Saturday was our last full day in Tokyo before returning home to Indiana. We knew it would be a busy before we got started and it was. We left the hotel to travel to Tama City, where there is a church pastored by Pastor Yuasa, a Japanese national. It's the church where Yoshito Fujii attends. Yoshito stayed in our home for about 4 months in 2007.
We arrived in Tama around 12:30 pm, after traveling about 2 1/2 hours by train. Pastor Yuasa picked us up from the train station and drove us to the church, located about 15 minutes away. Several people from the church were waiting for us when we arrived. Among them were Yoshito and his mother, and Mrs. Suzuki, who hosted us for a night on our last trip. It was good to see everyone and renew our friendships. This particular church is special to us. They need some encouragement right now, because things have been a little rough for them financially. Pastor Yuasa told me that they pray each week before the offering for enough money to come in to pay their bills. He also told me that they have copied our monthly Day of Prayer. Pastor Yuasa saw on our HHBC website that we have a Day of Prayer each month. He liked the idea and implemented it there. Perhaps now when we pray, we can remember their camaraderie and add them to our list of requests.
Pastor Yuasa asked me to share something from God's Word to encourage the people who had assembled with us. I spoke from 1 Samuel 5, which is the story of Dagon, the idol of the Philistines that fell over twice when the Ark of Presence was set near it in its temple. After it fell the first time, the Philistines set it back up. The second time it fell, its head and arms were broken off, which I assume rendered it useless as an object of worship.
I used the story of Dagon as an illustration of how one day the exalted Lord Jesus will bring all of his enemies under his feet, including the idols that are so prevalent in Japan. On the day before, we had seen what is called "The Giant Buddha", which is hardly anything more than a rather tall, hollowed out, image of Buddha cast in metal. I mentioned how one day that image will fall before Jesus, just like Dagon fell before the presence of the Lord. I shared something similar about the idols that are in Aizu and in other places. They stand there proudly and boldly for now, but one day they too will lie flat on the ground, broken and helpless, before the Lord of Lords.
The people seemed encouraged with our presence and words. We left there around 3 pm to head for Shibuya, which is closer into Tokyo, to meet up with Tsutomu, my friend from grad school at Western Michigan University. Tsutomu teaches at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is a Christian, although I do not believe he gets much fellowship.
We met Tsutomu around 5 pm. Our plan to was eat dinner and then to attend Tokyo Baptist Church (TBC), which is located only a few blocks away from the Shibuya train station. The service at TBC began at 7 pm and lasted until about 8:15 pm. It was one of five worship services the church holds each week. TBC has a combined worship attendance of 12-1500. It is an international church, thus the services are in English. We met people there from the Philippines, from Hong Kong, from Japan, and from the States. It was wonderful to worship with them.
Shortly before the service began, we met Pastor Dennis Folds, who has been the pastor of TBC for about 10 years now. Pastor Dennis is doing a great job. He told us that about 45% of the church is Japanese. The area where they are located is more of an international area, and it's loaded with young people. The Shibuya train station had to be one of the busiest, if not the busiest we've seen in Japan. One of the TBC staff told Dale that she often stands on a crosswalk bridge near the station and just watches the crowds of people going back and forth, praying for the Lord to help them reach them for Christ. Our prayer too is for the Lord to richly bless TBC!
In order to get back to the hotel around 11:30 pm that night, we had to leave the Shibuya station by 9:05 pm. The departure time was critical, because after a certain hour, only local trains run and they don't go all the way to the airport. That would have meant getting off somewhere else and taking a cab, which would have been pretty expensive.
We were able to get to the station on time, and we made all the connections with no problem. I will say, however, that one thing that surprised us was how busy and crowded the trains were that late at night. Our first leg of the trip was standing room only, crushed together with what seemed like a million other people into train cars designed for about half that many. At any rate, we arrived safely after a very fulfilling, though tiring, day.
Tomorrow, I finally will be able to follow through on my plan to write about Chanden, the young English teacher we met in Pastor Nobby's church.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Brief rundown on the last few days
It's Friday night, around 10 pm. Due to the schedule we've kept over the past few days I've been unable to make any entries for the blog. So let me try to catch up on all that's happened over the last few days.
We continued at SYME in Karuizawa on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, we attended classes all day with the SYME students. It was very helpful to experience their schedule. It has given us a much better feel for what and how they are learning both English and Christian discipleship.
On Wednesday, I preached for the mid-day chapel service on how to "do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus" as we are commanded in Colossians 3:17. The students were very attentive and appreciative. I have included this lesson as the blog entry just before this one. To access it, just continue to scroll down.
We traveled back to Tokyo Wednesday afternoon, arriving at our hotel around 9:30 pm. Then, on Thursday, we attended the BMM field Bible Conference in Joe Mita's church in Iwatski. Dr. Tomioka, a Japanese-national missionary to Bangladesh, was the featured speaker. Dr. Tomioka is both a surgeon and church planter. We gave greetings to everyone from our church; of course, all of them send their greetings back as well. Many of them asked specifically for the chi alpha students and adult sponsors whom they knew from last year's ministry. We arrive back at the hotel late Thursday night.
Today was our first free day. We took trains to the southwest side of Tokyo to see what is called "The Daibutsu." It is a giant Bhuddha statue. We'll show some pictures of it when we return. It is located in an area where there are numerous temples. What amazed us the most is how crowded this area was, especially with young students who were making a kind of spiritual trek to each temple. It is so incredibly sad to see these students and older people alike praying to a piece of metal or stone. By the way, if you pay about 30 cents, you can walk up into The Daibutsu and look out a window. Elliott asked with the sound of indignation in his voice, "Why do these people think this is god since they can climb up inside it!"
As heartbreaking as it was to see the hold Buddhism has on this nation, today was a very productive day as far as us being able to distribute tracts and share with others about Jesus.
Finally, tomorrow we will have a very long day. We start early, going to visit the Pastor from the Tama church. Later in the day, we will meet up with a friend of mine from graduate school at WMU. We are planning to take him with us to attend a Saturday night service at Tokyo Baptist Church.
One more thing--since we have been able to accomplish all of our goals for the trip, we will be able to return home two days early. We changed our flights to Sunday, June 15. Lord willing, we will arrive home on Sunday night, around 10 pm Indy time.
We continued at SYME in Karuizawa on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, we attended classes all day with the SYME students. It was very helpful to experience their schedule. It has given us a much better feel for what and how they are learning both English and Christian discipleship.
On Wednesday, I preached for the mid-day chapel service on how to "do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus" as we are commanded in Colossians 3:17. The students were very attentive and appreciative. I have included this lesson as the blog entry just before this one. To access it, just continue to scroll down.
We traveled back to Tokyo Wednesday afternoon, arriving at our hotel around 9:30 pm. Then, on Thursday, we attended the BMM field Bible Conference in Joe Mita's church in Iwatski. Dr. Tomioka, a Japanese-national missionary to Bangladesh, was the featured speaker. Dr. Tomioka is both a surgeon and church planter. We gave greetings to everyone from our church; of course, all of them send their greetings back as well. Many of them asked specifically for the chi alpha students and adult sponsors whom they knew from last year's ministry. We arrive back at the hotel late Thursday night.
Today was our first free day. We took trains to the southwest side of Tokyo to see what is called "The Daibutsu." It is a giant Bhuddha statue. We'll show some pictures of it when we return. It is located in an area where there are numerous temples. What amazed us the most is how crowded this area was, especially with young students who were making a kind of spiritual trek to each temple. It is so incredibly sad to see these students and older people alike praying to a piece of metal or stone. By the way, if you pay about 30 cents, you can walk up into The Daibutsu and look out a window. Elliott asked with the sound of indignation in his voice, "Why do these people think this is god since they can climb up inside it!"
As heartbreaking as it was to see the hold Buddhism has on this nation, today was a very productive day as far as us being able to distribute tracts and share with others about Jesus.
Finally, tomorrow we will have a very long day. We start early, going to visit the Pastor from the Tama church. Later in the day, we will meet up with a friend of mine from graduate school at WMU. We are planning to take him with us to attend a Saturday night service at Tokyo Baptist Church.
One more thing--since we have been able to accomplish all of our goals for the trip, we will be able to return home two days early. We changed our flights to Sunday, June 15. Lord willing, we will arrive home on Sunday night, around 10 pm Indy time.
Living and Serving in Jesus' Name
In Acts 3, Peter and John met a man who had been lame from birth. The man asked them for some money. Peter and John told him they did not have any money; nevertheless, they would give him what they had. Peter said to the man: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (v. 6b). Instantly, the man was healed. Later, in Acts 4, the elders, rulers, and teachers of the law asked Peter and John: “By what power or what name did you do this?” (v. 7b). Peter answered: “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (v. 10b).
Throughout the Book of Acts and the early days of the Church, Christians often referred to the Name of the Lord Jesus as the power or authority for their service. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, he encouraged believers to make constant use of Jesus’ Name in all aspects of life and ministry. In Colossians 3:17, Paul wrote: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Learning to do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus is a vital part of growing as a Christian. Many Christians have heard of doing things like giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’ Name to someone who is thirsty. Almost all Christians learn to pray in Jesus’ Name. For example, most of us add the words, “In Jesus’ Name, Amen”, to the end of our prayers. This is a good practice, but we need to know more about what it means and about how doing everything in Jesus’ Name will help us to grow as Christians.
Doing something in Jesus’ Name is very similar to the Old Testament practice of “calling on the Name of the Lord.” The Bible teaches that people first began to call on the Name of the Lord in the days of Enosh, the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:26). From these early days, calling on the Name of the Lord meant more than just saying the Lord’s Name out loud. Calling on the Name of the Lord was an act of faith, coming from a person’s heart. The person who called on the Name of the Lord believed: (1) that the Lord is alive; (2) that he is able to hear when I call; (3) that he is able and willing to be present here where I am; and (4) that his coming will be a sacred event.
In the New Testament, calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus means mostly the same things, but with more of a precise focus on all that is true about Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation at God the Father’s right hand. For example, believing that Jesus is alive means believing that God raised him from the dead after he died on the Cross. Calling on Jesus as Lord means believing that Jesus was exalted at God the Father’s right hand when he ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. When people believe in their hearts that these things are true about Jesus, they “call upon him” for forgiveness. They believe Jesus is able to hear them and that he is able and willing to come to them to cleanse them from their sin. The Apostle Paul summarized all of this in Romans 10:13: “for ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
After someone becomes a Christian, their service “in the Name of the Lord Jesus” means that they invite the Lord Jesus to be present and to bring his power, the power of his resurrection and exaltation, to be involved in whatever they are doing. So doing everything we do in the Name of the Lord Jesus is a way of honoring him, while also depending upon his presence and power to do whatever it is we are doing.
Earlier I mentioned that one part of calling on the Lord involves realizing that his coming would be a sacred event. That’s because no one ever stays the same in the presence of the exalted Lord. For example, when Paul first encountered the Lord, he was changed from being the chief persecutor of Christians to the chief spokesperson for the Gospel. The presence of the Lord Jesus will always change us or our circumstances or both. This makes our encounters with Jesus’ Name in everything we do a very important element of our growth as Christians.
To apply this teaching, each of us can do the following:
1. Understand how Jesus is personally present right now: with us individually (Matthew 28:20b); in Christian community (Matthew 18:20); in his Word (see Luke 24:27—the Word of God is the God-breathed record of Jesus’ life and mind); and through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
2. Invite Jesus to be present and acknowledge him in everything you do (be intentional).
3. Practice being aware of Jesus’ presence by acknowledging him when you are otherwise alone—see Matthew 6:1-18.
4. Expect great things from Jesus’ presence (the transformation of both you and your situation)—see Luke 24:13-35.
5. Witness to others about your respect for Jesus’ presence—see Acts 4:10-12.
Throughout the Book of Acts and the early days of the Church, Christians often referred to the Name of the Lord Jesus as the power or authority for their service. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, he encouraged believers to make constant use of Jesus’ Name in all aspects of life and ministry. In Colossians 3:17, Paul wrote: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Learning to do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus is a vital part of growing as a Christian. Many Christians have heard of doing things like giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’ Name to someone who is thirsty. Almost all Christians learn to pray in Jesus’ Name. For example, most of us add the words, “In Jesus’ Name, Amen”, to the end of our prayers. This is a good practice, but we need to know more about what it means and about how doing everything in Jesus’ Name will help us to grow as Christians.
Doing something in Jesus’ Name is very similar to the Old Testament practice of “calling on the Name of the Lord.” The Bible teaches that people first began to call on the Name of the Lord in the days of Enosh, the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:26). From these early days, calling on the Name of the Lord meant more than just saying the Lord’s Name out loud. Calling on the Name of the Lord was an act of faith, coming from a person’s heart. The person who called on the Name of the Lord believed: (1) that the Lord is alive; (2) that he is able to hear when I call; (3) that he is able and willing to be present here where I am; and (4) that his coming will be a sacred event.
In the New Testament, calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus means mostly the same things, but with more of a precise focus on all that is true about Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation at God the Father’s right hand. For example, believing that Jesus is alive means believing that God raised him from the dead after he died on the Cross. Calling on Jesus as Lord means believing that Jesus was exalted at God the Father’s right hand when he ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. When people believe in their hearts that these things are true about Jesus, they “call upon him” for forgiveness. They believe Jesus is able to hear them and that he is able and willing to come to them to cleanse them from their sin. The Apostle Paul summarized all of this in Romans 10:13: “for ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
After someone becomes a Christian, their service “in the Name of the Lord Jesus” means that they invite the Lord Jesus to be present and to bring his power, the power of his resurrection and exaltation, to be involved in whatever they are doing. So doing everything we do in the Name of the Lord Jesus is a way of honoring him, while also depending upon his presence and power to do whatever it is we are doing.
Earlier I mentioned that one part of calling on the Lord involves realizing that his coming would be a sacred event. That’s because no one ever stays the same in the presence of the exalted Lord. For example, when Paul first encountered the Lord, he was changed from being the chief persecutor of Christians to the chief spokesperson for the Gospel. The presence of the Lord Jesus will always change us or our circumstances or both. This makes our encounters with Jesus’ Name in everything we do a very important element of our growth as Christians.
To apply this teaching, each of us can do the following:
1. Understand how Jesus is personally present right now: with us individually (Matthew 28:20b); in Christian community (Matthew 18:20); in his Word (see Luke 24:27—the Word of God is the God-breathed record of Jesus’ life and mind); and through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
2. Invite Jesus to be present and acknowledge him in everything you do (be intentional).
3. Practice being aware of Jesus’ presence by acknowledging him when you are otherwise alone—see Matthew 6:1-18.
4. Expect great things from Jesus’ presence (the transformation of both you and your situation)—see Luke 24:13-35.
5. Witness to others about your respect for Jesus’ presence—see Acts 4:10-12.
Monday, June 09, 2008
In Karuizawa at SYME
It's Monday evening, June 9. We arrived in Karuizawa this afternoon around 4:30 p.m. One of the leaders of SYME, a former Christian School Principal named Jody, picked us up at the train station and drove us to the campus in time for dinner. We saw Mana right away. She is doing great! She already seems so much more confident in her use of English.
