I'm here again in Tokyo, this time DIRECTING (along with Heather Brainerd) the 2009 PSW Tokyo A Summer Project!
I'll be blogging about it plenty, but I started a new blog for it:
genintokyo09.blogspot.com
Check it out!
:)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
A Slower Week...
Last week was a different kind of week.
We had Monday off and then we went on campus for the next four days.
But the focus was more on team unity, and I think God agreed with that.
He definitely made it so that the team would be where our focus and energy would go.
Of course, the enemy took notice, and also decided that team unity is where he would work.
We had a pretty intense share of little conflicts, bits of strife, petty dissentions within the group, every one of which God guided us through! It was glorious, and I know for a fact that we are a ton closer to each other and to God because of what happened last week.
In terms of on campus ministry, no one came to Christ on our two campuses, and all five of us had VERY few chances to share the Gospel. But we had great times of following up with our new believers (ex: Kouhei and I got to read through some more of the Bible last week too!). Kasumi and Christina got to meet, along with a staffer from JCCC. We also focused a lot on our discipleship relationships within the whole project team. So we were all enriched by our Father's love through our relationships with each other, and through great times in the Word individually. The week's theme was "He is our Father." Our attitude definitely reflected it.
Of course, it wasn't an easy week. Like I said, Satan hated our unity focus, and we got so attacked and discouraged by little conflicts. But after the week was over, we went to church on Sunday and the words of the main song sung by the Gospel Choir were "Make us one, Lord... Let your love flow so the world will know we are one in You." :) God definitely wanted our unity week. "By this all men will know..." I know that students have been touched by our Christ-centered love for each other.
We had Monday off and then we went on campus for the next four days.
But the focus was more on team unity, and I think God agreed with that.
He definitely made it so that the team would be where our focus and energy would go.
Of course, the enemy took notice, and also decided that team unity is where he would work.
We had a pretty intense share of little conflicts, bits of strife, petty dissentions within the group, every one of which God guided us through! It was glorious, and I know for a fact that we are a ton closer to each other and to God because of what happened last week.
In terms of on campus ministry, no one came to Christ on our two campuses, and all five of us had VERY few chances to share the Gospel. But we had great times of following up with our new believers (ex: Kouhei and I got to read through some more of the Bible last week too!). Kasumi and Christina got to meet, along with a staffer from JCCC. We also focused a lot on our discipleship relationships within the whole project team. So we were all enriched by our Father's love through our relationships with each other, and through great times in the Word individually. The week's theme was "He is our Father." Our attitude definitely reflected it.
Of course, it wasn't an easy week. Like I said, Satan hated our unity focus, and we got so attacked and discouraged by little conflicts. But after the week was over, we went to church on Sunday and the words of the main song sung by the Gospel Choir were "Make us one, Lord... Let your love flow so the world will know we are one in You." :) God definitely wanted our unity week. "By this all men will know..." I know that students have been touched by our Christ-centered love for each other.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Necessary Relaxation...
Clarification: I've been behind on posting, so my last post talks about things that happened on "Friday" but it's Friday June 15, not the 22.
Saturday June 16, the whole crew left to go on our Mid-Project Retreat. After an exhausting week and an intense Discover Friends party, we were excited to have a relaxing weekend. So Saturday we took the train out to Hakone in the gorgeous mountains of Japan. The first day we went on an excursion, taking the crazy cable car up to near the peak,
then taking an AWESOME ropeway thingy...
...from which we could see Mt. Fuji (looking much like Mt. Olympus)
...and the Lake,
then riding a Pirate Ship across the Lake.
Once we got to the town on the other end of the Lake, everyone went for a little hike over to a shrine in the forest next to the water. Christina and Heather and I decided that we'd go on one of these:
Turns out, they're a lot more work than one might expect, but SO fun!
Then we ran into Chad and Maria!
That night we split into guys and girls and relaxed in the onsen (public baths). It was a chill night of just chattin, watchin "Heroes", sleeping... Sunday we packed our little backpacks and went over to Yunessun (The Disneyland of Spas- NO JOKE).
This place was CRAZY! They had little spa playgrounds for kids, caves of hot baths,
water slides with hot water,
crazy baths of water mixed with:
-red wine
-curry
-green tea
-coffee
-flowers
-charcoal
-sake
and one of my favorites, HONEY
There was also a Dead Sea bath that you could float in! :)
But my definite highlight was "Dr. Fish". You go into a room and everyone puts their feet in the water at the same time. Then there are hundreds of little fishies that come up to your feet and start sucking/eating the dead skin off your feet! It tickles so much! It was ridiculous!
