Susan - My first blog

This is a little late, but better late than never...

Friday August - 1st

After the orientation at the send center in Tokorozawa, Richard took us on a prayer walk at the Toyko train station where over 3 million people go thru everyday, of which 99.9% don't know God. As I walked thru the train staion praying, I observed the people and saw hopelessness and sadness in their faces and my heart just went out for them. Afterwards we went to the top floor of the Government building where we saw a 360 degree view of Tokyo city.

The two teams separated and the Nokendai team met Shirley and her two daughters at the train station in Tokyo and we travel by train to Yokosuka (2 hours). The Nokendai team (all 9 of us)stayed in Kohichi's parent's condo up on the 9th floor, and the Tamara's are on the 6th floor. Shirley made a nice curry dinner for the team followed by an orientation. It's been a long day of traveling and sightseeing and we're all exhausted. The condo has two bedroom, and one bath, but we managed to sleep all 9 of us in this one little place. We slept on futons layed out on the floor, 2 in the living room, 3 in the main bedroom, 2 in the spare bedroom, and two in the storage room where the bikes were kept.

Saturday August 2nd -

For some reason we all got up between 5:30 and 6am even though we didn't need to. I thought it would be chaos with the bathroom situation, but it turned out okay, no fighting over the bathroom or complaining about hogging it. Since we woke up early we took our time getting ready and eating breakfast, then we review VBS songs and lessons plans.

We spent the day in Yokohama with the Tamara's and visited the Landmark Tower which is known for its fastest elevator in the world. It takes approximately one minute for the elevator to go from 1st to the 69th floor. Once on the 69th floor, you are greeted with various tropical fishes and you get a 360 degree view of Yokohama city. On the ground level, there are 5 floors of shops and restaurant to try out. After lunch we all split up to do our indiviual shopping and exploring of the mall. I was in awe of all the shops they had, I can spend all day here. It was hard trying to find the shops I wanted to visit because everything is written in Japanese and the mall is so huge, but I was determined to find this Botanical herbal tea shop. After spending about 1 hour searching for the tea shop without any success I decided to head to the Snoopy shop and there I bumped into Matt. I don't know what it is but everytime Matt is near me something weird always happens to me. We went searching for this tea shop and as we were walking I was concentrating on reading the directory I picked up and almost ran this guy down, I looked up and the only thing I remembered seeing was his chest and arms and out of the blue he flexed his arm at me. I said "sorry" and moved on, but I wasn't sure if he had actually flexed his biceps at me so I turned to Matt and asked "did he just flexed his arm at me?", and Matt just busted out laughing. This is just one of many weird incidences that has happen whenever Matt is near me.

Heather: Day in Asakusa

Hi Everyone:

I just wanted to add to Kelly's thoughts about our day in Asakusa. It was a very sobering experience to see Asakusa and the Sensoji Buddhist temple through Richard Nakamura's eyes. Asakusa is an old area of Tokyo that has become a tourist destination, mainly due to the location of the Sensoji temple there. Many shops and restaurants line the walkway to the temple, and the gardens and ponds lend themselves to many great photo opportunities.

But Richard had us take a closer look at the people and observe their faces as they worshipped and appealed to the God's for healing and blessing. I saw many old, disabled and sad looking people, slowly making their way along the path to the temple. They would buy incense and burn it in front of the temple, wafting the smoke on themselves and their children for blessing. There was also a place where they could dip into a basin of water and do the same.

Inside the temple people would throw money onto an altar or buy fortunes and hang them there for blessing. There was also an area where they could rub a statue of Buddha on the places of his body where they needed healing. The look of intensity on some of their faces made you realize the seriousness of their pain.

We spent time in the temple and around the grounds praying that the people would find Jesus, the true hope for their hurt and pain. As parents brought their children to the altar, we realized these children would follow the same path unless something changed. I look forward to our VBS as an opportunity to touch these children and parents with a new message of hope and love...

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support :)
Heather

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.

Shirley: A Day in Yokohama

Today was our day to sight-see in Yokohama. Shirley and the girls met up with the Nokendai VBS team yesterday, Friday, in Shinagawa at 3 PM as scheduled. It was great to see Patti's group, the TMK team, briefly before they headed back to the SEND center in Tokorozawa and we left for Yokosuka.

It was surprisingly cool and dry yesterday. Today, it was very hot and humid as usual. For the uninitiated, traveling today was uncomfortable; it was even too hot for those of us who have lived in Japan for over ten years!

