Singing in Shrine.MOV

Tsugaru Short Term Report 2009

August - September 2009

Background

I'll start with a little background on how I ended up coming to Japan on a short term mission. I have been interested in Japanese culture (traditional and modern) since before I gave my life to Christ. When I realised my life was God's, I felt that he wanted me to work full time for his church, particularly somewhere that didn't know Jesus. Over the years I became aware of the small size of the church in Japan (less than 1% of population!). So I began to pray. I felt maybe he wants me to go to Japan! So I emailed OMF asking about short term possibilities. And here I am!

Mission

I had a good idea about the culture before coming but I don't really know the language so I was ready to be unable to communicate well with people. Which was hard as everyone has been so welcoming and friendly! I would love to get to know people and talk to people but I could not! Very frustrating. But communicating with facial expressions has been good enough for now!

Before coming to Itayanagi I had no idea what to expect. I knew it was rural so I was expecting UK rural. A few houses dotted around here and there. But I came here and there are cities and towns all over the place with rice and apple fields in between! So the city boy within me felt a bit more at ease!

I had no goals other than to serve the Ghents so I hope I have done that and been of some use! The Ghents have made me feel at home here and it has been great to get to know them and to learn from them! I have learnt a bit about cooking, teaching English, mowing grass, cutting wood, de-rusting a roof, setting up for church events, picking blueberries, and even church planting! Oh, and I set up a new church website and connected it to various social websites. But that's what I do! And I've been happy to put those skills to use to build up the Kingdom in some way!

I had no idea how bad the Japanese people are spiritually before coming here. Within about a week I could feel that this place has such a deep rooted darkness that causes families to break apart, people to hide away by themselves and even people to kill themselves. There is a serious lack of love, peace and hope here in Japan. These things that come from a realfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people here in Japan that do not know of the God who made them. The God who loves them.

I come from the UK where literally everyone has heard about God and Jesus, who died for us. People have heard and have the chance to act upon that knowledge. But here... people have not had that chance that we sometimes take for granted! Even after all these years! It's crazy. But that is what I have learnt while being here for this short time. And that is what I will take back with me and share with people who will pray about this land. This people.

And I will be back! I'm not sure what God wants me to do, or how to go about it! But if I can see even one Japanese person come to know and love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, then that is worth dedicating my life for.

Thanks for this opportunity!! And may I see you again!

I will be praying for this work and that God uses even the smallest of actions to stir up people's hearts and minds. And I'll also be praying for a church revolution, of which God can easily bring about if he wills it! Amen!

Debriefing Short termers

As a couple, we always enjoy having short termers come. We enjoy getting to know them, and love seeing what God has in store for them while here. Sometimes the very gifted are sent to use their gifts, and others are sent to learn humility and servanthood. Sometimes the less gifted are used in amazing ways in their humble transparent way. And still other times people are sent so that we leaders learn. Its amazing that God can dream up so many different opportunities for his children to be put in situations where they need to go to their knees and trust and beg.

So we really like debriefing time. Its an opportunity to learn a little about what God did during the time we were allowed to journey together.

Snow in Japan

Snow. By Nuala

Before I came to Japan, I read somewhere that a lesser-known past time in Japan is “snow walking”. I could understand “cherry blossom viewing” which I had heard of, but was slightly sceptical of the idea that anyone would wish to spend hours gazing at mounds of icy whiteness. In New Zealand the only snow I had had any contact with was hard and is up on the mountains; so can you imagine my delight when I got to Itayanagi in Japan and saw my very first snowfall? This soft, fluffy stuff drifting down wasn’t like anything I had imagined snow could be; it was like someone had blown up a million feather pillows in the sky. It gathered into big marshmallowy piles and could be scooped into the best snowballs imaginable. A few days later we were walking around town delivering pamphlets and the sight of the snow blanketing everything was beautiful. Some weak sunlight squeezed through the clouds and shone gently on glistening mounds of powdery snow perfectly capping every surface. No sharp corners were to be seen. The snow smoothed, softened and beautified. I finally understood why it was a national pastime to gaze upon Japanese snow.

Tsugaru Short Term Report 2009

Tsugaru Short Term Report

August - September 2009

Background

I'll start with a little background on how I ended up coming to Japan on a short term mission. I have been interested in Japanese culture (traditional and modern) since before I gave my life to Christ. When I realised my life was God's, I felt that he wanted me to work full time for his church, particularly somewhere that didn't know Jesus. Over the years I became aware of the small size of the church in Japan (less than 1% of population!). So I began to pray. I felt maybe he wants me to go to Japan! So I emailed OMF asking about short term possibilities. And here I am!

Mission

I had a good idea about the culture before coming but I don't really know the language so I was ready to be unable to communicate well with people. Which was hard as everyone has been so welcoming and friendly! I would love to get to know people and talk to people but I could not! Very frustrating. But communicating with facial expressions has been good enough for now!

Before coming to Itayanagi I had no idea what to expect. I knew it was rural so I was expecting UK rural. A few houses dotted around here and there. But I came here and there are cities and towns all over the place with rice and apple fields in between! So the city boy within me felt a bit more at ease!

I had no goals other than to serve the Ghents so I hope I have done that and been of some use! The Ghents have made me feel at home here and it has been great to get to know them and to learn from them! I have learnt a bit about cooking, teaching English, mowing grass, cutting wood, de-rusting a roof, setting up for church events, picking blueberries, and even church planting! Oh, and I set up a new church website and connected it to various social websites. But that's what I do! And I've been happy to put those skills to use to build up the Kingdom in some way!

I had no idea how bad the Japanese people are spiritually before coming here. Within about a week I could feel that this place has such a deep rooted darkness that causes families to break apart, people to hide away by themselves and even people to kill themselves. There is a serious lack of love, peace and hope here in Japan. These things that come from a real faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people here in Japan that do not know of the God who made them. The God who loves them.

I come from the UK where literally everyone has heard about God and Jesus, who died for us. People have heard and have the chance to act upon that knowledge. But here... people have not had that chance that we sometimes take for granted! Even after all these years! It's crazy. But that is what I have learnt while being here for this short time. And that is what I will take back with me and share with people who will pray about this land. This people.

And I will be back! I'm not sure what God wants me to do, or how to go about it! But if I can see even one Japanese person come to know and love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, then that is worth dedicating my life for.

Thanks for this opportunity!! And may I see you again!

I will be praying for this work and that God uses even the smallest of actions to stir up people's hearts and minds. And I'll also be praying for a church revolution, of which God can easily bring about if he wills it! Amen!