Well, today we spent the morning preparing for Monday's VBS (the who, what, when stuff). We took the afternoon to check out Yokohama a little bit with Shirley, Koichi and kids. Yokohama sits right next to the water and is a little smaller than Toyko (only 8 million people). Beautiful city, clean, the people are polite as usual and the food is great!
Starting to bond with my nine teammates and getting acclimated (a little) with the weather which seems to be the hardest thing for me so far about the trip. Looking forward to what God has planned for me and out team. Everyday is a day to glorify him and I'm sure he his teaching us things to help in our growth. We just have to be able to listen. I think he asked me to do something tomorrow that I'm not real comfortable with but we'll see how it goes. Will fill you in on it tomorrow.
Keep us in your prayers.
The 2008 Team
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Ev: First Team meeting in Japan
Today we had our first team meeting to talk about what we needed to do at VBS on Monday. After we discussed the details of the skits, rehearsed the songs and motions, asked questions and had them answered, assigned parkguides to certain age groups and so much more, we had a time of worship. Matt led the worship time with his guitar. We started with Amazing Grace, which led to How Great is our God. As we sang, I realized that as we begin our time in ministry, God truly is the One who will pour forth His amazing grace through our lives and that people who will come into contact with during the VBS, ESL classes, and nursing home will get a glimpse of truly how great our God is! Please pray for the park guides to have patience, and to get to know the kids and their parents well, for the storytellers to make the truth of God's Word clear and for the Holy Spirit to do His convicting work, for the song leaders to share God's truth in song and have energy, for the recreation people to keep kids safe and yet have fun, for the craft people to be able to share God's love and make the craft idea clear to the kids, and for the kids and parents to have open hearts to whatever God will do this week. After we sang, I felt a great silence like there was nothing else to say. It was now all in God's Hands. Thank you for your prayers. We cannot tell you how much we need them. Pray that this Monday, the Nokendai Church will be holy ground where God will do a mighty work. Blessings, Ev
Heather: First Impressions of Japan
We spent our first real day in Japan touring the greater Tokyo area. Here are my first impressions of what we saw...
Clean and neat: bathrooms, subways, streets, even the people
Quiet: no cars honking in the city, no people talking on the subways... except for us
High-tech: the toilets and bathrooms have so many buttons, you don't know what to push
Yummy: chicken katsu don, Ebi fillet and pork katsu burgers at McDonalds, chicken curry at the Nakamuras, just like my dad used to make :)
Hectic: People seem to be rushing everywhere
Cute: I keep find myself saying, "Isn't that a cute sign?", "Look at that cute t-shirt", "I can't stop taking pictures of all the cute kids in their uniforms"
We've also spent the past few days getting an orientation to the Japanese culture. I've found it very intestesting that even though I'm third generation and don't consider myself "very Japanese", I can relate so much to so many things. The importance of trying to "fit in with the crowd", the fear of having to perform in front of others, the need to work hard and achieve, and the desire to isolate when things get stressful.
When I thought about coming to Japan on a mission trip, I found it harder to relate to the needs of the people. As compared to places like Thailand or Kenya, they seem to have all the modern conveniences, wealth and huge variety of entertainment options. But the more I learn about the culture, I'm so glad that God brought me here to Japan to serve the people here. Suicide rates are increasing as people experience economic challenges, children feel hopeless and uncertain about their future, stabbings are on the rise as an outlet for people's frustration, and cult worship is growing as people search for answers.
We pray that through our VBS program we will be able to connect with the children and their parents with a message of joy and hope. We look forward to sharing our songs, stories, crafts and recreation games with them soon. Please pray that we'll be able to use our last few days to rest up, get over our jet lag, and prepare our last minute details for the week ahead...
Sayonara from Japan :)
Heather
Clean and neat: bathrooms, subways, streets, even the people
Quiet: no cars honking in the city, no people talking on the subways... except for us
High-tech: the toilets and bathrooms have so many buttons, you don't know what to push
Yummy: chicken katsu don, Ebi fillet and pork katsu burgers at McDonalds, chicken curry at the Nakamuras, just like my dad used to make :)
Hectic: People seem to be rushing everywhere
Cute: I keep find myself saying, "Isn't that a cute sign?", "Look at that cute t-shirt", "I can't stop taking pictures of all the cute kids in their uniforms"
We've also spent the past few days getting an orientation to the Japanese culture. I've found it very intestesting that even though I'm third generation and don't consider myself "very Japanese", I can relate so much to so many things. The importance of trying to "fit in with the crowd", the fear of having to perform in front of others, the need to work hard and achieve, and the desire to isolate when things get stressful.
When I thought about coming to Japan on a mission trip, I found it harder to relate to the needs of the people. As compared to places like Thailand or Kenya, they seem to have all the modern conveniences, wealth and huge variety of entertainment options. But the more I learn about the culture, I'm so glad that God brought me here to Japan to serve the people here. Suicide rates are increasing as people experience economic challenges, children feel hopeless and uncertain about their future, stabbings are on the rise as an outlet for people's frustration, and cult worship is growing as people search for answers.