We went up to the 69th floor of the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Yokohama and the second tallest in Japan. The view was beautiful, as usual, even though the haze obstructed views of Chiba on the other side of Tokyo Bay. I think they added new fish tanks and very interesting new species of fish to view. Little "Nemo's" were swimming all over, and my favorite were the yellow "fugu" or pufferfish, most less than an inch long.

The best part was traveling together, talking with team members, getting to know people better and catching up with those who came last year. We are very excited to have the team here again this year and look forward to what the Lord will do through them this week with the children who come to our VBS program starting Monday, August 4!

In the evening, we went to Umi Kaze Koen, a park just 5 minutes from where we live, to watch fireworks. The occasion, summer "matsuri" or festivals that include fireworks. They are scheduled all around Japan in late July and August. One of the biggest firework displays is in Yokohama where we visited today, which we can sometimes see in the distance from our roof on a clear night.

All 3 of our girls even put on traditional "yukatas" this time. This is always a special treat for them.

We were thrilled that the team was able to see the fireworks this year. They really are quite spectacular and a great way to start off their mission trip in our area. We know the Lord can put on an even more spectacular show than fireworks during VBS, so we look forward to the promise of seeing something awesome in the hearts and faces of the kids who be coming in just two more days!

Lyanne: First Blog!

Okay, so I'm a little late in contributing to our team's blog but here it is. Japan seems to be everything and nothing that I thought it would be. The massive amount of people, I was prepared for. Actually being one of those people in a crowded train on the other hand, I was not prepared for. It still amazes me that in SOOOO many numbers of people, very few believe. Tonight we went and saw fireworks after our outing to Yokohama. I must say that Japanese fireworks are 10x better than American fireworks. They were much more exciting and creative. I think I saw a cat, a fish, a hat, a plane, a happy face, a star, a heart and then all those other circular ones. When you looked away from the fireworks though and faced the crowd, you could see it stretched...far. For some reason I think it's hilarious that people get super excited when they see the sky light up. All the ooo's and ahh's (I'll admit that I am one of those). Anyways, someone else needs the computer now so I think I'll wrap it up. =D

Mei-Ling: Seizing a divine opportunity

Recently, I read a book by Erwin McManus titled "Chasing Daylight". The reader is challenged to seize opportunities presented to him, especially when it may influence someone's life.

This morning while riding the train to Yokohama, Bob briefly shared his faith story with Kohichi. Bob's search for meaning in his life before accepting Christ is so similar to those who are still seeking in Japan. Kohichi asked Bob if he would be willing to share his faith story tomorrow during the Nokendai Bible Fellowship worship service. Bob was hesistant to agree, preferring to share his story one on one. I then suggested that the format be changed to a Q & A time which could be less threatening. The change in format was agreeable to Bob and we ask that you join us in praying for the Q & A time tomorrow. Please pray with us for hearts to be open to hear how Bob's life has changed and that those who hear would want to experience the same life change.

Amy : Yokohama

We made a trip to Yokohama today to do some sightseeing and shopping. After two full days of travelling, today was our day to rest. Our first stop was to the Sky Garden located on the 69th floor of The Landmark Tower. Here we could see views of downtown Yokohama. From every view point, all we could see were houses and buildings. For me, having grown up in Toronto and visited the CNTower multiple times, the views are not particularly new. But today was the first time that the thought came to my mind : if 99% of Japanese people don`t know Christ then very nearly every person I am seeing from this viewpoint is living in darkness.

At the bottom of the tower there are restaurants and a mall full of shops. We ate at a ramen shop which was very tastey. Afterwards we spent a couple of hours shopping. I visited the stores that were unique to Japan - stores such as the Pokemon Store, Studio Ghibli and Snoopy Town. The Pokemon store was packed full of kids. I was completely shocked. I`m not sure if there was a special offer happening or if something had just been released but it was crazy. Little kids were pushing me around in the store. The line up was wrapping around a couple of times. Kids were standing in line and purchasing 5000Y or more of Pokemon memorabilia. I know that Pokemon was popular years ago but I was surprised to see that on this particular Saturday afternoon, the store was packed full of kids.

Our train ride home was extremely crowded. There are fireworks tonight a couple of blocks from the condo where we are staying. It felt like everyone in Yokohama was following us home! We were packed like sardines into the train. We also noticed that there were quite a few people wearing traditional kimonos. It was definitely an experience and one that the team shared laughs over.


Here's a short YouTube video of our trip on the train: