and then we went to Kingdom Hall to hang out with the J.W's

Most of you know I've been church hunting here in Moka. 

Yesterday:

I checked out a Catholic church that one of my students told me about. She said it was a Spanish-speaking church, which got my hopes up. Joe took me to find it. When we arrived, no one was there, and all the signs were in Portuguese. Boo. So we got back in the car, and as we were pulling away, we saw three Spanish-speaking women. Joe stops the car and says, "Go talk to them! Ask them about the church!" So, after a minor hesitation, I do.

Turns out, the church is most likely Portuguese only. BUT Sara, one of the ladies, invited me to go to her church - an "English-speaking, evangelical church."

Today:

Side note:  two Jehova's Witnesses came to our door. I answered the door and boldface lied to them when they asked me if I had their "Bible study booklet." Two other Jehova Witnesses visited us a couple months ago and gave us some other printed materials, so I said they had given me said book and kindly ended our conversation.

At 2 this afternoon, Meghan and I met Sara, and walked with her to her house. She invited us inside while we waited for her sister to come pick us up. Her sister came, along with her brother, and a few other family members. We divided up between two cars - Meghan and I with Sara's brother and nephew. On our drive, we chatted it up in Spanish. Miguel, Sara's brother, is from Peru but has lived in Moka for 18 years. He was really kind. As we continued driving, farther and farther from Moka, I asked Miguel how he heard about this particular church, thinking to myself, "this is a long way from Moka, too far to simply stumble upon..." Miguel told me people from the church had come to talk to him, and then he started going to their church. #$%*. That was how I responded in my head. I knew exactly what it meant, and I didn't have the courage to ask what denomination the church was, I already knew.

We drove on and finally, I asked Miguel the denomination, just in case Meghan hadn't drawn the same conclusion I had. The answer "Salon del Reino, Testigos de Jehova." Boo.

So, we went to Kingdom Hall with the Spanish-speaking J.W's today. So much for an "English-speaking Evangelical" church. Maybe this is my punishment for lying to the JW's that came to my door. Jesus didn't condone lying, no matter what the subject. Oops.

Regardless, we had wonderful conversations with Miguel in the hour long car rides to and from Kingdom Hall. I'll be thankful for those. :-)

quick review

Um... where to begin? Since my last post, I've had my passport stamped about 8 times... I traveled South East Asia for 15 days and tasted a little of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. In my travels I was reminded of how much joy kind strangers bring me. The fact that I had to be reminded of this opened my eyes to how much I have missed it during time in Japan, and this was a little alarming...

    Now I'm back in Japan, teaching once again. I still love my students. I like going to work. If I could take my job and drop it into the middle of a country where strangers are nice to me, it would be fantastic. But I can't, which means my life is currently less than fantastic. It's not terrible by any means, and I can find ways to be content here. I can't, however, find ways to ignore how emotionally repressed the Japanese seem to be. I feel like a very important part of what it means to be human is missing in the sea of people that surrounds me. (And I'm learning a little of what it means to be treated like a 2nd class citizen.)

   Which brings me to my next point: On Wednesday, my boss at the Moka city Board of Education informed me (and the other 5 AETs, as well), that our principals and the supervisors at the Board of Education would "strongly" like us to return to teach next fall. So there's that.

   And I still have a Japanese lover.

I think that's my life in a nutshell.

As for what I would like my life to be - 

I long for a church. I met a Spanish-speaking high school student who told me about two Spanish-speaking churches in Moka. I will try to locate one tomorrow so I can attend a service on Sunday. 

I long for community. I have three wonderful friends, but I still feel lonely. I typically see two or three of these friends on Saturday nights, and that is all. That is the extent of my social life outside of the AET bubble.

I hope that finding a niche in a Spanish-speaking church will lead to a warm-hearted, Spanish-speaking community that will welcome me with eye-contact, smiles and warm hearts - all of the things I don't get from Japanese society.

Keep me in your prayers.

Prayers are life-changing, and Jesus is good to me. :-)