Day 4

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 atmosphere that the Christians celebrating there created (he said it was very unique).  He has been attending the Kachin Baptist Church's worship services to learn more about them as well.  I had the opportunity to talk with him for most of the reception about Christianity.  Please pray for him and for the Kachin church that even though they have had to leave their country, God is using that to reach people around the world.  After the reception Gordon and I left with Pastor Tanno of Taira church, where I will be spending the next week working with the church's kindergarten ministry.  This church is located in Iwaki, which is very close to Fukushima.  Fukushima is where the nuclear power plant was that exploded during the earthquake and tsunami several years ago.  They are about 40 miles from the plant and the radiation has affected them enough that they have only recently been able to grow vegetables locally that are safe to eat.  Pray that God will continue to heal their land.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3dKJWmYLfjGLTMxWlFzRmlDVDg

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