I LOVE Church

So today was the best Sunday I've had in Japan yet! Of course, it is only the second one I've ever had in Japan, and the first one wasn't too bad. My first Sunday here wasn't bad either, just a wee bit disappointing because we weren't able to attend church :(. Last Sunday the whole group was still together and the girls and I wanted to make it to the English ward. So we tried really hard!! We took trains and even a taxi to get to the building, but alas, when we arrived we were informed that the English ward had combined with the other English ward! That translates into another hour of travel...thus we weren't able to go. And the guy we met was a member of the Japanese ward--which had just finished. Here is a picture of us at the building though--we wanted to prove we had actually tried to go!

It ended up being an awesome Sunday still though because the girls and I went up to Celestia's hotel room and held our own little devotional that concluded with us watching the Testaments. It was pretty amazing actually--the girls I was with (sadly we are all scattered across Japan now) are super AMAZING!!! I miss them quite a bit, but we keep in touch through our blogs and skype...thank heavens for skype!!!

The reason this Sunday was so amazing was due to the fact God kept showing me His love for me in soo many different ways. It was just amazing! To start it off, a friend at Interac took the time to print off a map of an LDS church she thought would be eaisest for me to get to. Luckily I had memorized a few street names and important landmarks, because as I was riding the train to Kichijoji (the stop I would have to take), I realized I had forgotten the map at home!!!!! Happily had left my home a little early (planning on the fact I get easily turned around) and so i figured with the Lord's help I would be able to find the church. So I offered a simple prayer asking for the Lord to help me find the Church and started off. As I was walking down the street I thought I was supposed to be on I happened to remember the street I was actually supposed to be on. I made the correct turn onto that street (which happened to be called Sun Road and is some kind of market place) and then this guy (who looks Japanese) said, "Are you looking for the church?" I was soooooooooooo happy!!!! Thus I met Antone, and made it to church half and hour early!

Church itself was all in Japanese--and I don't really know much religious Japanese! But the sweetest people made friends with me and I actually had the lessons in Sunday school and R.S. semi-translated for me. In R.S. they gave me an English and a Japanese copy of the manual, saying it would help me to learn Japanese. Also, it was great because I could understand the lesson pretty well given a context. The spirit was just so strong at my meetings, it was amazing! It is soo cool to realize that the Gospel is the same all around the world! And they gave me hugs!!! Japanese people rarely give hugs...so that made me soooooooo happy.

On a slightly different note, the owner of the company I am here through (INTERAC) goes to my ward!!! How crazy is that!! I didn't get to talk to him today, but I met three of his daughters. One of the best parts of Sunday actually came after the meetings ended. As I was heading out to leave, I met some sister missionaries. They were very sweet and invited me to help out with the English lessons they teach on Wednesdays. I might go do that! But the coolest part is that I met four Chinese MEMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had some pretty awesome Japachinglish going on! Things were a little confusing though...speaking a mixture of all three languages is a little mind-bending if I do say so myself. They were all so sweet and said my Chinese was excellent--which made me super happy. Anyway, that was my happy news!

More later,

Loves,

Brooke