It's creepy... everyone wears these matching robes and walks around barefoot. I was thinking, "where's the kool-aid?"
Anyway we ended the weekend with a nice Italian dinner and then went home. You're right... we were kinda spoiled. :) Honestly, though, we needed it pretty bad at that point.
Saturday June 16, the whole crew left to go on our Mid-Project Retreat. After an exhausting week and an intense Discover Friends party, we were excited to have a relaxing weekend. So Saturday we took the train out to Hakone in the gorgeous mountains of Japan. The first day we went on an excursion, taking the crazy cable car up to near the peak,
then taking an AWESOME ropeway thingy...
...from which we could see Mt. Fuji (looking much like Mt. Olympus)
...and the Lake,
then riding a Pirate Ship across the Lake.
Once we got to the town on the other end of the Lake, everyone went for a little hike over to a shrine in the forest next to the water. Christina and Heather and I decided that we'd go on one of these:
Turns out, they're a lot more work than one might expect, but SO fun!
Then we ran into Chad and Maria!
That night we split into guys and girls and relaxed in the onsen (public baths). It was a chill night of just chattin, watchin "Heroes", sleeping... Sunday we packed our little backpacks and went over to Yunessun (The Disneyland of Spas- NO JOKE).
This place was CRAZY! They had little spa playgrounds for kids, caves of hot baths,
water slides with hot water,
crazy baths of water mixed with:
-red wine
-curry
-green tea
-coffee
-flowers
-charcoal
-sake
and one of my favorites, HONEY
There was also a Dead Sea bath that you could float in! :)
But my definite highlight was "Dr. Fish". You go into a room and everyone puts their feet in the water at the same time. Then there are hundreds of little fishies that come up to your feet and start sucking/eating the dead skin off your feet! It tickles so much! It was ridiculous!
It's creepy... everyone wears these matching robes and walks around barefoot. I was thinking, "where's the kool-aid?"
Anyway we ended the weekend with a nice Italian dinner and then went home. You're right... we were kinda spoiled. :) Honestly, though, we needed it pretty bad at that point.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
"My power is made perfect..."
Friday night was a GREAT second Discover Friends party. Beau was the emcee this time (in a cowboy hat like Steve last week)
except this time I got to be the Japanese emcee! :)
Us announcing together
The hall was PACKED! Sooo many people showed up to the party and we all had a fantastic time.
David playing a game with some college students
Crazy story:
Steve was at Rikkyo (his secondary campus) on Wednesday and he ran into a Christian who goes to Sophia (his primary campus). He found out that the guy goes to a Hillsong church plant, so he and a few others from our team joined him at the Wednesday night service. There, he was introduced to a few Sophia students, and one of them was Seiya. Seiya came to Discover Friends to help out with the ministry. Well, he sees the Japanese emcee and thinks "hmm... he looks familiar. Gen, huh?" So he asked Joe from our team what my last name was. "Nakamura." Seiya comes over to me, taps me, waves and says, "Sakuma Seiya desu." I went crazy. Here standing in front of me was my friend from pretty much infancy... Our dads were both pastors in Tokyo a good twenty years ago!
