I mentioned visiting Oak Pak in my July 29 post, but all I said there was that I'd played on the girls' all-black basketball team at the high school there. I didn't mention the unique family devotions interruption that we began to expect after that one day in the 23225 Berkley living room. How could I have forgotten?
My younger sister and I were still in high school then, and Grandma had died, so Grampa had been invited to live with the family. I remember we loved Grampa who was so sweet, but it was sometimes confusing to our neighbors when it seemed he was worshipping the tree in our front yard. The truth of the matter was, he was just stranding up from the lawn chair and doing his stretching exercises, could bend down and touch his toes a lot more easily than bend backwards, so it looked like he was bowing to the tree.
But one day, we heard Daddy's voice--it sounded almost excided--calling everyone out to the living room. "Pop, I wanr you to tell everyone what you just told me so they can hear it too," he said.
And slowly, Grampa affirmed he knew he was a sinner and deserved to go to hell for his sins but Jesus had died on the cross for him and he wanted to repent, to believe on Him! And he prayed right then and there. I think everyone was elated. But Grampa didn't give us much time to be happy. He told us, "When I was a teenager, a missionary taught us children "Shu Ware O Aisu" (Jesus Loves Me) that goes like this (and he sang it). And she taught us "Michi Mayuti Uchi Yu" (I've Wandered and Come Home, to the tune of There Is A Fountain) that goes like this (and he sang it).
Ever since that day, whenever we'd have family devotions, Grampa would tell us about a green-eyed lady who taught him 2 songs--could he sing them? By the way, the second is in the hogen, or Okinawan dialect.
みちまゆてうしよ でかよむどて
わしたあまじまぬ うやゆうがま
つみとがゆくやむ くくるすしど
うやからしでたる たからでむぬ
...so, when Grampa heard that missionary pray at the Brandon hospital, that probably means it wasn't the first time.
