Self Reflection by Jonny

This is Jonny. I am writing a self-reflection on the trip. I will not be writing too much about the day-to-day, since we have already documented most of it on the blog already. Instead I will write about my thoughts about the trip as a whole, and what God has taught me.

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“I can’t believe that this is actually happening,” I thought. “This is real, and we are on our way to Japan.” We were flying out of San Francisco as the downtown disappeared from our small plane window.  Many of my team members shared the same sentiment as I did as we were finally on our plane ride to Japan, after months of preparation time. I know it wasn’t my first time going, but it was no less exciting for me. We weren’t foolproof in our day-to-day plans, but we had prepared enough that we could adapt easily when we were there. However, God provides, as He promised that He would. Flash forward two weeks, and suddenly, what seemed like a world away has quickly faded into seemingly distant memory.

Memories were made, relationships formed, and the gospel of Jesus Christ was ministered to some of the Japanese families of the Otawara community. The Japanese parents, as well as Pastor Tomio & his wife, and the church expressed their gratitude to us throughout the time we were there. We received many blessings in the form of thank you notes written by the kids, Japanese “hand-fans” (lack of better term) with our picture on it, countless pieces of candy, dinner, and even a thank-you ceremony for the team.  Despite them saying they were blessed, I want to say that the pleasure and the greater blessings was mine. All throughout the trip was an amazing tale of God’s work in the short time we were there. I could not have expected any better.

While we were only there for two weeks, my teammates and I witnessed first hand how God was working. As a result of last year’s program, we had five times as many kids as we did last year (there was about 40 each day this time around), which is a major testament that the church had gained some trust among the Otawara community and opened the door for the church to serve. But the bigger blessing is that a few of the mothers of the children that came to our program had expressed interest and made appointments with Pastor Tomio to study the Bible with him.

We knew well that the mission trip could simply be one of planting seeds without seeing fruit, which I would have been content with. It is still true that we did plant seeds. Pastor Tomio had explained to us that many of the Japanese Christians who became Christians actually have had some experience with the church before as younger children. If God wills, then perhaps our children’s program would one day lead them back into the arms of loving brothers and sisters in Christ, and ultimately the Lord Jesus. Earlier, I said that we were the ones that received the greater blessing, because of the fact that we had the privilege of not only planting the seeds in the children’s spiritual destiny, but also witness some of the beginning effects of putting on these programs. Praise God.

On deciding to come to Japan this second time, I expressed that one of my reasons for going is to make sure that my heart is fully committed to the Great Commission whether by going myself, or supporting those who do. Going on this trip was to remind me of this holy duty. God has definitely fulfilled my desire. I have witnessed first hand on how God can work powerfully through missionaries who truly care for God’s glory and genuinely desire to love the people as Jesus loved. Whether in the future I would go again to Otawara again or not, one thing is clear on my mind: by God’s will, I will do my best to support the efforts of the Great Commission. I am so thankful that God has allowed me the opportunity to have gone a second time.

 God has grown me personally in other ways while I was on the mission trip. The trip itself was definitely not without its bumps along the way. These bumps are trials that God puts in our paths to grow us and to mend us more to be like Christ. We experienced no persecution at all while we were there (and no kanchos), but we did experience team tensions that have arisen not only during the trip, but even in the preparation stages for the trip. And while most of the tensions do not directly involve me, it did involve me in learning how to best love my brothers and sisters in Christ in the most edifying way possible. I will not go into too much detail about these tensions, other than to say that it was an actual and very real challenge for the entire team. Much grace and forgiveness were needed, and there is still many ways for the entire team to grow.

For me, there were times where I felt an extremely strong passion of antagonism that came over me, which manifested in some passive aggression as well as a isolated stand-off moments. Thankfully though, one of my brothers and I were able to have some open discussion and prayer about it very early on, which helped greatly for the rest of the trip. God had taught me to have grace and to have patience, lots of it. Thank God that I did not fall prey to these temptations for too long.

In conclusion, amidst all the busyness and exhaustion of preparation, the chaotic scenes of children running amok, and challenges that arose among the team, I am glad that I was able to participate in such privileged opportunity. My team and I were highly blessed to have been rewarded with much fruit and blessings from God as well. I do have to remind myself that all this was because God had given these blessings. While we did accomplish much while we were there, there is still much to do in proclaiming God’s kingdom in Japan. Only less than 1% of the entire country truly know Christ, and hopefully with our efforts, God would increase that number in the future. But even above that, I must rest my identity not on what I did, but what Jesus did on the cross for me. Great things have precipitated on this trip, but the greatest thing has already been done. For this I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” – Luke 10:20

Prayer Update #7

Salutations everyone!

I apologize to the lateness of this post. (I guess it is still better late than never.)
 