Seiya
I had been kind of discouraged because that was our big evangelism week where we were supposed to be as intentional as possible about sharing with students on campus. I hadn't gotten too many chances to share... Other great things had happened between me and God, which was awesome. But I felt discouraged. But that night, I just sensed the Holy Spirit being present in that hall and very alive in my heart, and I went out there and intensely shared the Gospel with four different guys. The first guy really didn't want to hear it, but God wasn't having any of that, and I got to share with him. Then I sat down with three guys who were having a few laughs. We started talking and I found out that all three were freshmen at an education University- they were all gonna be science teachers: one bio, one physics, and one earth sciences. SMART guys. All three seemed really excited to talk to me, and we just had a great time talking about some pretty deep stuff, actually. We talked about why they wanted to be teachers... I didn't accept any textbook answers- I asked them why they REALLY wanted to be teachers. I got to talk about my fraternity and my semester as Pledge Master because some of what they said seemed to relate a lot to how I felt about that period of my life. So I got to talk about God and the community of His followers and how we help each other become the righteous men we were designed to be. I asked them why they liked each of their subjects- the bio guys said it was cuz he liked nature, so I asked why he liked nature. "YOU ASK HARD QUESTIONS!" said all three. He asked me why I like nature so I got to talk about the beauty of God's creation and seeing His artful masterpiece. Then the announcement came on saying we had to clean up in five minutes. So I hurried and said, "Do you guys know about Jesus?" One of them had a KGP booklet, but he said he really didn't understand. So I offered to tell them about it- the bio guy and the physics guy didn't wanna hear it, but earth sciences guy said, "Okay, but really quickly." So I powered through the ENTIRE Gospel. From God's sovereign nature to His undying love for each of us, to our sinful nature, to the crucifixion, to our reconciliation, to the opportunity for each of us to accept... I finished a schpiel that was definitely the Holy Spirit giving me the words to speak, and as soon as I was done, the bio guy who most fervently didn't want to hear it leaned back from his attentively listening position and said, "IT'S SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND!" I gave them all my email addresses, and they didn't wanna give me their contact, so I have no idea what's going to happen... all I know is that it's completely in God's hands and that I got to plant a seed in each of their hearts. They were soaking it all in like sponges!
I didn't see any of the four pray to receive Christ... But four guys got to hear the Good News of God's salvation through Jesus Christ His Son! I was feeling so discouraged and so useless... I was in a point of weakness, recognizing my inadequecies and also not being satisfied with God's plan for my week those few days... God, in His abundant mercy, let me feel productive. He didn't need to do that- He had been doing plenty of work in my heart and in the team, but He knew how much I wanted to share Him with a few more people, and His power was made perfect in my weakness... I spoke with supernatural confidence and clarity- it was amazing! I finished talking and looked back on the conversation with a "WOW! WHAT JUST HAPPENED??"
Thank you for your prayers...
except this time I got to be the Japanese emcee! :)
Us announcing together
The hall was PACKED! Sooo many people showed up to the party and we all had a fantastic time.
David playing a game with some college students
Crazy story:
Steve was at Rikkyo (his secondary campus) on Wednesday and he ran into a Christian who goes to Sophia (his primary campus). He found out that the guy goes to a Hillsong church plant, so he and a few others from our team joined him at the Wednesday night service. There, he was introduced to a few Sophia students, and one of them was Seiya. Seiya came to Discover Friends to help out with the ministry. Well, he sees the Japanese emcee and thinks "hmm... he looks familiar. Gen, huh?" So he asked Joe from our team what my last name was. "Nakamura." Seiya comes over to me, taps me, waves and says, "Sakuma Seiya desu." I went crazy. Here standing in front of me was my friend from pretty much infancy... Our dads were both pastors in Tokyo a good twenty years ago!
Seiya
I had been kind of discouraged because that was our big evangelism week where we were supposed to be as intentional as possible about sharing with students on campus. I hadn't gotten too many chances to share... Other great things had happened between me and God, which was awesome. But I felt discouraged. But that night, I just sensed the Holy Spirit being present in that hall and very alive in my heart, and I went out there and intensely shared the Gospel with four different guys. The first guy really didn't want to hear it, but God wasn't having any of that, and I got to share with him. Then I sat down with three guys who were having a few laughs. We started talking and I found out that all three were freshmen at an education University- they were all gonna be science teachers: one bio, one physics, and one earth sciences. SMART guys. All three seemed really excited to talk to me, and we just had a great time talking about some pretty deep stuff, actually. We talked about why they wanted to be teachers... I didn't accept any textbook answers- I asked them why they REALLY wanted to be teachers. I got to talk about my fraternity and my semester as Pledge Master because some of what they said seemed to relate a lot to how I felt about that period of my life. So I got to talk about God and the community of His followers and how we help each other become the righteous men we were designed to be. I asked them why they liked each of their subjects- the bio guys said it was cuz he liked nature, so I asked why he liked nature. "YOU ASK HARD QUESTIONS!" said all three. He asked me why I like nature so I got to talk about the beauty of God's creation and seeing His artful masterpiece. Then the announcement came on saying we had to clean up in five minutes. So I hurried and said, "Do you guys know about Jesus?" One of them had a KGP booklet, but he said he really didn't understand. So I offered to tell them about it- the bio guy and the physics guy didn't wanna hear it, but earth sciences guy said, "Okay, but really quickly." So I powered through the ENTIRE Gospel. From God's sovereign nature to His undying love for each of us, to our sinful nature, to the crucifixion, to our reconciliation, to the opportunity for each of us to accept... I finished a schpiel that was definitely the Holy Spirit giving me the words to speak, and as soon as I was done, the bio guy who most fervently didn't want to hear it leaned back from his attentively listening position and said, "IT'S SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND!" I gave them all my email addresses, and they didn't wanna give me their contact, so I have no idea what's going to happen... all I know is that it's completely in God's hands and that I got to plant a seed in each of their hearts. They were soaking it all in like sponges!
