Bob and I enjoyed our visit September 19th with Mrs. Akiko MATSUMOTO
(松本 昭子) (from our sister parish, Tokyo All Saints),
and her doctor friend, Ukiyé. When we picked them up in Reston VA,
to go to Washington, DC, they said they would like to change the plans,
as they were concerned about getting too exhausted. So we brought them
to Christ the King Church for a short time with the Senior Seekers group,
a Bible study group of the elderly, which I had never been to because
it's during my workday. Father Chris Lee did an excellent job of guiding
us all through two different types of Bible study.
Then we took our guests (and the other members and Father Chris) out
to the Memorial Scattering Garden for a short ceremony I had written
to honor Earl Hagan and the relationship between our two congregations.
Akiko, who was my translator when Earl and I visited Japan in 1990,
had asked to see where Earls ashes were buried and to spend some time
in prayer for him. She was his hostess for part of the time we were
in Japan, and later she stayed with him and his wife when she visited here.
We spent some time at our apartment, where they seemed to enjoy looking
at the paintings and quilts. We presented two of my small quilts to Akiko
for herself and her sister Michiko, who was my gracious hostess in Tokyo
in 1990. Akiko gave us a set of slides on the history of Japan, which I hope
to get converted to a CD. She also gave us a set of Japanese fabrics that
will end up in one or two small wallhangings.
I called a quilting friend, Beth, who eats out often, and she recommended
G & M Restaurant in Linthicum, which serves excellent crab cakes.
We ate at 3:00 PM, very late for lunch. They split a crab cake dinner,
and had to take a deep breath to finish even the half. Japanese do not eat
nearly a much as Americans.
Coming back, we checked at the church to see if Bill Moore had arrived
from his work, but then we came back home. When we got in the apartment,
we found we had two messages from Bill, one just before he got to CTK
and one right after he arrived. We'd missed each other by about three
minutes! So we took the ladies to him, and he was happy to entertain them
as he took them back to their hotel in Reston, VA.
We received a nice letter thanking us for
showing them our church, and for the memorial time at the Scattering Garden.
It is a real gift from God to continue our sister parish relationship
with Tokyo All Saints.
Last updated, 6/18/2006, by Bill Moore.