05/12/2007AD - Lost

Date: 5th December 2007AD
Time: 11:55pm
Location: Sapporo, OMF Guest House
Current Mood: Tired but excited

What happened:
Another good morning’s devotion and prayer, people sharing their thoughts on Ruth and how great it is.

We then went leaflet dropping again for most of the morning. Brad and Richard and I got lost on the way to our designated 'drop' area and only found our way when we realised we were further North of the map than intended – this caused problems with the areas we were leafleting since we overlapped a little between the pairs. Lunch was from a Japanese equivalent of a ‘takeaway’ store, but of better quality than in Aus!

We then headed into town afterwards to have a coffee at the Radio tower in the middle of the city. Coffee was had at a restaurant which was almost metaphoric of Japanese identity – a grab bag of different things from around the world. We were, however, treated to a rather large coffee serving size as well as a great view of the Christmas lights as the evening light faded away.

We then took a brisk 20 minute walk to the Sapporo International Church, stopping by a ‘Lawsons’ convenience store to pick up dinner. We went to the SIC to help out with their English Corner type of ministry which included a bible study run in English. It was a highly encouraging time of getting to know new people, playing games and studying God’s word together. A timely encouragement in what has been a rather hectic couple of days.

Looking forward to:
Getting more rest and some time off together as a team. I’m also looking forward and getting excited about the Saturday night event (despite the concerns about rehearsals), and also excited about the possibility of returning to the SIC English speaking ministry.

Interesting thing I noticed today:

1. Whilst on our letter box drop, I noticed that hardly any Japanese people rug up to the extent as we did: jackets and scarves, yes – but hardly any beanies, no ear-muffs and there were plenty of high school girls wearing mini-skirts! Freezing!
2. Japanese people tend to look emotionless as they walk down the street. I have two theories for this – 1: The freezing cold weather has frozen people’s faces so it hurts to move or show expression. 2: most people feel a sense of hopelessness in their lives.
3. All the houses look the same

Interesting food I ate today:
Not much to report again: lunch was a beef katsudon – beef with egg and rice, which was nice and cheap.
Dinner was soba noodles from the convenience store with one morsel of pork, nice, but average.