This is Catherine writing the updates for the last two days of the American Day Camp. Despite our weekend adventures to Nasu, Nikko, Chuzenji Lake it barely seemed like we were away from the kids. When we restarted the camp on Monday, some of our kids told us that they missed us also with was encouraging since I did not initially think I would be able to build such close relationships in such a short period of time. I noticed that some of the kids would sing some of the songs that they learned during singspiration; most of the time it was just the tune with different words though.

One of our last crafts were sock octopuses The socktopus' were fairly easy for all the kids (even the kindergartens) to make and personalize. The kids were very creative; it did not even occur to me to use the polyfill for hair. They seemed to really enjoy playing with the polyfill, but much of it ended up on the ground. The snack was decorating sugar cookies with frosting. So something that we did not anticipate was having problems with ingredients. The night before we baked probably around 80 cookies, of which the consistency was more bready rather than cookie-like. The consistency of the frosting was very very liquidous. Later, we realised that we had been using butter spread (which is mostly vegetable oil based) rather than butter. Fortunately, the kids seemed to really enjoy the snack even though it had not turned out as we wanted it to. For one of the games, we tried teaching the kids duck-duck-goose, which surprisingly turned out a lot better than expected. Most of the kids got the hang of it after watching a few rounds. We also had an outside day for bubble blowing! It was an activity that both young and older kids enjoyed. (Both blowing and popping bubbles).

Our last day was a blur to me as we quickly cycled through our schedule for the last time. We started the day off with board games instead of the usual large group running around being active game. Noticing that the kids really enjoyed playing them made me think that we should have introduced these games earlier. Even though a handful of kids were just playing with the pieces (think building train tracks out of Jenga blocks or stacking Connect 4 discs) they had a lot of fun doing so. Teaching the English lessons for me have always been a bit daunting not because it is particularly difficult to teach the kindergartners--they are all very smart--it is getting their attention. \this is not something I am usually actively thing about. Our last craft was Play-doh. Ironically, our Play-doh craft also turned out to rather liquidous so it became goo-in-a-bag instead, which I think confused some of the kids, but more so the parents. I think this outcome flustered me more than anyone else, but because of it I do not really remember the kids' reception to the parfait without fruit. Japanese yogurt is much lighter, smoother, and liquidous than American yogurt. For our activity, we went outside and did some water relay games and then a large game of jump rope. The older kids (5 and 6 graders) were really good. Some of them could also double-dutch!

At the end of the camp some of the parents wanted to throw us a thank you party for teaching and spending time with their kids so the camp ended half and hour early. It was very elaborately decorated and they gave us all a bag of green tea Kit-Kats as a gift. Many of the kids and their families also wrote cards and gave us little gifts to thank us. To me this gesture seemed almost overwhelming because from my point of view, we were happy to be here to teach their kids and play with them. Later it was explained that there is not anything really like this in Japan, especially in the more suburban area. They were taken aback that we would give up our vacations to teach English in Japan instead of doing other things. Pastor Tomio had the opportunity to share with/explain to some of the mothers about it and explained that we were coming because we had Christ in our lives and we wanted to share His love with others.

All in all, this experience has been amazing in so many ways that I had not anticipated.

PRAISES

- Despite all the business and sleeplessness during the childrens' day camp God provided the team with so much patience ____ I believe that it was

- The children's parents were very receptive to the program 

- Pastor Tomio, Pat, and Paula's support and help throughout the entire program. It was great seeing how God had worked in their lives and revealed possible plans to come (please see prayer section). Even though the Otawara church is small, the members have really taken steps of faith and were very gracious/ hospitable to us along the way. 

- Many of the Otawara church members and parents of the kids at camp helped prepare the lunches every single day

PRAYER

OTAWARA CHURCH

- To continue their ministries and finish the program for the upcoming week with passion and faith. We will be doing a one-day program in Nasu on Wednesday.

TEAM

- God will allow us to rest spiritually, mentally, and physically over the weekend and wrap up the program on Monday and Tuesday.

- Tea Ceremony after church service. Plese pray that we will appreciate this lesson by the Nasu church member who mastered the tea ceremony and enjoy the fellowship with the members at Nasu Church.

- Love and patience for one another in spite of our differences, and see the good that God has done in us and through us.

The rest of the details are located here:  harvest-ikimashou.blogspot.com

In Christ,
Catherine, Jonny, Karen, Megan, Will, and Xin Xin

Sent from my iPad

First Impressions

Read about each team member's initial impressions of Japan.  These responses were originally compiled on the 3rd day of the American Homestay Program (7/24/13).

