Kelly - Day 3 for TMK

Day three for the TMK team up on the northern side of Tokyo.  Got to spend the day in Asakusa, and while it's a wonderful place for those who love to shop, it's also a place where there is both a Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist Temple within close proximity to each other.  While we did do some shopping, our real purpose was to pray for the people.  It's funny, when I came two years ago, I never realized both were at the end of the "shopping strip".  The trip and the sharing that Rev. Nakamura gave to us reminded me of events that happened 25 years ago when I was serving as a short term missionary here in Japan called Scrum Dendo.  I watched then with a heavy heart as many of the Japanese people very diligently followed rituals to idols made of metal.  Some of course were performing the acts without much thought, much like many of us do when we attend church, but many you could tell were very sincere in there actions.  Today, I saw the same things, and tears nearly came to my eyes as I watched one mom carefully and sternly instructed her son how to wash his hands before entering the Buddhist temple - the tears came because I know someday in the future this little boy will come back, do the same rituals to the same hunks of metal, not necessarily because he wants to, but because it's all he knows, it's all he has to hope in.  I began to pray that in 25 years when that little boy has grown into a young father, that he doesn't bring his son to this same temple.  My prayer was that he has a chance to attend a VBS where he can learn he has a choice, a far better choice.