They did it... I can't believe they did it...

Imagine my surprise last week when this happened. I got a knock on my door, pulled myself out of my computer chair, half asleep, half sick, and I wandered to answer it. Upon opening the door, I saw a Japanese gentleman standing there with a small white paper in his hand. He looked somewhat dressed up (and me in my grinch pajamas and a t-shirt... leave me alone. I was sick (and they're oh so comfortable. :D )). Slacks, a button down shirt and tie, a sweater, and a nice coat. He started off in Japanese, "Ah, sumimasen. Watashi wa nani nani nani nani nani nani..." and so on and so on. I wasn't awake enough to process much, so I kinda gave an embarassed smile and said, "Oh, sumimasen... Nihongo ga wakarimasen... gomen nasai." He balked for a second and said, "Oh... uh... uh... My name... is... Sato..." and he handed me the paper he was holding.

Now, I've had door-to-door salesmen stop by before... but usually about the time they realize I don't understand them, they leave me alone (and go bug Tim). This guy was obviously different, so I took the flier and noticed a big christmas tree on it. "Oh... ah... Katakana... choto mata..." I started to translate the katakana and see if there was any Kanji I recognized. While I was doing this, he said something that I sort of recognized. I lifted my head... then it dawned on me what time it was. It was about 12:45 on Sunday afternoon. Wuh oh, I thought. Glancing back down, I translated the following: (read it like spanish vowels and see if you can figure this out faster than I did) "i-e-su ki-ri-su-to," "wa~do," "ku-ri-su-ma-su kai, (kai is one of the few kanji I know... roughly means "party")" and "su-te~ku se-n-ta~." It also had a time and a date on it... have you figured it out yet?

...keep thinking...

Ok, about the moment I put it all together, the gentleman managed to confirm it in english. "Eh... church of... Jesus Christ... of... eh... Latter..-" "Latter Day Saints," I finished for him with a smile. They had found me. I didn't know how, but they'd found me (Not that I was necessarily hiding...). Oh, and the answers above, "Jesus Christ," "Ward," "Christmas Party," and "Stake Center." (If you got all 4, you won a special decoder ring. Please see my sister-in-law to redeem them *angry face* (just jokin', Shannon. :D))

I was proud of myself that I was able to understand most of the sheet, though. And over the next 15 minutes, between his limited english and my bad japanese, I was able to work out that he was inviting me to the ward christmas party, what ward it was, when that ward meets on Sundays, where the building is, that one of the missionaries there is American, and a couple other random facts. The key bit of info was that he'd be picking me up at 8:15 AM the next Sunday ("Gozen hachiji jugo fun... raishu, nichiyobi." Ooooo, aaaahh... but I think that might be a bit off. I forget how to exactly say "Next sunday."). And over the week, I found out that it was my sister-in-law's fault! The church called her to see if she knew my current address, and since you can't really lie to church, she had to spill the beans. (Again, see her for your free decoder rings. In fact, tell her I said you could have extras!)

So, yes. I went to Japanese LDS Church yesterday. The ride there was kind of quiet (what with the language barrier and all... heh) though I did try some beginner english with Sato-san's son in the back seat. He's one of Tim's students at the other Junior High school in Ozu, so I figured I should test him and find out who's the better ALT (It's me. ;) ). When we got to the church, I stood in the lobby talking to a few people, being introduced around to a lot of people whose names I will forget, if I haven't already (Not to be rude... I just have a hard time hearing and remembering japanese names). Just a lot of really nice people all excited to meet me and try out bits of English. And I still don't know how to introduce myself... Last name, first name? First name, last name? English accent? Japanese accent? Most intros from me sound like, "Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Colin. Uh... Co-rin... Colin desu... er... Watashi wa Co-rin desu... eh... sumimasen. :("

Finally, the missionaries show up and I think I inadvertantly attached myself to the english one for the next few hours. He helped me through classes and translated where necessary. He helped clarify my introduction for the other people, too. Also, there's a pair of senior missionaries in the ward from Idaho, but I only met the husband. He was incredibly helpful, also. I feel kind of bad, though, because I know they've got REAL work to do, but they're stuck translating for this silly gaijin.

The first thing that amazed me was how alike EVERYTHING is. Procedure was all the same, of course, but I mean also the teaching styles. In what I think was the Gospel Principals class (I was hangin' with the missionaries, and that's where they went), the teacher did that thing where she puts the topic on the board and goes around the room asking what it means to everyone. EVERYBODY THAT HAS EVER TAUGHT IN CHURCH EVER has done that one! I had to chuckle a bit. (And yes, they had the doilies.)

Perhaps the best part was Sacrament meeting. Of course this was the same, but as a special treat, I happened to be there the day they did a Primary presentation. Heck yeah! I dunno, I always enjoy watching those (To further illustrate the "same-ness" factor, a few parents had to either feed their kid their lines, or flat out say the speech for them when their child buried their faces in their parents shoulders). In this case, though, it was neat to hear all the primary tunes in Japanese. Oh, and as far as reading Hymns, I actually was able to sing along! Music is written out phonetically (all hiragana and katakana) and since I already knew the melodies, I could focus on the Japanese. Though, a couple songs in, I got cocky and started reading both the tenor line AND the hiragana... go me. ;)

After the meeting, I said goodbye to the missionaries and rode back to Ozu with Sato-kyodai (Not Sato-san... I found out "Sato-Kyodai" is the equivalent of "Brother Sato"). I volunteered the rest of my info to the missionaries before going, also. The senior missionary gave me an information sheet about the YSA group that meets EVERY NIGHT at that building, so I might pop over a few times to see what's up. At the very least, it'd be fun to meet a few more people my age (or a little younger... heh... I'm older by YSA standards. :( ).

All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself wandering that way again on a Sunday morning... if only for the little sense of Home I got from all the routine. :)