Each team member was asked to answer the following questions.
1) Any culture shock moments in Japan?
2) What encouragement have you received from the Otawara Church?
3) If you could bring one thing back from Japan to the USA (gadgets, culture, food, style), what would it be?
4) Any misconceptions about Japan that have been changed?
5) If you only prayed for one topic (need, hope or desire for Japanese people) for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Happy Reading!

Catherine (aka Kato)
1) Culture shock: They walk and drive on the left side of the road. Also bowing for everything.
2) Encouragement from Otawara Church: How friendly & welcoming everyone has been.
3) One thing would bring back: Culture - the cleanliness of everything; how safe it is (no/ little crime)
4) Japan misconceptions that changed: When I heard we were going to be in the more rural area, I was expecting rice paddies everywhere (There are quite a few, but people don't need it to live off of it).
5) One prayer for Japan: For people to be more open to religion and not see church as something scary/threateningly)

Jonny (aka Jonnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyy)
1) Culture shock: Japanese people are extremely responsible when it comes to throwing away trash.
2) Encouragement from Otawara Church: The Otawara Church have such a heart for the gospel even in the face of the hardness of heart
3) One thing would bring back: A luggage full of ramen
4) Japan misconceptions that changed: That all Japanese people are well socialized and accepting of different lifestyles
5) One prayer for Japan: Gospel to take hold of the Japanese heart

Karen (aka Ka-len)
1) Culture shock: Not as much.
2) Encouragement from Otawara Church: The way they persist b/c the church has older crowd. It's hard to minister to the community.  They have such faith in what God called them to do.  The church just came together and helped for the American Day Camp, especially this year.  Also, they're not afraid to talk about the gospel, and they get surprised by the results of the conversations.  For example, Tomio talked with Kano's mother, an English teacher, and shared why our team came to Japan.  She seemed to be touched that we were here as volunteers not only to teach English but to share Christ's love.
3) One thing would bring back: Quality, sometimes we go for what's cheapest but what we get isn't as good.  I think their respect for service/quality makes me think about my attitude with others, whether in ministry/work/in general.
4) Japan misconceptions that changed: People are always serious.  I think they have a huge leeway for the children [culture to not discipline children in school].  Then as they grow up the become more stoic.
5) One prayer for Japan: For Pat & Tomio, they had goals to build a certain number of churches in their lifetime (15??).  They have been at Otawara for some time, and I learned this year that Otawara was very difficult already, so they may not be "on schedule" or their missions plan may be different.

Megan (aka Megumi)
1) Culture shock: On the bus from the Narita Airport to Utsunomiya, we had to be absolutely quiet while riding (~3 hours).  It was sooo hard- I felt like screaming
2) Encouragement from Otawara Church: Tomio & Pat serving so faithfully and how involved and supportive they have been throughout the planning and each day of the American Homestay Program!
3) One thing would bring back: The part of Japanese culture where people are so polite, respectful, and do not interrupt each other.  Japanese people know the value of silence.
4) Japan misconceptions that changed: They are not as stiff as I thought.  People don't bow as low as I thought.
5) One prayer for Japan: I would pray for God to provide avenues for Japanese people to make positive relationships with the church so that they would come to know and love Christ.

Will (aka Will tou moshi masu aka Will.I.Am)
1) Culture shock: Not particularly, I have to say "Yes" a lot
2) Encouragement from Otawara Church: Devotions by Ohashi Sensai and stories about God doing work presently.
3) One thing would bring back: The Japanese people's honesty
4) Japan misconceptions that changed: It can be cool during same here.
5) One prayer for Japan: Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so pray that God provides workers.

Xinxin ( aka Xinxin [: )

1) Culture shock: Since they drive on the left side of the road, I always looked the wrong direction for cars when crossing the road. So dangerous! 

2) Encouragement from Otawara Church: The entire church mobilized for the children's program. It was encouraging to see God's people doing His work in Japan! 

3) One thing would bring back: 7-11

4) Japan misconceptions that changed: I thought that Japanese people would be very open and liberal (Tokyo Drift maybe?) but they are very conservative and closed. 

5) One prayer for Japan: I pray that the negative stigma surrounding Christianity will disappear, that more missionaries will find opportunities and desire for Japan. 

Blessings,
Japan Mission Team

Prayer Update #6

FRIDAY 7/26/2013
Hi everyone,

Karen reporting today (a few days late...). Here are the updates for our 5th day of the American Day Camp. I think we worked harder because the weekend was coming but also because the kids have grown on us, now we can't wait to see them walk into the door 30 minutes early (just the day-to-day routine...).

Today, we did singspiration but didn't teach any new songs. Wheels on the  bus was enough of a challenge. The kindergartners and first grade students were put into the same room, so the K students were able to focus better. The Bible story was about the lost sheep and the shepherd. The children also enjoyed the song that Nathan played. It seems that repetition doesn't bother Japanese people as much. In fact, being familiar gives them the confidence to participate. The children sang very loud now that they know the song and understsand the words (it could be the fact that there was live music and a guitar in front of their face). Lunch was alphabet pasta and chicken sandwiches.

