Date: 21st – 23rd December 2007AD
Time: 8:30am QEST
Location: OMF Guest House, Ichikawa/Sydney/Brisbane
Current Mood: relieved
What happened:
Had a leisurely morning on the 21st with a slow breakfast and watched half of ‘Aladdin’ – since most of the other movies were dubbed.
Steph and I were then ‘debriefed’ by Steve Weemes – who I was surprised to see since I thought he was still in the states with his wife. It was a good time to share our thoughts on the past three weeks-ish, and a chance for him to hear and receive feedback on fmZero, which is a brand new ministry.
Overall I thought the missions trip was good. It was exhausting in a number of ways and the exhaustion led to illness and ungodliness on my part. That I learned and am seeking ways to grow in that in future.
The team gelled more and more as the days went on and it was a little sad in some ways that we had not departed together like the Sydney team had. What was built in our time together now feels a little fractured.
The afternoon/evening of the 21st was spent on the town. We got to see a small part of Tokyo and headed to the Government centres lookout which was vast to say the least. Tokyo is huge (!) and hemmed in on all sides by mountains. I learnt before we left that Japan is made up of 75% mountainous ranges – which is why the cities are so tightly packed.
But I wasn’t lasting long with this cold. I packed it in relatively early not having seen the ‘Electronics City’ that tempted Jay, Brad and myself. Steph accompanied me home which was a wonderful gesture on her part. We had a KFC dinner and watched ‘My Best Friends Wedding’ before heading to bed.
The 22nd was our last day before leaving. Brad was leaving around 12pm so didn’t have any big plans. Jay and Mel had a late start, so Mary, Steph and myself trooped into Ichikawa for some shopping at the 100 yen store for gifts for home. It was good, but again come 12pm I lost energy and made the slow trip back to the guest house myself. I purchased some sandwiches and bought a bottle of Hokkaido Wine to bring home.
On arriving back I caught Jay and Mel before they headed off into town. Gave them hugs and well wishes and then they left.
Took a short nap and was interrupted by Brad who copied some photos onto my laptop. Mary and Steph returned soon enough and we finalised our packing before Gareth helped to lug our luggage to Sugano train station (after a failed attempt to book a taxi).
The train ride was certainly long. We finally made it to Narita Airport – checked in, had some dinner, bought some more souvenir/gifts then boarded our flight. The taxi from the terminal to the runway took about 15-20 minutes but then we were off.
And into trouble. The plane’s airconditioning was wreaking havoc with my throat. I coughed and coughed and coughed all night, unable to feel any effect from the sleeping tablet I took.
We touched down in Sydney finally and I felt broken. Awaiting the flight back to Brisbane in 15 minutes.
Looking forward to:
- getting home and playing with kitty
- getting home and sleeping
I purchased a KFC wrap for our last night’s dinner at the guest house – they put seaweed in it! Tasted funny
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