John and Jean: Yokohama Christ Church & Bazaar at Yokosuka

Up and out the door at 8:45 to head to Yokohama for church. The sidewalk outside the house looked like snow...from the petals of the cherry blossoms that came down in the rain yesterday.

Today we started out in sunshine. Jill had found the Yokohama Christ Church on the Bluff online. The base had services for Baptists and Seventh Day Adventists but after attending each she looked a little wider for something more familiar to the boys. The church is about 40 minutes away...on a good day. Not much traffic on Sunday morning. It is an English speaking congregation with the Yokohama diocese of the "Nippon Sei Ko Kai", which is part of the world-wide Anglican Communion. The 9:30 service is in English except for the first Sunday of the month when it is shared service with the Japanese with the sermon or celebration in English and the other in Japanese. It is a very small English congregatation but very welcoming and hospitable.

The camilias are beautiful right now along with the other garden flowers.

Destroyed by bombs 1945
Rededicated to God 1947

At www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/ycc/history#CC_Garrison there is a very interesting history of this church that dates back to the 1860's.

The Cross

Following the service we had coffee and conversation at the rectory next door. The lady on the floor was showing some of the crafts the Japanese congregation was going to have at the Bazaar coming up May 8th. They were encouraging the English speaking members to invite their foreign friends to the Bazaar.

One yummy cake...each of those bars is a layer of cake.
We couldn't figure out how they made it...the pastries
here are very good!!

Across the street is a small park and the International Cemetery.

There were several Japanese artists painting. The
boys found them fascinating.

Off to Yokusuka and the bazaar!

Outside the department store....bikes, bikes, bikes!

The Navy Exchange ships in all sorts of crafts, rugs, paintings in and display them in the parking garage. It goes on for a long time. There was some really nice stuff and some junk...but Jill and Dave did find the furniture they were thinking of getting. While they were shopping for that, Colin and Ryan worked on making some candles.

While we waited for the gel to set for the candles, we headed to the food court for some ice cream...no luck...but they did have some great cookies. We went out on the deck and got a great view of Dave's carrier - the the George Washington. Right now it's in dry dock for a few repairs before they head out on cruise later this spring.