What I Want for Christmas

Today's finally the day of the Christmas celebration. Our church picked this day to celebrate because it is a holiday, the birthday of the emperor. Many of my lab members promised to come to the event, but I could never know if they are putting up with me on the surface or really sincere about coming.

I arrived in church at 9am to help setting up the stage for the event. Unlike my churches in Vancouver, New Hope is not (yet) blessed with our own building, so we rent the facility at Ochanomizu Christian Center, but the center would only provide so much hardware, we have to bring the rest ourselves. To accommodate this year's event, we are to expand the stage, which is a lot of work to be done.

I arrived at the church at 8:45am and by 9:00am we started to rearrange the chairs and to build the stage. I worked up quite a sweat and it was not easy. Most people tried their best. On the other hand, I was a bit concerned about this guy Steve. Although he came into church at 900am, he was wearing a shirt with a sweater, didn't seem too proper to do labour work. He talked non-stop (not a bad thing) but many times just stopped other people from working so he can socialize. During the break I had a chance to talk to him in length when he asked me about which computer to buy. He is lonely. I could tell, he wants people to take interest in his life so he broadcast things about himself constantly, hoping someone would catch on. Everything about him seem so superficial, but he is also a child of God. Who are we to abandon him. Last time I talked to him he kept me there for 30minutes talking about Obama and McCain. >:|

At around 2:45 my lab people arrived, Urano-san, Goto-kun, Fujita-kun and his girlfriend came together and later on Kim-san also arrived. I couldn't join them for the event because it was too packed so I sat outside to wait for Hiromi, my penpal to arrive. She was a little late, so I went to the station to pick her up. I wasn't sure if it was her or not because I saw only two kids (I thought she had 4) with her and it was the first time we met. But after a while, she saw me and recognized me. We walked to the church together, but unfortunately there was no more seat, so we sat outside and listened through the speaker and projector. Her kids were adorable. This reminded me of the one-day homestay program I enrolled in last year, where kids climb all over me, asking me to play with them. Maybe this is one of my gift from God? :|

I had a great time just sitting there with her and playing with her kids. After the service was over, I went and greeted my friends once again and took a picture with them. Fujita-kun said it was fun, and he was getting tired. His girlfriend was laughing in embarassment for him. What a cute couple. On the other hand, Kim-san had already jetted out of the building.

5:30pm, it was my time to join the service. After sending off Hiromi and her kids, I entered the sanctuary and sat at the left side. I didn't expect to be able to see Yurie from over there, but I was able to! The lady sat beside me chatted with me a little bit while we were waiting. During the performance, I took a few peak at Yurie playing the flute on the stage. She noticed me very quickly and our eyes met a few times. At one time I just fixated my eyes on her and smiled while she was looking at me. She beamed a smile and lowered her head shyly. I felt the jolt in my heart everytime our eyes met. Now I was a bit nervous, I didn't want her to be distracted from playing the flute so I contained myself and refrained from looking at her so often. I was overjoyed and I still have butterfly in my stomach when I look back at it.

When the service, I bumped into Ohgai-san on my way out. He greeted me and signaled that he'd be going back to the lab soon to do some more work. They have very little time left before their thesis is due. I was so happy so many of them made it to the Christmas event. I haven't invited this many people to church since I was 11. It was also Christmas at the time, but my friends were angry at me because my church didn't give them good gifts like the other curches...

We worked and cleaned until 930pm to clear everything and load them into the truck so we can return the building back to them in one piece. There was still more work to be done, but I couldn't linger there any longer as I have a presentation tomorrow. As I was going back I did something wrong (again) I sent a text to Yurie teasing her about the smile.

I sent, "You smiled when I looked at you. Mita~! :P :P :P"
She replied shortly after, "on the stage? (shiny emoticon) :D "
I replied, "Yes~:D :D Thank you for your prayers. My friend said they really enjoyed it... "
It turned into a conversation about serving later on. I flirted. I do feel a bit guilty about it, but I was SO HAPPY!!!!

Later on, my mother sent me an email, asking me to consider two questions vey carefully.
1. Yurie is only 19 years old, and I am already 27. She has 3 yrs left in her school, can I wait that long for her faith and personality to mature?
2. Did I like her on impulsve because she is pretty?
She wrote that it takes time, patience and God's guidance to have a relationship.

I am SO CONFUSED. But I know what I want for Christmas, I want God, and I want a strong relationship with Yurie, in God's timing, not mine.