The Wheels on the Bus

I spent the weekend in a bus. Well, not the whole weekend, but much of it!

On Friday night about 80 of us boarded two buses headed for Sendai. Japan Gospel Festival Mission planned for our trip to be part of the Franklin Graham Festival of Hope over the weekend.
We began our travels in Osaka about 10PM on Friday night. Since Sendai is about 13 hours from Osaka, we spent Friday night on the bus.

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning, about 6:20AM...


At our morning break we were told that the highway had been closed because of snow. While standing in line for the restroom there was an announcement that the road had been reopened. My friend in line in front of me asked me if I had been praying. :)
Here is what the area looked like as we drove through a little while later...


Because of the road being closed, there was a bit of a traffic jam causing us to arrive a little later than planned. Since we weren't sure if we would get to have a full rehearsal, we sang on the bus!


We did get there just in time for a rehearsal...


After lunch and changing our clothes, we had a workshop with Alfie Silas. She helped us learn a song we were to sing with Kirk Franklin. He came out at the end to check on our progress.


I started to take pictures during the program, but when my friend was asked not to take pictures, I had to stop, too.
These are two of my new friends who sang soprano with me...


Then we headed to dinner...


Apparently, Sendai is famous for 牛タン-grilled cow tongue! Thanks to Joyce Schrepel, I have tried this before.
I was fine with eating the things that were ordered until the sushi came out. I decided that I would let the others enjoy that!

The salad was delicious!


Saturday night we stayed in a hotel near Sendai station. In the morning after breakfast, Qsai, Aichan and I went for a walk. It was a really beautiful morning.


Then we returned to the hotel for a time of worship before we got back on the bus to return to Osaka.


We took a different route home. It was a lovely drive through the mountains and along the Sea of Japan.


I enjoyed the weekend! Lots of singing and praising, talking and laughing, plus I got a whole book read!