Japan Mission Trip

Today I didn't get started until lunchtime, when I met Pastor Makito and we went to Oasis Chapel together to have lunch with some of the ladies from his church that wanted to practice their English some.  While we had lunch we shared some of our testimonies.  For many Japanese their testimony involves encountering God while they are in the states, which makes me appreciate the opportunity to be around so many international students on Marshall's campus so much more.  After lunch I went to Pastor Makito's house and played video games with his sons for a while.

I realized this morning that I forgot to post last night.  Yesterday my work did not start until the afternoon so in the morning we took the train from Rifu into Sendai and went to the new Pokémon Center.  They had all of the Pokemon merchandise you could imagine.  Afterwards we went to Camp Morigo to work.  This camp is one of Oasis Chapel's main ministries.  They have a cafe there that was just featured in a magazine article.  There are also facilities that can be rented out for camps and such.  We worked in one of the workshops because it rained all day.  We cleaned it up some and added extra support to one wall that had been worn down by termites.  Today we did a lot of outside work at the camp.  We cut down some branches that were hanging over the road and did some weedeating.  After lunch we replaced the sign on the road leading into the camp.  In the evening I met pastor Makito (pastor of Oasis Chapel).  He showed m...

Today was a rainy day so we did not do too much work.  We started out going to the campground that is part of Oasis Chapel (the church in Rifu).  A kindergarten group was just finishing their stay there so we cleaned up for the next group.  After that Dan showed me around Rifu for a while.  In the evening we mostly stayed at their house and I played some games with their kids.

Yesterday all I did was shop and relax so I didn't post anything.  I did do a lot of walking and one of the nice places to walk in Iwaki is in the old canal (there are photos).  It used to be a canal during the time when Iwaki had a castle but is now filled in and planted with trees.  This morning I attended stairs Baptist, which is a traditional-style church with a mostly older congregation.  I was asked to do a testimony and they also asked me to teach them a church song in English.  They had a hymnal with English and Japanese lyrics in it so I found the shortest and simplest English song that I could (Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus).  After church I attempted to have conversation with several of the church members in very broken English and very broken Japanese.  Some also wanted a selfie with me.  Then we headed for Rifu, which is just outside Sendai.  We went to the church there (Oasis Chapel) and I met the people I will be staying with next ...

Today was my last day to play with the kids at the kindergarten.  It was basically the same routine as yesterday, Legos, water games, and a movie today we watched My Neighbor Totoro, which is a Hayao Miyazaki film.  He is basically the Walt Disney of Japan and has done many famous films (many are well-known in America too).  Some include Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle.  After the movie the kids ate their lunch, which is quite interesting.  They start off by chanting a Christian prayer thanking God for their delicious bento boxes (lunch boxes).  This is especially good because only 3 out of the 13 teachers that work at the kindergarten are Christian.  This prayer is good for both the kids and the teachers to hear every day.  Christian teachers are pretty hard to find, o they have to hire non-Christians as well.  Christian educations are valued because we teach many good values and morals that the Japanese can appreci...

Today I played with the kindergarten kids some more.  One of the kids (the youngest boy, 2 years old) has taken a particular liking to me and always runs up and hugs me whenever he sees me.  While we were playing today there was a small earthquake (4 on the Richter scale).  It only lasted about 5 seconds and there were no aftershocks.  We played some water games and watched the first part of Alice in Wonderland in Japanese.  Later Pastor Tanno and I went to see the rehabilitation center for physically disabled people.  There is a very large complex in Iwaki and three of his church members work there.  We went in and said hello to everyone and then took a look around the other buildings.  They had a school, some dormitories and a training center.  They also had a small shop with things made by the disabled people and a cafe where I got a rice and kiwi smoothie. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3dKJWmYLfjGLU1TdTVvWjFYdmM