Day Fifteen: Gion and Shinyurigaoka

got up at 8am and headed out with Noelle, moniek and that Swedish guy, man I cant remember his name, so ill just call him mr. b.

we were off to a set of shrines in the southeastern area of Kyoto. this shrine is known for having these sets of archways lined up one after another along these paths lasting several hundred meters at a time. the entire mountain path contained over four kilometers of these archways lined up so close to one another that very little light was let in.


we were surprised and astounded after we arrived to find the most adorable little kids posing for some pictures there at the temple. one was a little girl and one was a little boy.

we went around taking pictures of all the marvelous things we found and after we had walked a good long way, took a break at a small lake. we headed back to the downtown area where a large festival was taking place, the final day of the aoi festival in Kyoto.

we waited there in the hot sun for a good half an hour and then I left to find a bathroom. I skipped the convenience store cause there were about eighteen-thousand people in line, and kept walking until I found a mormon church not very far at all from where the other folks I was with were waiting.

I went up the the door, It was unlocked, so I opened it up and went inside.

I remember church bathrooms well as being places I could always go hide to avoid companions that I wanted to kill in the middle of the night but was always too tired to do so. those mission comps have to be with you every freaking place you go…except the bathroom and the shower. so I felt a great sense of comfortability on this particular toilet. along with the Japanese style bidet, it brought me great joy.

on the way trying to scram outta there, I ran into the missionaries. they were hiding in the sacrament hall, joseph smith pamphlets in hand, ready to attack me as I left cause they thought I was a potential church investigator. I had to let them know I was a member already, I had already been on a mission in japan, and I was mostly there to use the toilet before I went out and joined the rest of the secular world.

but they were some pretty alright cats, so I chilled out with them for about 30 minutes, told them about my own mission, assured them that it would under no circumstances be the best two years of their lives, but would be the two years that would be the most challenging, strengthening and worthwhile years that they would have a huge amount of pride in.

then I was out of there, I had missed the parade, but my pals said it was lame anyway, they did take a lot of pictures though considering they thought it was lame.


me and Noelle went back and picked up our stuff from the hostel and I accompanied her back to Tokyo. she would be going home the next day. so we rode the shinkansen together. I left her at shin-yokohama station south of Tokyo, leaving her with a nice handshake and the best farewell of all, a high five.

It was nice to know her and she was a true sweetheart. it has been a long time since I have felt the sense of love I have felt for people I know so little, male or female, from anywhere in the world. there are many people I have met here that I can say that I have loved simply because they give of themselves and live to help others and not necessarily because they only help me.

people find it so frightening to tell others that they love them. its really kind of disappointing.

I loved her not because she was cute or made me laugh or bought me gyoza, I mostly loved her for being my friend.

I have mostly loved so many for this same reason.

the small acts of service are the ones that truly matter. there are so many small ways we can offer something simple to others, and those things could turn a persons life around for an hour, a day, or a lifetime.

so I was back in Tokyo, it was about nine at night, and I had nowhere to go.

I had intended to sleep in a nook somewhere for the night and catch the first train in the morning to bens house at about 5am.

I was set to meet my former co-worker and friend laura in a city called shinyurigaoka, so I made my way there, made it to her hotel somewhere around 10pm and then went and did some karaoke with her. she was nice enough to foot the bill of the 2400 yen bill, which was extremely overpriced and I have absolutely no idea how that ended up happening, but I was pretty out of it at the time and didn’t ask the chicks working there what was up. I assumed it was because of the late hour that the prices were jacked up.

anyway, before we left for karaoke, laura called a kid that was in her group from college visiting Tokyo, I don’t know if they were from byu or university of Utah or where, but anyway, they agreed to let me sleep in their room for the night. I walked in and put my stuff on the floor and went and did karaoke.

when I got back they were both in bed half asleep. I got directions from one of the kids that “its fine with me, you do whatever you want”. so I kinda just layed on the ground and went to sleep in the corner of the room using my left arm as a pillow.

laying there I thought “dang, what (for lack of a better word) jerks”. I would have maybe expected better from some guys about my own age going to school in the same country as me, but obviously beggars cant be choosers, so I was there for the night and didn’t have much room to complain, but still…I mean come on!

anyway, since I basically felt more welcome sleeping in a street corner, I got outta there at about 4am when the sun came up and went to the train station waiting for the first train. boarded that and made my way to bens house in Sagamihara where I slept til 3pm.

now let me tell ya, ben may not be perfect it everyones eyes, but I LOVE that guy, AND his whole family. they might be the textbook definition of kindness and graciousness to others. They have been extremely helpful to me during this trip and have shown me kindness that I could have never imagined or anticipated.

bens brother was having his eagle court of honor the next night, so I was glad to make it there for that.