Watashi no namae wa Kristin desu....

Konnichiwa! Watashi no namae wa Kristin desu. Amelika no Kalifolunia ni alu arenzi gun de sodachi mashita. Kodomo no koro ryoshinga kyokaini kayotte imashita ga, kyokaini kayou kotono imiya riyuni tsuite wa hanashima sen deshita.... and thus began my testimony yesterday at Fellowship. When we first got here, they asked us if we could take turns sharing our stories at Sunday Fellowship. I decided it would be a nice gesture to try and speak it in Japanese! Naoko helped me translate it to romanji (so I could read it quickly). I got really nervous about halfway through reading it, but they all seemed very appreciative that I made the attempt. The morning before I spoke, Naoko worked with me on pronunciation; I decided American mouths just are not made to move that quickly, or make some of those sounds. But after I read it, at least 4 Japanese people told me they could understand it perfectly, because in Japanese the pronunciation doesn't matter as much as the pitch and movement. Go figure.
On Saturday, we had "Sports Day". About 16 of us went to a big park area and played frisbee, baseball, volleyball, and soccer. It was really fun, and a great way to get to know some of the Japanese people in a non-threatening environment. ChiHiro, a girl Naoko has been meeting with for a few months, decided she would like to come hang out with us again on Friday, come practice English Wednesday, and go to BEST club Thursday! She also wants to come to the summer camp in 2 weeks for the weekend. It is absolutely amazing to see the relationships forming and God working through us.
Aiko, another girl we've been meeting with, pictured above, invited us to her concert the beginning of July. Hopefully we will be able to hang out with her again, maybe even go shopping with her (her favorite thing to do with friends).