Some things never change

How is it that I'm 'brave' enough to move to another country on my own, and yet I still totally freak out about attending a combined churches service and BBQ on my own?!? It seems I will never get over my fear and dislike of parties and other social gatherings of size. Thankfully, Tab was online this morning, to give me a pep talk so I managed to leave the apartment, and as I neared the park and was about to turn back, I spotted someone, so thought they might have spotted me, so I had to keep moving forward. As I knew would happen, it was great, and in the end I was really glad I went.

It was a combined service - my church and the pentecostal Japanese congregation. The Japanese pastor speaks English really well, so Pastor Ryan spoke, and he translated. When we sang, we used the same tunes, but sang the words in our respective languages - it actually sounded pretty unreal!

One guy shared how his wife had given birth to a breach stillborn daughter on May 27 (baby was due in August). He ran into the room where the doctors were with the baby, and starting praying, and suddenly she opened her eyes! They said she was in really bad shape, and wouldn't be able to feed for at least a month, and all this other stuff, and yet she was breast feeding about 4 days later!! Praise God, eh!!

After the service, we had lunch. I wasn't gonna stay, but I was sitting next to this Japanese lady who had come for the first time, and she was gonna leave 'cuz she was embarrassed 'cuz she hadn't brought any food to share. So I told her I hadn't brought anything either, and that we should stay anyway, and so we did. I managed to socialise for a while, before sneaking off. It was cool to hear everyone mixing and chatting... mostly in English, but with some Japanese too. I like it how love and a sense of community can be shared among people even with a language barrier.