What a joy to be able to get some sleep! The group actually stayed up and got to work on decorations and filling water balloons last night. Each person of our team has chipped in and is working hard. We had oatmeal for breakfast, and it was delicious! At 9:30 we worshipped with the children and had a good time introducing ourselves to them. After a little break, we had our worship hour with children and adults alike. It was wonderful worshipping our Lord together, some singing in Japanese while we sang in English. How wonderful it is that our Lord hears it all and is worthy of all of our praise!!!

After lunch we hung out at church, ate lunch and continued working hard on decorations, water balloons and cleaning. A group of us went for a run to the park to meet Chris and the Japanese children to play soccer. It was so much fun even though we were all badly out of practice when it came to soccer. The problem was our directions were not so clear so our group of 5 ran around the block first and then finally made it…helping us to warm up but the problem was…it wasn’t a warm up it was exhausting! Did I mention that it was pouring down rain while we ran? It was a fun memory…just as was Pastor David and Jeremy’s adventure to the store to get more supplies for decorations during this time!

The next adventure was to go bridge jumping! There were a few who stayed at the church to practice singing with the Joyful Sounds Gospel group. Those who were a part of this were moved as they sang with the Japanese. They were also a great encouragement to Tom Carr, team leader of the ABWE crew in this section of Japan, who leads this ministry. Our ladies really helped with the different parts and provided some American excitement to the group.

As far as the bridge jumping…I went along to watch because my greatest fear is heights! The bridge was about 40 feet high (I still believe it was more like 70 ft. myself!). After Nick, Mike, PD, Erin and Naomi (who is 8 years old!) jumped, Jeremy said he would hold my hand and jump with me. With the determination to be stretched on this trip, to allow God to bring along my path items that would be uncomfortable and cause me to fully rely on Christ as my strength and help. I knew this was safe yet I had to fear was for my life…what if….what would happen to my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my WHBC family! After standing on the edge, light was running out…it was time to do it or not. I couldn’t back down…I knew in my heart that this was one of those moments in life that I didn’t want to…one I shouldn’t miss! With “Christ is all I need” running through my mind and the verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”…I jumped with my friend Jeremy by my side.

It was a thrill but not sure I will ever do it again…but then again if the Lord would want…I want to be willing!
After a wonderful trip back to the church we joined up with everyone and got ready for bed. Since there is only one shower at the church, Chris offered to show us where the Onsen was. So some decided to experience the Japanese bathhouse in order to clean up.

We all sleep well and were so excited to start with the children.