July 16- July 23: Week Six Recap

 

Week Six Recap

Our last week here in Tokyo. This week was a bit bumpy. Even with everyone, excluding myself, getting sick at some point, feel-like temperatures being above 100 degrees, and sadness for leaving, this was one of the best weeks yet. On Sunday, our day of rest, I chose to travel to Shibuya alone to go gift shopping. Later that day it was my turn to lead the student devotional. I chose to speak on 1 King's 19:11-18 where God speaks to Elijah in a still small voice. 

Monday was our last fun day with Kim and Adam here in Tokyo. They took us, the Apex team, to Shinjuku for fun activities. 

The next day, Tuesday, John, Jenna, and I had the opportunity to come alongside Lou Ann in teaching English to elderly folks. Lou Ann is a ReachGlobal missionary and wife to Shige. At English lessons with Lou Ann, we got to talk and get to know a different generation of Japanese folks. These retired elderly lived much different lives than the college students we had been spending most of our time with. After that, the rest of the team came together and met at a local café to meet with Melanie. Another ReachGlobal missionary, Melanie, who has been in Japan much longer than Kim or Adam, spoke to us on longevity in the missions field. That evening, John, Kali and I went to have dinner with Michiyo. Michiyo is a ReachGlobal missionary who was originally born in Japan. At this point, I had met with and gotten to know all of the Tokyo team's missionaries. Michiyo is on the far right of the photo below. 

                                      

Wednesday I headed over early to the Lee's house to babysit their girls. While the girls and I were at the playground making sand castles, John and Jo Beth were able to both be a part of a ministry event. As lunchtime rolled around, we had our last Japanese lesson with the Lee's neighbors. Today we learned colors and shapes by making sugar cookies. We said farewell to Mimi San and Shizu San before heading over to prayGakushuine. 

                                    

Since it was much too hot to be outside for long periods of time, we had prayGakushuine w/Sarah and Melanie indoors instead. From left to right, Sarah, Kali, Melanie, Jenna, Emily, Olivia, Henry, and John

Thursday was the monthly meeting for the ReachGlobal Tokyo City team. Here, the apex team recapped our experiences in Tokyo and all the ways we saw the Lord moving. We also got to celebrate a few birthdays as you can see in this photo below. 

                                       

After that, we went to UniCafe to meet with Leslie who works for ReachGlobal in the US. She helped us prepare for re-entry back into the States. We wrapped up Thursday with our last family dinner at the Lee's home. Below is a photo of John and Henry with the Lee girls. 

                                                                           

Friday was the day we had all known about and yet were still surprised about. Starting at 3:00 pm, our going away party started. With the realization that this would be the last time we'd see some of our new friends, we let the party run until 9:00 pm. We had lots of snacks and games but more importantly lots of hugs. All four of my friends that I invited personally were able to come. We had the entire ReachGlobal Tokyo team come and everyone else's friends as well. Below is a photo of Kali and me with our friend Umi, along with some more photos from the party. 

On Saturday we said goodbye to our hosts Kim and Adam who we spent most of our time with. With that, our trip ended. We flew out of Haneda airport into Seattle airport. There Henry, Kali, John, and I said goodbye to Jenna and Emily. From there we flew to Chicago where we said goodbye to Henry and Kali. Finally, on Sunday morning John and I arrived at MSP airport. 

There will be one more post coming up titled "Now what?" On taking what I learned and applying it to the future. 

Thank you for your prayers and support!