I didn't see any of the four pray to receive Christ... But four guys got to hear the Good News of God's salvation through Jesus Christ His Son! I was feeling so discouraged and so useless... I was in a point of weakness, recognizing my inadequecies and also not being satisfied with God's plan for my week those few days... God, in His abundant mercy, let me feel productive. He didn't need to do that- He had been doing plenty of work in my heart and in the team, but He knew how much I wanted to share Him with a few more people, and His power was made perfect in my weakness... I spoke with supernatural confidence and clarity- it was amazing! I finished talking and looked back on the conversation with a "WOW! WHAT JUST HAPPENED??"
Thank you for your prayers...
Saturday, June 16, 2007
A new sister! :-D
Tuesday morning, Cherie wasn't at Prayer and Worship Time (our team gets together every Tuesday and Thursday an hour early to have prayer and worship time. normally at 9, but this week-the most intense week of the trip-it was at 8!). As we were getting started, Megan let us know that Cherie wasn't joining us because earlier that morning she had just found out that one of the girls in her small group Bible study had died in a car accident last Friday. She was spending the morning calling her family and friends, trying to figure out what exactly was going on...
Needless to say, it was a tough week for her. Actually, it was a pretty intense and tough week for all of us. It was an exhausting schedule, we felt a lot of pressure to share with as many people as possible (put on us BY us), the weather was very much up and down, and each of the different teams had pretty discouraging times throughout the week. The great thing was, though, that at the end of the day, we'd all be together to encourage each other and build each other up.
On Wednesday, our team had our most discouraging day yet. At Gakushuin, we had our English lunch where a LOT of students came to chat, but we had about two spiritual conversations TOTAL, and after that, pretty much none of us got to have a real conversation with anyone. It was just a dry day of nothing happening and all of us feeling really really down about it all... But the other two teams had GREAT days and were able to encourage us. :)
Thursday, we had a FANTASTIC day! Chika and Kasumi are two girls that Christina and Cherie had met on our very first day on campus so long ago, and Christina had gotten to share the Gospel with both of them at some point. On Wednesday, Cherie had done some following up with both of them, going through the decision making part of the Gospel again, seeing what they thought. Thursday, we found out that Kasumi had decided to accept Christ into her heart! It was amazing! Christina got to give her a Bible and point out her favorite verses (all of which Kasumi was LOVING) and got to talk with her about a relationship with Jesus. Kasumi was SO excited about it all! Then, the three of us went outside, and I got to pray with her in Japanese- I got to pray, and then I got to hear her pray her first prayer ever- the simplest, most beautiful prayer ever. It really nearly moved me to tears. You can read Christina's blog for a more detailed account of this story, but it really was a powerful experience.
Woot.
Needless to say, it was a tough week for her. Actually, it was a pretty intense and tough week for all of us. It was an exhausting schedule, we felt a lot of pressure to share with as many people as possible (put on us BY us), the weather was very much up and down, and each of the different teams had pretty discouraging times throughout the week. The great thing was, though, that at the end of the day, we'd all be together to encourage each other and build each other up.
On Wednesday, our team had our most discouraging day yet. At Gakushuin, we had our English lunch where a LOT of students came to chat, but we had about two spiritual conversations TOTAL, and after that, pretty much none of us got to have a real conversation with anyone. It was just a dry day of nothing happening and all of us feeling really really down about it all... But the other two teams had GREAT days and were able to encourage us. :)
Thursday, we had a FANTASTIC day! Chika and Kasumi are two girls that Christina and Cherie had met on our very first day on campus so long ago, and Christina had gotten to share the Gospel with both of them at some point. On Wednesday, Cherie had done some following up with both of them, going through the decision making part of the Gospel again, seeing what they thought. Thursday, we found out that Kasumi had decided to accept Christ into her heart! It was amazing! Christina got to give her a Bible and point out her favorite verses (all of which Kasumi was LOVING) and got to talk with her about a relationship with Jesus. Kasumi was SO excited about it all! Then, the three of us went outside, and I got to pray with her in Japanese- I got to pray, and then I got to hear her pray her first prayer ever- the simplest, most beautiful prayer ever. It really nearly moved me to tears. You can read Christina's blog for a more detailed account of this story, but it really was a powerful experience.
