come back in an hour to fresh clothes.
     For dinner we took the Kawanos out to celebrate Chihoyo-sensei's birthday, which is tomorrow, and Chi-chan's birthday, which is in about two weeks.  It was a Korean barbecue restaurant and I hope that brushing my teeth cleared my kimchee breath.  Tomorrow is a free day and the Kawanos are taking us to a park which is a replica of the "old days".  Kinda like the Renaissance Faire.  It should be a nice relaxing day after the excitement and stress of presenting EEC.  It's time for me to hit the futon so I'll be ready for tomorrow.  Sincere thanks to all of you for your support and prayers.  It is a great joy to be together with these team members.  May God be with you and bless you richly.  With love, Don

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, July 29th - Utsunomiya to Tokyo

Dear Friends - It's 9PM and the team members, except for Seiko, are now in their hotel rooms resting.   We started the day with breakfast at 8AM, able to sleep in late since there were no planned activities for today.  We lounged around in the dining area talking with the Kawanos for the last time.  We'd already sent our large check-in luggage to the airport by takkyubin delivery service, and we'll pick them up on Thursday when we prepare to leave for the U.S.  So everyone packed up their carry-on luggage that we'll use while we visit in Tokyo.  We had bento (packed lunches), that were purchased at a local convenience store, for lunch and then prepared to go to the train station for an hour-45 minute train ride to Tokyo.  The Kawanos drove a couple of us and we also took two taxis to fit all the people and luggage for the trip.  The Kawanos accompanied the team to the boarding platform where we gave final hugs, took last minute photos, and said farewel...
Read more

Sunday, July 28th - All Done

It's 5PM, Sunday evening and things are kinda quiet now.  Kawano-sensei is sleeping on the pews in the sanctuary and the young'uns are fooling around in Mason & Jonathan's room.  It's been a full day, so I'll try and give you some of the highlights.  After the prayer meeting and breakfast, there was MEBIG at 9AM.  Mason gave the lesson and Jonathan, Jayden & Donny helped lead the other activities.  We then participated in the worship service with Mason & Seiko sharing their testimonies and Don giving the message.  We also led the singing of "Amazing Grace" - in English & Japanese.  We then shared lunch with the Utsunomiya church family and had a time of sharing, just like the welcome luncheon.  Everyone gets a chance with the microphone to share their thoughts about the mission and the mission team.  The sharing time has a different feel to it since we now know many of the members much better.  After we cleaned up, the da...
Read more

Arrival in Japan - Friday, July 19th

Friday, July 19th It’s early Friday morning here in Japan, 1AM, and I finally have a chance to sit down and write.  We boarded the plane in LA a little after 11AM and then had to wait until about 1:45PM before we could take off.  There was a problem with the navigation equipment, and it took almost two hours to correct.  We finally left and arrived safely at Narita airport, less than an hour past when we were due.  After exchanging currency, sending our large luggage to the church by Takkyubin and purchasing bus tickets to take us to Utsunomiiya, we were able to sit down at a restaurant in the airport to relax over a meal.  Most of the meals we ate had some form of noodles – what a great welcome to Japan!  We boarded a bus at 7:45PM and arrived in Utsunomiya at 10:15PM and were greeted by the Kawano family.  After a quick tutorial in using the shower and facilities in the church, Seiko, Kawano-sensei and I went to the onsen to bathe and soak our bodi...
Read more