Miracle at a Talent Show

Miracles happen all the time and I would like to share one I experienced recently...

After finishing my personal devotion on Sabbath morning, I rolled out of my bed, blew my nose, and walked out of my room.
"Good morning" my dad greeted me.
"...ood...m...ing" I croaked. "Where is my voice?!" I thought. Clearing my throat a few more times, I tried again, but it still sounded pretty awful. "Oh no. Not today!" I inwardly moaned.
You see, that night was the church's Christmas Talent Show. I was planning on singing "O Holy Night" (by Point of Grace) with my mom. This was really important to me for a couple of reasons. First, my mom hates singing up front. I've been trying to convince her to sing it with me for four years! I love singing with my mom; I think she sings well and that our voices really blend, regardless of the excuses she gives. Also, I just love that song and how well it's done and really wanted to sing it. Finally, my mom agreed to sing it with me this year. I was so happy! Finally, haha! We practiced many times and figured it all out. And then... I had no voice. Great. Just great.
Running to the kitchen, I started cookin' up all sort of concoctions. I drank some nasty tea, took cold medicine, tons of cough and throat drops, used throat spray, gargled salt water (Ugh! That was nasty), and anything else I could think. (Did I forget to mention I was supposed to sing a special music for church too?)
Soon, I had most of my voice back, but I still sounded congested and I knew it would be next to impossible to sing the really high notes that I was planning to sing that night. The song is a little difficult to sing because it starts low and then I have to go ultra high at the end. It's a lot harder to sing when you have a cold too!  (I had caught the cold the last day we were in Japan and had it for a little over three weeks!)
"Ok, God. I guess it's up to You if you want me to sing. You know I really want to sing this song but I want to sing for Your glory, so, Your will be done."

As we were getting ready to head over to set up for the talent show that evening, I asked my mom if we could practice.
"Sure." she said.
She pushed play and we went through the song once.
"That was horrible!" I exclaimed. "My voice basically left me at that highest note and my voice kept cracking. Are you sure we should do this?"
"I think you can do it. It' already in the program. Just don't practice anymore or you'll strain you voice. Suck on your couph/throat drops until we sing, that might help."
"okay..." I said, not completely convinced.

The talent show was really going great. There were beautiful songs sang, funny skits done, cute stories told, and a lot of laughing and clapping. But I was coming up on the program quick. Problem was, I was feeling even worse! I kept coughing, my nose was plugged, and I just did not feel good. (In fact, I actually ran up a few of the stairs in the building to clear my nose, but it only lasted a minute.) Soon, I was the next one up.
I turned to my friend, "I'm so nervous! I don't know if I can do it!'
"Let's pray then."
"Thanks, Gracie." I said.
 She finished at the same time the group ahead of me did and it was time for me to go up.
My mom called me up and it was time. "Please, God? Send me a miracle so I can just sing this song." I prayed silently and started the song.
After I hesitantly sang the first line I realized something. "My nose is clear! I can breath! And my voice isn't strained or cracking at all. I'm not even scared in front of everybody!" 
Coming to the end of the song, I took a deep breath right before I sang the highest notes. Then, the song was over. Just like that!
After the song, I distinctly remember just keep saying in my head, "I did it! I did it! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, God!"
I then made my way to my seat. As soon as I sat down, I nose became really congested and I started coughing again. That's when I realized that God had indeed answered my prayer and had given me a miracle! I was just ecstatic with joy that He would do that for me. He cared about me wanting to sing a song. It wasn't important, but it was to me. That's why it was important to Him. This incident reminded me of how God gave me my voice in Tanzania when I needed as well. (Look at my blog entitled, "Miracle in the Classrom."
Wow. God is so good; isn't He?

To Tokyo We Go

"So, let me see, Japan will have been the ... one. two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.. yep! This will be the 10th country I've been in." I counted to myself as I gazed out the airplane window. The sky was full of billowing white clouds. I looked around me and noticed my family and our friends who came with us were all sleeping. Being a light sleeper, I knew I wasn't going to fall asleep so I let my mind wander to all the exiting things we did in Tokyo, Japan.
My mom decided that during Thanksgiving break we were going to go to Japan. And why not? So, Wednesday night we arrived. Our trip turned out to be exciting right from the start.
 After we landed in Tokyo, we  had to walk all the way to the other side of the airport to catch the Metro. We had to hurry so we wouldn't be late. Problem was, Melissa, a teacher at TAAS who joined us, was currently on crunches. It was a little bit difficult and painful to go at such a fast rate, but it looked like we could still make it.
My dad rushed ahead to buy our metro passes but we were close behind. After much confusion of paying at the wrong station, going to the wrong exit, and so forth, we realized we had just missed our train. Thankfully, someone helped us decide which alternative to take. We all took a deep breath as we sat down in the right train. Then, my mom sat back up.
"We still have to figure out which train to transfer to and where we get off."
 I was glad that we hadn't passed our stop before they figured it out about fifteen minutes later.
As I looked at the map of all the metros I was amazed.
"That is SO complicated. Taipei's metro system is way easier!"
Eventually we arrived and found our hotel with no other mishaps.
I remember seeing a haze of orange in he sky behind a tall building and commenting, "Why is the sky orange over there?!"

