A Busy Weekend

This past weekend saw us once again rent the kindergarten building we have used before for Hiragishi Church events. On Saturday we held a UK Culture Day. A team of six from the UK are spending a month working with a church near us and came along to help in different ways. We had fun with icebreaker and other games; we heard about the different parts of UK culture; shared about the significance of the crosses on the flag; sang a traditional song; enjoyed some Scottish country dancing; and ended with a traditional afternoon tea complete with cucumber sandwiches and scones with jam and cream. It was great to welcome people who we know well and have come along to events before. It was also a joy to see a number of people there for the first time. There was a great atmosphere with time to chat to many of the guests who were there. For a small church like ours to hold something like this is always a challenge and we were glad of the help of the team from the UK. These kind of events are 'easy to come to' and offer a low key way to get to know people in our community and a place where we can invite folks we have been getting to know well. People are at ease coming. Our hope is that some will want to know more and come along again. Everyone took home a card with some details of Izumi Church and an invite to some other events we plan to hold in the autumn. As soon as the Culture Day finished we were straight into an overnight camp for the children from Lorna's English classes - but that blog can wait for another day.