We pray that through our VBS program we will be able to connect with the children and their parents with a message of joy and hope. We look forward to sharing our songs, stories, crafts and recreation games with them soon. Please pray that we'll be able to use our last few days to rest up, get over our jet lag, and prepare our last minute details for the week ahead...
Sayonara from Japan :)
Heather
From Janis - Our tour of Tokyo
Hi all,
Back in the 70's my Mom came here to Japan to visit. She asked me if I wanted to come with her but I didn't want to.... not interested in major cities, crowds, pollution, etc. Well, yesterday confirmed my decision decades ago... But on a deeper level.
Tokyo has 26-27 million people. NYC only has 19mil.
There are on average, 100 people committing suicide every day in this country
One of the train station in Tokyo we visited had over 1.5million travelling through it each day.
We had an opportunity to just watch people in this train station for several minutes. The team split up and we all walked as individuals through the station observing. I purposely stood along a wall of one of the main hallways. I just looked at people's faces and into their eyes..... I've never felt such an emptiness in such a mass amount of people before. I was on the verge of tears within minutes.
Granted this was a train station and most people do "check out" while in transit, but this was deeper than anything I've noticed, felt in any US train, bus or lightrail station. People in the US at least look at each other and acknowledge their existance. This place was cold, robotic, deep sadness and even deeper emptiness. I'm on the verge of tears just writing this now...
To me, it was what I can imagine what hell would be like... dead, walking, endless, hopeless, no purpose, striving to temporary "feel goods", and lack of heart.
Needless to say, I didn't like Tokyo one bit. Besides the people and the emptiness, the aesthetics were nothing to note. I think I took a couple of pictures but that's it. We visited a government building and the main intersection that you've all seen pictures of and a few other places. But to me it was all cement buildings, pollution, silver car after another silver car, people smoking cigarettes and all the usual stereotypical stuff.
Sorry to be a downer but I feel this way after yesterday. But we're now in Yokosuka which is much nicer - a suburb of Tokyo, right near the ocean, the naval station a few miles north of here. So I'm feeling better now that I've been removed from "IT" but my heart still is breaking over what I saw and felt yesterday.
I just want to start our VBS and meet and teach the kids...
janis
Back in the 70's my Mom came here to Japan to visit. She asked me if I wanted to come with her but I didn't want to.... not interested in major cities, crowds, pollution, etc. Well, yesterday confirmed my decision decades ago... But on a deeper level.
Tokyo has 26-27 million people. NYC only has 19mil.
There are on average, 100 people committing suicide every day in this country
One of the train station in Tokyo we visited had over 1.5million travelling through it each day.
We had an opportunity to just watch people in this train station for several minutes. The team split up and we all walked as individuals through the station observing. I purposely stood along a wall of one of the main hallways. I just looked at people's faces and into their eyes..... I've never felt such an emptiness in such a mass amount of people before. I was on the verge of tears within minutes.
Granted this was a train station and most people do "check out" while in transit, but this was deeper than anything I've noticed, felt in any US train, bus or lightrail station. People in the US at least look at each other and acknowledge their existance. This place was cold, robotic, deep sadness and even deeper emptiness. I'm on the verge of tears just writing this now...
To me, it was what I can imagine what hell would be like... dead, walking, endless, hopeless, no purpose, striving to temporary "feel goods", and lack of heart.
Needless to say, I didn't like Tokyo one bit. Besides the people and the emptiness, the aesthetics were nothing to note. I think I took a couple of pictures but that's it. We visited a government building and the main intersection that you've all seen pictures of and a few other places. But to me it was all cement buildings, pollution, silver car after another silver car, people smoking cigarettes and all the usual stereotypical stuff.
Sorry to be a downer but I feel this way after yesterday. But we're now in Yokosuka which is much nicer - a suburb of Tokyo, right near the ocean, the naval station a few miles north of here. So I'm feeling better now that I've been removed from "IT" but my heart still is breaking over what I saw and felt yesterday.
I just want to start our VBS and meet and teach the kids...
janis
vincy-1st day in Japan - July 31, 2008
It is 9:39 am in Japan right now, that is 5:39 in Seattle. We had such a long day today! When we got off the plane we had to wait for Richard because our flight was 40 minutes earlier! Richard got the tickits for 5 o'clock bus. We went shopping for almost 2 hours after we got on the bus I feel alsleep. When we got to the SEND Center we had dinner and then we piled up into the cars and we all went to where we were going to sleep. Well now I'm going to sleep now. See you next time!:)
7/31/08
by Elaine&Vincy
7/31/08
by Elaine&Vincy
Amy : Adjusting to a new culture
For some of us, this is our first time in Japan. As we`re walking through the streets of Tokyo and observing the people, we can immediately see that this is an entirely different place with a very different way of life. We woke up this morning to have orientation at the SEND center. John and Richard gave us a quick overview of the Japanese people and their culture. Some of the statistics that they gave us were shocking:
- approximately 33,000 commit suicide a year (those are only the ones who succeed)
- the people who commit suicide often feel a sense of hopeless, and have no meaning or purpose in life
- Japanese people are very non-confrontational - Richard shared a real story from the news about a boy who was fed up with the expectations of society so that he shut himself up in his family`s kitchen. Instead of confronting their son, the parents built another kitchen in their home.
