A Day of Hope

One of the great joys of being a Christian is getting to see God working in my life.

After spending a morning in prayer, I decided to attend a pilates class at the gym here on base in an effort to maybe meet some possible friends. I assumed it would be much like the classes I've taken in the past, and it was, but there was one notable difference; I was definitely in the minority. Of the 20 people in the class, I was one of two caucasians. The other 18 students were asian females all speaking Japanese. So when I didn't see where everyone got their yoga mat I had the opportunity to use the little Japanese I do know. I turned to the girl next to me, pointed to her mat and asked, "Doko desuka?" That means "Where is that?" See, NAF Atsugi is both an American and Japanese base therefore, everything I come across (signs, food, workers, etc) is a sort of mixture of cultures. It really is unlike anything I've experienced before.

For lunch, Stephen's coworkers invited me to eat with them at a Japanese cafe on base. Even though the conversation mostly centered around work it felt so good to be around people who could become friends. It's interesting how much more willing I am be vulnerable if it gives me the chance to make a friends. Haha. A cultural note regarding the cafe would be how they discard their food. There was a bucket with a colander on top that I saw customers pouring their leftovers into. This way it separates all the soup from the noodles. I'm guessing that is to avoid heavy, leaking trash bags?

At Fleet and Family Services (FFSC) a wonderful girl named Brenda sat down with me and let me ask her all sorts of questions I had burning in my brain. She showed me different websites to look for jobs, programs to help funding for education, and even invited me to church with her and her husband after I noticed a Bible verse on her desk and pointed it out. How rare it is to find someone who is so willing to help!

On my way out of FFSC I was stopped by a woman who noticed I was holding a pamphlet regarding religious programs on base. She introduced herself to me and took the time to go through the pamphlet and invite me to a woman's Bible study on Wednesday. She was so nice and made me feel so welcome.

We ended the day by having dinner with a very nice couple that are in our same squadron (HSL 51). They talked to us about their experience finding a house in the city, opportunities to travel, and more.

As I went to bed I just couldn't stop praising God and giving thanks for showing me that there is nowhere in the world we can go that He won't be present. He has given us both much hope in just one day and we praise Him for that.