Well, the message I gave this past Sunday went well... sort of. Because my Japanese isn't good enough yet, I have to script it in English, send it out to my mom for translation, get back the scripted message in Japanese, and read it. Not exactly the best way to give a message, reading a script verbatim that is. But then, when I think about it, for some reason there don't seem to be a whole lot of good orators in this country. So compared to what everybody's used to around here I guess you could say that I was so-so. Regardless, after Sunday service, a number of members came up to me and talked about how they were moved and challenged by what was said. If you'd like to see the message... it's scripted, so I can send it out to ya... in English or Japanese, take your pick!
In a somewhat related occurance... just yesterday, the NHK guy came by. I couldn't believe it. Japanese people have to pay for basic television. I'm not talking about satellite tv or even basic cable tv... I'm talking about your very very basic tv that comes in through the antenna tv. Anyway, it's the first time we meet and so, we go through the formal introductions. Immediately, he picks up that I'm not from around the area. Big deal. I wrote earlier about how I've been called mentally retarded until people realize that I'm American. But this guy was different... or maybe my Japanese was different! Instead, the NHK guy asked me if I'm from around Kyushu. For those of you who don't know Japanese geography, Japan is a set of islands... an archipelago if you will. There's honshu, the main island, the one that looks like a J. There's Hokkaido, the one that dots the top of the J. Shikoku, an island found underneath honshu... it kinda looks like a mini Australia. And then there's Kyushu, the set of islands on the southern tip of the honshu J... that includes Okinawa. Apparently, I sound like a person from Kyushu now. Or maybe, it was the NHK guy's nice way of saying, "There's something weird with you... are you mentally handicapped?" Hope it's the former, because if it's the latter, that tells ya something about how Hokkaido people think about Kyushu people!
Lastly, I know I write a lot about the weather here in Hokkaido... but well, I've never lived in such extreme conditions. Anyway, today, I gave in. The church is only 3 to 4 blocks away from my apartment but the weather was so cold that I decided to drive. How cold? Well, today as I walked by the digital thermometer in downtown Date, it read -9C. Now, if my math serves me right, that's a reading of 12F. To me, that's like Urbana cold. For those who don't understand... lemme put it this way, i got into my car to drive to the church 4 blocks away, when I put my hands on the steering wheel to get ready to go, I did a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle face. You know, the turtles had this look right before they were going into battle, where their eyes would get all squinty, and gritted their teeth in such a way as to close the front part of the lips but leave the sides of the lips open so that you could see some of the teeth. The steering wheel was ice cold. I mean, it hurt to put my hands on the thing. So, after thinking about how hazardous it would be to try to drive without touching the steering wheel with my hands, I ran upstairs, grabbed my gloves and drove off.
For those who might be remotely interested to find out about what I'm experiencing in terms of weather, I've posted a link to a couple of weather sites on my missions page. I really like the English site, not only because it puts things in fahrenheit, but it also gives the "RealFeel temperature" which is really just the temperature after including the wind chill factor.