beautiful day

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days i’ve had in a long time. It felt just so good to be alive 🙂

After a nice breakfast with the lady of the house i’m staying in, i hopped on the bicycle and rode a bit over 2 hours over to a mountain road in Kyoto prefecture. This is my 2nd time to go that direction, and last time i remember getting off and pushing several places, including most all of the last 3km. But this time i didn’t get off at all until right up to the mountain, and even on the mountain road i only need to get down around 3 times, making me wonder what all my body fuss was about the time before, and a little proud that my muscles are slowing improving 🙂 But my knees are telling me that i better chill out a bit!

On the way there was a big boulder with a rope around it, showing it to be something that people worship, so i went to look at what it was – a carving of a horse onto a rock, about 3feet long. It is said to have been carved there around 800 years ago, and ladies who wish to get more proficient in sewing go there and pray – what a waste! I was the only one there, and seeing the beautiful new green on the trees, with a cherry blossom fluttering once in a while in the wind, and the bright shining sunshine all combined for a great feeling.

When i got to the house that i had stayed at for a week before, i emptied their trash and fed the dogs, and then an other friend came with her father to go together with the father of this house to hunt bamboo shoots again – yea! During the week i had stayed here, we went hunting 3 times, and i even had a dream about scouting the ground carefully to look for the little critters 🙂 Of course the pro looks for the cracks in the ground, showing where a potential baby is coming out. But sometimes the ones underground are bigger than the ones that have poked their heads out already! The ones underground are white and soft and delicious, while the ones already above-ground are black and sometimes hard and not quite as delicious. Anyway, thanks to him keeping 2 of his dogs out in the bamboo forest, the wild boar avoid the place, leaving us with around 30 shoots. I’m pretty good at finding the ones already poking their heads out, but still it is embarrassing to have someone point out one right in front of you that you overlooked – ha!

Then we went back to the house and got the bamboo shoots ready to boil, looked at the bees that were very active, helped around a bit, and then had a wonderful lunch – all Kyoto veggies – which is a very big treat in Japan. While there i got a letter from a SDA Sister, and in opening it found enough funds to put me over-the-top in getting an airplane ticket to America so i can go to the General Conference Session in Atlanta in June – thank you Lord!

My friend and her father took me in a car with my suitcase back to the house where i’m staying now, and then soon i went to teach English. But before reaching the place, i stopped in at a former English student’s house and she wants me to start teaching her kids next Tuesday. Then i actually earned 2,000yen for one hour of teaching to a 6-grade boy. We studied geography mostly, and then played Uno having each one say an English phrase using “have been” before playing.

On the 20-minute walk back to the house i heard a voice behind me saying “Danny”. I turned to look and there was a former English student, 16y.o. now. We talked about many things on the way back, and it was kinda fun being with a group of teenage boys for a few minutes. When i got back i fixed up the bicycle that has been sitting for almost 5 years, and was surprised to see that the battery-powered tail light still works fine! There is a lot of rust and the vinyl seat and rubber hand grips are no good, but putting a plastic bag over the seat fixed that, and black tape on the grips fixed that, so now, other than no front light (need a new bulb i’m afraid), i’m set to go – and go i hope to go – like maybe 20some km tomorrow to church in Nara.

The lady of the house fixed a good supper of white stew without using meat, and with a side of rice (mandatory at every meal in Japan), and a salad, made an excellent meal. Oh yes, i shared a little chestnut sweet thing for dessert.

Then to finish off the nice day, i was able to get my computer hooked up to the internet here, and found out that a different former student wants me to start teaching her English next week too – yea!

What a great day! I thank Jesus most especially for allowing me this opportunity to be in Japan, and hope i can be of benefit to the spiritual lives of the people here. It is really nice sometimes just to enjoy being alive, and having all cares blown away for awhile 🙂 Thank you Lord. Even tho i didn’t really do much at all to spread your good news, or hasten your kingdom today, it was a nice day of wonderful things, and i praise you for giving me lots of encouragement and peace today. Please bless the people around me who helped make this a happy day for me. May they all want to serve you first and best, and may those who do not know you want to start on that beautiful walk that ends in paradise forever with you. Amen.

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