Craft was paper leis. Snack was oreo crush. We had relay races via leap frog and hula hoop. There were many bathroom breaks and a lot of running around in between, but the day went quite smoothly. All the children were able to color and cut the flowers and leaves except for the kindergartners, but many people had pitched in to cut, hole punch, and put in straws to complete the craft for the kids. At the end of the day, it was  a free-for-all day, so the all the children were able to pick out a gift from any basket regardless of how many stamps they had. Even though the children has seen some of the gifts before, they still appreciated the same foam airplanes and rubber bouncy balls/ sticky hands that were presented from day one.

Paper leis chaos

Oosuke (K student) with choco mustache

A couple 1st grade kids with their self-made oreo crush (good job!)

We also received a lot of encouragement from Pastor Tomio and Pat Ohashi. Pat and Paula (Pat's very pregnant daughter who's due anytime now) took the girls out for a traditional healthy Japanese dinner with many dishes that make up a meal; that restaurant was recognized by the Tochigi prefecture's magazine. The meal had a lot of vegetables, exactly what we needed after many days of eating unhealthy (but tasty) food. Pat shared with us the possible plans for more church building and her dream of opening a kindergarten school in Sukura, where she taught English.

It was encouraging to hear how she and Pastor Tomio started in Fukushima many years ago, how the church had grown and became independent, then moving on to Otawara and Nasu. God somehow always provided pastors and dedicated church members who made it possible for Pastor Tomio and Pat to continue their church-building journey. At the end of the meal, we had some amazing yogurt (that Xinxin decided to buy at the supermarket) and the owner gave us an extra bean/ pumpkin pastry and tea that helps to put the stomach to rest. She threw that in for us knowing we were from America. Pastor Tomio took the boys to eat a lot of desserts. I'm not sure what they had discussed but there was talk about how Pastor Tomio and Pat met but we only heard the cliffnotes version. At the end of the day, we had a some good and long-awaited rest. God really gave us an amazing week with the children, so much to thankful for.


PRAISES- God provided strength, energy, patience, and love to get us through this day. We have to admit we lost a lot of that energy after going into our 20s, it was by the grace of God that we completed each portion smoothly and were able to strengthen our relationships with the children, and the Otawara Church's relationships with the parents.

- God really provided for our need for man power during this program. High school students, one of whom was related to a kindergartner, were able to help the kindergartners throughout the day (you would be amazed by the number of times they go to the restroom). These students are also in one of Nathan's English classes, so there will be an opportunity to follow up with them after the program. Some mothers were able to help here and there with various tasks.

- Pastor Tomio and Pat's surprise dinner plans! They wanted to have dinner with us as next week will also be very hectic. It was great seeing how God had worked in their lives and revealed possible plans to come (please see prayer section). Even though the Otawara church is small, the members have really taken steps of faith and were very gracious/ hospitable to us along the way.

PRAYER
OTAWARA CHURCH
- To continue their ministries and finish the program for the upcoming week with passion and faith. We will be doing a one-day program in Nasu on Wednesday.

- Be able to reach out to the children in Japan. By the turnout of this year's program, Pastor Tomio was really touched by how receptive the parents were to a church holding such a program and the children's participation in all the activities. He was even opposed to building a kindergarten school (which was Pat's dream) but he notices now that children should be exposed to the gospel when young, this way they are familiar with God and that seems to help with future conversions to Christianity (knowing that Christians aren't dangerous). Pastor Tomio was saved because he went to a Christian kindergarten school. The parents have also decided to cook dinner for all the volunteers in this program on Tuesday evening. It seems that God had really moved the parents' heart, we hope that this will present many opportunities for Otawara. Just as Pastor Tomio said previously, the harvest is ripe.

- 3 people have come into their lives who could help Pat and Tomio move on with their church building goals, possibly in Sakura, where Pat teaches English. Many of these plans have not been presented to the Otawara and Nasu Churches but they are praying that both churches will be receptive of the plans.
Pat/ Tomio's youngest daughter's boyfriend: He studied in one of Japan's seminary school and felt the need to minister to the older Japanese crowds, as his current church in Tokyo focused on witnessing to the younger crowds. Hopefully, he can come next year to help the Otawara Church.
Retired Pastor: There was a retired pastor who moved into Nasu area. He wanted to do music ministry but it would be really helpful if he can preach 3 Sundays out of the month, that will free pastor Tomio up for the church building plans.
Mami's father (Mami is one of the kindergartners in the program): We learned that Mami's father was a lawyer who graduated from one of the best universities in Japan. He decided to be a pastor and went to seminary school in Japan. He pastored for some time before going to the US for seminary school again. He and his family recently returned to Japan but he hasn't decide on what to do yet. Hopefully, he can help in the Nasu or Otawara churches as well.

