a church service. Since Emi usually went to Moriya Baptist Church, I was prepared to experience a service in Japanese, with the Japanese believers and at a church under a different denomination from the ones I was familiar with. When I expressed my wish to Emi, she actually had thought of bringing me to her friend Asako's church which had English-Japanese bilingual services.
Emi had been acquainted with Asako who had responded to her online offer to give out extra hangers. From Asako's profile, Emi could tell she was a Christian. When they met in person, they also found out that Asako's parents-in-law were from the same church as Emi!
Emi only knew Asako was serving in a pentecostal church with a lot of Filipinos. When I verified the list of Assemblies Of God (AOG) churches in Ibaraki-ken, I confirmed Tsukuba International Christian Assembly Church was one of them. So, finally God was still sending me to an AOG church like the one I had been attending in Melaka. What a plan!
Emi had never been to Asako's church in Tsukuba which was a neighbouring city to Moriya. She estimated a fourty-five minutes' journey by car. Since only two of us were attending, Ah Yu, our driver, would bring Mum, Seng and Yuri to nearby shops in Tsukuba while waiting for us.
It finally took almost an hour to reach the destination. Being used to churches located on busy roads, at shop lots or at industrial areas in Malaysia for so many years since my return from France, it was nice to see a church building brilliantly and tranquilly standing on its own.
When we entered, we were received warmly by ushers who did not have typical Japanese looks. Then Asako also welcomed us and led us to be seated.
The service was about to start. Like at Calvary Life Assembly (CLA), we were asked to stand on our feet to sing together with the worship team.
Asako was playing the flute, a music instrument that I would love to learn.
The songs in English were all unknown to me,
except for one we also sang at CLA with a higher rhythm and stronger dynamics.
The pastor made some announcements and asked us to greet one another. Inside that small building there were around forty of us, mostly foreigners, united in God's love. According to Emi, many Japanese considered practising a religion fervently as a kind of superstition. So, I was not surprised to learn that the majority of the churches in Japan had an average attendance of less than thirty.
The sermon by Pastor Don Smith from the US was about the power we receive when the Holy Spirit has come upon us, so that we shall be witnesses to Jesus (Acts 1:8).
After the guest speaker said a sentence, he paused to let the lady, who was also the pianist during the worship, translate into Japanese for those who did not understand English very well.
As it was the first Sunday of the month, we had our Holy Communion to remind us that all our sins had been forgiven by God's grace.
The whole service finished at half past twelve. As Ah Yu was waiting for us in the car, we did not stay long to have fellowship with others. Hopefully, our prayers in Malaysia will continue to intercede for the other 99% of the Japanese who have not yet believed in our Saviour.
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