Just Take a Chair

It's a little bit embarrassing to share this, but I  will. 

I guess most know by now that when we were first called on our mission to Japan, I was not happy.  I was very scared.  I'm not very adventurous by nature, and going into the unknown was scary. I had many worries about how I would survive in a very foreign country with very foreign customs and traditions.   I remember saying to Heavenly Father, "Why would you call me to a place where they sit on the floor all of the time.  I can't sit on the floor!"  His answer:  "Just take a chair."  It was just that simple and just that clear.  "Just take a chair." 
We had traveled to Japan fifteen years earlier, and I knew their customs.  Most homes don't have couches or chairs (and if they do they are very low to the ground).  Their living rooms are void of furniture except for a low table in the center of the room- much like a low coffee table.  Because there is no central heat, only the room you are actually in is heated in the winter, and that not very well.  So there is a small space heater underneath the table.  Over the table is spread a heavy quilt.  Everyone puts their legs under the table and covers their legs with the edge of the quilt.  There are often thin cushions around the table to sit on.  The floor is made of tatami mats- woven, delicate mats.

That is the Japanese way.  That is Japanese hospitality.  That was not going to work for me. 
So, one of the first things we did was borrow a folding chair from the church (with the branch president's permission) and put it in the trunk of our car.  We had only been there a few days when a sister in the branch called and asked us to come for Ken to give her a blessing.  We stopped by the church on the way and got the chair.  It stayed in our trunk the rest of the 18 months. 
We didn't have to use it very often.  But when we got to a home and found no place to sit, Ken would excuse himself and go out to the car and bring in the chair and often a towel to put on the floor first to protect the tatami from the chair.  Everyone was very gracious about it.  It is the Japanese way to be very gracious.  One lady that we met with often even asked where she could buy a chair like that so she could provide it for us instead of us having to provide it ourselves.  We assured her there was no need.  They would always put the chair near the warm table and put a cushion on it, making it as comfortable as possible.  It was humbling and embarrassing, but why shouldn't I be humbled when they are all so humble and so giving?
So, on our last Sunday in Japan, we returned the chair to the branch building.  I took a picture to remind me and now you that when the Lord asks us to do something, He provides the way for us to accomplish the thing He has asked us to do.  The chair is a symbol of our mission to Japan.  Just take a chair.