I found out right after we finished checking in. It was the Tokyo Tower! It was really close to our hotel so we walked over and took some pictures. It's like Japan's version of the Eiffel Tower. We went up to the observatory. They had this kind of majestic music playing and it matched the amazing scene out the glass walls. We could look down on the huge city of Tokyo. You couldn't really see how big it was, but you could see hundreds and thousands of lights twinkling all over the place. It was beautiful. Afterwards, we hurried to the hotel because it was freezing outside! I think I almost forgot what winter felt like! lol!
The next morning, we joined a tour to see Mt. Fuji (or Fujisan). The group we were with was pretty small so we had a lot of room in the tour bus. I remember being so surprised as I looked out the window in the beginning of the ride. The reason was, for a split second I forgot that they drive on the ride side of the car there. So, I see a car drive right next to us and all I see in the 'driver's seat is a box!
"How is the car driving!? There's only a box! Oh..." haha! I realized my mistake before I had even finished my thought, but it was pretty funny.
As we left the city, the scenery was just beautiful. There were rolling hills and mountains covered with dense forest. I could almost smell the fresh greenery in the cool air. We weren't able to see the peak of Mt. Fuji though (until later) as it was covered with thick, dark clouds.
We road over the only 'singing road' in the world too. There's a certain part of the road as you approach the Mt. Fuji that you hear singing coming from the road as you drive over it.
When our leader first told us we were going to drive over ad singing road I was like, "a what?!" But it's true! It sang! Apparently, they strategically place little bumps and lines on the road so that when you drive over it, and you listen carefully, you can hear a song. I didn't know the Japanese song, but it was really cool to hear!

When we reached the highest point you could drive to, we took some pictures (even though we couldn't see the top) and turned around. After lunch, we drove away from the mountain to go on a gondola ride. As we turned away from the mountain, the tour guide shouted, "Oh look behind us! Mt. Fuji is coming out!" All heads immediately turned and we were able to see the peak of the tallest mountain in Japan.
"That is a rare treat." the tour guide explained. "Mt. Fuji is usually very shy."
We got a great view from the gondola, and after that we took a ferry ride on one of lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji. The water was so graceful and peaceful. It was a nice, relaxing ride.

By the time we arrived back in Tokyo, it was dark and we were starving! We decided to go and try to find an Indian restaurant. One of the ladies on our tour decided to join us for dinner as well. The only problem was, we couldn't find it! People kept giving us different directions and we ended up walking a big circle. It took us a while, but we finally found it and the food was amazing. :)
On Friday, we met up with the Smiths (friends we had previously met on their visit to Taipei) and went to the Sky Tree. It is a super tall tower and the has the highest look-out in the world! It has only been there three years. The view was absolutely spectacular! There was great weather and you see the entire city. Its so big, it's beyond words in my opinion.
"Wow," I said to myself, "And I thought Taipei was huge..." It just went on forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and... okay, I think you get my point.

On our way back to the hotel, we took the wrong train three times. See, that just shows how complicated the Tokyo metro is. Even the locals get lost! There was like a sea of people, too. I haven't seen very many places so packed with people. At rush hour, they have what they call 'train pushers.' They will literally shove and push the people so tight into the cars so they can all fit when the doors close. Thankfully we didn't have to experience that.
Anyways, we finally got on the right train. We had fun trying all the drinks in the vending machines though. Japan is actually known for their vending machines. They have very unique ones and their absolutely everywhere. You can get cold or hot drinks, hot soup, ramen, some have ice-cream, french fries, and all sorts of stuff! They have really good Japanese drinks too.
The next day was sabbath and we went to a church there. It was nice. The potluck was a little different. They had us sit down, and then they served us the food! We took a walk in the park afterwards and saw some fall colored trees.
That night we went to Shibuya Crossing. Probably one of the busiest crosswalks in the world. It's kind of like New York's Time Square or something. After we crossed the road my mom asked me what I thought.
"I felt like I was swimming in a sea of people! Haha!"
We did some souvenir shopping, grabbed a bite to eat and then quickly went to our hotel. We had to take a taxi for a short distance but it was absolutely ridiculously expensive! I have never seen a taxi ride cost so much, and it wasn't a very long a drive at all!
Anyways, before even the crack of dawn, we had to jump out of our cozy beds and rush to the airport.
In summary, we had a great, fun-filled, exciting trip and I have now been to 10 countries! I wonder which one will be next... :)