And on the sixth day, Joyce rested.

Hey I'm not God - I can't do as many days at him! :P It's incredible to think that we've been here for 6 days already! Today was a bit of a zonked out day - me, jono and ruth are getting a rest this morning. So here's some more of what's been happening:

Yesterday (Tuesday:)

Dene, Ruth, Serene, Jono and Simeon head to KGK group, Rachel gets a break, Joyce and Eliott go on a big adventure to the aquarium! Osaka Kaiyukan (aquarium) is absolutely incredible - they simulate the natural environment of creatures found all over the world, from Antarctica to the Japanese forest to the Great Barrier Reef! There's a centre tank that is massive, with heaps of fish (of note, the two whale sharks and manta ray) and there are satellite tanks (think a spiral descending ramp walkway around the centre tank) that have stuff like a a sea otter tank, seal tank, a dolphin tank, a penguin tank, one with fish from the amazon, a coral reef, a deep sea spider crab tank, and my favourite was the jellyfish tanks - some of the jellyfish are absolutely tiny

It's incredible to see the range of stuff that God's created, from the absolutely cute, to the ridiculously bizarre - some of the fish display his sense of humour, like the ocean sunfish - it's really really big (average weight 1 ton) - and really slow and kinda dumb (it will crash into aquarium glass windows if you don't stop it) - but so cute! eliott calls it the fish that goes (oooo) hehe.

ruth's just got back with some kfc chips and seasoning packet - lol seaweed seasoning and kfc chips!!! hehe it's actually really really good. wonder where i can get some more of those seaweed seasoning packets....

Last night we went to another KGK prayer meeting at Nishinomiya - same study as the night before (which was good - we didn't need so much translated for us this time) - some different people. I was grateful for the student's patience as we muddled our way through translation and bilingual answers - yay for drawing pictures! ;)

Afterwards, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner!! YUM! I love the free tea, coffee, soft drinks, iced tea, iced coffee options - soo good! Then headed back home for a zzzz.

Things to pray for:

Some of us are still really tired, some are getting sick. Please pray for our health that we can keep going for the next 2 weeks!
As we get used to each other's quirks and habits after living in the same apartment for a week, please pray that we will continue to be patient and gracious with each other, and that we won't step on each other's toes too much!
Thank God for Maiko's organising and translating work for us, and also for the generosity of Mukonoso Megumi Church and their welcoming us here. Also for KGK, who we've had so much fun hanging out with and getting to know students and sharing with each other from God's word!

Please continue to pray for the invididual growth of the team in Christ, that we would increase in godliness even while we are here.
Also pray for the Japanese Church and Student ministries, that God would bless their work and increase their numbers, while they continue to become strengthened in faith and bring glory to God.
Also please pray for the preparations at and for Biwako - our team is still nervous about homestaying with our limited Japanese!

Thanks for your continued interest and prayer support! :D