Sunday Service

July 20: For a few of us, jet lag has no longer become an issues as we prepare ourselves for a long day ahead of us. Once again we are treated to a large breakfast filled with lots of variety. This food will give us the energy we need as we participate in the morning service in the morning and the youth program  in the afternoon. After a few worship songs and prayer, the team was asked to share a don't with the church. The previous day we had decided to prepare the song that I had written and at the moment I believed that I was ready to share it. However when we walked up in front of the audience I froze up for a split second and questioned myself. "Am I really good enough for this team?" "Will people really like my song?" "Will my Japanese be good enough?" Were questions that constantly ran through my mind as I began sharing the meaning behind the songs lyrics and what inspired me to write it.

I finally stopped doubting myself once service has ended and people were coming up to me telling me how much they liked it. Some people even asked for a CD and songbook. I have never received such praise for such a simple song in the past and at that moment I knew that I had conveyed the correct message within my song and my explanation. Even if the audience didn't understand my mediocre Japanese, they understood the true meaning behind the song and why "Everything will be Alright". As we ate lunch, the team continued to converse with other church-goers (some were first-timers while others had been members for a while) without worrying about the language barrier.

As 2:00pm approached more and more youth stayed showing up at church and started talking to the youth who had stayed from the morning service. I was extremely intrigued at how they thought America is such a great place yet I think that Japan is a great place and they don't. But as I had experienced from the morning service, I noticed how it was much easier to converse since we all had one identical distinction: the fact that we all believe in the same God. As we played ice breakers and did worship together, we grew closer together as friends and followers of God. After having fun together, Pastor Hoshika gave an excellent message explaining why we should not hide our faults and ask for forgiveness. Later, we were paired up to have one on one discussions with each other. During this time of discussion, some of the team members had intimate discussions with some of the church members and discussed our faith and where we are in our relationship with God. Rejection was extremely prominent within the Christian community and some individuals were reprimanded for being Christian. After serious talk and a wonderful dinner, we watched the thunderstorm outside and went to sleep.