Day Twenty Eight: Hiro-o

after the things i have felt and seen in the last three days, i was feeling it was time for a break

it’s the morning that I am set to go to the temple in hiro-o, and im really not feeling so hot

maybe its because its 7am and my body doesnt like this? normal brandon wake up time happens normally between when the sun is up and when it is down when i am taking classes at college.

but luckily for me, the sun rises at about 5am in this country

BUT...

that is not why they call it the land of the rising sun.

but back to my original point, i was up and i was feeling under the weather.

as a matter of fact, there hadn’t been a moment of the entire trip when I felt so fatigued. but it really wasn’t so big of a deal, cause I joined Marcelo to the temple in Tokyo anyways.

for any member of the church of jesus Christ of latter day saints, it is a great privilege to be able to go to the temple. for me, it was an even greater privilege not only to be able to go into the temple, but to be able to go into the temple in the center of Tokyo.

the funny thing about the Tokyo temple is that it is located one subway stop down from roppongi, the ward in Tokyo I spoke about before that I found so incredibly disgusting. when I asked Marcelo where his favorite spot in Tokyo was, he said roppongi, but apparently there are actually places that aren’t all that bad.

as a matter of fact, there may even be places there that aren’t that bad at all. after all, when you walk just a while down from the streets of roppongi, you are able to stand not only by the mormon temple, but also at the main offices for the church in japan.

it took u about 3 or 4 hours to make it there by train. it was raining outside so it wasn’t the best day to be riding in a car.

so me and Marcelo hang out at the temple for a while, we do a session there and are on our way out. as were walking back to the station, I remember that this is also the place where my second mission president lives. His name is Gary Stevenson, and for the members of the church out there that were able to watch the last general conference, President Stevenson, now a member of the first quorum of the seventy, spoke on temples during the final session on sunday afternoon.


so me and Marcelo went on a hunt looking for him. we searched far and wide the areas around hiro-o, until we finally tracked him and his wife down at the offices of the church. his receptionist called him down and I was able to have a great talk with him and his wife both about how their lives have been now that he has been given one of the highest callings in the church, and also about my life as a vagabond traveler.


all in all it was a great day. we walked back in the rain towards the train station and got back on the trains for the 4 hour trip back to takaoka. during the trip, Marcelo said I was looking sicker than I had in the morning and that I should take a good respite for the next couple of days and explore the areas of takaoka.

I was feeling sick, very sick, and knew that it might be best to follow his advice.

so when I got back to his home, I passed out on the bed in the guest room.

after the things i have felt and seen in the last four days, i was feeling it was time for a break