What a Wonderful World

Where did summer break go? It’s unbelievable how quickly time flies. For me, summer was busy…thankfully busy. After the Diocesan Youth Retreat (DYR) and our Nicaragua Mission Trip, I was able to take some, much-needed, time off.

I love to travel. Pre-COVID, I made it a point to visit a different country during the summer break. Over the years, I have visited the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Costa Rica, Greece, Croatia, and Bora Bora. Not able to travel for the past few years due to the pandemic really bummed me out. But this summer, I was back at it! I visited the wonderful country of Japan.

Japan has been on my bucket list for ages. I am a huge anime, videogame (JRPG), and Godzilla fan (yes, I am a geek and proud of it). So finally, being able to travel again excited me so much. Upon reflection, after my 13-day tour of the country, I could not help but notice the considerate nature of the Japanese people. Almost everyone is polite and courteous. It shows in how clean everything is. It truly is a fascinating culture.

One highlight of my trip was spending a night in a 1000-year-old Buddhist Temple in Koyasan. We observed Buddhist monks in their morning and evening prayers, a fire ceremony, and were led in Zen meditation. I was truly intrigued with how spiritual everything was. The other highlight was a random encounter with a young baseball team. Upon noticing that we were foreigners, they started to practice their English with us. With the language barrier, I used two words that seemingly every Japanese person knows, “Shohei Ohtani” In that moment, a fun encounter and connection had been made. Two completely different people, sharing a moment together.

God is marvelous in all His creations. I could not help but be in awe at just how different people are and how different people live, but at the same time find these connections that unite us. A Filipino-American touring Japan…a Catholic spending the night in a Buddhist Temple…people sharing the love of baseball. I am blessed to have experienced what God has to offer.

Hopefully, during your summer, you were able to enjoy everything God has to offer in this wonderful world.

Click here to watch my video of the interaction I had with the young baseball team.