Fuse One YEAR!!

Oh my gosh. There's been a lot going on this week, and as I lay here on my bed on this Sunday afternoon when I should be doing homework, I'm more prone to sleep for hours and hours and hours.

Let me start off by saying... maybe I have already, but... Japanese summer: HOT. HUMID. Oh. My. For real, two showers a day is becoming the norm, and even then, there are 12 hours between full of sweatiness and overall nastiness. The Japanese do not sweat like Americans or other people in general do. In fact, you can't buy anti-perspirant deodorant here. I don't even think they wear deodorant. But we gringos do! Sorry, the term here is "gaijin" (pronounced: guy-jean) and thank the Lord we do. Trying to stay fresh-feeling over this summer is going to be fun.

And so I hear, the best is yet to come. So I've heard, this ain't nuttin' compared to what's to come-- where I've heard from two people, it feels like you're on fire. Well, I had grace in Altotonga for the cold, which I despise... heat is easier for me to deal with than cold.

On that uplifting note, this week we had a birthday party for Yuiko, who turned 29. I like that she's pretty much my age, and I really appreciate and admire her. She's funny, and sometimes she's sarcastic, and I like that.

So, yeah, we had that-- and last Saturday we celebrated her birthday a little after Fuse and gave her flowers and a power point show, etc., Oh, and a cake-- and Tuesday we had brownies and ice cream after the Fuse planning meeting.

Thursday we had a group come in from Arizona. They are 6 people, and so it's not too incredibly tough. The nice thing is that we are also a group that we can take shifts in getting them here and there and doing stuff. I always enjoy sharing Japan with new people too.

Friday we had street band and were able to give away a lot of flyers... and the evening consisted of changing my email because of a possible virus sent to the other one and I want to protect my finances/identity, you know? So, you'll find my email on most of my newsletters-- it's the one I use. PLEASE, PLEASE do not send me forwards. Repeat offenders I start sending to my spam folder. While I'd be delighted to hear from you, I appreciate your consideration in not forwarding me stuff.

Also for Friday night, my camera broke. I don't know how, I don't know why, but it broke. I think one of the girls' dad is going to try to fix it, but it is a pretty old camera that I've had for a few years... so... stinky! I was pretty upset because I didn't have time to go out and get a new one (that and I didn't know the best place to go, but now someone told me where they can take me) and Saturday was going to be the Fuse One Year Anniversary... something I definitely want pictures of!

But, So-chan, my roommate, let me borrow her camera. Saturday was awesome! I left my house around noon after a lot of communication between team members via text messages for all we needed to do and get down in our various places in the morning to be ready for the afternoon. I went and had lunch/life group with Saki-chan, and that went really well. Afterward, we went to Machida, and everyone met up and we went to have street outreach. Normally we would do street band, but since it was raining, we couldn't.

Sally and I, who were kinda in charge, decided to take the group to one of the train stations and we passed out about... oh, I don't know... maybe about 500 or so flyers in just an hour. It was pretty amazing! We never get that many out!

Afterward, we went to the Livezone Z to set up and get everything ready. Everyone worked really hard and we were a bit concerned because the guest band that we had playing-- the drummer didn't show up until like right when it was starting! Anyway, people started showing up like crazy, and we had a lot of people who hadn't come in a long time-- but also around 10 or more new people! 4 we had met the night before at street band, and Mike said that he saw a guy that he gave a flyer to at the station. It was pretty amazing! We were around 50 people, and while the couches sat outlining the room, most people were sitting together all on the ground, including myself. And some of our very-regulars were not even able to make it! So, they had been able to, we would have been even more!

Our special group ImariTones was GREAT and the leader is quite a little preacher, and I think he was specifically an encouragement to one of our core guys. Mark gave a great message of encouragement and moving forward, and it was just an excellent evening. Some of our regular people invited their friends, and it was just a great, great evening and all went well, from the video we did to announcements and organization, etc.

After it ended (around 8:30pm), we went to the local cafe place and had dinner, and just enjoyed talking together, with the band, and some of our guests, and all that. I helped Sally, Joe and Mike carry stuff back to the Noborito church and we got there around 11pm. Afterward, I left with Kengo and along the way, we met up with some of the guys coming back, and so, in the end, I made it home around 12, took another shower and went to bed!

Today was lifegroup, and the last one for Sally who is leaving on Wednesday. I'm sad, she'll be our last girl... so it's me and Yuiko representin' the females now.

Well, that's all I got for now. I think I might try a power nap and then I need to restore some order to my house for the week and STUDY for Japanese class this week... SO much to do!

Catch ya'll later!