As Close To Home As It Gets

It was so nice to have Labor day off! With the day off, I applied for my alien card (yes, I know I'll hear the jokes about this one) and went grocery shopping (without the help of a Japanese person). Tomorrow is Wednesday already, this week is flying by! I will update about my weekend adventures soon but I wanted to share this story with you. I have shared it with a few of you already and thought I'd blog about it since it's had such an impact on me.

Last Sunday night, a teacher from school signed me onto Kadena Air Force Base to go to mass at Holy Family Catholic Church. Apparently there are no English speaking Catholic churches off base so this is my best option. I was looking forward to mass the whole week. When I arrived to church, I was comforted by the scenery and that fact that the church looked like our churches at home. During mass I kept thinking about how awesome it was that I was literally across the world, yet the mass was exactly the same. I enjoyed every moment of mass. It was about half the size of Sacred Heart, so it wasn't too small but not too big. Since it was on base, the congregation consisted mainly of American families, whom it was nice to be surrounded by.
At the end of mass, the priest asked if anyone was there for the first time and to stand up is so. I stood up and introduced myself, said I was from Southern California and am in Okinawa teaching off base. There was one other lady who was also new. After I introduced myself, an older man brought me a little goodie bag and welcomed me to Holy Family. After mass I signed up for an email list so the church will email me the weekly bulletin. I was able to talk to the priest and told him that I have to get signed in every week in order to attend mass. I let him know that I'm hoping to join some groups and meet other people so I can get signed in regularly to attend mass.

The priest told me that there is a position open for teaching bible to teenagers and if I willing to take the job, I would get my own card to get on base anytime. I told him that I'm already working full time but if it's in the evenings a few times a week I might be able to do it. He said he would type up the job description and send it out. I'm not sure it will work out, but at least I know he is trying to help me.

When I got home from church, I opened the goodie bag that was given to me. There were a few items in the bag consisting of a cloth rosary, a Kadena Air Base coaster, pen and a keepsake coin. One side of the coin said "One Prayer at a Time" and the other side said "God, Grant Me Serenity, Courage and Wisdom." I couldn't help but smile, knowing that this was truly a gift from God. "One day at a time" has been my motto this past month and here God was telling me "One prayer at a time."

I hope things work out with this church because I felt more at home there then I have this entire trip so far. It's weird that I was alone and across the world, yet felt so at home.

I just wanted to share this short update with you. I can feel the power of your prayers, thank you!