Worshipping in Tokyo

Sunday morning marked day 2 of our stay in Tokyo. Joe and I were blessed to stay at Mike's place in Tokorozawa City, Saitama. It's near enough to Tokyo to be convenient, but far enough away to be quiet. I loved it! Well, we woke up and had a traditional breakfast, Mikey-style (Family Mart), and headed off to church. It was great to hear the Word from Pastor Travis... he's a gifted speaker, for sure. We also got to meet some people that have been praying for us in Okinawa, so that was a blessing, too. I got to meet Jiai's dad and brother - they're cool guys!

Next, we were off to Shibuya, to check out Tokyo Baptist's church service. It was awesome to have Yoshi with us on the train ride there, and he stayed with us for service, too! The Yosh - what a great guy! Those of you who know him will be pleased to hear that he's the same guy he always was... so it was awesome to spend the afternoon with him. At Tokyo Baptist, I got to experience a non-Calvary church service for the first time in AGES! Well, at least in Japan!

My dear friend River attends TBC, so she introduced us to people and then we went out for dinner. First, we shopped a bit in Kandaiyama, an upscale part of Tokyo where trendy people buy stuff. Then we went out for Chinese food in Jiyu-gaoka. River knows Tokyo real well, and so she was able to give us a lot of helpful information. It was great to fellowship with her, as it's just the second time I have ever hung out with her! Thanks, River!

That was about it, as we took the train back to Tokorozawa by ourselves, and chatted with Mike until around 1am. I have to say, Mike's a great brother in the Lord, and I hope we can do more trips like this in the future.