Bethel Hospitality

Thai branch had tried unsuccessfully to get me accommodations at Japan bethel so they told me to call them, since they don't have email. Of course I procrastinated to no end because seriously... I can't speak Japanese! What am I going to say on a fuzzy skype call? More importantly what am I going to understand? Plus every time I remembered it was 3 in the morning in Japan, which would make a great impression. Hi I'd like accommodations please... It's 3am here- but to make it easy don't bother calling back. So finally I got myself together and coaxed myself into calling one night. The receptionist picks up and I said "English?" she transferred me right away and this really nice brother who explained they were booked solid because of some training courses for brothers and the zone visit, but to fax a letter and
recommendation and see what they said. A fax in DR... took me a couple days to work that magic. People said I would never get in so I  didn't really think about it again. But two weeks later my elders gave me a letter... Dear Brother Ashley we are very busy with the brothers school but would be happy to have you stay two nights... hmm... brother? So another fax... funny story I'm not a boy so if I'm sharing a room with a single brother; please make sure he is age appropriate, tall and good looking... I mean let me know if it's going to be OK, otherwise I will just do a day trip. Two weeks go by, no answer. So I'm thinking some brother read the fax and had a coronary and hit the floor right there and reams of faxes are coming in flowing off the fax onto his limp body. Anyhow I got invited to go with a family to the coast for the same dates and didn't worry too much about it.

Sunday night we are shivering through Yokohama harbor when Yuka gets a text. A bethel friend of the sister whose family I was going to the coast with was having us for lunch at bethel the following day.
When she heard a sister "ashery" (my Japanese name) was going to be with them she thought hmmm... Has to be the same ashery another bethelite had told her she was hosting. So now I had to figure out if I was going to the coast or bethel. Me and decisions... We are awesome buddies. Finally after prayer, furtive frowning and much deliberation with my Japanese family- bethel won out. Masa had my back as usual :) he said best choice thumbs up! But the super sweet family who was taking me to the coast still insisted on taking me to bethel "on their way"... I looked at a map, so not true. Anyways Monday morning we all headed to bethel which involved two trains and renting a car.

When I got to the train station with Masa, the sister took both of my hands and said I'm so happy you get to go to bethel, she teared up and I got all teary because I felt so horrible about bailing on them and being flaky, my biggest pet-peeve, ok, ok, one of.
After two hours we get to bethel, tour, have lunch in Masa and Yukiko Ikumi's room and check-in at reception. It was closing in on 1:30pm and my coast family was still hanging out with me to make sure it would all be OK. The sister responsible for me came to collect me at reception with her husband and we hugged. Yuri and Kazuo Goda, my hosts, took me to my room to settle in. She brought me a full tray of sushi because she was worried I hadn't eaten. Then Yuri asked me my plans and since I didn't have anything specific he said I could work in laundry or gardening that afternoon. "Um... K so laundry? I only have a dress..." Japan bethel doesn't play. Which is really nice because several times I have wished I could contribute something when staying at bethel, because I felt so useless just hanging out eating their food. Anyhow that afternoon volunteer services was full so that I didn't work, so I studied and wandered the bethel grounds that are filled with cherry trees and took pictures.
At dinner an awesome sister sat next to me, Nona, she has been a missionary in Japan for 47 years and she is one of the younger ones she says. When they came there were only about 3500 witnesses in Japan, now there are about 3250 congregations. She says they had no idea what they were doing, the society simply gave them a territory in Tokyo with hundreds of thousands of people and said work it on your own. A brother her husband studied with is now on the branch committee. She has been fighting cancer for many years now, but she is so upbeat, she even makes jokes about her wig being straight. The new Japanese vocabulary she taught me shows her incredible spirit; gengki- I feel super! and sugoi- wow!/cool! These words pretty much express her personality. She made sure I knew where she was sitting at breakfast so I could meet her husband. And when I saw them she remembered my name and all my info. People who flourish even when faced with the desert of life always inspire me, since I'm always tempted to become a cactus :) After family study we went back to Ikumi's room and Kazuo brought ice cream and cake. Yum! We chatted and looked at pictures. They hugged me and said they felt so privileged meeting me ... seriously?! I feel so privileged! These incredible people! How good Jehovah is, everywhere I go I find amazing people giving their all to Jehovah and joyfully sharing with others.

In the morning I worked in laundry and had the privilege of working with three missionary sisters; Misako Tohara, Elsie Tanigawa and Molly Heron (yb91 p.72). Although they are well into their 90's and even 100 they work every morning folding towels for an hour and a half. Even when you are limited by age or circumstance what you give is valuable to Jehovah. They were great fun talking about days gone by and how they ended up in Japan, as single sisters, or how they came with their entire family, kids and all. Then I worked with four sisters from around Japan also volunteering. The first, Fujiko and third sister, Junko in the picture serve in the North where the Tsunami hit. Junko's father even got swept up in the Tsunami but was able to swim to safety. They worked in the relief work and brought pictures to bethel... little did I know that we had a special treat in store for us, the following morning we had a special video at morning worship about the relief work and the dedications of two new kingdom halls. Everyone cried- in the video and at breakfast. After breakfast Brother and Sister Pastor missionaries from Canada also came by to chat and encourage me.
At lunch I had a great surprise. Since arriving in Japan I had asked everyone and anyone about the my dad's Japanese Gilead classmates. Professional singers were in that week to record some songs and... one of my dad's classmates is a singer. So we got to have lunch together and hear all the news. His family now serves in Portuguese in Tokyo. At lunch we also had Anne Kite, from Saskatchewan, another missionary from the 26th class of Gilead with us. She told me the story of how she studied the bible with the mother of the other sister at our table when she was still in grade school. She was a great source of encouragement and by the end of lunch we were all teary eyed, taking, remembering and contemplating how great Jehovah is.
My last night in bethel Yukiko called me down because one of the musicians was holding a kingdom song repetition. So we sang all together as he played the piano and when some guests with children walked by he played listen and obey so that they could join in.
bethel was in amazing experience! Everyone in the hallways stopped me to ask where I was from and thank me for my hard work, a brother in maintenance brought me chocolates :) we all know how much I love those and a brother printed up a map and directions so I could find my way to Tokyo. They were all so kind and hospitable, I tried to hide in the broom closet :)