I sure hope I can recount all of this days events properly. Suffice to say, a lot happened.. .
Don't worry though, I can't just leave it at that, because that would be a cop out.
I got up at an ungodly hour on this Godly day of rest and set out to determine Mass times. Okay, so I suppose 8:30 isn't really all that ungodly, but it sure felt like it. At least, the weather had cleared up and the day looked to become very nice. It was sunny, but not too hot and the humidity hadn't kicked in yet. Thankfully, it wasn't cold.
First, I walked to the northern end of Sunpu's first inner moat ring where I remembered there was a catholic church. (Really should have taken a picture of it too, but I forgot. I think I took a picture of it years ago.). Reading the signs, I determined Mass there was at 10:30am. Rather than wait around for nearly an hour and a half, I decided to go check out the other church in Yahata, the one I used to go to every week. For some reason, I was pretty sure I'd show up and Mass would be nearly over.
Forty five minutes of walking later, I made it to the other church. I discovered their Mass started at nine, so I was like, “well, at least I can get back to the other church in time.” So, after stopping into the church just enough to take some pictures, I made my way back. I wasn't disappointed. The most important thing for me though was how much of Shizuoka I got to see by walking there. I'm amazed at how little has changed, but at the same time, how much has either slightly improved or shut down. For example, Shin-shizuoka center is under construction again, Sunpu koen is under construction, and the Sally Breast building had two very cleared out floors above the main one.
On the walk back to the other church, I realized how hungry I was. I foolishly hadn't eaten anything yet so I stopped at a Circle K to get something. The juice and bread thing that I bought acted as my breakfast. It was really stupid of me to wait that long for breakfast and walk so much, because it felt like my stomach went into shock. I decided I would get something more after Mass.
Mass, by the way, at this church was something I hadn't experienced before. They have a younger grouping and some of them were Philippine. That atmosphere reminded me of the Church I go to Hiroshima. Furthermore, the priest is still a little new to Japanese it seemed, and the gospel reading was repeated in English. Besides the usual trying to keep up with the whirlwind of Japanese around me, Mass was pretty interesting for me because I quickly caught on that the guy next to me was a neophyte (ie. He soon would be becoming a Catholic).
After Mass, I talked with him for a bit. The guy's name was Akiyama. We mostly talked about the way the Catholic Church has so much formality for entering the church. He originally thought that was a hindrance because it sounded like he would just rather join now, asap. However, he seems to have come to understand the reason for this waiting period of time. It sounds like he will join the church next spring. I wished him luck and said that if I was ever back at this church in Shizuoka, I'd look for him.
Upon leaving the church, I realized that my umbrella was missing. After thinking it over for a second, I realized I must have left it at Circle K. I didn't have it with me at church. I figured that I would know at least that much because it is always annoying to figure out where to set it. So, I went back to Circle K and bought Onigiri and on the way out casually picked up my umbrella that I had left there a couple hours before. After that, I wandered down that one main street that I never seem be able to remember the name. Anyway, I peered in a lot of shops and was a little disappointed to notice that the Mister Donuts on the corner was being changed into something else.
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