TEAM 
- God will allow us to rest spiritually, mentally, and physically over the weekend and wrap up the program on Monday and Tuesday.

- Tea Ceremony after church service. Plese pray that we will appreciate this lesson by the Nasu church member who mastered the tea ceremony and enjoy the fellowship with the members at Nasu Church.

- Love and patience for one another in spite of our differences, and see the good that God has done in us and through us.


In Christ,
Catherine, Jonny, Karen, Megan, Will, and Xin Xin

Prayer Update #5 (Day 4)

Konichiwa!

This is Xinxin-san! 

Unfortunately, that's the extent of my limited Japanese. Today, I learned loveu loveu the hard way... which apparently is just love love with a Japanese accent (does that count as new vocab?) It's funny because even though Japanese culture is so different, kids everywhere are still the same. They still tease you about cooties and loveu loveu. More importantly, they still understand and need the infinite love and grace that only our savior, Jesus Christ can provide. 

Check out the [short] updates below! 

Check out our blog for more details! 

harvest-ikimashou.blogspot.com 

In Christ,

Catherine, Jonny, Karen, Megan, Will, and Xinxin 

__________________________________________________________________

THURSDAY 7/25/2013

Praises

Before I left for Japan, I was worried about the success of our children's program. I don't mean logistical success (although that's good too) but spiritual success. How can 2 weeks of singing, crafts, English lessons, bible stories and activities possibly be enough to explain the majesty of the gospel... especially when your target audience can't understand 99% of the words you say? Even if the children have tons of fun, how can we use that to point to Christ and his work on the cross? 

But praise God for showing me his hand in all of this! In Japan, Christianity is perceived very negatively. It's often (and common) for parents to worry about the safety of their children in churches or Christian environments. Today, Tomio shared that one of our student's mother opened up to him about religion. She even wants to take her daughter, Sakura, toSunday School at the sister church in Naru. It is so encouraging to see that the negative stigma is slowly going away! 

Prayer 

Tomio and Pat Ohashi: 

The pastor and his wife have been so involved in the program. Every morning, they drive over 45 minutes to the site, unload and reload all the supplies, prepare lunch for over 50 people, prepare devotionals for us, and are just... present for everything that we do. Their passion and perseverance is beyond words. That being said, it is very tiring for them. Please pray for renewed strength and rest. 

Japan:

Pray for God to soften the hearts of the Japanese people and to provide opportunities for ministry in Japan. Like it is stated in John 4:35, "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest."

Missions Team:

Unfortunately, we are getting very tired as well. Even though the kids are freakishly adorable, they are quite a handful! The tiredness is contributing to general irritability and impatience. Pray for team unity! Pray that we can be more loving and patient with each other. We love because He loved us first. Help us keep our purpose in mind and pursue Christ above all else. 

Lastly, here's an adorable picture of my 2nd-4th graders after tiedye.

and a picture of two kindergardeners eating sandwiches...

I bet you squealed. <3 

Prayer Update #4

Hello!  Megan here to give you snapshots of Day 2 and Day 3 of the American Homestay Program!  

We feel God strengthening us further and further each day.  The days are running smoother from setup to English lessons to shortening transition time to takedown!  The one thing that seems to be consistently tiring is activities, haha.  We are always sweaty and tired but happy to see the kids having fun and laughing.  

Day 2: New Day, New Location 

Harmony Hall (about a 10-15 min drive from Otawara Church) was a blessing, providing a more open space for our activities and beautiful natural light to bring a bright atmosphere.  The building has a concert hall, art gallery rooms, and community center of sorts.

Each day faithful Otawara church members come to teach from the Bible (see story cards) through very animated storytelling. 

Each Bible lesson ends with a worship song :)  Nathan on guitar was a former Harvest Berkeley Church member who decided to move to Japan and teach English to discern whether God has called him to long-term missions.  His participation in last year's Japan mission trip was a stepping stone to now being a member of the Otawara Christian Church!

Crafts!  The theme of the camp this year is "We are friends of Jesus."  Students made a bracelet for themselves and then made another to exchange with a friend or family member.

Kano & Aya posing with the bracelets they made for each other!  They put such love & care into making them.  My other students made bracelets for their moms :)  One student even took the effort to ask how to spell his mother's name (romanized) so he could personalize her bracelet.    

Snack: Ritz Cracker Spiders!  I laughed with this student, Fumiya, because I noticed it looked like a smiling sun.  His mother, who is not a member of the church, has been volunteering with us everyday.  We've been able to build good relationships with her.  Last year, Fumiya attended the camp and his mother kept in contact with the previous team through email.  

