Takahata Fudo Shrine

Monday is our day off and this week I decided to walk down to the Takahata Fudo Shrine (only 10 mins from my apartment) to work on my Bible study. This was a very neat experience since the shrine seems to be an important center of Buddhism in this area.

There were a lot of people visiting the temple and the gardens. It's such a large area with lots of Buddhist statues. Unfortunately, I can't read anything so I don't know the significance of any of the statues or shrines on the grounds.

I definitely was able to appreciate the sense of spirituality and the beauty of the grounds. I walked along some of the paths and was absolutely amazed by all of the colorful flowers. I did not have time to explore everything because I wanted to sit to reflect and work on our 1 Corinthians study before heading back to the apartment.

It's been a great experience going places by myself when I understand very little of what's written or being said around me. It seems that I have to rely on intuition much more as I interact with people when I explore the places around me.

When I am out in public I can't really communicate much other than hello, please and thank you with language but as relational beings we are still able to communicate...it's so interesting. At the temple, a woman had brought here dog and he was being silly. An older woman was sitting next to me and we were both laughing and she turned to smile at me. It was such a simple and obvious exchange but it was still a cool reminder that culture and language doesn't hinder our ability to enjoy each other (or a puppy hehe).