Kyoukai (Church) 04/03

We've been attending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kariya (about a 15 minute drive from our apartment). The church members there have been very kind to us and have helped us feel at home here. We've already been put to work, too; Luke teaches a youth Sunday school class, and Sarah helps out in Tommy's class---a job she particularly enjoys, since her Japanese is on the same level (almost!) as the two- and three-year-olds she spends her Sundays with. Despite her clumsy use of Japanese, though, Sarah has already spoken to the congregation once. Her five minute talk took about five hours of preparation, but went fairly well. The Japanese are, thankfully, patient with anyone willing to learn their language and generous with compliments for even the most unskilled Japanese speaker. In contrast, when Luke spoke in church a few weeks prior to Sarah, he actually deserved the praise he got; his Japanese has improved markedly since his days as a missionary in Tokyo.

Tommy in the car on his way to church

All spiffed up and looking fine (no, we don't let him wear the glasses inside the chapel)

Time to go home (somebody looks tired)!

Luke drags Tommy down the stairs

Luke puts the kids in the car

There's no sneaking out early if your car's in the church parking lot!

Tommy's class

One of these kids is not like the others. . . One of these kids is just not the same. . .

Although Tommy had a rough time attending a new church at first, he's beginning to feel more comfortable in his class. He has finally begun greeting his classmates with a friendly "Ohayou!" (Sounds like Ohio to all you English only folks) and is now learning to say "Kashite (Can we share that)?"---a more difficult expression to master (emotionally, not linguistically). We hope soon he'll really become friends with the other children in the class and learn to communicate with them more easily.

The church parking lot

The Japanese are expert car parkers

You may notice that the church parking lot is a bit cramped (those who come late must park in a parking garage down the street). One week we tried to sneak out early, something we thought we could do since our car was parked on the end of the front row. However, it took us 15 minutes and help from three other people to get the car out. We might as well have stayed for the rest of the meeting!