Bits and pieces from this week

Much of the year our weeks are shaped by school...yes, still. That's what happens when one or both of you work at one! So David is usually at school from 8 till 5 most days, Monday to Friday. Sometimes it's more than that, but it's been his habit since we got married to leave work at school. These days he's sometimes doing email or other school-related things in the evening at home, but he tries not to. He's also an occasional school bus driver and has other tasks out of school hours like supervising SAT exams and occasionally other extra curricular events on the campus.

I try to work between those hours also, it's quite different to the kind of ministry work that many of our colleagues are doing which often involves evenings and weekends.

This week, however, David is working longer hours, and not in Tokyo. He's gone with the year 12s to Nagasaki, a city about 15 hours drive (1,200 km) south west of here. So he's gone for four days. During that time I'll have had two office-based days and two out-and-about days. Both the latter are occasional gatherings of a wide variety of English-speaking Christian women for mutual encouragement and prayer.

On Wednesday I spent most of the day in far western Tokyo. It was tantalising—close to being out of the city, but not quite. But next week we're going camping! I'm so looking forward to walking away from my work for a few days to relax.

I went walking with four ladies after lunch. 
We longed to get down to the river
but unfortunately the bank is steep here. 

Today I spent several hours with a few local Christian mums who have kids with various disabilities. We gather every few months and it’s always a special time. There are aspects to my life that they just “get”.

Tonight I’m doing something very unusual: going to a Scottish dance that a friend is holding as a fundraiser for homeless ministry. It’s kinda like an Australian bush dance. I’m looking forward to a fun night. It’s on the other side of Tokyo so I’m staying the night and will return home In the morning. Weirdly David’s just arrived back in town and is catching trains the opposite direction across Tokyo!

Something that's been weighing on my mind has been this Sunday. Our church has a tradition of having "testimony Sunday" periodically. This is a time when we hear a couple of people's testimonies during the worship service instead of a sermon. This tradition arose during periods when the church had no pastor and has continued to this day. I knew this was coming as David gave his last year. I'd kinda been looking forward to the opportunity, but have been feeling less that way as the time has gotten closer. But I think I'll leave writing about that until after I've done it and I can reflect on the whole thing. 

I’m reduced to finishing this on my phone’s tiny keyboard as I ride the trains across town. It’s time to go! See you next time.