Day 3: More Energy, More Active

Warm-Up Game: Mother Hen 

Japanese people are highly punctual, in fact they always come ~15 minutes early.  Although we're still in the process of setting up, we've found this extra time to be a great opportunity for breaking the ice (shyness) with the younger children and for the parents to see how much fun their kids are having and be put at ease or reassured that they can trust this church.

We were all sweating so much after running around trying to protect the students at the end of the baby chick chain.  We were all the ferocious, protective mother hens at the front. 

Lunch: Submarine sandwiches!  Every meal is made by the kids - they assemble everything :)  A great idea from the Otawara church that has been fun and engaging for the kids.

Praise God for the Otawara church members who faithfully volunteer to prepare all the ingredients for our 45 hungry kids.  Chopping, packaging, and rushing over the food has been stressful but they continue to serve and provide.

Xinxin with Mami during Activites.  We've noticed a number of our kinder students (who actually range from ages 3-5) are sometimes shy to participate or get scared of competition which allows us to get to know them and show them love and patience while we sit with them.

Me with Mom, Saho (my 1st grade student), and sister Riko (in Xinxin's 2nd-4th grade group).  

One thing we are thankful to see is that our students like/love/have fun with us!  During our craft (popsicle stick Mother's/Father's Day cards) a couple of students made extra cards for us.  The cards said "Thank You" or "I love you," which were some of the phrase we showed them they could write for their parents. 

Whistle while you work - Will, Pat Ohashi, Cat, Pastor Tomio Ohashi, Karen, Xinxin, Nathan (left to right)

We had 9 brooms and 1 dustpan, haha

At the end of each day, we have to return whatever meeting space we're using to it's original condition. Praise God for helping us to be more efficient each day about cleaning & transporting supplies to and from the church.

Prayer

- Pat & Tomio Ohashi:  Pray for their rest in the Lord and for opportunities to talk with parents and form positive relationships. Pray also for God to continue to supply them with faith to obey His call wherever He may lead in Japan.

- Otawara Church members: It's put strain on members to prepare the lunch materials.  Pray that they would know that their work is not in vain; pray for the church to continue to joyfully serve to glorify Christ and reach the Japanese people.

- The children's families

• Kano's mother: Kano (1st) only attended camp one day (Tues).  Her mother is an English teacher; in fact almost all her students are attending our camp.  She came to help with lunch and stayed to watch the program.  Very impressed by the program we were providing, she asked Pastor Tomio why we were in Japan and if we came specifically to teach English.  Tomio shared that we came not only to teach English but more so to share and make known Christ.  She was visibly moved, almost to tears. Pray for her heart to be softened and prepared to form a relationship with the church and to learn more about Jesus.

• Fumiya's mother: As mentioned on Day 2, she has been volunteering everyday.  She is very happy and excited about our program, and very gracious about taking hordes of 10-15 kids to the bathroom.  Pray for conversations that will provide an opportunity to witness to her. 

• Katomi's family: Day 2, Katomi's father shared with Pastor Tomio his hesitation in bringing his daughter to a church-run American Day Camp last year (2012).  He decided to register her when a coworker who is Catholic and had attended the Otawara church on and off said that it would be a very good thing and that he could trust the people.  This year, Katomi's mother told so many mothers that we did not need to advertise the camp at all.  Pray for God to continue to breakdown negative perceptions of the Christian church and barriers to the gospel in Katomi's parents' hearts.

- Team:

• Continued dependence upon God: pray against us boasting or treasuring up in our hearts the positive things we see.  Pray for humble hearts and being able to die to ourselves that Christ might truly shine.

• Rest: using our time well individually and as a team so that we can sleep and have time to personally meditate on the Word and pray

•  Accountability and encouragement among the team: pray for grace & forgiveness to abound and cover our sin and shortcomings.  Pray for us to not grow impatient, overly task-oriented, or program-driven as we struggle with tiredness.

Prayer Update #3

Hello Mina-san (Everyone),

This is Jonny reporting reporting for today's entry.

Today was the first day of the children's program. After a long day of preparing and discussing the overall structure yesterday, this morning met us with mixed feelings of excitement, anticipation, and a bit of nervousness with an expectation of long day. We started the day by loading our materials into the pastor's van we needed to transport to the gym. 

Because we have about 40 kids a day this year, we rented out a gym to host the program, versus using the Otawara Church sanctuary that we used last year. Thankfully, the gym is only a 5 minute walk away. 

