I have officially been in Japan for one week. Over the course of one week, I have begun learning a new 
language (or attempted to), tried new foods, and experienced the coldest temperatures I have felt in over a year. We are the first World Race squad to ever come to Japan. What an exciting opportunity to help pioneer new ministry contacts and a new place! We love it!
My team is living in a suburb of Osaka called Sanda. We are split among three homes, so this month looks quite different from previous months. Kristin, Linsey, and I are living with an American missionary couple. Our other four teammates are split between two other pastors’ homes.
Many Japanese believe in a mixture of Buddhism and Shintoism, a sort of native animism/spiritism. They live in fear of others’ opinions striving to keep on good terms with all. Many still venerate their ancestors and believe neglecting in this practice could result in a curse. Some Christians even struggle with breaking free from these beliefs. For example, a woman in a local church became sick and thought she was hearing her deceased husband calling her to be with him. The pastor told her that it was not her husband speaking to her, but evil spirits. She prayed throughout her sickness and was actually baptized during that time. She then ceased hearing the voice and was healed. God is working miracles in this place!
Another miracle we witnessed was this past Saturday. My teammates plus our pastor contacts all met to pray over their churches and the local shrine. One specific request we made to the Lord was for new people to be interested in the Gospel, especially the younger generation. After we had finished praying, we were sitting around drinking tea when five 12-year-old girls came by. These girls had never even set foot in a church before, but for some reason decided to stop. We invited them in and ended up spending about an hour playing games and dancing to pop music. Apparently, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry are just as popular in Japan as in the U.S. We also got to learn a few Japanese songs as well.
The next day when we arrived at church the five girls were waiting outside for us! We ended up sitting with them for about 45 minutes before the activities started, and they attempted to teach us the Japanese alphabets. They then stayed for Sunday School and part of the service. We have some more activities planned specifically for kids, so we are hoping and praying they continue to come.
The church here functions differently than that of the United States. The traditional model of church in America simply is not attractive to most Japanese. Our host family recognizes this statistic and is in the process of planting a house church. They are partnering with one other family in the city. Steering away from a traditional church service, they strive to build relationships with the community and believe in evangelism through these relationships. This past Sunday evening we put some of this relationship building into practice by inviting several families over for dinner. Before the evening began, we spent some time in prayer asking for the Lord to bless our evening and to create more opportunities to share the Gospel with the people we had invited. It was a fun evening of fellowship including American pizza (from Costco!) and Guitar Hero.
Our hosts also teach English classes in their home as another outlet for outreach. We help teach these classes giving the students new opportunities to challenge themselves in conversational English. On average, we will be assisting in about ten classes each week. Most of our students are around 6th-8th grade with a few older and younger. It’s always so funny to see their reactions to new teachers in their classes. 11-year-old girls are dramatic no matter what country they are from!
Overall, my Japanese experience has been very enjoyable thus far. We are embracing the cold with layers of new clothing and have gotten to try many new foods – so much sushi! Yum! God is opening many doors for us in this new country, and we cannot wait to see what the rest of our time here holds.
We also got to experience Coming of Age day where 20 year olds dress in traditional kimonos!