Woot.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Thy word...
Sunday, we had our weekly campus team leaders lunch meeting with Greg and Megan. This week we did it at Little Spoon (our favorite little curry house), where they have like seven levels of spicy- the first three (bunny, boy and dog) are free (the dog is PRETTY spicy). Then it gets ridiculous with bears and such until the last level which is a dragon. Greg dared Steve to try the dragon, and challenged him by offering to pay for the meal if he finished it. Of course, Steve being Steve, took him up on the challenge. "That's pretty spicy..." "Breathing hurts" a couple of the things he said during his meal.
He was allowed to give me and Beau a bite each, and WOW it burned! But ridiculous Steve didn't let himself feel the spiciness through the meal and just PLOWED through it! It was ridiculous. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. His eyes DID get watery though... haha.
Church was GREAT as usual. One of the girls Sarah got to lead to Christ at Sophia University (Nami) came with her non-believing friend, and Nami has just been bringing friend after friend to talk with Sarah and co to hear about Jesus. She is SO our woman at the well! It's so exciting!
Sunday night was our weekly team debrief meeting, so the seventeen of us went over to the Mitaka Center for an evening of worship, Bible study, clearing the air, and briefing for the new week. This week is our most intense week- we start everything an hour earlier, we're on campus one hour more than usual, and we are strongly focused on taking steps of faith in spreading the Gospel. It was scary but really exciting to pray about it individually and as a team that night. Anyway, we were done with what was planned, but Greg and the band got up there and started playing again so we ended up having another impromptu worship service for a good 45 minutes or so. It was amazing!
Monday was a very special day for me. We went about our day, starting an hour earlier, having some quiet time on campus individually, getting together for lunch evangelism, and then splitting into pairs-ish. Well, at 215 it was time for me to switch partners from Cherie to Christina, so I went to meet Christina. We were debriefing a bit about what had happened up to that point in the day, because great things happened (Christina got to share the Gospel with 2 or 3 girls, and Cherie and I got to share the Gospel with two girls too). Well, the whole day I'd had Kohei on my mind, thinking, "Man, I introduce this guy to Jesus, he accepts Him, and then I don't contact him. Weaksauce! I better email/call him tonight!" But then Kohei ran right into us right there where we were sitting! So Christina left us alone to have some quality time, and it was awesome! I got to talk to him about his decision a bit, and then we pulled out our Bibles (Christina had given him one Friday prior) and read together! We pretty much ran through Matthew, reading a couple of Christ's sermons, reading about his disciples, then the betrayal and crucifixion, and finished with the resurrection. I moved on to tell him about the different epistles and I explained Revelation to him, showing him different verses at each book. He LOVED it! He asked questions, responded a lot, and just soaked it all in. It was my first Bible study that I'd ever had with a brand-new believer... it was pretty exciting! You really sometimes have to see the Bible from the perspective of a new believer to see just how beautiful the Word of God is.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path
He was allowed to give me and Beau a bite each, and WOW it burned! But ridiculous Steve didn't let himself feel the spiciness through the meal and just PLOWED through it! It was ridiculous. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. His eyes DID get watery though... haha.
Church was GREAT as usual. One of the girls Sarah got to lead to Christ at Sophia University (Nami) came with her non-believing friend, and Nami has just been bringing friend after friend to talk with Sarah and co to hear about Jesus. She is SO our woman at the well! It's so exciting!
Sunday night was our weekly team debrief meeting, so the seventeen of us went over to the Mitaka Center for an evening of worship, Bible study, clearing the air, and briefing for the new week. This week is our most intense week- we start everything an hour earlier, we're on campus one hour more than usual, and we are strongly focused on taking steps of faith in spreading the Gospel. It was scary but really exciting to pray about it individually and as a team that night. Anyway, we were done with what was planned, but Greg and the band got up there and started playing again so we ended up having another impromptu worship service for a good 45 minutes or so. It was amazing!