Students have to know a little bit of English to get into the SYME program. Mana was ahead of the curve on that score, so she has been able to take full advantage of the opportunity to advance linguistically as well as spiritually.
This is the time of the evening when students write in the journals (in English, of course) about whatever is on their heart. They write knowing that their entries will be read by the staff member who leads the group they are in; still, the staff members keep what the students write confidential. The idea is to make this time an opportunity for expressing their reflections on what they are learning and how they are growing in the Lord.
It's wonderful to see so many Christian young people in one place in Japan. There are 31 students in all (16 from Korea and 15 from Japan). SYME began in Japan last year with only 6 Japanese students. So they have more than doubled that number in a year. At supper, we ate with students from both countries. I sat across from a young lady named Esther (all the students adopt English nicknames). Esther is from one of the suburbs of Tokyo. She became a Christian at age 18 through the influence of the Christian school she attended. She is the only Christian in her family. Esther told me that her mother accepts the idea of her converting to Christianity, but her father does not. I'm certain it is a thrill for her to be here, around so many others her age who know and love the Lord.
English instruction is playing such a strategic role in ministry here, and not just as a means of building relationships or attracting seekers. English is also being used in Asia as both an evangelistic and discipleship tool. Japanese, in particular, is not entirely suitable as a language for communicating the propositional truth of the Gospel. Some would even say it is an obstacle. There are solid reasons for characterizing the Japanese language in this way, but it would take too long to write about them in a forum like this. Suffice it to say for now that a ministry like SYME is using English to enhance students' understanding of Christianity. In some cases, if a student has not yet become a Christian, learning English can dramatically improve the possibility of their ability to understand in order to make a decision.
Of course, it helps tremendously that there is such a hunger in Asia among people of all ages to learn English from native speakers. In my opinion, I believe this phenomenon should be understood as God preparing people here to hear and understand the Gospel. In the case of young people, in particular, there is such a strong desire to learn English. Perhaps God is preparing them to come to Christ in mass. This is our prayer!
I'll write more tomorrow about the young man I mentioned in the last post. This is enough for tonight.
Students have to know a little bit of English to get into the SYME program. Mana was ahead of the curve on that score, so she has been able to take full advantage of the opportunity to advance linguistically as well as spiritually.
This is the time of the evening when students write in the journals (in English, of course) about whatever is on their heart. They write knowing that their entries will be read by the staff member who leads the group they are in; still, the staff members keep what the students write confidential. The idea is to make this time an opportunity for expressing their reflections on what they are learning and how they are growing in the Lord.
It's wonderful to see so many Christian young people in one place in Japan. There are 31 students in all (16 from Korea and 15 from Japan). SYME began in Japan last year with only 6 Japanese students. So they have more than doubled that number in a year. At supper, we ate with students from both countries. I sat across from a young lady named Esther (all the students adopt English nicknames). Esther is from one of the suburbs of Tokyo. She became a Christian at age 18 through the influence of the Christian school she attended. She is the only Christian in her family. Esther told me that her mother accepts the idea of her converting to Christianity, but her father does not. I'm certain it is a thrill for her to be here, around so many others her age who know and love the Lord.
English instruction is playing such a strategic role in ministry here, and not just as a means of building relationships or attracting seekers. English is also being used in Asia as both an evangelistic and discipleship tool. Japanese, in particular, is not entirely suitable as a language for communicating the propositional truth of the Gospel. Some would even say it is an obstacle. There are solid reasons for characterizing the Japanese language in this way, but it would take too long to write about them in a forum like this. Suffice it to say for now that a ministry like SYME is using English to enhance students' understanding of Christianity. In some cases, if a student has not yet become a Christian, learning English can dramatically improve the possibility of their ability to understand in order to make a decision.
Of course, it helps tremendously that there is such a hunger in Asia among people of all ages to learn English from native speakers. In my opinion, I believe this phenomenon should be understood as God preparing people here to hear and understand the Gospel. In the case of young people, in particular, there is such a strong desire to learn English. Perhaps God is preparing them to come to Christ in mass. This is our prayer!
I'll write more tomorrow about the young man I mentioned in the last post. This is enough for tonight.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Heading for Karuizawa
It's Monday morning, June 9, and we're getting ready to head to Karuizawa, the city where Word of Life operates a minister called SYME. SYME stands for School of Youth Ministries in English. It is an evangelistic/discipleship ministry for high school graduates and older (through the 20's) utilizing English by immersion. SYME is where Mana enrolled upon her return to Japan, so we will be seeing her in a few hours.
Yesterday we went to church in Koriyama (Koriyama Baptist Church). I preached from Isaiah 55 for the morning service. During the afternoon, we fellowshipped with numerous people from the church, and we had a more formal meeting with Mana's parents, who were inquiring about her time in America and wanting to know more about SYME. Then, in the evening, we held an informal English conversation class at the church with three unbelievers (two women and one man).
Since we're on a pretty tight schedule this morning, I will have to wait until later to write more. I want to share with you about a young man (an American) we met at the church yesterday, who has been living in Japan for 7 years. His job and situation will serve as a good illustration of some steps that must be taken to increase the effectiveness here of evangelizing the lost.
Yesterday we went to church in Koriyama (Koriyama Baptist Church). I preached from Isaiah 55 for the morning service. During the afternoon, we fellowshipped with numerous people from the church, and we had a more formal meeting with Mana's parents, who were inquiring about her time in America and wanting to know more about SYME. Then, in the evening, we held an informal English conversation class at the church with three unbelievers (two women and one man).
Since we're on a pretty tight schedule this morning, I will have to wait until later to write more. I want to share with you about a young man (an American) we met at the church yesterday, who has been living in Japan for 7 years. His job and situation will serve as a good illustration of some steps that must be taken to increase the effectiveness here of evangelizing the lost.
Friday, June 06, 2008
More English Classes and Isaiah 55
Saturday – June 7
We’re still at Camp Adatara. It’s a little after 8:00 in the morning. Dale and I woke up pretty early this morning. We think the worst of jetlag is behind us now, for which we praise the Lord!
Dale and Rachel participated in an English class yesterday with Beverly Tajima, the wife of BMM missionary, Nobby Tajima. Beverly’s class consisted of only one female student, name Junko. To get things started, Beverly asked Dale to tell Junko what her hobbies are. Dale answered, “Studying and teaching the Bible.” That answer led to a discussion of church and Christianity for the next two hours. As it turns out, Junko had attended Sunday School in an Evangelical Free church when she was a youngster. She is now a young mother; still, she was able to recite the Lord’s prayer even though it has been years since she last heard it from the missionaries in the Evangelical Free church. Dale invited Junko to church this Sunday, when I will be preaching. She agreed to come, but we ask that you pray for her to follow through.
I will be preaching on Sunday from Isaiah 55, which is the Bible chapter we have chosen for a theme for our trip. The particular verses from that chapter that stand out to me are 10-11: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it.”
I came across Isaiah 55 recently as I was preparing for a Bible study on John 2, which records Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine. At first, I was somewhat stumped as to why such a miracle would be the first one Jesus would perform. Traditionally, people believe the purpose of the miracle was to demonstrate Jesus’ power over nature. Normally it would take months for water to come down from the sky in the form of rain, be soaked up from the ground by the grape vines, where it would eventually become juice in the grapes themselves, finally to be harvested and expressed into a beverage that would refresh those who drank it. So for all of this to happen in an instant would have been an impressive display indeed of power over that process.
Even with all this said, I still wondered why such a display would have been chosen first as a sign of Jesus’ Messiah-ship (see John 30:31). It occurred to me to begin looking around in the OT for any significance that might be attached to turning water into wine. There are so many things that Jesus said and did that are similarly connected to things said and done in the OT. What I found was Isaiah 55.
Isaiah 55 begins with these words from the Lord: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”
Was Jesus illustrating the offer of Isaiah 55:1-3 when he turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana? Very possibly so. If not, it sure is a striking coincidence that such a strong connection exists between his offer through the OT prophet of “wine without cost” to provide for the soul “to live” and “delight in the richest of fare” and his provision of wine at a time when the wine of their own making, wine that “does not satisfy” had run out.
The connection with all of this to ministry in Japan is just as striking. People here are laboring for “what is not bread” and on “what does not satisfy.” There is so much materialism here, not just an abundance of things, but rather life that is anchored in the pursuit and possession of things. Life here for so many is anchored in the stuff of this material world. Very little, if any, thought is given to the realities of death, sin, righteousness, and judgment, even though the possession and pursuit of the stuff of this world is not what satisfies the soul.
People everywhere are made to be properly related to God through faith. Isaiah 55 refers to this in verses 6-7: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, for he will freely pardon.”
As you join us in reading through Isaiah 55, we ask that you also think of the spiritual condition of people here in Japan, especially the young people. Pray with us that the Lord will stir their hearts in mass to accept his offer of life and the richest of fare for their souls.
Pray too for a special time this afternoon when we will be meeting with some young adults from area churches. I'll write about it in the next post.
We’re still at Camp Adatara. It’s a little after 8:00 in the morning. Dale and I woke up pretty early this morning. We think the worst of jetlag is behind us now, for which we praise the Lord!
Dale and Rachel participated in an English class yesterday with Beverly Tajima, the wife of BMM missionary, Nobby Tajima. Beverly’s class consisted of only one female student, name Junko. To get things started, Beverly asked Dale to tell Junko what her hobbies are. Dale answered, “Studying and teaching the Bible.” That answer led to a discussion of church and Christianity for the next two hours. As it turns out, Junko had attended Sunday School in an Evangelical Free church when she was a youngster. She is now a young mother; still, she was able to recite the Lord’s prayer even though it has been years since she last heard it from the missionaries in the Evangelical Free church. Dale invited Junko to church this Sunday, when I will be preaching. She agreed to come, but we ask that you pray for her to follow through.
I will be preaching on Sunday from Isaiah 55, which is the Bible chapter we have chosen for a theme for our trip. The particular verses from that chapter that stand out to me are 10-11: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it.”
I came across Isaiah 55 recently as I was preparing for a Bible study on John 2, which records Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine. At first, I was somewhat stumped as to why such a miracle would be the first one Jesus would perform. Traditionally, people believe the purpose of the miracle was to demonstrate Jesus’ power over nature. Normally it would take months for water to come down from the sky in the form of rain, be soaked up from the ground by the grape vines, where it would eventually become juice in the grapes themselves, finally to be harvested and expressed into a beverage that would refresh those who drank it. So for all of this to happen in an instant would have been an impressive display indeed of power over that process.
Even with all this said, I still wondered why such a display would have been chosen first as a sign of Jesus’ Messiah-ship (see John 30:31). It occurred to me to begin looking around in the OT for any significance that might be attached to turning water into wine. There are so many things that Jesus said and did that are similarly connected to things said and done in the OT. What I found was Isaiah 55.
Isaiah 55 begins with these words from the Lord: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”
Was Jesus illustrating the offer of Isaiah 55:1-3 when he turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana? Very possibly so. If not, it sure is a striking coincidence that such a strong connection exists between his offer through the OT prophet of “wine without cost” to provide for the soul “to live” and “delight in the richest of fare” and his provision of wine at a time when the wine of their own making, wine that “does not satisfy” had run out.
The connection with all of this to ministry in Japan is just as striking. People here are laboring for “what is not bread” and on “what does not satisfy.” There is so much materialism here, not just an abundance of things, but rather life that is anchored in the pursuit and possession of things. Life here for so many is anchored in the stuff of this material world. Very little, if any, thought is given to the realities of death, sin, righteousness, and judgment, even though the possession and pursuit of the stuff of this world is not what satisfies the soul.
People everywhere are made to be properly related to God through faith. Isaiah 55 refers to this in verses 6-7: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, for he will freely pardon.”
As you join us in reading through Isaiah 55, we ask that you also think of the spiritual condition of people here in Japan, especially the young people. Pray with us that the Lord will stir their hearts in mass to accept his offer of life and the richest of fare for their souls.
Pray too for a special time this afternoon when we will be meeting with some young adults from area churches. I'll write about it in the next post.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
At Camp Adatara
Friday – June 6
We are staying now at Camp Adatara, which is near Koriyama. It’s the camp where our Chi Alpha students ministered last summer.
We arrived last night around 10 p.m. after a very long day of travel and transition away from Tokyo. Yesterday was the only day for Rachel to get to see any of downtown Tokyo, so we did some extra running around before leaving for Koriyama and the camp. We actually got to Koriyama itself around 6 p.m. Beverly Tajima, a BMM missionary, picked us up at the train station and then took us to dinner. After dinner, we participated in an English class taught by Pastor Nobby Tajima, which was being held next door to the restaurant where we ate. Both the class and the restaurant are part of a multi-story shopping center about 15 minutes away from the Koriyama train station. Six “students” were in attendance for the class: Tom, Mac, Jack, Kato, Jim, and Yumi. With the exceptions of Kato and Yumi, each one has taken an English nickname as part of their course of learning. Yumi was the only female in the class. She is an office worker in her twenties. The others were men in their 50’s and 60’s, ranging in occupations from a civil engineer to a machine operator. Our prayer, of course, is that God will use Nobby’s English teaching to bring these souls to Christ.
At the train station near the hotel yesterday, Dale engaged a young man named Masayuki in conversation about Christianity. Masayuki learned English as part of his doing graduate studies in Sweden. He told Dale that he had read some parts of the Bible and also a book on Christianity written by Jimmy Carter. I soon joined the conversation, sharing with Masayuki that God had appointed Jesus to be the judge of every person at the end of time. Masayuki asked, “What is he going to judge?” We told him that Jesus would judge our sin, but that there is a window open now to receive his forgiveness.
Our conversation ended when it came time for us to get on the train. Prior to saying goodbye we exchanged business cards, telling Masayuki that we would be happy to hear from him via email to answer any questions he might have about Christianity. Dale and I want to ask those who are reading the blog to join us in praying for Masayuki to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord.
Tomorrow I will write about our trip in view of Isaiah 55, which is a Scripture passage we have chosen as a theme for this summer’s installment of the Nippon Initiative.
We are staying now at Camp Adatara, which is near Koriyama. It’s the camp where our Chi Alpha students ministered last summer.
We arrived last night around 10 p.m. after a very long day of travel and transition away from Tokyo. Yesterday was the only day for Rachel to get to see any of downtown Tokyo, so we did some extra running around before leaving for Koriyama and the camp. We actually got to Koriyama itself around 6 p.m. Beverly Tajima, a BMM missionary, picked us up at the train station and then took us to dinner. After dinner, we participated in an English class taught by Pastor Nobby Tajima, which was being held next door to the restaurant where we ate. Both the class and the restaurant are part of a multi-story shopping center about 15 minutes away from the Koriyama train station. Six “students” were in attendance for the class: Tom, Mac, Jack, Kato, Jim, and Yumi. With the exceptions of Kato and Yumi, each one has taken an English nickname as part of their course of learning. Yumi was the only female in the class. She is an office worker in her twenties. The others were men in their 50’s and 60’s, ranging in occupations from a civil engineer to a machine operator. Our prayer, of course, is that God will use Nobby’s English teaching to bring these souls to Christ.
