Sunday night, Japan

It’s now Sunday night here in Japan. At one corner of the table Ben and JB are engaged in deep conversation about history and politics:

Ken is researching music for devotions, Ed is teaching Anna and Ethan how to play Carrom, 

Amanda is quietly surfing, 

and Mike and Joe are doing the dishes.

Yesterday we worked in some strawberry fields, helping set up greenhouses, and also weeded a garden for a lady near the Nozomi center who recently had hand surgery. I was on the gardening team and very much enjoyed the work and talking to Mike, Ben, and Ethan about Life.

Today we split up into two groups and attended two different churches. One group went to the Sendai church with Cal Cummings and the other (my group) went to Canaan with Edie Cummings. The people at Canaan were incredibly friendly. I met several members: a really sweet and beautiful girl who recently moved to the area and is a nurse in a Sendai hospital, and a lady who (I think) told me I look like one of Edie’s daughters because something about my hair (my Japanese is scattered and lacking). A group of ladies banded together and foisted cold wheat tea on us (much needed, since today was horribly hot and sticky), and different cookies and snacks. 

On the drive back to the Cummings' Edie gave us a synopsis of the sermon, which was on Matthew 6:25-onwards:

²⁵  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The pastor made a really good point and said that if we are anxious or worried about something, that is an easy way for us to know what sin issues we are dealing with; worrying constantly about things is a sign that we're not trusting God and are too focused on controlling Life--something that we're incapable of actually doing. 

After church we all met back at the Cummings’ for another delicious meal and fun fellowship. Nothing else particularly exciting happened today for me to talk about and that is sometimes a very pleasant and needful thing.
Also, I am barely conscious and unable of making anything mundane, interesting. Bedtime!

Ed and Ethan at the Carrom board.

Ethan asks how his rat face looks.

P.S. Apologies for any weird formatting issues--after I copy pasted the Bible verse, everything else went crazy and refused to be remedied. 

P.P.S. Just kidding about bedtime... we need to make a few cakes for a concert tomorrow, so we'll be up a bit longer to do that!