Touchdown in Tokyo!

well, we finally made it.

flew from Dallas to San Francisco at about 6:30 am, arrived in San Fran about 8:30 am PT, then had about a 3 1/2 hour layover. michelle was supposed to meet me but missed her flight out of San Diego- thankfully she was able to catch one out of LA that would arrive in Tokyo only about an hour after mine. henry's flight would arrive first. i slept for a good deal of the 12 hour flight, watched 2 movies, wrote in my journal, worked on some Japanese, and stared out the window for the remainder of the time.

when i made it out of customs, henry was waiting for me- it was really exciting to see him and be reunited, especially since thoughts of "what if i can't find henry and he can't find me and i'm lost in the Narita Airport???!" kept going through my head. while we waited for michelle to arrive, we exchanged our money for Japanese yen. the exchange rate between the yen and the dollar is about the worst it's ever been- about 82 yen to the dollar. we're going to have to be really careful with our money right now.

Cam, our JCCC director, met us at the airport and drove us all to the JCCC Student Center in Mitaka, where we were finally reunited with the other STINTers- it was SO GOOD to see them again. they had food waiting for us, and we got our new cell phones and bicycles, then we headed to our new homes for the next year. lyndsey, michelle and i all live in this cute little apartment about 20 minutes away (biking) from the JCCC center and 7 minutes from the guys. the living room is actually fairly spacious, and while my room is rather small, i've organized it pretty well and i think i'm really going to enjoy it.

this morning we made pancakes for breakfast, then went to the 2 pm service at New Hope Church in Ochanomizu- not gonna lie, i kind of love that they have afternoon church services. it was so good- i was just so filled with joy at the first notes of the worship music, and could just feel the Holy Spirit permeating the entire place. the message was exactly what i needed to hear, and even their the title of their bulletin said "NEVER, EVER FORGET YOUR MISSION IN LIFE." i thought it was rather appropriate. because even while i am an official Missionary in a foreign land, there are still so many distractions the devil has waiting, and it's easy to get caught up in things that may look good (and might even BE good) but they may not necessarily be what God wants me to be focusing on at that moment.

after church we met some students Lyndsey had made friends with the week before, and we all went to a Hawaiian hamburger place for a late lunch/early dinner. then we went to the 100 yen store and got some necessities for our rooms/ the apartment. then we went to the grocery store- rode my new bike for the first time, which was interesting since i've never used handbrakes. but finally got it figured out and i didn't even run into anything. my bicycle's name is Silver Bullet. i'll put up a picture soon.

spent the rest of the evening organizing my room. tomorrow we're going to get our Alien Registration cards.

in case anyone feels compelled to send me wonderful things from America, here's my new address:

Kimiyo Brown
Kamirenjaku 9-18-17, Gakutou Mitaka Apt. 401
Mitaka-shi, Tokyo-to 181-0012
Japan

sorry for the abrupt ending, but it's really late here and i'm sleepy. and i have to wake up before 8 am to take the trash out. apparently you can't take trash out the night before here...silly Japan.