At the train station near the hotel yesterday, Dale engaged a young man named Masayuki in conversation about Christianity. Masayuki learned English as part of his doing graduate studies in Sweden. He told Dale that he had read some parts of the Bible and also a book on Christianity written by Jimmy Carter. I soon joined the conversation, sharing with Masayuki that God had appointed Jesus to be the judge of every person at the end of time. Masayuki asked, “What is he going to judge?” We told him that Jesus would judge our sin, but that there is a window open now to receive his forgiveness.
Our conversation ended when it came time for us to get on the train. Prior to saying goodbye we exchanged business cards, telling Masayuki that we would be happy to hear from him via email to answer any questions he might have about Christianity. Dale and I want to ask those who are reading the blog to join us in praying for Masayuki to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord.
Tomorrow I will write about our trip in view of Isaiah 55, which is a Scripture passage we have chosen as a theme for this summer’s installment of the Nippon Initiative.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Safe Arrival
It’s 5:45 p.m. JST. We arrived safely in Japan just about 24 hours ago. It hardly seems possible that by later this evening we will have completed the second day of our trip. Jumping ahead 13 hours messes with your natural sense of the pace of time. Two days and two nights are meant to last 48 hours. They are not meant to be crammed into 35.
Speaking of jet lag, Dale laid down for a nap when we returned to the hotel a little bit ago. I tried my best to dissuade her of the idea, but to no avail. We spent today helping Rachel, the BBC student, to become oriented to trains, buses, and the religious climate.
Just before lunch, we visited a nearby Buddhist temple. Near the entrance, a man approached us with a information pamphlet written in English and advised us that a group of monks would soon be walking in procession down some steps from a building called “The Great Main Hall” and across a plaza to another building called “Korinkaku Hall”. One of the colorfully dressed monks, an older man, led the others as they walked in time to the beating of drums. Meanwhile, two other monks were leading a dedication/blessing for two families with month-old babies. One of them was a girl named Yume (pronounced You-may). Yume was dressed in a white formal-looking outfit. The monks had stamped in red some kind of Buddhist symbol on her forehead. Her white outfit and dark black hair made the red stamp stand out all the more.
The reason I know the name of the baby is because I talked with the parents afterwards and inquired. The reason I inquired was so I could begin praying for her, that God in his mercy would reach down and some day open her heart to the Lord Jesus and his salvation. Perhaps those who read this would be willing to join me in this prayer.
Earlier, as Elliott, Rachel, and I were walking toward the Great Main Hall, Dale gave a Gospel pamphlet to the man who handed us the brochure on the temple. She said a few words to the man about Jesus. He had indicated to Dale that the monks would be conducting some kind of purification ceremony. Dale told the man that she knew of someone who could purify all of a person’s sins. And that’s when she mentioned Jesus. The man told her he had never heard of Jesus.
Dale told the conversation to me, so I decided to try talking with the man also. I began by saying that Dale told me that he had never heard of Jesus. He repeated that he had not. I told him that Jesus is the Creator, the one who had made everything. I also explained that Jesus had died to provide forgiveness for sins and that he now he is the Lord of Lords. “We think differently,” the man said with his eyes looking away from mine, signaling he was closed to hearing anything more.
In those two encounters, with the parents of Yume and with the man handing out the brochures, both taking place in a massive Buddhist temple complex, with impressive looking structures ornately decorated, you have a microcosm of the tremendous spiritual dilemma facing Japan. First, there is widespread ignorance of who Jesus is and what needs to be known of him. Second, idolatry is so entrenched. It is institutionalized with massive, expensively constructed buildings and with rituals and human champions. It is empowered through these institutions as well as through its obvious command of economic means. Third, the older generation is all but impossible to reach with the Gospel. It seems unusually difficult to break through, which makes it all the more urgent to reach the next generation, before they too end up with hearts that are hardened. And finally, though young people are often easier to reach for Christ in every culture; here, the Yume’s of the world face formidable spiritual powers aligned against them, powers seeking to enslave their hearts and minds not only for a lifetime, but also for eternity.
Pray for Japan.
Speaking of jet lag, Dale laid down for a nap when we returned to the hotel a little bit ago. I tried my best to dissuade her of the idea, but to no avail. We spent today helping Rachel, the BBC student, to become oriented to trains, buses, and the religious climate.
Just before lunch, we visited a nearby Buddhist temple. Near the entrance, a man approached us with a information pamphlet written in English and advised us that a group of monks would soon be walking in procession down some steps from a building called “The Great Main Hall” and across a plaza to another building called “Korinkaku Hall”. One of the colorfully dressed monks, an older man, led the others as they walked in time to the beating of drums. Meanwhile, two other monks were leading a dedication/blessing for two families with month-old babies. One of them was a girl named Yume (pronounced You-may). Yume was dressed in a white formal-looking outfit. The monks had stamped in red some kind of Buddhist symbol on her forehead. Her white outfit and dark black hair made the red stamp stand out all the more.
The reason I know the name of the baby is because I talked with the parents afterwards and inquired. The reason I inquired was so I could begin praying for her, that God in his mercy would reach down and some day open her heart to the Lord Jesus and his salvation. Perhaps those who read this would be willing to join me in this prayer.
Earlier, as Elliott, Rachel, and I were walking toward the Great Main Hall, Dale gave a Gospel pamphlet to the man who handed us the brochure on the temple. She said a few words to the man about Jesus. He had indicated to Dale that the monks would be conducting some kind of purification ceremony. Dale told the man that she knew of someone who could purify all of a person’s sins. And that’s when she mentioned Jesus. The man told her he had never heard of Jesus.
Dale told the conversation to me, so I decided to try talking with the man also. I began by saying that Dale told me that he had never heard of Jesus. He repeated that he had not. I told him that Jesus is the Creator, the one who had made everything. I also explained that Jesus had died to provide forgiveness for sins and that he now he is the Lord of Lords. “We think differently,” the man said with his eyes looking away from mine, signaling he was closed to hearing anything more.
In those two encounters, with the parents of Yume and with the man handing out the brochures, both taking place in a massive Buddhist temple complex, with impressive looking structures ornately decorated, you have a microcosm of the tremendous spiritual dilemma facing Japan. First, there is widespread ignorance of who Jesus is and what needs to be known of him. Second, idolatry is so entrenched. It is institutionalized with massive, expensively constructed buildings and with rituals and human champions. It is empowered through these institutions as well as through its obvious command of economic means. Third, the older generation is all but impossible to reach with the Gospel. It seems unusually difficult to break through, which makes it all the more urgent to reach the next generation, before they too end up with hearts that are hardened. And finally, though young people are often easier to reach for Christ in every culture; here, the Yume’s of the world face formidable spiritual powers aligned against them, powers seeking to enslave their hearts and minds not only for a lifetime, but also for eternity.
Pray for Japan.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Back Home Again in Indiana
We arrived home on Thursday night, October 26. There were no problems with our flight out of Narita; however, the flight out of Chicago back to Indy was a different story. We originally were scheduled to fly out at 3:45 pm Chicago time. Thanks to a delay in retrieving our baggage from the international leg of the trip, we missed our scheduled flight back to Indy by about ten minutes. United put us on the next flight out, scheduled for a 4:55 pm departure. Unfortunately, bad weather kept us from even pulling away from the gate until around 7:45 pm. We arrived in Indy at 9:30 pm. Still, we did not pull into our driveway until close to 11:00 pm. Door to door, the entire trip took almost 20 hours.
Now that we're home we're working on adjusting to the difference in time. With the end of daylight savings time, Japan is now 14 hours ahead of the clock here in Indiana.
Our trip overall was blessed of God. We have returned home with a ton of information that will be helpful for going forward with our plans. We are grateful to all who prayed for us and supported us in so many ways. Now it's time to ask the Lord for "something greater" in Japan.
Now that we're home we're working on adjusting to the difference in time. With the end of daylight savings time, Japan is now 14 hours ahead of the clock here in Indiana.
Our trip overall was blessed of God. We have returned home with a ton of information that will be helpful for going forward with our plans. We are grateful to all who prayed for us and supported us in so many ways. Now it's time to ask the Lord for "something greater" in Japan.
More on Sunday at Megumi Baptist
After worship on Sunday, we ate dinner with the church family. The food was delicious, including the special little offerings prepared just for us. I'm talking about octopus, which proved to be quite tasty. The people in the church didn't think I would be willing to eat octopus, so they all watched in disbelief as I picked some up with my chopsticks and ate it. Like I said, it's pretty good!
Soon Dale and the ladies left for the home of one of the church members. The ladies had planned to have a tea party after dressing Dale up in a kimono. Meanwhile, the men of the church sat with me, asking about my testimony and about our burden for Japan. As we interacted, one thing became clear. Like so many others we talked to, these men also have been beaten down by the situation in Japan. Don't get me wrong. They are good men. They love the Lord, and they certainly are being faithful in their service. But the work in so slow and so difficult that talk of something great happening for the Lord's work there is just that--only talk. I came away from this meeting with an even stronger determination to pray for the Lord to manifest his power in Japan. Japan is a difficult place for Christianity, but we cannot let it be said, or even thought, that any place in this wide world is too difficult for our Lord. The same power that brought Jesus back to life after his crucifixion is the power contained in the Gospel. And that power can do its work in Japan, as well as in any place on the earth.
This is all the more reason to pray for Japan and for the Lord to show the power of his exaltation there. In Acts 1, after Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles and to give them his power for ministry, the aspostles returned to Jerusalem and did two things: they prayed and they got themselves organized in order to be ready when the Lord's power broke out. Similarly, we need to pray and we need to get this future ministry to Japan organized so we can be ready too.
Soon Dale and the ladies left for the home of one of the church members. The ladies had planned to have a tea party after dressing Dale up in a kimono. Meanwhile, the men of the church sat with me, asking about my testimony and about our burden for Japan. As we interacted, one thing became clear. Like so many others we talked to, these men also have been beaten down by the situation in Japan. Don't get me wrong. They are good men. They love the Lord, and they certainly are being faithful in their service. But the work in so slow and so difficult that talk of something great happening for the Lord's work there is just that--only talk. I came away from this meeting with an even stronger determination to pray for the Lord to manifest his power in Japan. Japan is a difficult place for Christianity, but we cannot let it be said, or even thought, that any place in this wide world is too difficult for our Lord. The same power that brought Jesus back to life after his crucifixion is the power contained in the Gospel. And that power can do its work in Japan, as well as in any place on the earth.
This is all the more reason to pray for Japan and for the Lord to show the power of his exaltation there. In Acts 1, after Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles and to give them his power for ministry, the aspostles returned to Jerusalem and did two things: they prayed and they got themselves organized in order to be ready when the Lord's power broke out. Similarly, we need to pray and we need to get this future ministry to Japan organized so we can be ready too.
Sunday at Megumi Baptist Church
We drove with Mrs. Sato Sunday morning to Megumi Baptist Church in Tama City, where Pastor Yuasa serves. The church rents space on the second floor of a building. The room, which measured approximately 25' x 35', gets set up as Sunday school first with an adult class, a children's class, and a class for junior and senior high students. After Sunday School, the chairs are rearranged to form to sections with several rows each of about five or six chairs. There were a little more than 30 in attendance for worship.
The church is making plans to purchase land and to build its own building. One of the problems with their current situation is parking. They were amaze to discover that HHBC has nearly 180 parking spaces situated on 26 acres of land. They have only 5 or 6 spaces alloted to them in the parking area next to the building where they rent. This leads me to share the story of one of Mrs. Sato's sons, Daigo, the oldest, who faithfully attends church each Sunday. Daigo lives near the center of Tokyo, where he works in sales for an IT company. He drives 1-1/2 hours one way to church each Sunday. Along the way, he must pay approximately $15 in tolls. When he arrives, he pays about $12 for the day to park in a public parking lot about 4 blocks from the church. Daigo told me even if he arrived at the church in time to use one of the 5 or 6 spaces alloted to them, he still would park in the pay lot so older people and families with young children could use the other spots.
I told Daigo that I admired his faithfulness to the Lord. I drive 15 minutes to our church and have never paid to park for any church service ever. He drives 1-1/2 hours, pays $15 in tolls, and another $12 to park, and then no doubt tithes on top of it all.
Daigo's situation is representative of a set of even larger problems for young Japanese Christians. First, there is the problem of there being so few churches that it is somewhat inconvenient for them to attend regularly. Second, there are few churches because there are few Christians. And among the few Christians, there are fewer twenty- and thirty-somethings. There are, in fact, few in any age group from age thirty-something and down. In Daigo's case, he appears to be the only single person his age in the church. In fact, there are few Christians in any part of his social network. Daigo told me he knew of one lady in his work place, who claims to be a Christian. She is in her forties and a divorced, single-mother. All of this means that Daigo and others like him are being called on for now to live like Daniels in the Babylon of Japan. It's just one more reason to be on our knees praying for God to work among the Japanese.
The church is making plans to purchase land and to build its own building. One of the problems with their current situation is parking. They were amaze to discover that HHBC has nearly 180 parking spaces situated on 26 acres of land. They have only 5 or 6 spaces alloted to them in the parking area next to the building where they rent. This leads me to share the story of one of Mrs. Sato's sons, Daigo, the oldest, who faithfully attends church each Sunday. Daigo lives near the center of Tokyo, where he works in sales for an IT company. He drives 1-1/2 hours one way to church each Sunday. Along the way, he must pay approximately $15 in tolls. When he arrives, he pays about $12 for the day to park in a public parking lot about 4 blocks from the church. Daigo told me even if he arrived at the church in time to use one of the 5 or 6 spaces alloted to them, he still would park in the pay lot so older people and families with young children could use the other spots.
I told Daigo that I admired his faithfulness to the Lord. I drive 15 minutes to our church and have never paid to park for any church service ever. He drives 1-1/2 hours, pays $15 in tolls, and another $12 to park, and then no doubt tithes on top of it all.
Daigo's situation is representative of a set of even larger problems for young Japanese Christians. First, there is the problem of there being so few churches that it is somewhat inconvenient for them to attend regularly. Second, there are few churches because there are few Christians. And among the few Christians, there are fewer twenty- and thirty-somethings. There are, in fact, few in any age group from age thirty-something and down. In Daigo's case, he appears to be the only single person his age in the church. In fact, there are few Christians in any part of his social network. Daigo told me he knew of one lady in his work place, who claims to be a Christian. She is in her forties and a divorced, single-mother. All of this means that Daigo and others like him are being called on for now to live like Daniels in the Babylon of Japan. It's just one more reason to be on our knees praying for God to work among the Japanese.
Our Arrival in the Tama City Area
We arrived at the Kunitachi Station in the Tokyo area early in the afternoon on Saturday, October 21. We found a phone outside the station and called Pastor Yuasa, who had planned to pick us up. I first met Pastor Yuasa almost three years ago when I travelled to Japan to mediate a conflict that had developed between a missionary and the church where Pastor Yuasa serves. Pastor is a dear brother in Christ and has suffered significantly for his faithfulness to the Lord. It was a joy to see him once again and also to meet his daughter, Izumi, who had come along for the ride.
