Saturday, August 3rd

Dear Friends, Sisters & Brothers – It’s Saturday night, 11PM, and I’m wiped out.  We had a free day and went to Matsumoto; leaving the train station at 9AM, it took us about an hour to get there.  Once there, a few of us took a tour of the Matsumoto Castle, one of four castles in Japan considered national treasures.  We got a guide, offered to English speakers at no cost.  He gave very good explanations and insight into the castle, things we would never would have gotten on our own.  The rest of the time was spent sightseeing, shopping, and having lunch.  It was great fun wandering around this medium sized city, but it’s not the same when done without our Chino brothers and sisters.  But…for dinner we were invited to the home of church members.  They prepared a meal that we’d never be able to get in a restaurant.  Their home is something you’d see in a magazine – not large by our standards, but built with great care and many fine details.  And the couple finished our evening together by singing us a school song from the Nagano prefecture.  The whole evening was fantastic.  Kaoru and Haruko Higuchi showed a generosity and thoughtfulness that has been given to us by everyone from the Chino Christ Church.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Chino – it’s so hard to believe.  We’ll have a team prayer meeting in the morning at 6:45AM, breakfast, clean-up, then present the MEBIG, which was explained last Sunday.  Next, we’ll have a worship service with the church members and then a farewell luncheon.  I’m going to sleep now, so I won’t fall asleep during all the activities tomorrow.  God bless you all.