I wanted, one last time before going down to Okinawa...no, not to see my Buddhist friend again, but I wanted to visit the church I've been fellowshipping with since 2016. I would need to travel 2-hours to get there (that's why I do it mostly online). With my medical condition, and the record heat the past few weeks, it looked very unlikely I could go, but friends--especially those at the Musashino Christ Chapel prayer meeting and the after-worship fellowship group--prayed.
Recent typhoons yanked temperatures down to just terribly hot, not intolerably torpid. Today, with the faithful support of my interceding comrades, I made the trip.
I was able to see, among other friends at MCC, Izumi. When I went there the first time in 2016, I didn't know where the church was and didn't know anybody there so gave myself plenty of leeway to find it. But Izumi was there cleaning over an hour early so let me in the otherwise dark building. Had she not been there, I would've had to wait outside. I gave Izumi a drawing that included a fountain, attaching the words. "all my springs are in YOU." ("Izumi", in Japanese, means fountain, or spring.)
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Yumi, I'd told her 3 years ago, I appreciated her artistic talent (she has a doctorate in art history) because I consider myself "creative", altho' I can't draw. Anyone can draw, she'd told me then. You just have to practice. I didn't want to believe her, but I decided to give it a try. And I haven't stopped drawing since. I handed Yumi one of my most recent drawings, thanking her for helping one of God's children enjoy His gifts to the fullest.
Yes, the person I'm pictured with above is Yumi. She teaches up in northern Japan during the school year but can come down to MCC for the summer. Isn't she a pretty, young-looking professor?
Richard is married to Masako, Dave is married to Ayumi.
I forgot to mention: there are many interracial, intercultural marriages at MCC. Even of the 4 ladies eating lunch together, Beth, Carolyn, and June have Japanese last names. Prayer meetings are usually done in both languages first, and then we split up into smaller English and Japanese "rooms". You can pray in either language in the first session because people coming are usually bilingual and understand both.
By the end of the visit, I had given away over a dozen more sketches with little messages on the back. Then alas, it was time to go home.
Why is it that the ride back seemed quicker? It was probably at least 3 degrees hotter, too...Anyway Father, Thank You for the delightful treat.