The Children's Homestay Program runs from 10am to 3:30p. We got there an hour earlier so that we could set up the room and prepare for the day. This year, there were some members of the Otawara church to help us with the general check in for the children. To give you an idea of what the gym is like, let me start by saying that the two rooms we used are best not described as a gym than they are classrooms with soft carpeting. I would say the size is about that of a typical high school classroom.

Many of the kids, especially the kindergartners, arrived as early as 9am. The first person to arrive was a kindergartner named Mao. She was so quiet and assuming that none of the team members even noticed her! She had been sitting in the second room (connected to the main room) and peeked around the corner when we were not looking. I think I was the first one to actually see her and greet her. I welcomed her with a friendly "good morning" in Japanese (Ohaiogozaimasu), but she peeks at me and immediately shifts 180 and looks at the other way while pretending to read a book that she brought along with her. Soon the other team members got involved one at a time until we were finally able to crack her open a little bit by giving her a piece of paper and some markers to draw with. She drew the Hello Kitty head behind our backs (she was wearing Hello Kitty shoes), and when we went to compliment her drawing, she suddenly slaps her drawing with both hands, trying to hide it.

She was your typical cute kindergartner. At this point, even before the program personally grew fearful that it would be this difficult to interact with them. But thank God that it was not the case today. I will come back to Mao later.

The day started off with the kids drawing pictures and putting stickers on the name tags that we put together for them. I met three new kindergartners all of whom their English teacher had brought. I actually got the chance to briefly speak with the teacher, and I found out that the teacher spoke English very well even though she had never been to the US before. It showed, because her students very well for kindergartners, and there were generally able to understand the directions that I gave them throughout the day.

After all the children had arrived and decorated their name tags, we started the singspiration time with "Deep and Wide". I lead the singspiration time again this year. We sang this twice and the kids really got into the hand motions, and most of the kids were able to follow along with the lyrics as well. 

Afterwards, we broke up into 4 different groups for the English lessons, grades K, 1, 2-4, and 5-6. I was responsible for teaching the K students with Karen and Catherine, while Megan was responsible for the 1 students, Xinxin and Paula (Pat's daughter) with the 2-4 students, and Will & Nathan for the 5-6 students. 

For the K students, we started off the lesson with the simple phrase you can learn in the English language: "Hello!" and "My name is _____". It became quickly apparent which students had stronger command of the English language, and which did not. Do keep in mind that for the grade K students, we had students that were as young as 3 years old. We started the lesson with posting various things onto the whiteboard, such as a tree, a bear, ladybugs, bees, snakes, each one introducing itself with "Hello! Hello!" The point of the lesson was to get the kids comfortable with saying "Hello!" out loud. Then we played a song that we had on CD that went along the lines of:

"Hello!

Hello!

Hello! 

Hello, what's your name?

My name is _____!

My name is _____!"

It was not as successful as many of the kids could not repeat the lines or understand what it was saying. So we moved onto the next English lesson activity, which was to play "pass the ball" which is like "hot potato". The loser had to introduce themselves, but most of the time we focused on just passing the ball. 

We eventually finished the English lessons, with varying successes among the different grades. It seemed like the 5-6 students with Nathan and Will had the most fun and excitement. In all cases, it seemed like the kids were enjoying themselves, as some of the shyer kids were opening up.

The next item our schedule was another Singspiration time, and this time we reviewed "Deep and Wide" again and taught them a new song "Father Abraham". At first, they did not like Father Abraham as it seemed like we were just teaching them different hand motions, but when we started the song and combined all the different gestures, all the kids started laughing and having fun. 

Next, we had the Bible lesson, which was taught in Japanese. Unfortunately, most of our team missed that part, as we were in the other room preparing for the lunch time that happened afterward. I was told that the lesson was on Christmas. Shortly after the Bible lesson, Nathan played a kid's worship song while two of the Otawara church members sang in Japanese with the kids.

We had lunch, which comprised of taco salad and a sandwich with a choice of tuna, chicken or egg. The egg sandwich was the most popular choice, which was surprising to us. Most kids actually liked the food. We were glad because our team did not make it ourselves, the church members did.

After lunch, we moved onto some short activities, including playing Marco Polo with 40 kids, red light green light, doing the wave, and general chasing around. We followed the activities with crafts, which was a name collage for students of grade 1 and up. For the K students, we had them design their own lunch bag puppets. There was one kindergarten kid who drew the bird from the example animal placards we had nearly perfectly. The K student teachers were impressed.

Snacks came afterwards, and we made ants on the logs. Most of the kids did not like it, perhaps because they did not like the celery very much. Regardless, most of the students were good sports as they ate the whole thing anyway. 

Next, we did a "prizes ceremony" in which we explained to the kids that they could obtain prizes by getting stamps on the back of their name tags. We had 3 tiers, which varying prize, some as simple as a glow-in-the-dark bug or as nice as a inflatable mallet. They obtained their prizes, and started playing with them.

