I forgot to mention another interesting point I learned from my visit to Quixote this past Thursday.  I think I spoke about Tanabe-san, the gentleman at the restaurant helping in translating and cross-lingual communications.  I found out that he was a teacher.  I asked him where, and he said that he used to teach everything…but now he was “too tired.”  I figured out that “too tired” meant “retired” and chuckled and continued the conversation.

  One thing that’s common with the Japanese is that they only know a few adjectives in English, and so they’ll use those adjectives until they’re run into the ground.  Tanabe-san kept saying, “I’m not boring, I’m [kakashite] exciting!”  I asked him why he was exciting, and he said, “It’s [mutsukashi] difficult to live in Japan.  It’s hard to live in Japan, so I used to be in the Japanese [insert Japanese word that I can’t remember].  In America, you call it the mafia!”

  I started laughing…I couldn’t help myself…this man looked like such a gentle grandpa-like man…I laughed in disbelief…and when I checked the faces of the restaurant owners for verification…I couldn’t decide if he was joking with me or if he was, in fact, telling the truth.  I told him my family’s history, and he seemed amused by that as well.  Then the conversation turned to something else and all was well. 

  Tomorrow is Mother’s Day…so Happy Mother’s Day all you mothers!  I am playing my violin for the service with the praise team, and I’m pretty excited about that.  I ask that you pray that the Quixote restaurant owners would come to hear me!  Then, they could hear the Gospel too!  I also found out that there is a Shimonoseki Orchestra.  Apparently one of the previous missionaries played with them, and David Crane (one of the other Pioneer missionaries) didn’t seem to think it would be hard for me to get in either.  They only practice once a week…maybe…and they perform just once a year in the fall.  So, I might, might, might be able to play with a city orchestra in JAPAN!  Hah.  It’s so funny…I’ve always thought that Japan was so much more advanced in string playing, but it doesn’t seem to be…at least in the general population…unless it’s just Shimonoseki’s style.  Who knows!  That’s it for today…not much, but have a great Sunday!!