- harmony is more important than truth. The Japanese people would rather ignore a problem rather than trying to fix it because oftentimes trying to fix a problem will disrupt the harmony.
- Japanese people don`t ask for help - they feel that once they do ask for help, it becomes an obligation they feel towards the person who helped them. They now feel that they owe someone something.
With these points in mind, we set out on a prayer walk in Tokyo. We journeyed to a government building to the 45th floor where they have an observation deck offering views of the downtown. Afterwards, we met up with Shirley and here, we split into two teams. The Nokendai team has arrived safely in Yokosuka and we are resting at the Tamuras condo after having travelled all day. We will be meeting with the Tamura family for dinner tonight and orientation again.
We travelled through the Tokyo core today as a team of 18 and not once did anyone get lost. Praise for keeping us safe and sound and for continuing to make this journey smooth and without incident. Please continue to pray for our team and the people of Japan. We pray that through the VBS program, we can develop relatoinships with the children but also the mothers and possibly fathers and be able to follow up with these relationships as well.
I`ll end this post with a humourous story relating to cultural adjustment (and what happens when we have lack of sleep):
We were sitting at the breakfast table when Patti came to our table and told us that the towels that Shirley had purchased for us were 400 Yen (approx 4 USD). Lyanne was sitting at the table and said - oh. 400? Can I pay you back at home? I didn`t bring enough money. Patti looks back at her and says - you don`t have 400 Yen?? Lyanne goes, no i only brought 300. Then she goes, oh!! you mean 400 Yen - 4 USD! Right...... The rest of us laugh at her - was she really willing to pay 400 USD for a towel??
- approximately 33,000 commit suicide a year (those are only the ones who succeed)
- the people who commit suicide often feel a sense of hopeless, and have no meaning or purpose in life
- Japanese people are very non-confrontational - Richard shared a real story from the news about a boy who was fed up with the expectations of society so that he shut himself up in his family`s kitchen. Instead of confronting their son, the parents built another kitchen in their home.
- harmony is more important than truth. The Japanese people would rather ignore a problem rather than trying to fix it because oftentimes trying to fix a problem will disrupt the harmony.
- Japanese people don`t ask for help - they feel that once they do ask for help, it becomes an obligation they feel towards the person who helped them. They now feel that they owe someone something.
With these points in mind, we set out on a prayer walk in Tokyo. We journeyed to a government building to the 45th floor where they have an observation deck offering views of the downtown. Afterwards, we met up with Shirley and here, we split into two teams. The Nokendai team has arrived safely in Yokosuka and we are resting at the Tamuras condo after having travelled all day. We will be meeting with the Tamura family for dinner tonight and orientation again.
We travelled through the Tokyo core today as a team of 18 and not once did anyone get lost. Praise for keeping us safe and sound and for continuing to make this journey smooth and without incident. Please continue to pray for our team and the people of Japan. We pray that through the VBS program, we can develop relatoinships with the children but also the mothers and possibly fathers and be able to follow up with these relationships as well.
I`ll end this post with a humourous story relating to cultural adjustment (and what happens when we have lack of sleep):
We were sitting at the breakfast table when Patti came to our table and told us that the towels that Shirley had purchased for us were 400 Yen (approx 4 USD). Lyanne was sitting at the table and said - oh. 400? Can I pay you back at home? I didn`t bring enough money. Patti looks back at her and says - you don`t have 400 Yen?? Lyanne goes, no i only brought 300. Then she goes, oh!! you mean 400 Yen - 4 USD! Right...... The rest of us laugh at her - was she really willing to pay 400 USD for a towel??
Amy : Arrived Alive!
Praise God!! After a smooth 9 hour plane ride, all 18 of us arrived safely in Tokyo yesterday afternoon. Even though we arrived an hour earlier than expected, we were still able to meet with Richard. We had to wait approximately an hour for the bus to Tokorozawa so we took that time to explore the airport mall. We caught our bus which took about 2 hours since we got stuck in traffic. We arrived at the SEND center around 7:30pm - here we were greeted by John and Chieko, missionaries at the SEND center. We were all exhausted from travelling. Travelling with 18 people is quite a challenge. Every time we get onto a bus or get off a bus, we need to make sure that no one is left behind. But our travels have been smooth without any problems. THe weather here is warm and humid but it is much better than last year. It`s approximately 35 deg C right now which is considered cool for this time of year in Japan. We pray that this weather will last the rest of this week :)
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