Monday was a very special day for me. We went about our day, starting an hour earlier, having some quiet time on campus individually, getting together for lunch evangelism, and then splitting into pairs-ish. Well, at 215 it was time for me to switch partners from Cherie to Christina, so I went to meet Christina. We were debriefing a bit about what had happened up to that point in the day, because great things happened (Christina got to share the Gospel with 2 or 3 girls, and Cherie and I got to share the Gospel with two girls too). Well, the whole day I'd had Kohei on my mind, thinking, "Man, I introduce this guy to Jesus, he accepts Him, and then I don't contact him. Weaksauce! I better email/call him tonight!" But then Kohei ran right into us right there where we were sitting! So Christina left us alone to have some quality time, and it was awesome! I got to talk to him about his decision a bit, and then we pulled out our Bibles (Christina had given him one Friday prior) and read together! We pretty much ran through Matthew, reading a couple of Christ's sermons, reading about his disciples, then the betrayal and crucifixion, and finished with the resurrection. I moved on to tell him about the different epistles and I explained Revelation to him, showing him different verses at each book. He LOVED it! He asked questions, responded a lot, and just soaked it all in. It was my first Bible study that I'd ever had with a brand-new believer... it was pretty exciting! You really sometimes have to see the Bible from the perspective of a new believer to see just how beautiful the Word of God is.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Les Poissons, Les Poissons, oh J'adore Les Poissons!
Friday night, Student Impact (JCCC's College Ministry) put on a big party at a banquet hall a little past Mitaka. All the Project Teams and all the STInters and all the staff had invited a bunch of students from all the campuses to come out for a night of food, games, and DISCOVERING FRIENDS (the name of the party). Not a blatant outreach- we just got to know a lot of students from different campuses, and started developing relationships with them. It was a blast! Our team put on a huge game of Signs which they seemed to love. Some pictures...
Saturday morning (even though I'd gotten to bed really really late), we met in front of the apartment building at 4 o'clock to go to the Tsutsuki Fish Market! Well... Maria and I met in front of the apt building at 4 o'clock. Some others needed some persuading ::cough:: Chad ::cough:: But eventually, nine of us were up and ready to go around 445. It wasn't even dark! It was so weird! I didn't know what 4AM looked like during the summer... See how gloriously awake we looked?? :-D
Especially Chad...
So we get on the train, get to our stop and start our twenty minute walk to the market. I saw a clock, and realized how ridiculous it was that I'd already been traveling for about an hour and the time on the clock was AM!
Once we got to the spot, we had a little trouble finding exactly where to go but eventually we found it. IT WAS AMAZING! Some samples (Warning: These images may be too disturbing for some audiences... they were for some members of the team who may or may not have gone quite pale... the poor things)
WHALE!
On the way back, we stopped at Denny's and had a wonderful American breakfast. My Caramel Pecan Pancakes A La Mode were FANTASTIC!!!
Saturday afternoon, (after a nap, of course- though mine was very short due to a SKYPE conversation with my buddy Steve and his parents and his dog Lance) most of us went out to Asakusa to do some souvenir shopping and some sightseeing. Chad, Heather, David and I fell behind due to money exchange difficulties, and so we pretty much did Asakusa as just the four of us. But we were all VERY tired. Chad shopped like mad and Heather and I kinda moped. Bought nothing but had great chats! The shrine/temple there was uber cool!
But definitely sad considering they replace our LORD with this stuff... Seeing the people throwing in money and saying their prayers to gods they probably don't even know names of made me kinda sad...
I got to give a KGP booklet to a candy vendor... I dunno how I feel about that. I'm usually so againt such types of evangelism, but really, in a place like Japan, it's SO urgent. No one talks about God, most Westerners who live there don't love God, and VERY few people (us included) are there to talk to them about His perfect Love. My heart just broke for the people and I HAD to give this girl a booklet... All I can do now is pray.
