This month is a very comfortable month for most of F squad. We are living in home stays that have heat, toilets that have seat warmers, music and a bidet, and washing machines to wash clothes in. Never in a million years did I think that I would be living in Sanda, a richer neighborhood with Lexus’ driving by me. To say that my living conditions are nice is an understatement. It’s amazing here, comfortable.
But with most of the comforts from home, I have been uneasy, uncomfortable.
As soon as I learned about Japanese culture, schools and religions my heart broke for the area. Japan is known as the graveyard for missionaries. Missionaries come to Japan and get burnt out so quickly because it is such a dark place.
Many of the people in Sanda are living comfortable lives. They have jobs, families, and plenty of money.
With comfort, a darkened spirit lurks. When you have everything that you can ever want and need why do you need God?
I have really felt the spiritual warfare that is going on in Japan. There are many temples and shrines in the area and many people go and pray to these false idols because their ancestors did and you do not want to dishonor your family line.
Peter (our ministry contact) says that is usually takes the Japanese 7 years after hearing the gospel to convert to Christianity. The people do not see a need for God in their lives.
Ministry this month has been to focus on building relationships with the people of Sanda.
We have had English classes in Peters school. The greatest thing about his school is that it is small and held in his house. This is very abnormal for Japanese culture. It is rare for a Japanese person to invite you into their home. If you are going to hangout and chat with a person it’s going to be at a coffee shop or out somewhere else spending money.
The ages range from 2nd graders all the way to Seniors in Highschool. Because we do not speak Japanese, the classes have consisted of awkward silences, goofy faces and music from frozen (that’s a huge hit with all if the classes).
We have also been invited to visit kindergartens (3 and 4 years old). At the kindergarten we sang songs, did a skit and played with the children. The teachers were so impressed they invited us to stay and have lunch with the children. We made onigiri (rice balls) and then had salmon. Yep, I said it. The children get fresh salmon for lunch. During this time, our goal was solely to love on the children there and let Gods light shine through us… so we played and goofed around. One thing that I have learned with the language barrier is that the kids will still love you even if you cannot speak their language. I learned that day that kids understand facial expressions and love it and will reciprocate when you make a goofy face. The biggest moment at the kindergarten for me happened as we were leaving. As I got out of my chair, all of the kids from the table I was at stood up and hugged me. This is such a huge deal because hugs are not normal in Japanl touch is not normal. I knew then that I had loved them the best that I could that day and that it had moved them.
We also worked with a local boyscout troop on their language badge. They were working towards an English badge and we got to help. We went walking on a park looking for various items on a list and had to stop at 3 checkpoints and complete an activity. The first activity was tying a knot. They had to explain to us in English how to do so. The second checkpoint was a memorization game. They had to memorize all the items on the table in 1 minuet and write them down in English and spell them correctly. The third checkpoint was learning 2 English songs. We taught the we wish you a merry Christmas and row row row your boat. At the very end, we had a competition between the 2 teams seeing if everybody knew names and other things about each other. Many laughs and great conversations came out of that day.
Above: Boy Scout troop
Haley and I have been staying in a church with the Ando family. The church reminds me of home. They sing familiar tunes and take communion. I haven’t taken communion in 4 months! Since we stay at the church, we attend the services on Sunday. Everything is in Japanese but thankfully we have a translator with us. Haley and I have played songs and shared our testimonies in church with the congregation of 12.
The first Sunday we were at church one of the younger men invited us to sushi after church so Regan (the translator from Australia) Haley and I walked to sushi with Izumo and his son. The next week at church an older couple, the Hiratas invited us to dinner for the following Sunday. Our 3rd Sunday here we ate lunch with the congregation and then decorated the church for Christmas. One of the families stayed until 6:15, the time that Haley and I were picked up to go to the Hiratas for dinner. During the time after decorating the church and before leaving for dinner, we played with the children, took goofy selfies, and played darts; the Japanese families versus the Americans, Sadly to report, we did not win.
Above: Decorating the Church
Above: Goofy faces
Above: Dinner at the Hiratas
Another ministry that we did while in Japan cooking classes for the housewives and junior high kids. In the junior high cooking class we made hamburgers, Mac n Cheese and fudge. For the women’s cooking class I got to choose the menu (my team agreed on it so we went for it). I taught the women how to make homemade biscuits, sausage milk gravy, deviled eggs and apple crisp. I was really concerned that the women would not like cooking these recipes because they involved getting messy with your hands. Come to find out, they loved it! It was some of the women’s first biscuit ever and they loved the gravy (gravy sauce as they called it). My team gave me the honor of leading the classes which gave me pure joy.
I have connected with so many of the people in Japan, despite the language barrier, and my heart breaks more and more for them the more I get to know them. They still feel no need to follow God. They know that we are Christians but they do not have to desire to want God in their lives. They are living in the shadows of some very dark spiritual warfare and do not even realize it. The suicide rate in Japan is breathtakingly high. People are unhappy because all they do is work. When men get off work they go to the bars. Women are left home doing house work, cooking and taking care of the children. Children are stressed to the max with school. Everything is about performance and being perfect. The children have to test into middle and high school and that determines their success in life. Japan need Jesus and needs the light. Please pray for these people to feel a desire to know and follow God.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
– 2 Corinthians 4:6
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