Pastor Yuasa and Izumi took us to a restaurant for a late lunch. At the restaurant, the five of us linked up with Brother Mark, a Japanese national who functions as Pastor Yuasa's right-hand man. Brother Mark, age 55 or so, was led to the Lord back in 1978 by a missionary with BMM. He has led a difficult life, having been orphaned early on. While living at an orphanage, one of the other boys, a bully, stabbed Brother Mark in the left eye, resulting in its loss. The bully was probably picking on Brother Mark because of his short stature. He is not a dwarf; nevertheless, he only stands about as tall as Elliott. Brother Mark has a delightful personality. He kept Elliott, and us, laughing for most of the time we were with him. We praise the Lord for the joy that is in his heart. We will never forget him!
After lunch, we stopped by the apartment of a blind woman, who is a member of Pastor Yuasa's church. Miss Yoshikawa has been blind from birth. She lives in a small apartment, with one of its rooms used for a massage therapy business she operates. Pastor Yuasa set up the meeting for us to minister to Miss Yoshikawa, but she is the one who did the ministering. She insisted on giving Dale a neck and back massage, and her overall joy in the Lord was such a blessing. Though she isn't always able to get out to church, Miss Yoshikawa promised to attend services on Sunday knowing we would be there.
As evening approached it was time for Pastor Yuasa to take us to the family that would be hosting us for two nights. Mr. and Mrs. Sato are about the same ages as Dale and me. They have four sons, ages 28, 25, 23, and 15. Only the 15 year-old, whose name is Shimya, continues to live at home. The others are out of school and on their own. Mr. Sato is on a foreign work assignment in Vietnam, so we were not able to meet him.
Mrs. Sato was such a gracious hostess. She and Dale bonded immediately. Mrs. Sato had prepared a traditional Japanese meal for Pastor Yuasa, Brother Mark, and us, consisting of shrimp tempura, chicken, pork, beef, mushrooms, and rice. It was delicious, and we were stuffed.
Soon it was time for Pastor Yuasa and Brother Mark to leave. After talking for a while longer with Mrs. Sato, we decided it was time for us to retire for the night as well.
Pastor Yuasa and Izumi took us to a restaurant for a late lunch. At the restaurant, the five of us linked up with Brother Mark, a Japanese national who functions as Pastor Yuasa's right-hand man. Brother Mark, age 55 or so, was led to the Lord back in 1978 by a missionary with BMM. He has led a difficult life, having been orphaned early on. While living at an orphanage, one of the other boys, a bully, stabbed Brother Mark in the left eye, resulting in its loss. The bully was probably picking on Brother Mark because of his short stature. He is not a dwarf; nevertheless, he only stands about as tall as Elliott. Brother Mark has a delightful personality. He kept Elliott, and us, laughing for most of the time we were with him. We praise the Lord for the joy that is in his heart. We will never forget him!
After lunch, we stopped by the apartment of a blind woman, who is a member of Pastor Yuasa's church. Miss Yoshikawa has been blind from birth. She lives in a small apartment, with one of its rooms used for a massage therapy business she operates. Pastor Yuasa set up the meeting for us to minister to Miss Yoshikawa, but she is the one who did the ministering. She insisted on giving Dale a neck and back massage, and her overall joy in the Lord was such a blessing. Though she isn't always able to get out to church, Miss Yoshikawa promised to attend services on Sunday knowing we would be there.
As evening approached it was time for Pastor Yuasa to take us to the family that would be hosting us for two nights. Mr. and Mrs. Sato are about the same ages as Dale and me. They have four sons, ages 28, 25, 23, and 15. Only the 15 year-old, whose name is Shimya, continues to live at home. The others are out of school and on their own. Mr. Sato is on a foreign work assignment in Vietnam, so we were not able to meet him.
Mrs. Sato was such a gracious hostess. She and Dale bonded immediately. Mrs. Sato had prepared a traditional Japanese meal for Pastor Yuasa, Brother Mark, and us, consisting of shrimp tempura, chicken, pork, beef, mushrooms, and rice. It was delicious, and we were stuffed.
Soon it was time for Pastor Yuasa and Brother Mark to leave. After talking for a while longer with Mrs. Sato, we decided it was time for us to retire for the night as well.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
One More Day
It's 8:05 am on Wednesday. We returned to the hotel near the airport last night after spending Saturday through Tuesday with Pastor Yuasa and people from Megumi Baptist Church in Tama City. We will be writing more on our time over the last few days later this evening when we come back to our room. We all are well and anxious to share a more full report with our church family.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Heading Back to Tokyo
October 21, Saturday
6:28 a.m.
I have only a few minutes to write this morning. We will be leaving the camp at 9 a.m. to head for Koriyama Station and the train back to Tokyo. We have thoroughly enjoyed staying at the camp and visiting with pastors and their families and churches in the Koriyama area. Our time here has added immeasurably to our knowledge base for designing a ministry going forward to bless the people of Japan.
Nobby and Bev talked with me yesterday about the missionaries here formulating a strategic plan for their ministries overall. I know they and the others (Enterlines, Mitas, and Yoshidas, along with Joyce Oshiro) are not sure they see the value in such planning, even though the mission administration back in the States would very much like them to do it as a part of a mission wide effort to move ahead more intentionally. Normally, I would be strongly in favor of strategic planning. The process involves a lot of vision-casting, which is one of my gifts. Nevertheless, I do not believe that a strategic plan is what is called for here at this time. What is called for here at this time more than anything else is a massive prayer movement for Japan.
There is powerful opposition to the Gospel here, with a steel door closed over the hearts of its millions of lost souls. Stanley, one of the men I shared with in detail on Sunday evening at McDonald’s after the English service told Bev later in the week about my sharing. He said that another person had been offended by someone else sharing with them on a different occasion and that she would not be returning to the church. He said, however, that he was not offended by my sharing. He just does not have any regard at all for anything that I shared. Bev Tajima explained to me that it would be better if Stanley had been offended. At least, it would indicate that some conviction is beginning to penetrate his heart. But his heart is as dead as the idol pictured in an earlier post.
Unfortunately, Stanley’s story is the story of multiplied millions here. We who know the Lord just cannot be satisfied to walk away with a shrug of the shoulders, saying, “Oh, well.” We must recognize the desperation of the situation. We must recognize that so many precious souls are lost and in the tangible grip of the devil. We must recognize the utter inappropriateness of there being a land like this with so very few who call upon the Lord to be saved. We must rise to the challenge of participating in the defeat of unbelief in Japan. There is powerful opposition to the Gospel, but it is no match for the power of our exalted Lord. If he himself could return from the dead, surely he is able to command millions of hearts here to come alive with faith in him.
My prayer for Japan is very similar to the one raised to the Lord in Acts 4:24ff. Toward the end of that prayer, the Christians prayed: “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
The healing and the miraculous signs and wonders for which we pray are all in reference to opening the hearts of people here to faith in Jesus. Pray for Japan.
6:28 a.m.
I have only a few minutes to write this morning. We will be leaving the camp at 9 a.m. to head for Koriyama Station and the train back to Tokyo. We have thoroughly enjoyed staying at the camp and visiting with pastors and their families and churches in the Koriyama area. Our time here has added immeasurably to our knowledge base for designing a ministry going forward to bless the people of Japan.
Nobby and Bev talked with me yesterday about the missionaries here formulating a strategic plan for their ministries overall. I know they and the others (Enterlines, Mitas, and Yoshidas, along with Joyce Oshiro) are not sure they see the value in such planning, even though the mission administration back in the States would very much like them to do it as a part of a mission wide effort to move ahead more intentionally. Normally, I would be strongly in favor of strategic planning. The process involves a lot of vision-casting, which is one of my gifts. Nevertheless, I do not believe that a strategic plan is what is called for here at this time. What is called for here at this time more than anything else is a massive prayer movement for Japan.
There is powerful opposition to the Gospel here, with a steel door closed over the hearts of its millions of lost souls. Stanley, one of the men I shared with in detail on Sunday evening at McDonald’s after the English service told Bev later in the week about my sharing. He said that another person had been offended by someone else sharing with them on a different occasion and that she would not be returning to the church. He said, however, that he was not offended by my sharing. He just does not have any regard at all for anything that I shared. Bev Tajima explained to me that it would be better if Stanley had been offended. At least, it would indicate that some conviction is beginning to penetrate his heart. But his heart is as dead as the idol pictured in an earlier post.
Unfortunately, Stanley’s story is the story of multiplied millions here. We who know the Lord just cannot be satisfied to walk away with a shrug of the shoulders, saying, “Oh, well.” We must recognize the desperation of the situation. We must recognize that so many precious souls are lost and in the tangible grip of the devil. We must recognize the utter inappropriateness of there being a land like this with so very few who call upon the Lord to be saved. We must rise to the challenge of participating in the defeat of unbelief in Japan. There is powerful opposition to the Gospel, but it is no match for the power of our exalted Lord. If he himself could return from the dead, surely he is able to command millions of hearts here to come alive with faith in him.
My prayer for Japan is very similar to the one raised to the Lord in Acts 4:24ff. Toward the end of that prayer, the Christians prayed: “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
The healing and the miraculous signs and wonders for which we pray are all in reference to opening the hearts of people here to faith in Jesus. Pray for Japan.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
English Classes
It's almost 2 p.m. Friday, October 20. I just returned with Nobby from a Bible study he leads in the nearby city of Miharu. Miharu is the sister city of Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Folks from Wisconsin have built a small cultural center in Mihiru and that is where the Bible study meets. The center features a lot of Wisconsin artifacts. There are a variety of things for sale, including Green Bay Packer hats and T-shirts. Miharu is about 50 minutes or so away by car. Nobby goes there each Friday for the study.
The last two days have been spent sitting in on various levels of English classes. Teaching English definitely provides an excellent opportunity to interact with Japanese people and to begin building relationships with them. It is, in fact, the primary way used by the Tajimas in Koriyama.
For each of the sessions, I have been asked to share something about Indiana and our hometown. I've also been asked to share something about our sons. While doing this last night, I decided to use a Japanese word to tell how old Elliott is. Unfortunately, I did not pronounce it correctly. Everyone roared with laughter. I will tell what I said on the Sunday when we return to church.
Language acquisition is not just difficult for Americans trying to learn Japanese. It is equally as difficult for Japanese trying to learn English. One reason why is because Japanese do not hear very well the distinction between the letters "r" and "l". The result can be just as humorous as the little blunder I made. For example, Nobby spent a few minutes talking to me the other night about "Floyd" the famous psychologist. It took a while, but I finally figured out that he meant Sigmund Freud. He was surprised to learn of the correct spelling.
Humor aside, I hava a tremendous respect for Japanese who are studying English. The difficulty with hearing a distinction between some letters means they must memorize words and train themselves to pronounce them properly. It has to be an incredible challenge and yet they persevere. Happily enough, this provides us with a wonderful point of contact for sharing our lives and the joy of forgiveness in Christ.
Tomorrow we return to Tokyo to minister in the Megumi Baptist Church. Megumi means "grace".
The last two days have been spent sitting in on various levels of English classes. Teaching English definitely provides an excellent opportunity to interact with Japanese people and to begin building relationships with them. It is, in fact, the primary way used by the Tajimas in Koriyama.
For each of the sessions, I have been asked to share something about Indiana and our hometown. I've also been asked to share something about our sons. While doing this last night, I decided to use a Japanese word to tell how old Elliott is. Unfortunately, I did not pronounce it correctly. Everyone roared with laughter. I will tell what I said on the Sunday when we return to church.
Language acquisition is not just difficult for Americans trying to learn Japanese. It is equally as difficult for Japanese trying to learn English. One reason why is because Japanese do not hear very well the distinction between the letters "r" and "l". The result can be just as humorous as the little blunder I made. For example, Nobby spent a few minutes talking to me the other night about "Floyd" the famous psychologist. It took a while, but I finally figured out that he meant Sigmund Freud. He was surprised to learn of the correct spelling.
Humor aside, I hava a tremendous respect for Japanese who are studying English. The difficulty with hearing a distinction between some letters means they must memorize words and train themselves to pronounce them properly. It has to be an incredible challenge and yet they persevere. Happily enough, this provides us with a wonderful point of contact for sharing our lives and the joy of forgiveness in Christ.
Tomorrow we return to Tokyo to minister in the Megumi Baptist Church. Megumi means "grace".
Shirakawa Baptist Church
October 19, Thursday
7:28 a.m.
I slept in until 7:15 this morning. We were out late last night, and with such long days otherwise, I was exhausted. On Tuesday, we traveled 1½ hours to see a volcano. Volcanic activity is rather plentiful in this area. We saw numerous hot springs resorts and spas along the way. The volcano which we saw is dormant, not having erupted for a long time (how long I am not sure, I’ll ask Nobby when I see him next).
The Japanese have made the area surrounding the volcano a national park. We had to pay around 1500 yen to enter, which is about $13 US. After the entrance, we drove up a narrow winding road with dozens of switchbacks and hairpin turns to a parking area near the base of the volcano’s dome. I’m not sure that “dome” is the appropriate word, since as you can see in the photo, now there is more of a deep pit at the top of the volcano. To get to the top we had to walk a couple hundred feet up a sort of stairway. Once there we could look down into the pit. If we so desired, we also could have walked all the way around the rim of the pit. We also could have climbed all the way down into the pit. We chose to do neither, because it was extremely windy at the top (my estimate: 20-30 mph steady) for one and in addition we weren’t sure we had the energy to do any more climbing. The view from the top was a strikingly awesome panorama of other lesser mountains and hills, stretching for miles in all directions and alive with the changing fall colors of the trees. God has certainly blessed Japan with an abundance of natural beauty.
Japanese people are the most beautiful of all. We spent yesterday (Wed.) with some of the most precious believers in three different cities. In the morning, we drove into Koriyama with the Takahashis to take part in a prayer meeting at Koriyama Baptist Church and to listen to Pastor Takahashi give a report on the ministry of the camp where we are staying. Pastor Takahashi and his wife not only lead a nearby church (one to which we are traveling today, Thursday), but they also serve as caretakers for the camp.
Later in the day, we drove to another city called Sukagawa to meet yet another pastor and wife, Pastor and Mrs. Shibata (Hirokazu and Masako). The Shibatas also introduced us to their 20 year-old daughter, who has the most beautiful Christian name, Toai, which means, “Eternal Love”. Hirokazu and Masako coined the name from something they read in Jeremiah 31.
From Sukagawa, we drove 45 minutes to join the Wednesday night prayer meeting of a church in Shirakawa. There were six people in attendance. The church was started long ago by a beloved missionary named Floyd Wooden. Mr. Wooden was elderly and long past retirement age when he left for the states four years ago. He died one month later on Christmas Day. Since then the church in Shirakawa has not had a pastor. The gather on Sundays and Wednesdays for worship and prayer using cassette tape recordings of sermons. Once a month, Nobby, Pastor Abe, and Pastor Takahashi take turns coming to the church to preach.
