Today we walked, in the rain, to a nearby church. The entire sermon and the hymns were in Japanese, of course, so we just listened and read our Bibles. Still, the people were very kind, and some of them could speak a little English. After the sermon, they got in small groups and shared prayer requests. We were put in a group with a former English teacher. We were blessed to be able to pray with her. While we were talking, the pastor’s wife brought out tea for everybody.
The church is practicing a hymn that they are going to perform the Sunday after we leave. Mom was familiar with the hymn, and she looked up the lyrics in English so we could follow along. Some of the people noticed, and then asked us to sing the song for them in English.
“Oh no,” my Mom said, “They don’t know this song.”
“Ok, then just you sing it.” was their reply.
Which then means that Mom had me sing it with her, even though I had only heard that song sung once… in Japanese.
The rain that day was coming from a passing typhoon, so we harbored in the local Starbucks for awhile. They had a delicious drink that was like the Starbucks Horchata frappacino drink back home, but this one definitely had more of Japanese tea flavor to it.
As we were leaving Starbucks to head back home, we noticed a little basket by the door. It was filled with blankets! Man, I wish I had noticed that when I was sipping my frappuccino right after coming in from the rain.
The day started a little dreary and wet but by the end we had made new friends, enjoyed a sweet treat and were much more encouraged…..even if we were still wet.
Hannah
Nothing like a little rain to make you remember home 🙂
Way to be adventurous, Hannah! Your willingness to sing will be a pleasant memory for everyone who was there. It is raining here today, although not typhoon-style rain. The blankets at Starbucks sound like a great idea! Do you think it would work in the States?
I know I would use the blankets! In all of my ‘dream house’ designs, I have an entire closet devoted to blankets. I think the only concern for the use of blankets in Starbucks, would be cleanliness. Japan is incredibly clean, but the U.S. might have some problems. We must believe!
Ok, so what was the name of the hymm?
I do not remember, but we are planning on going to the same church next Sunday, so I will let you know 😉