Good morning everyone!

Last Sunday, I was the guest speaker at the Denver Buddhist temple in Colorado. Rev. Kanya Okamoto, who is the resident minister of the Denver Buddhist temple, invited me to come many months ago. After I accepted, he told me that I would have to speak at 3 Sunday services; One Japanese service, One Dharma school service and One Adult service. He also asked me to give 2 lectures; One at the Longmont Buddhist temple and also one at an interfaith event at the Denver, St. Paul Methodist church.

Michi and I decided to drive from Sacramento to Denver. It was a long, long drive. Do you know that how many miles from Sacramento to Denver? Does anyone know? ...It is about 1200 miles. Can you imagine driving 1200 miles? When I told Rev. Bob we wanted to drive to Denver, he told me that I had better plan to take a few more days because it is a long way. From Sacramento to Los Angeles is only 400 miles. It is difficult to imagine the distance without a map. So, I drew this map. Now, you can see how far Denver, Colorado is.

Anyway, we took over 2 days to get to Denver. We left Sacramento on Wednesday September 20^th and that night, we stayed in Salt Lake City, Utah. When we arrived in Salt lake City, it was already dark. So, we were not able to see the Great Salt lake.

The next day, Thursday, September 21^st, we planned to reach Denver and to stay at Rev. Okamoto’s residence. At 8:30 AM, we left Salt Lake and headed to Denver. We had to drive over the Rocky Mountains. So, we drove drown to US-70.

While we drove along the US-70, we saw many red mountains and hills... like the Grand Canyon. So, we took many pictures along the way.

Around 4 P.M, we reached the Rocky Mountains. We took a short dinner break at the foot of the mountains and started our climb.

The Summit of the Rocky Mountains is called Vail summit. The signs along the road said that it was only 90 miles away from Denver City. 90 miles is about the same distance from Sacramento to San Francisco. So, we guessed that it might take 2 hours to get to Denver from Vail summit. When we neared the Vail summit, it started to rain.

“Ping Pong” “Ping Pong” my cell phone rang. When I checked my cell phone, I found that I had a voice mail from someone. I thought “Maybe it is an emergency call from one of our members. I had better check it” So, I listened to the voice mail.

The voice mail said “Hi, Rev. Kaz. How are you? This is Rev. Bob. I just checking to see if your drive is going ok. How is the weather? I heard from my friend in Denver, he said that it is supposed to snow in the Rocky mountains. I just wanted to mention this to you so you will be careful. Talk to you later...”

Snow? I did not bring my chains... And when I saw the outside temperature on the thermometer. It said 41 degrees.

But, I guessed that from Vail to Denver is only 2 hours, so we may be able to pass the summit. Rain fall was getting harder and harder...

And the temperature was down to 32 degrees.

Finally, it was started to snow... and we realized that we had hit a big snow storm... When we almost reached the summit, the snow storm turned into a blizzard. We could not even see 10 feet ahead of us. The temperature was dropping, it was down to 21 degrees.

And suddenly, all car traffic just stopped. Soon many highway patrol cars passed us on the road side. I thought “Oh, maybe someone had an accident.” It was 8:30 P.M.

After one hour, around 9:30 P.M., a road worker came to our car and said “The road is now closed and we will not be able to open the road until tomorrow morning. So, please stay in the car.”

I was surprised and thought to myself “do we have to stay in the car all night? We were up 10,000 feet, high in the Rocky Mountains and it was 21 degrees... That sign up, the air was so thin that we were feeling short of breath...” And the snowfall was about 3 inches per hour. I had to push the snow off from my car every hour...

All exits were closed. So, we could not get off from the freeway...

So, Michi and I just slept in the car... ZZZ...

“Knock, knock” someone knocked on my windshield and surprised me. It was another road worker. He said “Good morning, sir. We opened the road, so please drive down to Denver.” But I said “I don’t have chains. Can I still go through the summit to Denver?” He answered “sure, you don’t need chains”.

However, my car tires were buried in deep snow. So, I was worried if I would be able to drive. When I turned the steering wheel left, my car went right. Then I turned the steering wheel right, my car went left. My car was totally without control.

Then the road worker yelled “Don’t rush! Drive slowly!” I gently turned and drove slowly... and finally my car was able to move out from the heavy snow.

I wondered if the road was really clear. But, after we drove about 2 or 3 miles, there was no snow on the road. I really appreciated all the road workers who worked so hard to clear the road. They must have worked very hard all night in 21 degree weather. Because of their efforts, we were able to reach Denver.

When I received the request to guest speak in Denver, Rev. Okamoto, recommended that I take a plane. But Michi and I wanted to visit the Amache and Topaz relocation camps where the Japanese were interned during the War. Some of you may know that during WW II, many Sacramento people had to move to the Camp in Amache, Colorado and many others had to move to the Camp in Topaz, Utah. Some of our Betsuin members, like our church manager Tak Ito suggested that we visit those places to learn about the history of Japanese Americans.

Fortunately, we were able to visit both places and we did learn a lot. Michi and I were born in Japan, so we have no relatives here in the United States. But, when we visited the Amache relocation camp and the Amache museum, we thought that if the Japanese Americans were not able to survive WWII, we might not have our wonderful Buddhist tradition here in the United States. And I might not have the opportunity to become an overseas minister here in Sacramento.

As I have said before at our Dharma school services “It is important to learn about gratitude from reading books or hearing stories. But it is most important to experience the heart of gratitude with our lives.”

There may be some here today that do not realize the dept of gratitude, we owe to the Japanese Americans. When I first came here, I did not feel such gratitude! But when I think about their efforts to sustain and develop our Dharma teachings… enduring the interment and rebuilding our temple community after the war.

I realize they are really an important part of our Nembutsu family and they have been devoted Nembutsu followers…just as I am. So, please remember that... only because of many, many people’s help and support, have we been able to sustain our teachings here in Sacramento... and in America.

It was really moving to visit those relocation camps. If some of you have an opportunity to visit the camps, I think that you too, will be affected.

When we were stopped by snow on the road, we experienced gratitude in our hearts towards the road workers who cleared off the road.

When we visited the Amache and Topaz relocation camps, we felt many, many people’s timeless help and support to keep our Dharma teachings alive. I am sure that their efforts directly affect my life today.

I know that I am able to live my life because of the other power…that is all of your help and support. I can only say Namo Amida Bustu to all of you... to express my gratitude.

Anyway, we enjoyed our trip to Denver. But, if I ever receive another request from Denver again, the next time…I will fly.

Gassho