The people told us that they were very discouraged and even thinking at times of giving up. Imagine there being less than a dozen Christians in a city the size of Fishers trying to carry on the ministry of a church with no pastor and wife. Allow me to restate: they are not just a small struggling church with no pastor, they are a small struggling church with no pastor located in a city that is given over entirely to idolatry or total secularism. There are no Christian books or Christian bookstores. There is no Christian radio. There is no Christian subculture. There are hardly any Christians, period! They have barely enough resources to keep the church going, and those are running out. They not only are discouraged. They are despairing and desperate for help.
We tried our best to encourage them with compassion, prayer, and various Scriptures. By the end of our time together, it was obvious that we had ministered to them. Nobby broke down and began crying when one of the men shared how grateful to the Lord he was for our visit. When we returned to the camp, Dale and I remarked how grateful we were that our church family was willing to let us go for three weeks to be able to minister to a church family here that has been without a pastor for four years.
Pray for Shirakawa Baptist Church.
7:28 a.m.
I slept in until 7:15 this morning. We were out late last night, and with such long days otherwise, I was exhausted. On Tuesday, we traveled 1½ hours to see a volcano. Volcanic activity is rather plentiful in this area. We saw numerous hot springs resorts and spas along the way. The volcano which we saw is dormant, not having erupted for a long time (how long I am not sure, I’ll ask Nobby when I see him next).
The Japanese have made the area surrounding the volcano a national park. We had to pay around 1500 yen to enter, which is about $13 US. After the entrance, we drove up a narrow winding road with dozens of switchbacks and hairpin turns to a parking area near the base of the volcano’s dome. I’m not sure that “dome” is the appropriate word, since as you can see in the photo, now there is more of a deep pit at the top of the volcano. To get to the top we had to walk a couple hundred feet up a sort of stairway. Once there we could look down into the pit. If we so desired, we also could have walked all the way around the rim of the pit. We also could have climbed all the way down into the pit. We chose to do neither, because it was extremely windy at the top (my estimate: 20-30 mph steady) for one and in addition we weren’t sure we had the energy to do any more climbing. The view from the top was a strikingly awesome panorama of other lesser mountains and hills, stretching for miles in all directions and alive with the changing fall colors of the trees. God has certainly blessed Japan with an abundance of natural beauty.
Japanese people are the most beautiful of all. We spent yesterday (Wed.) with some of the most precious believers in three different cities. In the morning, we drove into Koriyama with the Takahashis to take part in a prayer meeting at Koriyama Baptist Church and to listen to Pastor Takahashi give a report on the ministry of the camp where we are staying. Pastor Takahashi and his wife not only lead a nearby church (one to which we are traveling today, Thursday), but they also serve as caretakers for the camp.
Later in the day, we drove to another city called Sukagawa to meet yet another pastor and wife, Pastor and Mrs. Shibata (Hirokazu and Masako). The Shibatas also introduced us to their 20 year-old daughter, who has the most beautiful Christian name, Toai, which means, “Eternal Love”. Hirokazu and Masako coined the name from something they read in Jeremiah 31.
From Sukagawa, we drove 45 minutes to join the Wednesday night prayer meeting of a church in Shirakawa. There were six people in attendance. The church was started long ago by a beloved missionary named Floyd Wooden. Mr. Wooden was elderly and long past retirement age when he left for the states four years ago. He died one month later on Christmas Day. Since then the church in Shirakawa has not had a pastor. The gather on Sundays and Wednesdays for worship and prayer using cassette tape recordings of sermons. Once a month, Nobby, Pastor Abe, and Pastor Takahashi take turns coming to the church to preach.
The people told us that they were very discouraged and even thinking at times of giving up. Imagine there being less than a dozen Christians in a city the size of Fishers trying to carry on the ministry of a church with no pastor and wife. Allow me to restate: they are not just a small struggling church with no pastor, they are a small struggling church with no pastor located in a city that is given over entirely to idolatry or total secularism. There are no Christian books or Christian bookstores. There is no Christian radio. There is no Christian subculture. There are hardly any Christians, period! They have barely enough resources to keep the church going, and those are running out. They not only are discouraged. They are despairing and desperate for help.
We tried our best to encourage them with compassion, prayer, and various Scriptures. By the end of our time together, it was obvious that we had ministered to them. Nobby broke down and began crying when one of the men shared how grateful to the Lord he was for our visit. When we returned to the camp, Dale and I remarked how grateful we were that our church family was willing to let us go for three weeks to be able to minister to a church family here that has been without a pastor for four years.
Pray for Shirakawa Baptist Church.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Hello Everyone
Hello Everyone! I just uploaded five new posts. If you want to read them in order, scroll down to begin. There are more pictures on Elliott's blog. Our access to the internet is very limited in this city. This situation will most likely continue for another few days. We miss everyone and covet your prayers. Tonight we will be in another church for the Wed. night mtg.
Mizukokuyo
October 17, Wednesday
8:00 a.m.
I just took a little break before continuing to write about yesterday’s little venture to see a nearby volcano and ancient castle.
Dale will write more about the volcano and castle in a moment, but first I would like to describe something very disturbing that we saw along the way, just outside of the city where the ancient castle stands. We drove by an idol in the form of a woman holding a small baby in her arms, large and standing at least 100 feet into the air, and overlooking the city as if she were its guardian.
The idol itself is associated with Buddhism. In recent years, the Buddhists have played more to the spiritual needs of women. It would be more appropriate to say they have played on the spiritual needs of women. The 100 foot tall idol is just one example.
Another example is an idol called mizukokuyo. Years ago in Japan, there were some 5 million abortions every year. Nobby thinks the statistics are probably higher now. Indeed, there is such a concern over the low number of pregnancies carried to term that various governments actually give money to people here when they have a baby. The Tajimas received $2000 US for the birth of one of their children.
Abortion not only has taken its toll on population growth, but also on the souls of the women involved. They live on with a tremendous burden of guilt and shame. The Buddhists play on this by offering to care for the spirit of the aborted babies with chants that they sell to these needy women. They also pressure them to buy small idols, which are replicas of mizukokuyo, charging them as much as $2000 US, by coincidence approximately the same amount as a government payment for the birth of a child.
The chants and purchase of an idol accomplish nothing other than to bring women under even greater bondage to the guilt and shame, and to the devil. By the way, the city of Koriyama, where we are staying now, has the highest incidence of pregnancy and abortion among junior high girls. As you might imagine, there are Christian women who in the past have had an abortion but who have found true forgiveness in Christ. The difference between them and the others is so remarkable that it nearly defies description. Among the women enslaved by mizukokuyo, there is debilitating gloom and depression. Among Christian women, there is the joy and blessing of eternal forgiveness.
Abes and Kogas
October 18, Wednesday
6:45 a.m.
On Monday, Nobby took me to see two pastors and their wives serving in two different cities. The first was Pastor and Mrs. (Hiroshi and Michiko) Abe, who serve at the Ishikawa, which is a little more than an hour’s drive from the camp.
The Abes were trained at the Bible school operated by missionaries and located in Tama City, which is in the outlying area of Tokyo. Previously, Mrs. Abe had been a nurse and Pastor Abe had been a medical lab technician. Now they are serving full time in their church.
The church building at Ishikawa is beautiful both on the inside and outside. Repairs were made recently on the inside to fix cracks (due to settling) that had opened in the ceiling and some of the interior walls on the second level. The meeting space for the church is all on the second floor. The Abes live on the first floor.
Nobby and I spent the morning talking with the Abes about a couple of matters related to some former missionaries. It would not be appropriate for me to go into details here, but suffice it to say that the matters remain unresolved in the minds of the Japanese Christians who were affected by what happened. For most of the morning, a lady who is a member of the church, joined us to discuss one of the matters in particular. I believe I was able to help them with godly pastoral counsel, which they received with open hearts. Nobby told me he believed that it helped tremendously and that clearly the Lord was in the timing of our visit.
I do not think that the Japanese are easily offended. If anything, they look on gaijin (foreigners) with some understanding of their ignorance of Japanese language and customs. The situations the Abes and the woman from the church discussed with me would have been serious breaches of both ethical and Christian conduct anywhere in the world. When I return home, I will need to contact at least one of the persons involved to see if the person would be willing to do what they should to facilitate forgiveness and healing.
By the way, the woman who came to the church brought with her a selection of “box” lunches. I was able to choose from salmon, beef, or Chinese noodles. I chose the salmon, which came with rice, a few vegetables, a small slice of Japanese omelet, and a item or two that tasted sweet although I have no idea what they were.
In the afternoon, Nobby and I drove on to visit Pastor and Mrs. Koga (Kazuhiko and _____ ), who serve in the Satogaok Baptist Church in Iwakishi. The Kogas are a very young couple (Kazuhiko is 31 years old), having been married for only one year and now serving in their first church. Once again, the church building is a fine facility, consisting of two stories. A small auditorium is located on the first floor. Sunday School and fellowship space, including a large kitchen, is located on the second. The Kogas live in a house next to the church.
The work in Iwakishi is slow and difficult, as is the case most everywhere in Japan. There are sometimes ten or less in attendance, even though the building could easily accommodate more than 100 adults and children. Add to this that Kogas are paid very little, so in addition to everything else they also carry the burden of some financial stress.
I was able to identify with the Koga’s situation, because it is so similar to the way Dale and I started out in ministry. I explained to the Kogas that we started our first church with just five adults and four children in a similar size (but not nearly as good as shape) facility. I encouraged them to persevere and that I would pray for them faithfully. One additional burden so many Japanese pastors and wives carry is that they have such little Christian fellowship and encouragement. This is true for all, not just for pastors and their wives. One way our group will be able to minister in the future is simply by encouraging pastors, their wives, missionaries, their wives, their families, and other Christians with their presence in country.
Our discussions with the Abes and Kogas about next summer’s ministry also produced a few good insights for going forward. For example, I asked if the Japanese pastors thought it would be a good idea for our team to stay in one place for the entire time in country or to stay only for a week or so at a time and then go on to somewhere else. The consensus is for them to stay for the entire time in one place. The idea would be for everyone to stay together in one place for a couple of days initially to become oriented and then to split into smaller groups to go to the various locations for service until coming back together at the end for a few days of debriefing.
Nobby and I returned home Monday night at around 9 p.m. It was a long day, seeing that we had left from the camp a little past 8:30 a.m. It didn’t take me very long to climb into bed and fall asleep. It had been a tiring day, but it was worth every minute.
6:45 a.m.
On Monday, Nobby took me to see two pastors and their wives serving in two different cities. The first was Pastor and Mrs. (Hiroshi and Michiko) Abe, who serve at the Ishikawa, which is a little more than an hour’s drive from the camp.
The Abes were trained at the Bible school operated by missionaries and located in Tama City, which is in the outlying area of Tokyo. Previously, Mrs. Abe had been a nurse and Pastor Abe had been a medical lab technician. Now they are serving full time in their church.
The church building at Ishikawa is beautiful both on the inside and outside. Repairs were made recently on the inside to fix cracks (due to settling) that had opened in the ceiling and some of the interior walls on the second level. The meeting space for the church is all on the second floor. The Abes live on the first floor.
Nobby and I spent the morning talking with the Abes about a couple of matters related to some former missionaries. It would not be appropriate for me to go into details here, but suffice it to say that the matters remain unresolved in the minds of the Japanese Christians who were affected by what happened. For most of the morning, a lady who is a member of the church, joined us to discuss one of the matters in particular. I believe I was able to help them with godly pastoral counsel, which they received with open hearts. Nobby told me he believed that it helped tremendously and that clearly the Lord was in the timing of our visit.
I do not think that the Japanese are easily offended. If anything, they look on gaijin (foreigners) with some understanding of their ignorance of Japanese language and customs. The situations the Abes and the woman from the church discussed with me would have been serious breaches of both ethical and Christian conduct anywhere in the world. When I return home, I will need to contact at least one of the persons involved to see if the person would be willing to do what they should to facilitate forgiveness and healing.
By the way, the woman who came to the church brought with her a selection of “box” lunches. I was able to choose from salmon, beef, or Chinese noodles. I chose the salmon, which came with rice, a few vegetables, a small slice of Japanese omelet, and a item or two that tasted sweet although I have no idea what they were.
In the afternoon, Nobby and I drove on to visit Pastor and Mrs. Koga (Kazuhiko and _____ ), who serve in the Satogaok Baptist Church in Iwakishi. The Kogas are a very young couple (Kazuhiko is 31 years old), having been married for only one year and now serving in their first church. Once again, the church building is a fine facility, consisting of two stories. A small auditorium is located on the first floor. Sunday School and fellowship space, including a large kitchen, is located on the second. The Kogas live in a house next to the church.
The work in Iwakishi is slow and difficult, as is the case most everywhere in Japan. There are sometimes ten or less in attendance, even though the building could easily accommodate more than 100 adults and children. Add to this that Kogas are paid very little, so in addition to everything else they also carry the burden of some financial stress.
I was able to identify with the Koga’s situation, because it is so similar to the way Dale and I started out in ministry. I explained to the Kogas that we started our first church with just five adults and four children in a similar size (but not nearly as good as shape) facility. I encouraged them to persevere and that I would pray for them faithfully. One additional burden so many Japanese pastors and wives carry is that they have such little Christian fellowship and encouragement. This is true for all, not just for pastors and their wives. One way our group will be able to minister in the future is simply by encouraging pastors, their wives, missionaries, their wives, their families, and other Christians with their presence in country.
Our discussions with the Abes and Kogas about next summer’s ministry also produced a few good insights for going forward. For example, I asked if the Japanese pastors thought it would be a good idea for our team to stay in one place for the entire time in country or to stay only for a week or so at a time and then go on to somewhere else. The consensus is for them to stay for the entire time in one place. The idea would be for everyone to stay together in one place for a couple of days initially to become oriented and then to split into smaller groups to go to the various locations for service until coming back together at the end for a few days of debriefing.
Nobby and I returned home Monday night at around 9 p.m. It was a long day, seeing that we had left from the camp a little past 8:30 a.m. It didn’t take me very long to climb into bed and fall asleep. It had been a tiring day, but it was worth every minute.
Volcanoes Earthquakes, and Language
October 17, Tuesday
9:15 a.m.
Nobby is coming to pick us up at 10 a.m. Today we are going to see a volcano that is still active, and afterwards, a castle. Speaking of volcanoes, they are one of four types of natural disasters occurring here. The first is typhoons, which correspond roughly to hurricanes. The second is the flooding that would be associated with the typhoons. The third is volcanoes, which, of course, are a problem quite rarely. Finally, there are earthquakes, which are not so rare. There was an earthquake here a couple of days ago, only a small one (about 2 or so on the Richter scale), but an earthquake nevertheless. I happen to subscribe to a free service on the internet that sends out emails with information on any earthquakes around the world of a magnitude greater than 3.0. I received a few notices of such near Japan prior to our coming. I have received one or two since we’ve been here. The closest was a 6.0 occurring about 1000 miles to the NE of Tokyo.
