Saturday Worship and Activities

Our opening worship service for GA was held at Koza CPC. The building was full, with some people standing at the back because they ran out of seats. Everything was done in both Japanese and English. The Praise by Drum was interesting. One person played a special on very large drum.

We sang familiar hymns, each person in their own language, all at the same time.You could hear English, Japanese and Spanish all together. Renaissance, from Bethel College sang the anthem, "Days of Elijah" and it was beautiful! Many of us clapped with the beat. Japan Presbytery Choir sang," Great Is Thy Faithfulness" in Japanese and they sounded wonderful, touching the soul.

The sermon was preached by moderator Frank Ward. His message, "Joined to Jesus". The point was stay connected to the vine, stay connected to Jesus. We celebrated communion together.

After the service everybody wanted to stand around and talk and renew old acquaintances and make new friends. It was great. We got to talk to Randal Mayfield for the first time in 30 years. The last time we saw him may have been when he was in our wedding. We talked to Glen Watts, missionary worker to Japan whom we met at PAS. We met many of the Japanese CP's. Their nams are a little hard for me to spell yet. They included pastors, pastors' wives, candidates and church members. Everyone is so polite and helpful!

We traveled to the church by electric train and had to quite a distance. Those ofus on the tour are in the Keio Plaza Hotel several miles from the others. There were people from the church with signs at the train station where we changed trains to help us find our way. A pastor traveled with us on the train so we could find our way. When we got off the train, we walked several blocks to the church. It was so cute! The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, kids about 8 to 11 years old and in their uniforms, stood along the way every half block and guided us by pointing out which way we needed to go. They also greeted us in Japanese.

Our team leader is Lawrence Fung. He has been so nice n keeping us from getting lost and keeping us informed. Bob Watkins is in charge of everything and he has given us many instructions also. You couldn't find better,friendlier leader. He s doing an excellent job of looking out for us.

Coming back on the trains, it was very crowded, standing room only, and packed full. I stood, just so I could look around, better and talked to Peggy Coffman. If you don't hold on to the rings above,it would be easy to fall when the train stops and starts and goes over bumps. We walked several blocks back to the motel and the sidewalks were very crowded.

Each of us has been given a visor hat from Cumberland Life Development International, which is nice.

There isn't any coffee in the room and, unless you are eating a meal in a restaurant, they don't sell much of it either. They do have tea though. I love the hot water machine in the room for making tea. John went to the quick shop and bought some instant coffee so we will have that too.

This morning, John went out looking for coffee. He found cold coffee in bottles and had that. Later, around 7:30 am, I walked with him and we found a quick shop that sold coffee. The young man who waited on us did not speak English. Through gestures and pointing, he figured out what we wanted and we bought it. The coffee was expresso with milk and the young man showed us how to work the machine. The milk part was empty. The coffee we got there was very good.

Our motel window overlooks the city and skyscrapers. They are all different shapes and sizes. The streets are not all concrete and brick. They are lined with trees and flowers and lots of landscaping. There are sculptures and fountains and lots of color. I think it is very pretty. One of th unique things we see walking along the streets are the rows of bicycles and scooters along the streets, all parked in rows. Traffic is very heavy and this is how many get around.

The hotel lobby smells like fresh flowers. The hotel personnel are very much attuned to their guests. We started to get on the wrong elevator and someone came to our rescue. We were in line at a restaurant and a man came over and told us another restaurant had space. He referred to us as pastors(we have name tags for the group). We get complimentary breakfast at three restaurants so he was watching for our group and taking care of us.

Breakfast was a buffet and delicious! We had fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, bacon, ham, salads, pasties, cereals, fresh juices (I had fresh carrot juice), coffee, and a selection of many Japanese dishes. We sat near many other pastors including Kevin Vanderlaan, and Tommy Jobe and had a good time visiting.

To get on the train, we have a card called Pasmos. You run it over the sensor and it lets you in the turnstyle. As part of our tour, we were given one for up to $30 worth of rides. Mine doesn't always like to work so I have to pass it over the sensor several times. It's not too cool when the little gate slams on me after watching others just zip through in our group. So far, it has worked eventually.