Oh Happy Day

I am going to break from the usual "travel" narrative and tell you about one of the more interesting experiences I have had since I have been in Japan. Being a Christian, when I came to Japan I had high hopes for a revival. Having said that, I don't think I ever expected to see every student in my high school, as well as most of the teachers to be singing and dancing to Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace, Oh Happy Day and a handful of other classic gospel favorites, but that is exactly what I saw today. Today, my school hosted a gospel group named the Gospel Messengers that consisted of 6 ladies from Tokyo, I believe. Admittedly, I was skeptical, but after hearing the first song I could tell that these ladies were the real deal (meaning they know what they are singing about and believe it full-on). It was so strange, but it felt like being in the Bible Belt in the States and stopping in at a southern Baptist church on a Sunday morning. It really was the last thing I expected from 6 Japanese ladies from Tokyo, but God moves in mysterious ways, doesn't He? Anyway, one of the things I have really missed over here is having a church to go to so it was really refreshing to be at this concert. It was kind of like a recharge of the batteries and was also a pretty emotional epxerience seeing these kids singing those songs, having a blast a wearing a giant smile. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time, but was almost tearing up too. The most common question I had after that was, "What does Hallelujah mean?" It means Praise The Lord!