Nobby told me that earthquakes in this region are rare this time of year. Jordan, whom I mentioned earlier, observed that earthquakes are the reason why most utilities here are not buried underground. Natural gas pipelines here would be especially vulnerable. Consequently, homes and businesses make use of gas for cooking and heating from above ground tanks located outside and above ground.
Yesterday, Nobby drove me to see two nearby pastors and their churches. The first was Pastor and Mrs. Abe, who serve in a city called Ishikawa. Their church is called Ishikawa Baptist Church. The other is Pastor and Mrs. Koga, who served at Satogaoka Baptist Church in Iwakishi. Trust me, the names are confusing me.
On a side note, the Japanese often tell us to call them by American names. They understand how difficult and confusing it can be for us to keep Japanese names straight. For example, Nobby’s real name is Nobumasa. Stanley’s name is Masahiro; Bob’s is Toshihiko. While we were taking turns introducing ourselves at the English service the other night, I told everyone that my name is Randy but that they could call me Tsutomu. They laughed and laughed, because just the opposite had happened. I gave myself a Japanese name because “Randy” is so difficult for them to pronounce. They thought it was funnier than I could have imagined.
By the way, the letters “r” and “l” sound exactly the same to Japanese, as do the letters “b” and “v”. All of this can make for some humorous situations too, at least from our perspective. For example, Nobby’s wife’s name is Bev. Nobby told us that for a while he unwittingly referred to her as “Veb”, thinking, of course, that he was pronouncing the name of his beloved one correctly.
I need to sign off for now, because we will be leaving soon to go to the volcano. I hope to get this posted on the internet sometime later today. I will write more about visiting the pastors and their churches. Let me just say for now that the timing of our visit could not have been better. Not only have we learned so much that will be helpful going forward with our plans, but also the Lord is using us to encourage many who are discouraged. They need to draw upon our strength and encouragement through these difficult days of ministry here.
9:15 a.m.
Nobby is coming to pick us up at 10 a.m. Today we are going to see a volcano that is still active, and afterwards, a castle. Speaking of volcanoes, they are one of four types of natural disasters occurring here. The first is typhoons, which correspond roughly to hurricanes. The second is the flooding that would be associated with the typhoons. The third is volcanoes, which, of course, are a problem quite rarely. Finally, there are earthquakes, which are not so rare. There was an earthquake here a couple of days ago, only a small one (about 2 or so on the Richter scale), but an earthquake nevertheless. I happen to subscribe to a free service on the internet that sends out emails with information on any earthquakes around the world of a magnitude greater than 3.0. I received a few notices of such near Japan prior to our coming. I have received one or two since we’ve been here. The closest was a 6.0 occurring about 1000 miles to the NE of Tokyo.
Nobby told me that earthquakes in this region are rare this time of year. Jordan, whom I mentioned earlier, observed that earthquakes are the reason why most utilities here are not buried underground. Natural gas pipelines here would be especially vulnerable. Consequently, homes and businesses make use of gas for cooking and heating from above ground tanks located outside and above ground.
Yesterday, Nobby drove me to see two nearby pastors and their churches. The first was Pastor and Mrs. Abe, who serve in a city called Ishikawa. Their church is called Ishikawa Baptist Church. The other is Pastor and Mrs. Koga, who served at Satogaoka Baptist Church in Iwakishi. Trust me, the names are confusing me.
On a side note, the Japanese often tell us to call them by American names. They understand how difficult and confusing it can be for us to keep Japanese names straight. For example, Nobby’s real name is Nobumasa. Stanley’s name is Masahiro; Bob’s is Toshihiko. While we were taking turns introducing ourselves at the English service the other night, I told everyone that my name is Randy but that they could call me Tsutomu. They laughed and laughed, because just the opposite had happened. I gave myself a Japanese name because “Randy” is so difficult for them to pronounce. They thought it was funnier than I could have imagined.
By the way, the letters “r” and “l” sound exactly the same to Japanese, as do the letters “b” and “v”. All of this can make for some humorous situations too, at least from our perspective. For example, Nobby’s wife’s name is Bev. Nobby told us that for a while he unwittingly referred to her as “Veb”, thinking, of course, that he was pronouncing the name of his beloved one correctly.
I need to sign off for now, because we will be leaving soon to go to the volcano. I hope to get this posted on the internet sometime later today. I will write more about visiting the pastors and their churches. Let me just say for now that the timing of our visit could not have been better. Not only have we learned so much that will be helpful going forward with our plans, but also the Lord is using us to encourage many who are discouraged. They need to draw upon our strength and encouragement through these difficult days of ministry here.
Koriyama Baptist Church
October 17, Tuesday
7:20 a.m.
I took a little break to get my second cup of coffee this morning. It is the first bit of brewed coffee I have enjoyed since the hotel in Narita. And it tastes great!
On Sunday, we visited Koriyama Baptist Church, where Nobby (Nobumasa) and Bev Tajima serve. The Tajimas met at Temple University and Seminary in Chattanooga back in the seventies.
Koriyama is a city of 350,000 souls, the second largest city of its prefecture (state). The Tajimas have served here faithfully since the 1980’s. There were approximately 30 people attending worship on Sunday. I preached on Jesus as the door to God’s forgiveness and blessing in life, using the story of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28 as a starting point.
After worship, the church had a business meeting to decide which contractor to use for an upcoming building project. The current church building is located on a lot about 1/4 of an acre in size. The building itself is more than 30 years old and desperately needs to be replaced. The church is build a new structure on the back part of the property and then tear down the older building. It will be a tremendous boost and blessing to occupy the new facility.
During the business meeting, we ate lunch with Christine Tajima (age 23) and here finance, Shigeo (age 31), and with Jordan, a 23 year-old graduate of Wheaton College and an American. Jordan is working here in a secular company as an English teacher. He has been here for 8 months and already is able to speak and understand enough Japanese to get along. Jordan’s contract is up in a few months, after which he is hoping to renew and then attempt to get into a graduate program here in Japanese studies. We ate at a Chinese restaurant. The food was good, and the company was great!
In the evening, Dale and I sat in on an English service. The Tajimas usually focus the group on a selection from Daily Bread written both in English and Japanese. Mrs. Tajima (Bev) reads the selection in English, then she entertains questions from the group or she leads a discussion of what they have read. There are three non-Christians attending the service. Their English names of the two men are Stanley and Bob. The third person is a woman, who was not in attendance. After the meeting, we all went out to McDonalds for burgers and fries. I sat at a table with Stanley and Bob to continue sharing the Gospel with them. Romy, the pastor’s daughter I mentioned in the previous post, translated for me. Both Stanley and Bob have attended services for several years, but without making a decision. They now know the Gospel; nevertheless, it is difficult for them to take the next step of actually placing their faith in Jesus. I would ask all you read this to pray for both Stanley and Bob to come to know the Lord.
After lunch, prior to the evening English service, we went with Christine, Shigeo, and Jordan to the Koriyama Station to meet Romy, who was returning from visiting with the Enterlines near Omiya. While there, we saw a number of young people on the street and in the various stores, shops, and restaurants. Young people here (college age and down) can be difficult to reach. For one, they are extremely busy with their school work. They go to school on the average of 100 days more per year than students in the States. There also is a great deal of homework here. Secondly, young people here are very focused on material things, and they are completely taken by such things as mp3 players, video games, cell phones, and text messaging. It’s not that any of these things are new to them. The Japanese are, in fact, advanced beyond the States when it comes to all of this. The problem is that Japanese young people are losing their ability to communicate as human beings, even with one another. Nobby told me that he has observed two students sitting next to each other, each holding a cell phone in their hands, text messaging one another instead of talking.
Yet another problem with all of this is that the content of so many of the games is distinctively not Christian. In addition to violence, there also is a great deal of sexual content. Consequently, immoral behavior is commonplace among Japanese young people, to the point of involving the youngest of children. It is not unusual for 12 and 13 year-old girls to become pregnant and then to have an abortion. Nobby said that many times the mothers of these girls, when they learn of their daughter’s circumstances, more or less shrug their shoulders and say “Oh well….”
To make matters worse, there also is a huge “comic book” industry here that also features a lot of violent and sexual content. Some people have become so addicted to the games and the comic books that they not only have lost control of their lives, they also have begun acting out criminally, especially against young children. The kidnappings and murders that we often read about in the States are on the rise here as well.
Japanese Christians need our prayer and our help. They have strong desires to win these young people and others from among their countrymen to the Lord. But with so few who know the Lord at this point, they are overwhelmed. Pray for workers to help them. Pray for Japanese young people. Pray for Japan.
7:20 a.m.
I took a little break to get my second cup of coffee this morning. It is the first bit of brewed coffee I have enjoyed since the hotel in Narita. And it tastes great!
On Sunday, we visited Koriyama Baptist Church, where Nobby (Nobumasa) and Bev Tajima serve. The Tajimas met at Temple University and Seminary in Chattanooga back in the seventies.
Koriyama is a city of 350,000 souls, the second largest city of its prefecture (state). The Tajimas have served here faithfully since the 1980’s. There were approximately 30 people attending worship on Sunday. I preached on Jesus as the door to God’s forgiveness and blessing in life, using the story of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28 as a starting point.
After worship, the church had a business meeting to decide which contractor to use for an upcoming building project. The current church building is located on a lot about 1/4 of an acre in size. The building itself is more than 30 years old and desperately needs to be replaced. The church is build a new structure on the back part of the property and then tear down the older building. It will be a tremendous boost and blessing to occupy the new facility.
During the business meeting, we ate lunch with Christine Tajima (age 23) and here finance, Shigeo (age 31), and with Jordan, a 23 year-old graduate of Wheaton College and an American. Jordan is working here in a secular company as an English teacher. He has been here for 8 months and already is able to speak and understand enough Japanese to get along. Jordan’s contract is up in a few months, after which he is hoping to renew and then attempt to get into a graduate program here in Japanese studies. We ate at a Chinese restaurant. The food was good, and the company was great!
In the evening, Dale and I sat in on an English service. The Tajimas usually focus the group on a selection from Daily Bread written both in English and Japanese. Mrs. Tajima (Bev) reads the selection in English, then she entertains questions from the group or she leads a discussion of what they have read. There are three non-Christians attending the service. Their English names of the two men are Stanley and Bob. The third person is a woman, who was not in attendance. After the meeting, we all went out to McDonalds for burgers and fries. I sat at a table with Stanley and Bob to continue sharing the Gospel with them. Romy, the pastor’s daughter I mentioned in the previous post, translated for me. Both Stanley and Bob have attended services for several years, but without making a decision. They now know the Gospel; nevertheless, it is difficult for them to take the next step of actually placing their faith in Jesus. I would ask all you read this to pray for both Stanley and Bob to come to know the Lord.
After lunch, prior to the evening English service, we went with Christine, Shigeo, and Jordan to the Koriyama Station to meet Romy, who was returning from visiting with the Enterlines near Omiya. While there, we saw a number of young people on the street and in the various stores, shops, and restaurants. Young people here (college age and down) can be difficult to reach. For one, they are extremely busy with their school work. They go to school on the average of 100 days more per year than students in the States. There also is a great deal of homework here. Secondly, young people here are very focused on material things, and they are completely taken by such things as mp3 players, video games, cell phones, and text messaging. It’s not that any of these things are new to them. The Japanese are, in fact, advanced beyond the States when it comes to all of this. The problem is that Japanese young people are losing their ability to communicate as human beings, even with one another. Nobby told me that he has observed two students sitting next to each other, each holding a cell phone in their hands, text messaging one another instead of talking.
Yet another problem with all of this is that the content of so many of the games is distinctively not Christian. In addition to violence, there also is a great deal of sexual content. Consequently, immoral behavior is commonplace among Japanese young people, to the point of involving the youngest of children. It is not unusual for 12 and 13 year-old girls to become pregnant and then to have an abortion. Nobby said that many times the mothers of these girls, when they learn of their daughter’s circumstances, more or less shrug their shoulders and say “Oh well….”
To make matters worse, there also is a huge “comic book” industry here that also features a lot of violent and sexual content. Some people have become so addicted to the games and the comic books that they not only have lost control of their lives, they also have begun acting out criminally, especially against young children. The kidnappings and murders that we often read about in the States are on the rise here as well.
Japanese Christians need our prayer and our help. They have strong desires to win these young people and others from among their countrymen to the Lord. But with so few who know the Lord at this point, they are overwhelmed. Pray for workers to help them. Pray for Japanese young people. Pray for Japan.
At the Camp
Tuesday, October 176:35 a.m.
At the Camp
We are staying at a camp that was built by BMM missionaries a generation ago. The camp is nestled away near the top of a small mountain among a grove of sixty to seventy foot high pine trees, which in most cases have trunks that are 24 inches or less, mostly less, in diameter. The beauty here is remarkable.
Nearby, at a slightly higher level, there is a cemetery owned by the camp. It is, of course, a Christian cemetery; that is to say that only Christians are buried there. Special permission had to be received from the government in order to make such a place. Additional special permission had to be received to be able to bury the deceased. Normally people are cremated. Their ashes are stored in jars, and their “burial” site is marked by large above-ground tombstones. Some of the markers are quite large and elaborate. They can be expensive as well, costing upwards to $50-60,000 US. These are often placed on a plot of ground on the side of a mountain, which becomes a shrine and a kind of altar used for ancestor worship. Of course, none of that kind of thing goes on at the cemetery at the camp. The markers here are small rectangular pieces of granite, engraved with information about the deceased and usually also with a cross. Oddly enough, the cross symbol elicits a feeling of joy when you see, even though a person has died, since it indicates that at least in this one case there was a person out of the millions of others who did not end his or her life with the knee bowed to Buddha or with the tongue confessing some Lord other than Jesus.
The facilities here are typical for a camp, although this camp is much larger and the facilities seem to be much nicer than what we saw near Seki. We are staying in a one bedroom apartment that is part of the camp’s main building. The apartment also features a small kitchen and living room, a shower room that includes a sink and a washer in a separate area, and a toilet. What we might call “the bathroom” here is called “the toilet”. If you ask to use the bathroom, you will be shown to a separate room where you will find a bath tub and shower. The toilet is always contained in a different room. Also, the shower and bathtub are set up quite differently than ours. They are in the same room, but the bathtub is never used, and I do mean “never!”, for taking a bath with soap. It is a grave offense to get into a bathtub still needing a bath or to somehow allow soapy water to from your shower to mix with the water that usually is standing in the tub. The shower is not contained in its own little walled-in area. It is simply part of the larger shower room, complete with a drain in the floor, that also contains the bathtub. In some case, where there is no shower-head faucet, you are expected to sit on a little stool to bathe, using a small plastic bowl to scoop warm water from the bathtub to pour on yourself after you soap up. One more observation and then I’m finished with this topic. Neither bathrooms nor toilets are made for someone who is 6’ 3”.
