11:31pm
This morning we slept in till 9, got ready in a hurry and biked to church. We taught our two songs to the kids/played some games with all the parents watching and taught some English which went surprisingly well. The moms watched and played Pictionary :) Afterward we had lunch (Noriko Inoue and I walked to 7-11 to get sandwiches for the team since we forgot to bring anything) - Yuuri sat next to me (her mom earlier recorded a message from me to Yuuri on her camcorder.. I think I said something like "Yuuri, it was great to meet you this summer, I hope I see you again someday!"). Played with her and Arisa-chan and Moemi, spinning then all around (their favorite thing). They gave me a giant poster they had all drawn - so cute!
Went home and then Laurel and I ran to Yamazawa and bought supplies (we found the baking powder after first confusing the store clerk by directly translating the words "baking" and "powder" and asking him where that was, he just looked at us with a total glazed-over blank stare... wandering down another aisle I realized it was just spelled out in katakana on a box... "be-ki-n-gu pa-u-da"). We hung out at the house for a bit, wrote lesson plans and did other stuff I don't really remember, heh.
Around 4 or so we rode over to the church to setup for evening classes. Jeri and my's Elementary class went well though we spent the first half hour playing the alphabet race game. Afterward we did "Lazarus" as a Bible story for the joined classes which wasn't the best one to act out...
Afterward Ito-sensei (who has returned, yay!) told us he was taking us to a restaurant owned by a lady who wanted to give us dinner. After we almost literally flew (he was going like 70 kmph) to the restaurant we were seated and had a great unagi (eel! w/sweet sauce) and rice dinner with an assortment of odd side dishes. The eel was great and one of the best meals there for me.
Got back to the church with 5 min to spare to set up for class, so Laurel and I scampered to get the whiteboard done. Only Risa showed up and we went through the entire lesson 2 and the dialogue of lesson 3 with her. She picked everything up super fast!
Afterward had chapel time - Laurel gave her testimony and Ito-sensei spoke, and we tossed the ball around with Risa again :) - that's always fun - and chatted with the students. Yuka played piano for us too!
Got home and discovered we'd locked ourselves out; after resolving that we brought the kittens in and fed them. I really hope their mom truly abandonded them (though that sounds horrible) or I'd feel terrible for what we've done.
We then had a "woman" bible verse meeting... and now I'm here.
I need to keep praying that God helps me love even if don't feel loved, and helps me be a servant. I need to try not to think untrue thoughts about myself.
Maureen's blog post from this day: (here)
"Well the other night we had Denise who is Asain Access staff staying with us and we were talking in the living room and I noticed a high pitched howling. Reconizing the sound of kittens thanks to the many litters my grandmas cats have had in the past, Laurel and I grabbed a flashlight and went to investigate. On the side of our house were 4 kittens about 4 to 5 weeks old. We kept and eye on them and over the next day no mother came to there aid. So we bought food and they were quite hungry . Well we are kind of taking care of teh orphans and on a search for good homes for them. I find this whole thing funny especially since I dont really like cats. Besides that everything is going great. Today is our last day of day care classes and we are sad to leave all of the kids. But my 2 and 3 years olds almost know the whole alphebete and many songs. Thank you for all your prayers and we have so many stories we cant wait to share with you all! In Him, Maureen"
