Day Thirteen

May 13th

Today is Mother's Day. I'm missing Carol and the kids today. They are all together in Washington for Mother's Day and our youngest grandson, Ace, will be dedicated today. Well, at least I can spend Mother's Day with my mom, right?

Before going to church at 10:30 am, Seiya dropped me off at Jin's soft tennis match at 9:00 am. It was quite an educational experience watching this match. In traditional Japanese tradition, the two teams bowed before the match. The teams also spent time going to the opposing coach and hearing some instruction and encouragement. I sat at center court, visiting with Jin's coach. Remember him? He's the guy who thought I was a scout checking him out yesterday. He must have got word that I wasn't a scout after all. He asked me where I was from. I told him the United States and Idaho. Immediately he said, "Oh, Idaho...BIG potatoes in Idaho!" It seems everywhere I go here, people associate Idaho with potatoes.

Back to the soft tennis match... All matches are doubles in soft tennis. The scoring is the same except they only play one set, first team to win four games wins the set. After each set, each doubles team goes to each coach and listens to some instruction and encouragement. After one of these times, Jin's coach made the comment that this was probably quite different from America where competition is so emphasized. I agreed and told him I really liked the Japanese style in this regard.

Soon, way too soon it seemed to me, Seiya was back to pick me up to take us back to his home so we could go to church. Jin and Kan would not be at church since they both had sporting events to go to. Kan had a rugby match, even though he wouldn't be able to play, and Jin would still be playing soft tennis. Schools here in Japan think nothing of scheduling events on the weekend. When I told Seiya and Yoriko that this would never happen in America, they were pleasantly surprised to hear this.

The church service was more of a traditional service than last week. Everything was in Japanese. They had a little organ on one side of the platform and a piano on the other side. Around 50 people (actually on the large side for a Japanese church) squeezed into the sanctuary. The building is a two story building with the 2nd floor being a residence for the pastor. This church is now being served by an interim pastor from Germany. He and his wife are with the Liebenzell Mission, which founded this church around 20 years ago. This church is part of a larger association of about 200 churches in Japan called the Japanese Association of Evangelical Churches. The pastor and family will be leaving next month for a year of furlough back in Germany.

This Sunday no mention was made at all of Mother's Day. A woman doctor shared her testimony and how she is planning to be a missionary in Bangladesh. After singing a few hymns, the missionary pastor preached a message in Japanese. He speaks perfect Japanese, Seiya tells me, since he has been here for close to 16 years now.

After the message, various announcements were shared and the tables were set up for lunch in honor of the missionary doctor and also mom and I. The microphone was passed around to everyone who shared their thoughts about the morning.

Following lunch, we headed back to the Kagatanis where we would be picked up by Tetsuya Watanabe who would take us to his home where we would spend the night with he and his wife Hiroko. Tetsuya and Hiroko were also in mom and dad's church in Shizuoka. Hiroko is Junko's sister, who we spent the day with last week (was that just last week?) in Atami. Tetsuya and Hiroko both studied in Fresno. Hiroko went to Fresno Pacific and Tetsuya went to Fresno State. When I told Tetsuya that Fresno State is a rival to Boise State, he soon went to get his red Fresno State Bulldog jacket and red Fresno State tie.

The Watanabes have a wonderful new, Western-style home. They designed and had it built just a year ago. No tatami room at this house! Yea! No sleeping on the floor tonight! Hiroko served a fabulous meal (remember how we eat all the time here?) We even had meat loaf! I've never been so glad to see meat loaf in my life.

After supper, we watched a DVD of a made-for-TV movie called "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn." What a great movie starring Sidney Poitier. I felt like I was back in the States after being in a Western-style home, eating food I was used to, and watching a movie in English.

Tomorrow we head back to Tokyo and then back to the Horikawas where we will be until we fly to Singapore on Wednesday. I'm enjoying this experience tremendously. New and wonderful experiences are coming my way daily and I feel like God is giving me strength and the right words of encouragement to share with those we meet. This was no more evident to me than my time at the Kagatanis over the weekend. I'm truly humbled to see God at work in and through me to bring encouragement and help to others, especially a special family like the Kagatanis.