To have a history is special

So today was the last in a series of days away from my family. I have scarcely been home since last Wednesday. I'm feeling pretty tired as a result of lots of people interaction, mind being stretched, the 24 or so trains I rode on, plus a few hours in a car in Tokyo traffic today (thankfully I wasn't driving, though).

Here is just a small number of the 40+ women who
gathered together today in the most beautiful part of
Tokyo — Okutama.

Today was a special opportunity to be with a bunch of other Christian women, mostly expats and many missionaries. We spent time worshipping and praising God together as well as praying for and encouraging one another.

The longer I'm here, and the more of these events I go to, the better connected I feel. It is wonderful to go and feel I'm among friends with whom I have a little bit of a history. When you first move to a new country you have no background at all with people. Often very little in common at all, more so than just moving cities or states in the same country. So it is wonderful to be developing relationships that have a longer history. So today, for example, I prayed with a German lady I've known for about 10 years. What a blessing to be a part of this.

But now it is late and I need to get to bed. Because tomorrow I get to sit at my desk and catch-up on all the work that has been on the back-burner for the last week. Then I need to pack for our three day long weekend at the beach!