August 5, 2011, Friday

Psalms 90:17 – Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands. NASB

We pulled an interesting work assignment this morning. Well, we didn’t think it would be interesting when we got it, but it turned out to be quite posh. Instead of pulling the flooring and insulation out of the two building we’d worked on Thursday, we were sent to a pull weeds. When we pulled up, we were cheerily greeted by two women and a little girl. They invited us inside, so we tiptoed across temporary plywood flooring. We were given drinks while they chatted animatedly. Even when we went out to pull weeds, they joined us in the work – which wasn’t really very strenuous since the earth was soft and loose. We hadn’t even worked that long when they commanded us to take a break and eat cold watermelon, pickled eggplants and cucumbers.  Once the front yard was finished, we all gathered back inside and broke out lunch. There was a lot of food swapping. It was really pleasant to sit on the floor, chatting (or listening to the chatting), and trying new foods. At the end of the workday, we said a fond farewell to our new friends. It was a nice change to be able to serve people we’d gotten to know a bit – a wonderful end to our work week. Lord willing, we were able to be an encouragement to them in this tough time.

That evening, we rushed home to clean up and head out to Sendai for the Tanabata Festival – a huge event in the city that featured an hour and a half of fireworks! We took the train from Geba Station, about a 10 minute walk from the church, and rode it into the city. Sendai was teeming with people. Elaborate streamers filled the station and streets, hanging from the ceilings and buildings. Food vendors lined the sidewalks selling yakisoba, fried potatoes, yakitori, crepes, and all sorts of other tempting food. The smells competed with each other for attention as much as the vendors.