This week, we begin English conversation times with different groups of people.

This is the tiny Gingira shop!

The restaurant is located in an interesting complex of many small shops.

Mingling!

This is their “Dude!” pose.

Wednesday, half the group met at a tiny restaurant downtown to join my regularly scheduled English time. (The other half of the group got to shop and explore a famous shopping area!)

This was our “Gingira” group, named after the restaurant.

The GRITers were able to teach popular slang and phrases to the Japanese in attendance, and the Japanese taught them slang and phrases young people in Japan use. It was a lot of fun!

On Thursday (today), we visited English Cafe, held at the home of a Japanese woman who encourages her friends to use their English each week. I’ve been a part of this group for about 5 years, and they seemed to enjoy talking to new people in English.

On Friday, we plan to host a new English conversation time at a town nearby, inviting specifically the students learning English from our friend Blake. This should be a great chance to meet new people and spread our influence and God’s love as opportunities arise.

As always, the GRIT team helps prepare meals during the summer. Here we see one slaving away to remove delicious citrus fruit from their skins. They are all doing a wonderful job!

Slicing and dicing a very juicy fruit!