That night, Heather, Chad and I went out to Inokashira (town where my grandma lives) to hang out. We just walked around the park in the rain, then sat in front of Inokashira Koen Station for a WHILE just talking, trying to get seats at Restaurant Sopra (awesome Italian place my grandma once took me) but failing cuz it's a tiny place... but then the girl recognized me from the ONE time I went there last year and she had me give her my number so she could call me when a table opened up, so we went back to sitting and chatting outside, then had a FANTASTIC dinner with FANSTASTIC conversation and some of the best dessert EVER! (ugh) :-D
Honestly, I needed that night. All week it's just GO GO GO GO GO and it gets really tiring. The weekend is "relaxation time" but when you're doing touristic stuff with the whole group, I just can't really be refreshed or rejuvenated. Quality time with two of my closest and dearest friends was what did it for me. God really blessed me through that time, of being able to share our spiritual triumphs and struggles from the week, and encouraging each other in our different roles, always centering on glorifying God with our work. I sometimes do miss home, because home is so much easier, and I miss the people back there because they're a comfort to me. But this life of living by the Spirit is so incredibly fulfilling that I wouldn't trade it for the world. God just spoils me and was able to give me a taste of home and comfort through this time with my friends. :)
To my family and friends at home, I miss you all, but I'm much more excited to be here, participating in the work God's doing here. I can't thank you enough for your encouragement and support. My mom told me the other day on the phone that we're being silly when we worry here, because we have people at home praying for us, so the enemy's got nothin on us! Hallelujah!
Saturday morning (even though I'd gotten to bed really really late), we met in front of the apartment building at 4 o'clock to go to the Tsutsuki Fish Market! Well... Maria and I met in front of the apt building at 4 o'clock. Some others needed some persuading ::cough:: Chad ::cough:: But eventually, nine of us were up and ready to go around 445. It wasn't even dark! It was so weird! I didn't know what 4AM looked like during the summer... See how gloriously awake we looked?? :-D
Especially Chad...
So we get on the train, get to our stop and start our twenty minute walk to the market. I saw a clock, and realized how ridiculous it was that I'd already been traveling for about an hour and the time on the clock was AM!
Once we got to the spot, we had a little trouble finding exactly where to go but eventually we found it. IT WAS AMAZING! Some samples (Warning: These images may be too disturbing for some audiences... they were for some members of the team who may or may not have gone quite pale... the poor things)
WHALE!
On the way back, we stopped at Denny's and had a wonderful American breakfast. My Caramel Pecan Pancakes A La Mode were FANTASTIC!!!
Saturday afternoon, (after a nap, of course- though mine was very short due to a SKYPE conversation with my buddy Steve and his parents and his dog Lance) most of us went out to Asakusa to do some souvenir shopping and some sightseeing. Chad, Heather, David and I fell behind due to money exchange difficulties, and so we pretty much did Asakusa as just the four of us. But we were all VERY tired. Chad shopped like mad and Heather and I kinda moped. Bought nothing but had great chats! The shrine/temple there was uber cool!
But definitely sad considering they replace our LORD with this stuff... Seeing the people throwing in money and saying their prayers to gods they probably don't even know names of made me kinda sad...
I got to give a KGP booklet to a candy vendor... I dunno how I feel about that. I'm usually so againt such types of evangelism, but really, in a place like Japan, it's SO urgent. No one talks about God, most Westerners who live there don't love God, and VERY few people (us included) are there to talk to them about His perfect Love. My heart just broke for the people and I HAD to give this girl a booklet... All I can do now is pray.
That night, Heather, Chad and I went out to Inokashira (town where my grandma lives) to hang out. We just walked around the park in the rain, then sat in front of Inokashira Koen Station for a WHILE just talking, trying to get seats at Restaurant Sopra (awesome Italian place my grandma once took me) but failing cuz it's a tiny place... but then the girl recognized me from the ONE time I went there last year and she had me give her my number so she could call me when a table opened up, so we went back to sitting and chatting outside, then had a FANTASTIC dinner with FANSTASTIC conversation and some of the best dessert EVER! (ugh) :-D
Honestly, I needed that night. All week it's just GO GO GO GO GO and it gets really tiring. The weekend is "relaxation time" but when you're doing touristic stuff with the whole group, I just can't really be refreshed or rejuvenated. Quality time with two of my closest and dearest friends was what did it for me. God really blessed me through that time, of being able to share our spiritual triumphs and struggles from the week, and encouraging each other in our different roles, always centering on glorifying God with our work. I sometimes do miss home, because home is so much easier, and I miss the people back there because they're a comfort to me. But this life of living by the Spirit is so incredibly fulfilling that I wouldn't trade it for the world. God just spoils me and was able to give me a taste of home and comfort through this time with my friends. :)
To my family and friends at home, I miss you all, but I'm much more excited to be here, participating in the work God's doing here. I can't thank you enough for your encouragement and support. My mom told me the other day on the phone that we're being silly when we worry here, because we have people at home praying for us, so the enemy's got nothin on us! Hallelujah!
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