Nevertheless, we are very comfortable here. Houses and other buildings like this one here do not have central heat or air conditioning. Last night, the outside air temp was around 5 degrees centigrade (multiply by 9, divide by 5, add 32 and you have the temp in Fahrenheit). The inside temp hovers in the teens; however, there is a small, but adequate portable heater that we are using in the mornings to bring the room up to a warmer temp. As I say, we are very comfortable, and we are grateful for the Christians in this area making the facilities available to us.
Yesterday, Elliott spent the day playing around the camp as Dale did some catching up with various tasks and spent time interacting with Romy, the 25 year-old daughter of the Takahashis, a pastor and wife who live just down the lane. I spent the day with Nobby Tajima, driving to see two different pastors and their wives, along with their churches. I will write more about that in another post.
Before closing, I want to explain something I wrote in the first paragraph of this post. I wrote that the camp had been built by missionaries of “a previous generation.” Christians and churches flooded Japan with missionaries in the years that followed WWII. Many from that generation since then either have retired or gone on to be with the Lord. In the case of BMM, there were more than 40 missionaries here twenty years ago. Now there are nine. The missionaries of yesteryear served with distinction and great vision for the future. Unfortunately, no one seems to be stepping forward to take their place, resulting in a severe strain on every aspect of the ministry here.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Sunday Afternoon in Koriyama
It's 5:10 pm Sunday afternoon. We are in Koriyama now, visiting Nobby and Bev Tajima at Koriyama Baptist Church. I preached for the morning service on Jesus as the "gate" into the heavens, the realm out of which God blesses and interacts with people, from Genesis 28 and John 1. The people seemed responsive. I wish everyone at home could have been here to witness the tears when I shared how burden we are because there will be so few Japanese in heaven unless things change drastically.Right now we are between meetings. There is an English service this evening in just a little while. Before I sign off, let me mention that we are staying at a nearby Christian camp, which was started almost thirty years ago. It is located in a remote area in the mountains and situated quite beautifully. I will write more about the camp and the church in the next post.
Unfortunately, we do not have internet access at the camp, so I will be at the mercy of the many different people we will be seeing during our stay in this area. I will try to post again as soon as I am able. In the meantime, I just uploaded a couple of new posts below in addition to this one.
Religion in Hiroshima and Other Places
The people in Hiroshima, like people in all of Japan, seem to have so much by way of material goods. The photo to the left is the view out the window of the hotel where we stayed. It is only two or three blocks away from the peace dome and ground zero.The prosperity here now takes us back to the matter of how to present the Gospel to them. I have already written how difficult it can be to present the Gospel in terms of it meeting people’s needs if those people do not sense they have any needs. One Japanese Christian even told us that most Japanese realize there is a God, but they think it is better to not be religious at all. By “better”, the Japanese mean that they are able to get more out of what life has to offer with respect to material things. Many Japanese, especially the young people, are clearly focused on material things. In effect, unfortunately, they are trading their ability to show appreciative love for the Lord Jesus for the ability to possess material things.
Imagine for a moment that someone told you that you could have everything you ever wanted, but it would cost you the ability to appreciate the beauty of a sunset over the ocean. You could see the sunset, but you would never again have any appreciation for it whatsoever. Allow me to use a second example since we soon will be passing by Mount Fuji, one of Japan’s most well-known and most majestic landmarks. Imagine someone told you that you could have everything, but never again would you be able to appreciate the beauty of a natural landmark like Mount Fuji. Again, you could see it, but you would be utterly unresponsive, utterly unable to respond, to its breathtaking majesty.
Most of us would see the inequity of such a deal. In other words, if we knew that we would have to trade away the ability to appreciate the beauty of a sunset or the breathtaking majesty of Mount Fuji in order to possess some material thing, we would say, to coin a phrase, “No deal! It’s not worth it!”
The ability to appreciate the beauty of a sunset is not the only “deal or no deal” proposition out there. A similar choice presents itself in regard to someone’s ability to appreciate the beauty and majesty of Jesus as Lord of All. Imagine someone saying that he or she were willing to exchange their ability to appreciate Jesus as the Lord of All for possession of a house, a car, nice clothes, some electronic gadget or any other material thing. It would be utter foolishness, a bargain that someone would make only if they had no idea of the comparative values involved. This is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote that he counted all things as loss (literally, “dung”) compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ as Lord. In other words, if he were to compare the value of possessing material things to the value of his participation in appreciative love for the Lord Jesus, he would definitely choose knowing Christ as Lord. Nothing material would ever be worth trading away his ability to appreciate the Lordship of Jesus.
More On Hiroshima
October 14, 2006
2:47 p.m.
Hikari 416
We changed trains at Shin-Osaka. We are on our way now to Tokyo Station, where we will change again before going on to Koriyama.
Now for a little more on Hiroshima. Over the course of the last 51 years, Hiroshima has returned to the busy population center it once was and then some. After arriving at the Hiroshima Station, we took a street car to our hotel. We checked in, went to our room, and put our stuff away before heading off to see the peace dome. By the time we finished seeing the dome and walking through the nearby museum, it was dark. We walked the few blocks back to the hotel via a wide street closed to vehicular traffic and passing through a shopping district.
We eventually came to a busy intersection that we needed to cross. After looking around for a minute or so, we realized that we would have to go down stairs to a level below the street. What we found down there surprised and amazed us. There was a mall on that level arranged in the shape of a giant cross with rows of stores extending out from a central hub for blocks in all four directions. There were a variety of clothing and other types of stores. If we hadn’t known better, we would have guessed we were at Castleton or Keystone Mall. The amount of stores definitely exceeded the amount you could find in either of those places.
There were restaurants on that level too. We ate dinner at one called “Auntie’s Pasta”. Italian food is big here, and it’s big with the Gilmores too. We enjoyed a delicious meal before heading back to the hotel and off to sleep. By the way, we’ve been going to bed each night around 9 pm or so, which is unusually early for our family. But we are finding ourselves to be exhausted each day by that time and thus ready for a good night’s rest. Not to complain, but in addition to being a little tired, my back has been hurting due to a combination of extremely hard pillows and mattresses (see an earlier post from Dale) and lugging some heavy luggage on and off the trains. I only mention my back to ask for a bit of prayer as we continue.
One more little bit of humor in closing. The street car we took from Hiroshima Station to our hotel actually consisted of about three subway-type cars linked together. We climbed on, lugging our luggage up with us, as quickly as we could (the car remain only briefly at each stop) and found a seat near the middle of the cars. We quickly observed that people were to enter the street car through the side doors like we had done, but that they were to exit the front door near the conductor. Well, by the time our stop rolled around, the cars had filled with people. In fact, it was standing room only. Now we faced the daunting task of pulling our luggage past thirty or forty feet of other passengers standing in the narrow aisle to go out through the front door. Someone might say, “Just go out the side door. It’s no big deal!” The problem was, you don’t pay the fare (380 yen) until you get out. In other words, if we had left through the side door, it would have looked like we had tried to “steal” the ride to the hotel. As crowded as the stops were, it also would mean forcing a number of people to step aside as they were attempting to enter the car. All we could imagine was a street car full of Japanese rolling their eyes and saying, “Those crazy Americans!” Oh well, one of the car’s conductors squeezed past people by us on his way to the front. We asked him what we should do, hoping he would understand. He indicated we should go to the front to pay like everyone else. So we gestured toward our luggage. He gave a wide smile and granted us permission to use the side door. We gave him the 380 yen; and, like Moses parting the Red Sea, we parted a sea of people waiting to get on the streetcar as we exited and then made our way on to the hotel.
2:47 p.m.
Hikari 416
We changed trains at Shin-Osaka. We are on our way now to Tokyo Station, where we will change again before going on to Koriyama.
Now for a little more on Hiroshima. Over the course of the last 51 years, Hiroshima has returned to the busy population center it once was and then some. After arriving at the Hiroshima Station, we took a street car to our hotel. We checked in, went to our room, and put our stuff away before heading off to see the peace dome. By the time we finished seeing the dome and walking through the nearby museum, it was dark. We walked the few blocks back to the hotel via a wide street closed to vehicular traffic and passing through a shopping district.
We eventually came to a busy intersection that we needed to cross. After looking around for a minute or so, we realized that we would have to go down stairs to a level below the street. What we found down there surprised and amazed us. There was a mall on that level arranged in the shape of a giant cross with rows of stores extending out from a central hub for blocks in all four directions. There were a variety of clothing and other types of stores. If we hadn’t known better, we would have guessed we were at Castleton or Keystone Mall. The amount of stores definitely exceeded the amount you could find in either of those places.
There were restaurants on that level too. We ate dinner at one called “Auntie’s Pasta”. Italian food is big here, and it’s big with the Gilmores too. We enjoyed a delicious meal before heading back to the hotel and off to sleep. By the way, we’ve been going to bed each night around 9 pm or so, which is unusually early for our family. But we are finding ourselves to be exhausted each day by that time and thus ready for a good night’s rest. Not to complain, but in addition to being a little tired, my back has been hurting due to a combination of extremely hard pillows and mattresses (see an earlier post from Dale) and lugging some heavy luggage on and off the trains. I only mention my back to ask for a bit of prayer as we continue.
One more little bit of humor in closing. The street car we took from Hiroshima Station to our hotel actually consisted of about three subway-type cars linked together. We climbed on, lugging our luggage up with us, as quickly as we could (the car remain only briefly at each stop) and found a seat near the middle of the cars. We quickly observed that people were to enter the street car through the side doors like we had done, but that they were to exit the front door near the conductor. Well, by the time our stop rolled around, the cars had filled with people. In fact, it was standing room only. Now we faced the daunting task of pulling our luggage past thirty or forty feet of other passengers standing in the narrow aisle to go out through the front door. Someone might say, “Just go out the side door. It’s no big deal!” The problem was, you don’t pay the fare (380 yen) until you get out. In other words, if we had left through the side door, it would have looked like we had tried to “steal” the ride to the hotel. As crowded as the stops were, it also would mean forcing a number of people to step aside as they were attempting to enter the car. All we could imagine was a street car full of Japanese rolling their eyes and saying, “Those crazy Americans!” Oh well, one of the car’s conductors squeezed past people by us on his way to the front. We asked him what we should do, hoping he would understand. He indicated we should go to the front to pay like everyone else. So we gestured toward our luggage. He gave a wide smile and granted us permission to use the side door. We gave him the 380 yen; and, like Moses parting the Red Sea, we parted a sea of people waiting to get on the streetcar as we exited and then made our way on to the hotel.
Our Visit to Hiroshima
October 1411:26 a.m.
Hikari 462 Bound for Shin-Osaka
We just left Hiroshima a few minutes ago. We are headed now to Koriyama where Nobby and Bev Tajima live and minister. We are scheduled to arrive in Koriyama at 6:55 pm. I will be preaching tomorrow at the Tajima’s church.
The side trip to Hiroshima was definitely worth it. We stayed in a hotel near what is called the “peace dome”. It is the remains of a domed cultural center that survived in part the dropping of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 a.m. The exact time is marked by a watch on display in a nearby museum. The watch froze at the exact moment the bomb was detonated.
The watch was about the only thing that froze in that moment. Virtually everything else was incinerated by the blast and the subsequent release of a tremendous amount of heat and energy—an amount equivalent to something like 20,000 tons of TNT. Interestingly enough, the word scientists chose many years ago to be the common designation for TNT is the Greek word dynamis, or dynamite as we know it. In other words, the word dynamite is much older, by a few thousand years, than the explosive compound it has come to signify. The same word appears many times in the Bible and is translated by our word power. For example, in Romans 1:16, the Apostle Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” As powerful as the bomb was that dropped on Hiroshima, the power of Christ is far greater. The dynamite associated with the exaltation of Jesus as Lord is what raised Jesus from the dead (see Philippians 3:10). Furthermore, the dynamite of the atomic bomb brought horrific death and destruction. The dynamite of Jesus in his exaltation brings life and peace. Hiroshima today stands in great need of this latter type of dynamite.
The horrific death and destruction in Hiroshima that resulted from the dropping of the atomic bomb is difficult to describe or quantify. Almost everything within a 1-2K radius around the peace dome was completely (and I do mean “completely) incinerated. The “before” and “after” depictions are stunning. After the bomb, everything was reduced to dust—not rubble, but dust. More than 140,000 souls perished instantly. Another 60,000 died in the aftermath. The suffering and loss are overwhelming as you read tales of parents finding nothing but a few shreds of clothing from their missing children and visa versa. One pair of sandals are on display in the museum, recognized in the aftermath of the bombing by a bereaved mother by the straps she had made with her own hands as all that was left of her young daughter’s remains.
There were thirteen Christian churches in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing. All of them were either partially or completely destroyed.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Friday Afternoon in Hiroshima
It's 3:49 pm on Friday, October 13. We just arrived at our hotel in Hiroshima. We are here overnight before traveling on to Koriyama in the north where we will stay with BMM missionaries. Just a minute or two ago I added three new posts we wrote on the train on the way here. The first and last are from me. The middle one is from Dale.
Appreciative Love and Presenting the Gospel to the Japanese
10-13-0610:47 a.m. Tsubame Relay 4
We changed trains again a few minutes ago, so now we have also changed bloggers. Dale is taking a break, and it is back to me.
The train we are on now is definitely the nicest of all we have ridden so far. The seats are large, and they even serve a beverage along the way. On other trains, customers can purchase a coke, bottled water, or juice from a beverage cart. The carts also feature a variety of light snack items. The prices are comparable to what you might see at any of the stations or local convenience stores. This leg lasts for about an hour and a half.
Yesterday late afternoon, Tom Carr and I talked at length about the difficulty of reaching Japanese people for the Lord. Tom remarked that unlike the circumstances of so many other places in the world where missionaries serve the advanced standard of living here means that people perceive that they have very few, if any, needs. They certainly don’t perceive their need for Christ. Consequently, it is a definite challenge to the way in which we usually present the Gospel.
In the States, the Gospel is presented most often in terms of what Christ “can do for you.” If you need forgiveness, Christ will give you forgiveness. If you need meaning in life, Christ will provide you with meaning. If you need help with your marriage or with other relationships, Jesus will help with that too. Whatever your need may be, trusting in Christ can help. Years ago, someone popularized this kind of thinking with the slogan, “Christ is the Answer!” It wasn’t unusual to see the slogan on posters, bumper stickers, and billboards. It was the previous generation’s version of the WWJD or Live Strong bracelets.
This approach to presenting the Gospel is not wrong. But what do you do when someone, or an entire group of people, does not sense any need for Christ at all? The notion of “Christ died for you” hardly connects or makes sense.
Our church family has often heard me speak of C.S. Lewis’ explanation of the various types of love, an understanding of which very much applies in the context of reaching Japanese for Christ. Lewis suggests three types of love: (1) need love; (2) gift love; and (3) appreciative love. Need love is the love that you might have for someone or something because they meet a need in your life. Gift love is the kind of sentiment you have for someone or something that motivates you to give of yourself to the person or thing that is loved. Finally, Appreciative love is love that is directed to someone or something because of something about them (or it) that really has nothing to do at all with the person who is doing the loving. A good illustration of appreciative love is the response we might have to a beautiful sunset. The beauty of a sunset really has nothing to do with the person who is looking on in admiration. It would still be beautiful even if that person were not there to admire it. Nevertheless, it would be a shame if the beauty of a sunset went unnoticed or if a person stood there looking on and failed to appreciate the beauty that he or she were seeing.
