Fellowship and Friends

This weekend was all about fellowship and making friends, and let me tell you, it rejuvenated my soul. The honeymoon is officially over and I was itching to have some fun with people other than Kan and Miyako. Do not get me wrong, they are my two favorite people in this world to spend time with, but we all needed to make some new friends. And we did!

It began Friday morning with tea with the Dutch missionaries I met back in October. Walking into their apartment was a breath of fresh air for me. I felt so at home. We laughed and chatted and Miyako got to play with their little girl, who is older than Miyako but enjoyed watching Miyako while her mom and I drank tea. I also got to meet their newest additions to their family - they had twin girls in November. They invited us to church on Sunday and for me to help with ways to get a women's ministry started. It truly was great for me and I am so excited about the friendship that the Lord has given us with this family.

Friday after nap time we headed to the indoor play area to meet a new friend. She is Irish and her little girl is Irish/Australian. We let the kiddos run around and play while we got to know each other better. Afterwards we stopped by their apartment and the mom lent me several easy reads. Right up my alley - someone with a love for reading. I love meeting so many people from so many parts of the world. It really does broaden your horizons and show you how big this world is.

Saturday we had lunch with another new group of friends, also from the church. I met the wife back in October and they have a little boy born the day before Miyako. The children played well together (and looked like siblings since they are both Japanese/American) and the adults got to start a new friendship as well. We all went to a very cool bookstore together where I purchased the Tokyo City Guide Atlas, bi-lingual of course. I have a feeling this atlas will be a life savor for me many times throughout the course of our time here. The bookstore was really large and had a large selection of english books. It was fun to get out a bit and walk around the city.

Sunday we went to church and I enjoyed every minute of it. It is a small church plant through Redeemer Presbyterian Church out of NYC. The Pastor is Japanese but they have both an American family and Dutch family on staff. There were probably 50 people there crammed in a small room singing praises in both Japanese and English. We met lots of people from all over the world and just thoroughly enjoyed the new community God has provided for us. Miyako loved it too. She loved playing with the kids and running around after the service. We probably stayed for a hour or so after the service chatting and getting to know people. We could not be more blessed.

Another great part of church - it does not start until 3PM so I was able to watch the CATS beat Vandy (sorry Kim) on Saturday night/Sunday morning for me. What a game.

As for the apartment, Kan filled out an application on Sunday for the older apartment that is slightly bigger. We are excited about it and feel like it will be a great place for our new home. Turns out we will be within walking distance to both couples working with the church plant so we will have fellowship nearby. What a wonderful providor our Lord is...so faithful to us on this new journey. On Sunday night while we sat and ate dinner, we both could not get over how excited we are to be here. God has shown us great mercy thus far and we know He will continue to do so.