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Trust (2)
By
Kokoro
Our second son, Irvin, had come to stay with us one week earlier. Though he did not speak Japanese at all, he somehow was familiar with the train system. So after unloading our luggage, Irvin accompanied Robin and Emily to Haneda airport. Now only Natatia and me were home. We were worried about the lost backpack, but there's nothing we could do about it. We knelt down, prayed to the Lord and asked for His help. Later I found out that all our important stuff were inside the backpack, including Tom's passport, credit card, U.S., Taiwanese and Japanese money, travel check, address book, some of his experimental data and the articles he wrote during the trip. If anyone on the train took that backpack, we were really in big trouble. Even though Japanese people are known to be honest, it would only take one person to snatch that backpack, then it would take a long time to trace it back.
Worry does not help. The only thing we could do was pray and trust in the Lord. Finally, around six o'clock, Tom came home with the good news. They located that backpack at the terminal station of that train, more than ten stops from our city. It took another four hours to bring that backpack home. Nothing, nothing at all was missing. Hurray, what a big relief. Thank you Lord.
Robin and Emily came home from Okinawa on the 29th of December. The whole family planned to travel together from that time on. Next morning, we got up and found out that Irvin was sick with fever, and could not go out with us. It was too late to cancel our lunch appointment, so we went out without him.
Next day, Robin did not feel well, and then Natatia had fever too. Tom and I started to cough. The whole family was sick. We caught the flu. So we had to cancel or change our original plan. For several days, everybody was lying on the bed, could not do anything. During that period of time, Tom was the healthiest one. He got up and cooked soup for all of us. (It was the holiday season. The neighborhood supermarket and restaurants were all closed)
On New Year evening, I was so sick with fever and non-stop coughing that I knew I was in trouble. It was holiday, no medical assistance was available in RIKEN. What should we do?
Finally, it was the morning of the New Year. Tom went to his office to seek any possible assistance. On the way, he saw a lady in white uniform playing with a group of cats in front of the building. "Are you a nurse by any chance?" Tom asked her. "Oh, no, I am the secretary of the biochemistry department, why?" So Tom told her the story. Immediately, she offered to take us to the emergency room in the neighborhood hospital. Over there, she helped us to do the registration, to communicate with the nurses and the physician and stayed with us for four hours. Doctor's diagnosis was that I had acute bronchitis. I needed antibiotics and rest.
During our conversation, we found out a very touching story about her. Her name is Ishihara. Every year, there are many foreign scientists visiting her department. In order to solve the communication problem with those foreigners, she learned English by herself. Besides doing the secretary job, she also has a very important mission in RIKEN. She takes care of more than twenty cats that people brought in from streets. Except Sunday, she comes in everyday, rain or shine to take care of those cats for thirty years. We call her "cat angel." We could see those cats' pictures, their names and history on RIKEN's TV. During daytime, most people enjoy watching those chubby, cute cats walking around the area (the lawn is in front of the cafeteria, most employees go over there for lunch and dinner.) I believe that she is the angel of God, send to take care of me when there is a need.
Even though we left out some of the original sightseeing plans, we still had a very good time there in Japan. We realized that the Lord is with us all the time and takes good care of us. We praise the Lord, the Almighty. (part 2 of 2, completed.)
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