We wrapped up the rest of the day with a game of pictionary while their parents came to pick them up.

Overall, the day was better than expected, but extremely tiring on our part. We all agreed that we were exhausted by just the vast amount of kids that attended this year's programs. While we did not have too many hiccups, there were some unexpected events that came up. For example, we had a lot of transition times between activities in which we had to engage them with silly play time and general chasing around. Xinxin, Catherine, and I did most of the chasing the kids around. It was quite fun, but quite taxing on our bodies as well. Many of these kids like to get very physical around us, from pinching, punching, to general climbing and pulling on our shirts. My polo shirt can probably be classified as large (from the original medium size), after today's rendezvous with the kids, and my knees suffer from some carpet burns.

In any case, at our debrief meeting, we discussed different ways to adjust to what we learned from today. Pastor Tomio also shared with us a devotional from Acts 16:6-10, which spoke of Paul being led by the Holy Spirit away from Asia into Macedonia (and later meeting the woman who sold purple clothing). He compared that us putting on the Summer Homestay program for the Japanese program in that we may not know who we meet, but still we would be doing God's work, and we do not know what will come out of it.

Praise God for providing us the strength to love the children and that we were able to function even with very little sleep. Thank the Lord that we were also able to make the kids have such a fun time today, as many of the kids, even the shyer kids opened up to us. Even Mao, the shy kindergarten was speaking some of our phrases very well by the end of the day.

Please pray for us for the following:

1) Energy for the rest of the program as we all are exhausted and we lack enough sleep.

2) Continual joy in doing the Lord's work for these Japanese children, and to put our joy first and foremost in that our names are in the Book of Life.

3) Encouragement for one another in times where our emotions are running high.

-Harvest Japan Mission Team

Catherine with the K students, making the ants on the log

Megan with the 1 students, also making the ants on the log

Nathan and Will, with the 5-6 students, eating the ants on the log.

The K students scavenging through the prizes.

The 1 students posing for a picture

Will and 2 brothers holding their pinwheels for the picture

Prayer Update #2

Hello everyone,

Thank you for all your prayers thus far, we have safely made in to Otawara. God really provided during the journey and we were able to reach the city without much trouble, though overall it was a very tiring 20 hour journey.

From the airport at Tokyo (NRT) to Otawara we had to take a 3 hour bus ride and then a 1 hour car ride. It wasn't particularly exciting but we got to see the Tokyo Sky Tree from a distance which loomed over the entire city as well as a festival happening on the river bank with an enormous amount of people.

We are currently staying at the pastor's house, which is the upper floor of the Otawara church building. The pastor Tomio Ohashi-sensei and his wife Pat usually live here however they moved to their other house in Nasu for the duration of our trip. Please keep them in your prayers as the commute to Nasu is around 45min one way and they are having to make the trip multiple times each day. Ohashi-sensei leads one church in both Nasu and Otawara, and after giving Sunday message at one church will drive down to the other to lead Sundayservice.  

The house we are currently staying in used to have rabbits, which one team member is deathly allergic to, so praise the Lord that they are gone. The house still has an adorable ferret however, which one team member is slightly allergic to (it might be a placebo). 

The weather in Otawara has been great thus far and we've experienced coldness at times rather than the sweltering heat we expected coming here. There will be a few outside activities with the kids, so please pray that the weather remains temperate and steady during the course of the program. 

Sunday service was yesterday. The church is really interesting in that there are a few native English speakers, in particular Pat and someone named Kevin-san. A interesting aside, one of our church members at Harvest has been living in Japan to teach English for Jet and learned that she and Kevin-san are from the same place in the States, just many years apart. Anyways, because the church has native English speakers, they try to outreach to those in the area who might be looking for an English service and to members of the congregation that don't speak as much Japanese by translating all the sermons and schedules into English so that someone can follow along with the message and worship service by reading alongside. The message yesterday was on Isaiah 47:1-7. After the message we had to give our self introductions and then Nathan gave his and it was much fancier. 

Once church service ended, there was a make your own hand-roll sushi lunch. The food was really good except for Natto. Natto is an acquired taste. 

The afternoon was saved for planning day one of the trip, which included setting the schedule as well as the details of the each part (English, Activities, Crafts). God was really with us during this time and we were able to figure out a lot of things that were unclear during our preparations this year and we hope that these changes and adjustments will make the program more enjoyable for the children as well as less stressful for us. 

Today will be the first day of the program. Please pray that God is watching over our hearts and guiding the hearts of the kids and parents through His way closer and closer to Him. 

On our way to Narita Airport

On our way to Narita Airport.

Tokyo Sky Tree, as seen on the bus ride to Otawara.