C.S. Lewis observed that gift love is a lot like God’s love for us; thus, John 3:16 says: “God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son….” And need love is a lot like our love for God. We love him, because of all he does and has done for us. Unfortunately, the greatest problem with need love is that it tends to diminish or go away altogether once the need that is driving it has been met. Of course, it also tends not to exist at all if there is no need to get it started in the first place.
That brings us back to Japan and presenting the Gospel to people who sense that they have very few, if any, needs—especially any spiritual needs, and even more especially any need for Christ. So what do we do? In my opinion, we should present the Gospel in terms of appreciative love. In other words, we should present the Gospel, not just in terms of what Jesus “can do for you”; but rather, in terms of all that is true of Jesus as the exalted Lord of Lords and how he deserves for people to place faith in him. He deserves for people to bend their knees and confess with their mouth that he is Lord. He not only deserves it, he commands it.
We can communicate that it is an even greater shame for Jesus’ beauty and position to go unnoticed than it is for a beautiful sunset to go unnoticed. Just as all people everywhere have been made to admire the beauty of sunsets, so they also have been made to respond in faith to the remarkable majesty of the Lord of All. I can’t help but coming back to the thought that perhaps Japanese people might understand this better than most because of their experience with emperor worship. The only difference is that Jesus is not just another emperor in a long line of emperors going back a few thousand years. And he is not just the emperor of Japanese only. He is the Emperor of Emperors, from now and forevermore. And not just of Americans, not just of Japanese, but of every person. I love what Acts 10:34-36, 42b-43 says: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all…he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Dale Again
10-13-06
9:52 a.m. Tsubame 4
Good morning! I trust you are all well back at home. We heard that snow was expected there in Indy and that the trees were turning colors. So far we have not seen any fall colors. Actually where we just left, the Carr’s city, the climate is quite different from Tokyo. It’s more like the climate in Georgia. October is still rather warm during the daytime and cools off nicely in the mornings and evenings. Instead of fall colors we saw palm trees! I just might miss my fall colors all together this year!
What a joy it was spending time with the Carr family. By Japanese standards, their home was quite large, though still quite small by our standards. We all squeezed in just fine and we were very comfortable. When we arrived the children all met us in their pajamas with smiling eager faces awaiting the unknown guests they had spent the day getting ready for. Elliott immediately connected with all of them and Mitchell graciously gave up his bottom bunk for Elliott to sleep in. Tom and Paula so kindly gave us their room and I believe it was the best rest I’ve had since we’ve arrived. We actually had American pillows. The hotel pillows were quite hard and they stuff one side with rice husks I believe. We’re learning the Japanese culture for bathing and taking off shoes quite well. There are some definite no-no’s in both situations and we’re hoping not to be too offensive. The missionaries constantly struggle with wondering if they have offended anyone because there are so many cultural differences and it takes a great deal of insight to learn what is acceptable. It’s quite overwhelming at times.
9:52 a.m. Tsubame 4
Good morning! I trust you are all well back at home. We heard that snow was expected there in Indy and that the trees were turning colors. So far we have not seen any fall colors. Actually where we just left, the Carr’s city, the climate is quite different from Tokyo. It’s more like the climate in Georgia. October is still rather warm during the daytime and cools off nicely in the mornings and evenings. Instead of fall colors we saw palm trees! I just might miss my fall colors all together this year!
What a joy it was spending time with the Carr family. By Japanese standards, their home was quite large, though still quite small by our standards. We all squeezed in just fine and we were very comfortable. When we arrived the children all met us in their pajamas with smiling eager faces awaiting the unknown guests they had spent the day getting ready for. Elliott immediately connected with all of them and Mitchell graciously gave up his bottom bunk for Elliott to sleep in. Tom and Paula so kindly gave us their room and I believe it was the best rest I’ve had since we’ve arrived. We actually had American pillows. The hotel pillows were quite hard and they stuff one side with rice husks I believe. We’re learning the Japanese culture for bathing and taking off shoes quite well. There are some definite no-no’s in both situations and we’re hoping not to be too offensive. The missionaries constantly struggle with wondering if they have offended anyone because there are so many cultural differences and it takes a great deal of insight to learn what is acceptable. It’s quite overwhelming at times.
Leaving Kyushu -- Our Visit with the Carrs
10-13-06
8:26 a.m.
We just boarded the train from Miyakonojo to Hiroshima with a few stops in between. Miyakonojo is a city about the size of Fishers; however, there is much more of a “downtown” area complete with more than few multiple-storied buildings. The pace of life here is much, much slower than in Tokyo. We understand this is true for most of Kyushu, which is the island where Miyakonojo is located. The name of the big island, where Tokyo is located, is called Honshu. By the way, Miyakonojo is situated in a valley with some beautiful mountains to its west.
We stayed overnight for two nights with Tom and Paula Carr and their four children, who range in age from 11 to 5. Andrew is the oldest. Next is Lindy, a girl, age 9; then, Mitchell, age 7. Finally, Tevia, also a girl, is the youngest. We thoroughly enjoyed fellowshipping with the Carrs, who serve with ABWE. Elliott especially enjoyed hanging out with Andrew. Elliott went to school with Andrew and then on to watch his swimming lessons later in the afternoon.
Last evening for dinner, the Carrs took us to a sushi bar. We were seated in a booth arranged along with others around a sort of island where a chef prepared a wide variety of individual servings of sushi on small plates. The chef set the plates on a moving track that snaked its way around the restaurant past all of the booths. Customers select which sushi they want to consume and remove them from the track. The prices of the various types are determined by which type of plate the chef sets them on. There were five or six types of plates in all with prices ranging from 100 yen to 550 yen. When customers are finished, a waitress comes by, “adds” up the plates, and calculates your bill. With the Carrs, there were nine of us altogether. Our total bill was under $40.
There are a few others who are serving with the Carrs in Miyakonojo. Yesterday morning, while Dale spent time with Paula, I met for breakfast with Tom and another missionary, Chris Sadowitz. I first met both the Carrs and the Sadowitz’ back in the early ‘90s when I served on the ABWE advisory board prior to our coming to Hamilton Hills. Tom and Chris provided some good insight and helpful suggestions for the project we are considering.
Several years ago an anonymous donor gave a large sum of money to the missionaries here to be used for purchasing property and constructing/renovating buildings useful for ministry. One of the ministries Chris and Tom would like to get going is a coffee shop, to which they could invite Japanese for coffee and light refreshments and where they could interact about spiritual things or come for more informal English lessons. Chris and Tom took me to the property and showed me the coffee shop, which has already been set up. The only thing missing is a couple or individual who would be willing to take it on as their ministry.
The coffee shop is also a perfect setting also for what we are intending to do. One concern that Tom has is what he referred to as “reproducibility”. What he meant by that term is his intention of making sure that whatever ministry is begun is something that Japanese nationals can carry on in the future. This doesn’t mean that he and Chris are closed to the idea of an English-teaching/relationship-building ministry utilizing college students. To the contrary, they are very excited about what we are proposing. It simply means that we and they also need to pray for more workers to serve vocationally and for more Japanese to take on ministries that they can do. For example, a Japanese person can run the coffee shop. They would not use it for English lessons, but they could use it as a meeting place where relationships are built for evangelism, and for Christian fellowship, Bible study, and interaction about spiritual things.
In the afternoon, Dale and I, along with the Carrs, met with two young Japanese ladies who are involved in their ministries. Izumi, age 29, has spent some time in the States as a student with Word of Life. The other lady, Chika, is married to a Russian man, who was born and raised in an area of Korea very near Russia. In fact, Chika speaks Japanese and English. Her husband speaks Korean, Russian, and some English. He is learning Japanese, but in the meantime, as a couple, they have a few challenges when it comes to communicating with each other.
Both ladies told us that from their perspective they thought what we are proposing would be great. We asked them to share whatever insights or advice they might have. They told us that English instruction would be especially attractive to high school students if we could promote it as helping them to advance in their education. They suggested that we focus on helping students with phonics, grammar, and correct pronunciation. This was very helpful advice and gave us several ideas for the content of lessons we might prepare for going forward.
Based on what we learned here, it seems that there are at least two tracks for what we could have students do here with English instruction. First, there is a need simply for practicing conversational English. By the way, yesterday morning at the coffee shop, Dale and I sat in on such a lesson with a Japanese woman named Kyiyoko. Second, there is a need, as Izumi and Chika shared, for helping people, especially students, with phonics, grammar, and correct pronunciation. Naturally all of this is for the purpose of building relationships in order to share more the Gospel more effectively.
8:26 a.m.
We just boarded the train from Miyakonojo to Hiroshima with a few stops in between. Miyakonojo is a city about the size of Fishers; however, there is much more of a “downtown” area complete with more than few multiple-storied buildings. The pace of life here is much, much slower than in Tokyo. We understand this is true for most of Kyushu, which is the island where Miyakonojo is located. The name of the big island, where Tokyo is located, is called Honshu. By the way, Miyakonojo is situated in a valley with some beautiful mountains to its west.
We stayed overnight for two nights with Tom and Paula Carr and their four children, who range in age from 11 to 5. Andrew is the oldest. Next is Lindy, a girl, age 9; then, Mitchell, age 7. Finally, Tevia, also a girl, is the youngest. We thoroughly enjoyed fellowshipping with the Carrs, who serve with ABWE. Elliott especially enjoyed hanging out with Andrew. Elliott went to school with Andrew and then on to watch his swimming lessons later in the afternoon.
Last evening for dinner, the Carrs took us to a sushi bar. We were seated in a booth arranged along with others around a sort of island where a chef prepared a wide variety of individual servings of sushi on small plates. The chef set the plates on a moving track that snaked its way around the restaurant past all of the booths. Customers select which sushi they want to consume and remove them from the track. The prices of the various types are determined by which type of plate the chef sets them on. There were five or six types of plates in all with prices ranging from 100 yen to 550 yen. When customers are finished, a waitress comes by, “adds” up the plates, and calculates your bill. With the Carrs, there were nine of us altogether. Our total bill was under $40.There are a few others who are serving with the Carrs in Miyakonojo. Yesterday morning, while Dale spent time with Paula, I met for breakfast with Tom and another missionary, Chris Sadowitz. I first met both the Carrs and the Sadowitz’ back in the early ‘90s when I served on the ABWE advisory board prior to our coming to Hamilton Hills. Tom and Chris provided some good insight and helpful suggestions for the project we are considering.
Several years ago an anonymous donor gave a large sum of money to the missionaries here to be used for purchasing property and constructing/renovating buildings useful for ministry. One of the ministries Chris and Tom would like to get going is a coffee shop, to which they could invite Japanese for coffee and light refreshments and where they could interact about spiritual things or come for more informal English lessons. Chris and Tom took me to the property and showed me the coffee shop, which has already been set up. The only thing missing is a couple or individual who would be willing to take it on as their ministry.
The coffee shop is also a perfect setting also for what we are intending to do. One concern that Tom has is what he referred to as “reproducibility”. What he meant by that term is his intention of making sure that whatever ministry is begun is something that Japanese nationals can carry on in the future. This doesn’t mean that he and Chris are closed to the idea of an English-teaching/relationship-building ministry utilizing college students. To the contrary, they are very excited about what we are proposing. It simply means that we and they also need to pray for more workers to serve vocationally and for more Japanese to take on ministries that they can do. For example, a Japanese person can run the coffee shop. They would not use it for English lessons, but they could use it as a meeting place where relationships are built for evangelism, and for Christian fellowship, Bible study, and interaction about spiritual things.
In the afternoon, Dale and I, along with the Carrs, met with two young Japanese ladies who are involved in their ministries. Izumi, age 29, has spent some time in the States as a student with Word of Life. The other lady, Chika, is married to a Russian man, who was born and raised in an area of Korea very near Russia. In fact, Chika speaks Japanese and English. Her husband speaks Korean, Russian, and some English. He is learning Japanese, but in the meantime, as a couple, they have a few challenges when it comes to communicating with each other.
Both ladies told us that from their perspective they thought what we are proposing would be great. We asked them to share whatever insights or advice they might have. They told us that English instruction would be especially attractive to high school students if we could promote it as helping them to advance in their education. They suggested that we focus on helping students with phonics, grammar, and correct pronunciation. This was very helpful advice and gave us several ideas for the content of lessons we might prepare for going forward.
Based on what we learned here, it seems that there are at least two tracks for what we could have students do here with English instruction. First, there is a need simply for practicing conversational English. By the way, yesterday morning at the coffee shop, Dale and I sat in on such a lesson with a Japanese woman named Kyiyoko. Second, there is a need, as Izumi and Chika shared, for helping people, especially students, with phonics, grammar, and correct pronunciation. Naturally all of this is for the purpose of building relationships in order to share more the Gospel more effectively.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Update From Miyakonojo
Good afternoon! It's approximately 2:40 pm on Thursday. We are visiting ABWE missionaries today in a city named Miyakonojo. It has been a very productive time. I will write more about this later this evening. In the meantime, I just uploaded three new posts from our trip yesterday. They appear below...
Another Post From Dale
Written Wednesday, October 111:30 pm
Hello again from Japan!
At this moment we are flying down the tracks at a speed of 200mph. At times it can get rather dizzying. We just flew past Hiroshima! We’re so glad we’ll have some time to stop there on the way back to take it all in. We’ve traveled many, many miles but I don’t think I’ve seen too much land undeveloped in some way. Home after home, building after building, garden after garden and so many, many people. As I look out the train window at the moment all I see are a sea of roof tops and apartment buildings. Even this far away from Tokyo. It’s interesting to see the architect change, too, as we get out into the country more. The homes are taking on a more oriental look.
It was a joy to be with the Melton’s. I told Debbie as she was preparing dinner that we’re not used to being on the receiving end of hospitality and we appreciated them opening their home and hearts to us. Elliott had a great time with their son Andrew who took Elliott right in and played some games with him. Yesterday I woke up with a headache and by dinner time I was feeling pretty bad with some nausea as well. I had to excuse myself to lie down all the while praying that I wasn’t coming down with something especially with the big trip ahead the next day. The Lord answered my prayers again and I woke up feeling so much better. I have to continually trust God for us to stay well. It seems I have a prayer on my lips most of the time as we are trying to find a ticket office or the right track to depart from. It all takes a lot of mental energy and I have been so thankful for Randy’s ability to get us around. Elliott was in tears today after Randy had been gone for about a half hour to re-do our tickets. Finally he appeared on the other side of the tracks with a big grin realizing where he had left us waiting. Needless to say Elliott was quite happy to see his Dad back safe and sound. It’s going to be quite different when we get home and not be with each other every waking minute! That’s one of the blessings of mission trips with kids, there’s a lot of bonding going on!I guess I better go for now. Again thank you all for praying for us and thanks to those who’ve written to us. It’s been a joy to read your messages. We are praying for you all as well and miss you, too.
Much love,
Dale
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