It was a fruitful day today! I brought several traditional Japanese toys, such as Origami, Otedama, and Ohajiki. We keep them into the box. We could use it someday. Also I had an idea. I wanted to play the piano for the residents while they are waiting for lunch. I talked about it to my pastor. She loved my idea!
We have Bible study every Tuesday afternoon. Today's topic was "trinity". So my pastor prepared two songs, both which have words "Holy, Holy, Holy". She asked me to play them in the Bible study. Also she had an idea. Her song file was filled with music copies. She'd been wanting to sort them out. Her idea was to involve some of the residents to help us sort them out. What a great idea! They could feel they are useful and helpful. I loved her idea!
It was a really creative day. We thought of many things previous night at our houses being away from each other. After a tough time, a good time definitely comes, right?
After the short meeting, we went up to the forth floor. They were playing a bingo game. We anyway started to sort the music sheets. One after another, the residents gathered to our table and gave us their great helping hands. As we were doing, we chatted like, "What is you favorite hymn?" "Do you like this song?" "Do you know this song?" and so on.
After clean up time, my turn came. My pastor told me to play the two songs which we were going to sing in the Bible study. We opened the door to the church space. I started to play the hymns. The residents seemed to love the sounds. After the two hymns, I continued to play. The residents sometimes sang with me, other times just listened to it, or a residents asked me to play her favorite hymn "The Old Rugged Cross." I was so delighted to receive her request!
We had quick lunch and then went to the adult health care center building, where the Bible study was held. The atmosphere was totally different from the nursing home. Younger people were there. Some were chatting, some were just sitting, some were playing a board game or something. We used a part of the recreation room. My pastor asked me to play the hymns while preparation was going on. I played them and then moved on to other pieces. I felt people's welcoming loves from behind while I was playing. It was so lovely.
At the beginning of the Bible study, my pastor introduced me to the people. "This is Naoko. She is from Japan. She is a sort of interesting woman because she came here just to work as a volunteer for a whole year!"
And then the people clapped hands and said, "Oh how wonderful! I'm sure she will not only give her loves but get a lot of loves here!" "Yes, sure!" like that. I was so happy to hear their words. Yes, I am so sure I'll get lots of loves from these people!
When the Bible study was over, a staff came up to me and said, "I want to introduce you to a person over there. I think he is Japanese, too." I was introduced to a boy(I don't know his age but assume in his 20's) who was surely a Asian but I was not sure if he was a Japanese. The staff told me his name, which sounded like Chinese name to me. I tried to speak to him in Japanese. He seemed not to able to understand my words. I know only two greeting words in Mandarin. I said, "Ni Hao!" ("hello" in Mandarin). He greeted me back saying, "Ni hao!" How wonderful! Another expression I know is "Shei Shei" ("Thank you"). I said the words and he said the same thing! I thought I wanted to know more Chinese words so I could communicate with him. I think the staff had no idea of how to communicate with him. I don't know if any Chinese staff working at the adult health care section. Maybe not? He seemed so lonely. I want to do something for him while I'm here. Maybe we could learn English together. I could write some of the Chinese characters so we might be able to communicate by writing. Isn't it a good idea? Yes!
Then my pastor, other two religious leaders (both of them were at the service last week and wonderful singers!) and myself went back to the fourth floor again. My pastor asked us to organize a choir! We started to practice several hymns. Soon some of the residents gathered together and sang with us. One of them sat the piano chair with me. I could feel her warmth of hearts from her singing voice.
It was such a fruitful day! Time went by so fast. When everything was done, my pastor told me to have a day off on Wednesday since there would be no religious service that day due to the residents counsel meeting. I felt a little bit tired so I said "Thank you! I'll then take a day off tomorrow." What a thoughtful pastor I have!
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