I, being versed in many things culturally Japanese, cannot make an origami anything to save my life. It took the patience of a 7-year-old boy 15 minutes to teach me each fold one at a time all the while berating me for my mistakes. Eventually, I produced a flower-looking object out of pink construction paper that was added to the growing pile of flowers, stems, leaves, and hearts for Pastor Carol's birthday bouquet. I did not tell her that mine was among the expertly crafted origami creations of the children. Needless to say, she received her bouquet, cake, and card with gratitude.Later, the team from IHOP University came and did worship, prayer, and a skit for the GAP service at 4:00. It was a wonderful time of learning and seeking the Lord as Pastor Bill's sermon hit right on some topics that have been surfacing in my life. After prayer with the team and the pastors, everyone from Chi Alpha, the IHOP team, and some GAP people went out to the place that I'm going to call heaven on earth: Sweets Paradise.
In Ikebukuro, there is a place where cakes, ice cream, candies, soda, tea, and pasta abound. It is called Sweets Paradise, a dessert buffet that has some pasta to make you feel not so bad about all of the sugar you're consuming in one sitting. It has got to be the best fellowship I've had since coming to Tokyo. We scattered amongst ourselves and got to know one another over the best desserts I've ever tasted in my life. SEU people will remember the dreamlike days of Valentine's at Chartwells. This beats it, hands down. I had been going through sugar withdrawl since coming to Japan but this evening made up for all of it - with interest. I think what made it so enjoyable was not the sweets but the company. We had some really great fellowship time getting to know one another and I honestly felt my emotional stress levels decreasing as we sat in each others' presence just laughing over silly things. Making connections with people and being able to laugh heartily was just the medicine my heart needed to feel more at home here in Japan. I have to say though, after hearing some of the stories from the IHOP team about the sentou (Japanese public bathhouse), it will be interesting getting a group of highschoolers to experience it when they arrive next week. According to one member of the IHOP team, it is a milestone experience in one's life. I'm looking forward to it with some trepidation, but I'm sure it will be an interesting cultural experience. Pray for me! Lol.
Tomorrow is our day off, so I have decided it will be adventure day. I'm off exploring to see if I can find more interesting places around our small town of Komagome. Then, I hope to be able to find Seikei Univeristy to attend a Japanese class. Finally, if all goes according to plan (lol), I will be at the goodbye party for the IHOP team who are leaving on Tuesday. Pray that they have safe travels and that my adventure tomorrow does not end in me getting hopelessly lost on the Tokyo trains.
I'll let you know how that goes. :)
