April 29th Already!?!

Sunday morning. I packed early, read my devotion and then thought for a while about how I was just now getting used to ~ ~ being 13 hours ahead of the east coast of the USA, being back in Japan, and being [somewhat] bilingual. Suddenly, [Now!], I will be heading home [to family~Sally, Mac, Mars, various pets and a lawn that desperately needs mowing, to work, to Orangewood and everything else]. I can't wait to be home, but I also have so many memories and a love [and respect] for Japan and the Japanese people. If only I had an eternity to do all of this [and, oh yeah, everything else on my list] . . . .

At the Stewarts (see picture), I put my bags in Sally Dangler's car and headed to Oyumino 'Live' for a bilingual service. There were 50 or 60 people for the service and I was able to talk with the sunday school class (also bilingual) and give a 10 minute devotional (Carol Iverson did the translation) before the church service. Then I had an opportunity to share my faith/testimony for about 5 minutes at the church service. What a blessing this week has been for me (Right now, I am picturing my family nodding their heads and saying 'amen to that'). [That, however, is another and completely different blog ~ which is not available for publication at this time.]

Any way, [heavy sigh]. Now it is time to go to Narita Airport and leave Japan. James Repp kindly offered to drive me to the airport [I think he must have drawn the short straw]. ON the way we stopped for lunch at a conveyor belt sushi shop on the way to the airport. The sushi are put on plates and then on a conveyor belt that goes around and around in front of the diners. When you [or I, in this case] see some tuna or other sushi that I want, I grab the plate. James tried to get me to try the kanemiso (crab brains), but I declined. The itty-bitty twin squids on sushi rice were quite delicious, however. After you're finished, the bill is tallied from the number of plates you pull off the conveyor belt (and at 90 cents for two pieces of sushi per plate, it is a bargain!). Yum.

On the way to Narita, I had a good visit with James, married to Joyce, they hail from Titusville [Florida]. After that, it was the usual airport stuff ~ check in, security, flight, customs!, etc. One odd thing about returning to the east coast is that I left on Sunday at 4:30 pm and returned to Orlando on Sunday at 9:00 pm (wow, only 4 and a half hours ~~ must be the jet stream (and that time zone thing)).

Now, a week later, back at home in Orlando, I have had some time to digest my trip a bit. I don't think this blog would permit me to use ll the megabytes necessary to write everything out, so I will leave you with just this ~~ Dan Iverson said it best: I was really there just to plow some hard soil and turn it a little. But I am hopeful that the Holy Spirit witll turn it to fertile soil for growth and a desire to know the Truth.

I wasn't there to reap the harvest, but just to plant a seed in that freshly turned soil ~ a seed of doubt. The seed is simply this ~~ that Darwinism and the theory of evolution has not explained and, in fact, can not adequately explain the origin of life and the diversity of life on earth; that there is something more; that there is something of infinite value and worth which is for us, and this is available to you (and me) through Christ.

Please pray that, through the Spirit, a seed might be planted in those who heard (and those who read) this and that the people who needed to hear (or read) this message might then be thirty to know the Truth.

In Christ,

Taylor