My passion for missionary work under scrutiny

I slept a bit too late for the night or should I say too early for the day... approximately past 4 am to give you an idea. I am not really helping myself overcome my developing insomnia but I really need someone to talk to. A good friend kept me company by chatting with me through YM. It was not healthy physically to stay that late but it keeps me emotionally healthy and sane.

As an obvious result, I woke up late. About past 12 noon just only to attend the four-hour Japanese language teaching training course. Yeah, you got it right! I am attending a course on how to teach Japanese as a part of my volunteer work. In spite the fact that it is against my will to expose myself to extreme boredom for four straight hours in the middle of an all-Japanese audience, except me of course, I still convinced myself that I should go.

Everything was so perfect as I came just right in time in Kajo Central for the event. I proceeded to the fifth floor hoping that it would given a bit of a nice feeling making it on time this time-even though I know that the next two hundred and forty hours will be hard for me. But as I tried to enter the door, I saw that the sign at the door of the only room in the fifth level is different-not the name of the venue for the event.

Ok, the people left in the ＹＩＦＡ (山形市国際交流協会 Yamagata City International Friendship Association) told me that the meeting is being held at another building. They gave me a map and instructed me to go there. As not having been to the venue even just once, I don't know where it is actually. With a map and some courage, I asked two Japanese elderly people for directions. They whole-heartedly gave me the instructions and hoped that I would find my destination easily.

It was already a quarter before two when I was walking according to the directions that they had given me-according to the directions as I assume. Then after some minutes of not finding the venue, I started to worry. Am I still on the way? Or am I already lost? I've been walking quite far already and the sun was so hot that I feel more exhausted. I decided to get my bicycle from where I left it so that I can move around the place looking for the venue.

I got my bike but in my mind I was tempted not to go anymore. It was already 2:15 at that time-too late for arriving supposedly by 1:00 pm. I thought of meeting my friends instead and just tell the people in the YIFA that I wasn't able to find the way. Anyway, the session will be in Japanese and perhaps I would barely understand not even a bit of it. I was about to go back then when my heart spoke to me, "How could you do missionary work if your can not find places even though you've been already provided with directions?" Hearing these words, I made a firm decision of attending no matter how late I am.

I took the way that I walked a few minutes earlier. I went straight ahead for a few hundred meters. Then I found out that I can not see any building that fits the description of the venue. I prayed to God to please help me as I am already lost. My instinct told me to turn to the right of a simple road and to my very eyes I saw the building I was looking for.

The session already finished its first half and the people are having a break when I came. The Japanese people who know me greeted me. I asked for apologies for being so late. I just told them that I got lost find the venue. They smiled at me and told me that it was nothing to worry about as almost all of them also had a hard time looking for the venue and came about an hour late.

The second half of the seminar started and I was surprised that the speaker was very good. He is also Japanese-teaching Japanese people how to teach Japanese to foreigners (like me) in a communicative way. To my delight, I never found any difficulty understanding his talk. May be it was just because of his usage of words that are already in my Japanese vocabulary. But it was a very reason for me to enjoy the session and to find it too interesting and informative.

We had another 10 minute break before the last part and during that free time, two of my previous volunteer Japanese instructors saw me. They were surprised seeing me there attending the session as I was just a mere foreign Japanese language learning a year ago-and now I am with them attending the seminar as a Japanese language instructor myself. They expressed their joy that in a short span of time I became fluent in the language. (Although I myself think that I still have lots to learn.)

The seminar ended a few minutes past five. I saw another Japanese language instructor of mine as I left the conference room. I don't regret not seeing my friends in exchange of attending today's seminar. To treat myself, I bought some Japanese dishes in the nearby Viking shop (food are charged by the weight). おいしかったよ！（Oishikatta yo! It was delicious!)