Well...it's been almost a week since my last post...I'm not quite as consistent with this blogging stuff as I thought I would be. Between visiting universities, having Bible studies, and being questioned by the Japanese police, we've had our hands full.

Where to start? Saturday we went to Arashiyama and visited Monkey Mountain...which is exactly what it sounds like...a mountain full of monkeys. There's nothing too spectacular about it besides the fact that at the top you can feed the monkeys peanuts and apples, and that there's a pretty large slide with a rather painful bump in the middle of it. Nothing especially awesome happened Saturday, but it was fun nonetheless.

Sunday we attended the church's service around 11:40. The worship always sticks out to me at these church services, not because the music is great or anything like that, but because of the people's response to the music. Most of the songs are a little dated (or at least sound dated...they're not in English so I can't really tell) compared to what we sing back home. They're not especially catchy or beautiful or unique. But watching the other Japanese around me worship God and put their whole heart into their worship speaks to me. It encourages me. It's funny, because all along we talked about going to Japan to encourage the Japanese Christians (which is definitely a major part of what we do), but we didn't talk about the fact that we would more than likely be encouraged by their devotion to Christ. And though I expected it would happen, because it happened last year, I underestimated how much it would impact me again. I'm definitely looking forward to next Sunday's worship service.

Monday was our rest/free day. It started off with me opening the wrong door to go downstairs and tripping the church's alarm system. Typical. Thankfully, nothing terrible happened save the security company calling and asking what happened. That afternoon, we visited Osaka Aquarium, one of the few aquariums with whale sharks (I'll be posting videos soon...hopefully). Gotta say it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. After that we went to Mayuko's house to have dinner with her family. Mayuko told us ahead of time that they would have a little food for us there, but that we may want to buy a snack at a local convenience store. I've always considered the Japanese understanding of the word "little" to be pretty spot on. They have little houses, little cars, little portions, little cups, little babies, little towels (that don't wrap around your entire waist, mind you...you just gotta hope no one ends up standing behind you), little clothing sizes, etc. In this case, however, the "little bit of food" Mayuko's family had for us consisted of strawberries, beef, rice, fried shrimp/fish, and an entire tray of sushi, not to mention several types of drinks not including water. If you're reading this, Mayuko, just know you've received the "Understatement of the Year" award. Afterwards, we came back to the church. Shimon and I made a sento (Japanese bath house) run so I could wash some of my clothes. Upon our return, I was assigned the task of setting the alarm. So I did. No problems there. However, once the alarm is set, we can't go through the church to get to the elevator. Consequentially, we have to take the fire escape up to our room.

Somehow, the fire escape's second lock (the one that can't be opened with a key from the outside) was locked. So there was no way to get back to our rooms.

Shimon decides to call Ai-chan and ask her to come downstairs to open the door, and Ai tells us she'll be right there to let us in. So we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

About the time I realize that I should be able to hear someone when they're coming down the fire escape, Misty runs around the corner of the church, beckoning us to follow her back through the front entrance.

Now, I can't verify this, as I wasn't standing in front of a mirror, but I imagine that a look of horror came over my face. There are ONLY two ways to come downstairs without tripping the alarm once it's been set. One is to fall to your death from the fifth floor. The other is to come down the fire escape. So, seeing as how Misty had come out the front door, it was highly probable that she had set off the alarm. As we start to follow her, she says rather nonchalantly, "Oh, the alarm is going off by the way."

This is the SECOND time today the alarm has gone off. Moments after we get inside, the security company calls. Thankfully, Ai-chan was downstairs with Misty and was able to talk to the security company and explain what happened. While Ai was still talking with the security company, someone begins banging on the front door. We opened it to find two Japanese officers standing outside. Ai put the phone down quickly and began to explain the situation with Shimon to them while Misty and I watched. Thankfully they were very gracious and left after getting Ai-chan's and Shimon's names and phone numbers...or birthdays...or something.

After that we all went up to the top floor, then Shimon and I went back down through the church to set the alarm again. After setting the alarm and heading towards the fire escape, I realized that we had forgotten to unlock that God-forsaken door again.

So I was stuck...again.

We called Ai again, this time explaining the situation clearly, to which she promptly sent Misty down the fire escape to unlock the door for me.

She succeeds. I say goodbye to Shimon, and then hang my head as I climb up the stairs.

As I get upstairs, I head towards my room. I had planned to hang my clothes that I washed that night outside due to the fact they weren't all the way dry. But on my way to the back door, I stop. I glance at the door suspiciously...wondering...

As far as I could remember, the doors on the fifth floor weren't linked to the security system, but I wasn't sure I wanted to take the chance and risk setting the alarm off for a third time. In the end I decided I couldn't very well walk around Japan naked, so I needed to hang my clothes outside. As I walk out onto the roof, I hear sirens wailing. Again, I can't say for sure that I looked like this, but I imagine my eyes widened and a look of "you've got to be kidding me" came over my face. I drop my clothes and rush over to the side of the roof to try and see where to sirens are headed. They were headed towards the church.

At this point I'm beginning to panic. Not really sure what to do but watch. I debate waking up Ai-chan again with my face bowing down to the floor, but I figured it wouldn't do much good. So I watch as they come closer and closer to Suita church. I cringe as they pull up to the traffic signal right near the church. The sirens are much louder by now. I figured I may not have to wake Ai up after all, the sirens seemed like they would do the trick. As they come closer and closer to arriving, and it seemed that things couldn't get worse, they turned down a different street.

Thank the Lord for hyperactive paranoia. It makes life interesting.

I have more serious stuff to say about what God is currently doing, but unfortunately I'll have to say it in my next post as I need to be preparing for my Bible study I'm giving tonight. Please be praying for that. I hope to post again soon.

That is all.