Tokyo

I spent the night at my teacher's house in Saitama. Early the next morning (just before 8) one of my friends and some of the other kids from church came and picked me up for a picnic. I was wondering who on earth has a picnic at 7:30 in the morning. But we drove for about an hour and a half into and through Tokyo. Then we arrived at some giant magical park. Why did we drive so long, so early for a picnic? Why did we have to sit in Tokyo traffic when we have plenty of parks in Saitama?

Because we were having a giant picnic with other young adult Christians in Tokyo. We got split into 3 teams and had to play games to determine which team got what food to BBQ. Luckily, my team won most of the games, so we had first choice of selecting food items each round. But it was so nice to fellowship with other believers, even though I spent most of the day in Japanese. They wanted to practice English with me and I was totally fine with it. We enjoyed laughing and sharing and praying and BBQing. Some of them invited their non-Christian friends to come and we had the chance to share with them. It was INSANE! So crazy! I wasn't even intending to go to this picnic and I was so blessed by my brothers and sisters who were there. Praise God that His love isn't stopped by language and cultural barriers.

From there I headed to Mitaka to drop my bags off at a friend's apartment. I went back to Shinjuku Station alone to meet up with Matt and Lauren for dinner.

I cannot tell you how great it is to see a familiar face and hear familiar voices. We shared a meal at Pepper Lunch (AMAZING!) and dessert at Beard Papa. I got to hear about their ministry opportunities down in Osaka and what their team got to do during their time in Japan. Such a blessing!