Japan Mission Trip

Things are starting to slow down as you may have noticed.  This week was less busy because the church I am at this week had a mission team in last week so there isn't much that needs done.  On Friday I went to Sendai (the nearest big city, just 2 train stops away) to go shopping with Dan.  Saturday I helped clean the church.  Each week one of the small groups cleans the church.  Afterwards I joined Pastor Makito's family and the Brown family for dinner.  Today was church.  Before the service was a youth service that I attended with the Brown's oldest daughter.  Afterwards was the main service.  It was all in Japanese so I don't really know what we talked about 😅.  I have found that I can understand most casual conversations now, but sermons are much harder because there is an entire separate vocabulary (which confuses even English speakers in church if they are unfamiliar with the terminology).  Today is the last official mission d...

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

Today I started out helping with the kindergarten and playing with the kids.  After 1 hour Pastor Tanno and I went to the church's weekly prayer meeting.  It took place in one of the member's houses, which was a traditional Japanese style house.  I was introduced to everyone and then we sang a few hymns in Japanese.  Then Pastor Tanno gave a short message.  Afterwards we broke into small groups and prayed together.  When we were finished we had lunch served by the lady that owned the house and then all of the church members took turns asking me questions.  They also begged me to sing them something in English, so I sang Country Roads.  For some reason that song is huge in Japan and whenever I say I'm from West Virginia everyone starts singing.  Probably more Japanese realize that West Virginia is a state than Americans.  After I sang it in English they sang it in Japanese for me.  In the group picture, the one on the left is Pastor ...

Last night I stayed at the Global Mission Center, which is just a few blocks away from the church I am working at this week.  The rooms are more traditional Japanese style, with tatami floors (made of rice straw typically), futon beds (not a folding couch like in America, it's basically a really thin mattress on the floor).  And paper sliding doors.  This morning I met with Pastor Tanno and we looked at the construction site for the new kindergarten center that they are making (the sign picture shows the entrance but I didn't take any of the actual construction).  After that we headed to the church where they currently hold the kindergarten program and I played with the kindergarten kids until they had to eat lunch.  Their kind kindergarten program is an actual school and currently is open to children ages 3-5, but they are going to expand to 0-5 once they have the new building.  The government paid for 60% of their building project because Japan wants to b...

Today we attended the Kachin Christian Peace Church's 25th anniversary.  They are a church group in Japan of Myanmars (the Kachin are a minority group in Myanmar).  They are refugees living in Japan that formed their own community over the years.  When we first entered the celebration hall we were greeted with drums and flutes and led into the main hall, where they handed out awards to some of the other churches that have helped them in the past.  The service was in the Kachin language and in Japanese, neither of which I understand, so it was hard to understand much of what was going on.  Afterwards they had a reception and a dance after that (we had to leave before the dance).  During the reception a Japanese student came up to me and we talked for a while.  He is actually studying minority groups in Myanmar culture, so he was there to learn about the people.  He is a Bhuddist, like most Japanese, but was very interested in the positive atmospher...

Today I went to the Every Nation Church of Yokohama for Sunday morning worship.  They had a morning service for families and an afternoon service for youth.  The pastor was a quest speaker from Guam.  His message was in English and was translated to Japanese.  The songs were original contemporary-style worship songs written by the band.  For lunch we went to an "English lunch"  where some American students and some Japanese students wishing to practice their English got together.  After lunch was the second service and then the small groups.  The small groups were gender and age specific.  Ours met at an Italian restaurant.  It was all in Japanese but fortunately there were 4 people (half of the group) fluent in English and Japanese that translated for me.  For dinner we went out for ramen and for dessert had taiyaki (fish-shaped bread with bean paste inside). https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3dKJWmYLfjGLTFLeEFmNG5ERFU

Today we spent most of the day at the VBS.  There were more kids there than they expected (about 20 or so).  The morning session started with music.  All of the songs were recognizable English songs with Japanese lyrics.  Then Pastor Tanaka (an elderly gentleman from one of the local churches) gave a short lesson to the kids.  I was only able to understand about every tenth word but he used his hands a lot and acted out the Bible stories for the kids with hand motions and funny voices so I could make out that he was talking about the blind man in John and Jesus being the light of the world.  The kids also did several crafts and games.  In the morning they tie-died T-shirts and then used spray paint and a stencil to write "Jesus loves me" in English on the front of their shirts.  They also took a paper mache sheep and glued cotton balls on it to give it wool.  Afterwards Gordon and LeeAnn took me to see Kanto Gakuin University, which is a scho...

Arrived safely in Japan after a long day of flying.  My first flight at 6:00am was delayed 54 minutes, but I had a long enough layover in Chicago that it didn't matter.  The flight from Chicago to Narita was about 12 hours long and really cramped, but fortunately there were no technical difficulties with the plane.  Arrived safely in Japan at 2:45 local time (1:45 at home).  Met Gordon Hwang (the missionary that I am staying with the first few days) at the airport and we rode the bus to his house.  He had a Bible study at his house this evening with some youth from the local area.  He served us all Japanese curry and rice for dinner.  Thank you for your prayers for my safe travels.  Tomorrow we will be going to the VBS of a local church.  For them it is a one day event and about 11 kids have signed up (it's very hard to get a lot of attendance for something like this in Japan).  Please pray for the kids that will show up, that God will...