The past week

Well, it's been about a week since my last written blog. So much has happened in this past week!Tuesday's missionary team meeting went really well. We had scrambled eggs, oranges, bananas, toast, and oatmeal for breakfast. Then for the first hour we talked about our prayer requests and then we all prayed for each other. Then we talked about the basic plan and set-up for the Machida Youth Church (Fuse). That part of the meeting went for nearly 3 hours.
Tuesday night we all went out to Machida and went to the mall to go shopping for a bass guitar. We ended up getting an amazing deal on a Fender, but even better than that, we're now friends with the college guy that helped us buy the bass and he's planning to come to the Fuse when it starts.
While we were at the mall, Amy, Brad, and I started walking around and looking at the different stores. We walked into one store that makes homemade facemasks and body soap. One of the young ladies working there offered to put some of the facemask cream on my hand and Amy's so that we could see how it would feel. When the young lady was wiping off the cream she looked at my hand and started asking if I was ok. I looked to where she was pointing and saw she was asking about my feckles. She then noticed I had them all over my face and my arms too and started to get worried and asked about them too. I tried not to laugh and explained that they were just freckles and that they were ok, that they didn't hurt. The poor girl.
After we left the mall we went to the building that we're renting for the Fuse and we prayed over the building, all the people who would walk through the doors to the building, and all the leaders of all the church's in Japan.
Wednesday, we had our first Japanese language class. I had a lot of fun in the class, but others struggled a bit because there wasn't very much English being spoken. I also tried tea for the first time here in Japan and a little cake that is filled with a red bean paste. The red bean is very popular here to make different kinds of desserts because it's a sweet bean. At least that's what everyone says. I DID NOT like the red bean cake. Becky loves them so she offered to finish mine. The tea was an orange tea. It was ok. I actually most likely would have liked it if there had been sugar in it. It was just a little too strong for me.
Wednesday night, we went to see the Tama Gospel Choir. It's a southern gospel choir that is for Christians and non-Christians. They have the most amazing voices! They actually invited us to join for the night, which was a huge honor.
Thursday we had two more Japanese classes. I personally struggled a lot with the first class. The beginning of the first class goes faster than the Wednesday class and then it slows down. But after that first 1/2 hour I was completely lost, and I started to get frustrated.
Although the second class we have with Yas, the Japanese pastor for the Noborito church. It's a Bible class. It's also my favorite Japanese class. We learned how to write our names in Katakana (one of the two main character language systems they use in Japan) and how to say who our favorite Bible character was.
Friday we all went to Mark and Yuiko's house for lunch and talked more about the Fuse. Then that night we had our first worship band practice at the church. We're doing songs from Jesus cLifehouse which is the Hillsong church in Japan. We'll be singing the songs in Japanese and in Enlglish. It took us 2 1/2 hours to learn one song.
Saturday night we went to a Brazilian church service. It was very different from the Japanese services, but in a good way. Brazilians seem more at ease with showing their emotions that the Japanese. We had communion that night. We each paired off with one another and shared our bread and juice with each other then prayed specially for the person we were with. It was amazing because there was such a big language barrier but it didn't feel like there was. Brad translated the sermon for us. He did an awesome job at it.
Sunday us girls went to the last half of the first morning service and the first half of the second morning service so that we could say hi to everyone and they would all know who the new American girls were. After church, Kengo and Brad came over and we introduced Kengo to American junk food. He loved it!
Kengo is a new believer. He was recently saved about a month ago and plays lead guitar for the Fuse worship band. He's going to the university by our house to study business.
Sunday evening we went to the English/Japanese service, but because Tim is currently in the Phillipines they forgot they would need to have someone there to translate. So Joe sat in the back with us and translated for us.
Monday was our day off, but there was a group of about 10 people that were coming for dinner and we had to clean the house and make dinner. We made curry, rice, and salad. We've had some interesting adventures making rice. The first time we made it we put too much water in, and it came out like rice oatmeal. Then Monday night when we made it we didn't put enough water in it, so the bottom of the pan burned but the top was too underdone. So finally on Tuesday night, Yuiko told us how to make rice.
Matt got into town on Monday, so he came over. Kengo, Christine, Mark, one of Brad's new friends, and Brad came over as well. It was such a fun night, full of laughter and jokes.
Tuesday we had another team meeting, with the same food as last week. Then that night we all went out to Machida to pass out flyers for the Fuse. That night was absolutely AMAZING!
We got to Machida around 6pm and went over to the building where we'll be have church services and again prayed over the building and everyone in it and around it. We also prayed for divine encounters, and all the leaders of the churches across Japan. Then we all split up into groups of two and stood and handed out flyers till 7pm in different places around the outside of the station. Brad and I were together in a group and we talked with quite a few people.
At 7pm when everyone else joined up with us we were all talking and still kind of handing out flyers. I approached a group of 5 girls and one guy and we all started talking with them. We ended up inviting them over to our apartment some time and we gave them our names to find us on facebook. We talked for about 15 minutes.
After we left that spot we walked around Machida looking at different stores. Mark left about 8pm and then the rest of us went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. We went home after that.
On the train home though, we saw some girls that we had noticed at the restaurant. Becky went over and started talking with them and by the end of the train ride we had all traded e-mail addresses and had invited them over for dinner sometime as well.
While walking back to our apartment Tuesday night, Becky, Amy, and I started singing a hymn and working on having 3 part harmony for it. Then a gentleman turned around and complimented us on how nice we sounded. We all talked for awhile and he started asking about the Noborito church and he seemed very interested in coming sometime. So I ran back to the church while Amy and Becky talked with him (his name is Ken). After I got back we talked for just a little longer and then we all headed home.
Wednesday we had class again and at the end of class Brad started talking with to men that were in the class with us. One was from Nepal and the other was from Nigiria. They both said they were going to come to church on Sunday this week.
Wednesday night we had our second worship band practice and it went much better than the first. We're starting to figure out each others stregthens and weaknesses so we were able to work on a second song we completely learned it that night.
Thursday morning was class again. Then for lunch we all went to a sushi buffet. I had crab salad, crab and fish eyes salad, jumbo shrimp, regular shrimp, and egg wrapped sushi rice. My favorite one though was the crab and fish eyes. I was not a big fan of the egg wrapped sushi rice. Becky had tuna, eel, and crab. Brad had octopus, crab, tuna, and shrimp. Matt had tuna. Amy had shrimp and crab. Then we had another Japanese class after lunch.
Friday we went back out to Machida to pass out flyers and Brad met another guy who said he would come. That night we had worship band practice and it went really well!
That brings us up today and since the day isn't finished I'll write about it in my next blog. I should also be putting up new pictures soon as well.
Your hands and feet in Japan........Hannah