Dear Friends, Sisters & Brothers – It’s 4PM Sunday and
things have finally slowed down.
We started the day with a prayer meeting and then had breakfast. After cleaning up, we set up for MEBIG
(Sunday school) and welcomed about 25 children for an hour of games, Bible
lesson, and memory verses. It’s a
lively and fast-paced hour, but very well planned and executed. Next was the worship, done by Chino
this time. Erica and Louis gave
their testimonies – both sharing from the heart and touching the hearts of the
Chino church members. After the
service we had a wonderful farewell luncheon – matching our welcome lunch just
a week ago. The food was, of
course, wonderful – and I know I ate way too much food for a single meal. As good as the meal was, the sharing
after the meal was even better.
They go around the room and everyone shares something about the past
week. People shared about the
activities and how well the children loved the program; some shared about how
much they enjoyed and were blessed by working with the children; and many
shared about how great it was that the three churches worked together so well
and the blessings from new and old friendships.
Had
to quit this report– we treated some of our hosts, who fed us and transported
us this past week, to a dinner and I never got back to you until now. We went with the Yumotos and Higuchis,
who invited us all into their homes for dinner; Egawa-san who has been
transporting us every day when we’ve gone out to eat or to the onsen at night;
and of course the Kawanos. It’s 5PM Monday, now, and
I’m sitting in our hotel room in Tokyo.
After
the sharing at the farewell luncheon on Sunday, we were given a performance of
a Hawaiian dance by Kiyomi – who leads the MEBIG program at the church every Sunday. This young woman has been studying for
five years and her performance was fantastic. So much of her heart was expressed through her movement and
her face. She would fit in so well
with the church members who’ve danced at the San Fernando church. After dinner we went outside and had
some fireworks. We mostly played
with sparklers but also had a few fountains to shoot up into the air. Living in the city of Los Angeles,
where fireworks are banned, it is has been many decades since I could play with
these legally. Boys will always be
fascinated by fire no matter how old they are. It started to rain when we were nearly done – I think even
God was a little scared by what we were doing. The church building has been around for eighty years and He
doesn’t want us burning it down while playing with sparklers. After seemingly finishing up for the
day, some of us went to a used bookstore – Bookoff, I believe. Everyone else seemed to know about this
store but me. We were there from a
little after 10PM until 11PM when it closed. I actually found a few things to buy with the help of Daniel
and Tsuguru. We went back to the
church and I went to my bed (actually my futon). A few people were still up talking and doing some
things.
We
woke up early – had to have all our sheets, pillowcases, and towels ready to
take to the coin laundry by 7AM.
We had a prayer meeting given by Kawano-sensei again – our last one for
this stay in Chino. Giving our
prayers after the message was an emotional and blessed time. So much happens in the ten days we
spend in Chino, and it all goes by too quickly. I look forward to the day we are reunited at the Lord’s
return and we will spend eternity together – and I will no longer need an
interpreter to talk with them.
After cleaning up the church, we went to the 7-Eleven to buy our lunch
for eating on our 2 hour train ride into Tokyo. I know, I know – 7-Eleven. But you can really get a good meal there in Japan. Tsuguru is leading the competition to
see who can buy the most food with their meal allowance. He’s too young to know that a measure
of a good meal is it’s quality, not it’s quantity.
After getting our lunches, it’s
time to go down to the train station to go to Tokyo until Wednesday. Many church members come to the station
to say good-bye and they stay with us on the platform until our train
arrives. It is so hard to release
our hugs and board the train.
Tears are coming as I think of all these dear brothers and sisters. So many more of you have to start
seriously thinking about joining this mission some day. There is not a certain type of person
that God is looking for – just a person willing to be a servant for God. As we leave the Chino train station I
put on my earphones for my iPod, and after a short time on comes “Leaving on a
Jet Plane” sung by Peter, Paul & Mary from a hundred years ago, or so it
seems. The sweetness of the song
matches the pastoral scenery streaming by me as I gaze out the window. Slowly, the scenery starts to change as
we get closer to Tokyo. My heart
started to drop as it became more and more of an urban setting. And then Bruce Springsteen came through
my earbuds singing “Thunder Road.”
For whatever reason, it lifted my spirits, filled me with energy, and I
was ready to face Tokyo.
After arriving at the Shinjuku station
in Tokyo, we transferred to a local train line to get to our destination. We had to walk a block or so with our
luggage to the hotel. Kumi was
able to find us a place to stay and it was well worth the hike. The rooms are spacious and very
comfortable – and we got them for a cost much less than we would have found on
our own. We will all be meeting in
about a half hour to go out for dinner.
Louis is taking a nap and keeping the wild animals away with his bear
impressions.
I’m going to stop for now and get
ready for dinner. I’ll come back
later.
I’m back – it’s 9:30PM and we went
to a nearby shopping center and selected a Japanese restaurant to eat at. Kumi and Fumi have left the mission
team to visit relatives and Daniel has an aunt visiting him, so only seven of
us from the team had dinner together.
But Shizuka’s mother, Erica’s grandmother, has joined us through
tomorrow night, so we had three generations of women from one family sitting at
our dinner table. It was great
eating in Chino the past 10 days, with great fellowship around the table. But it was also very nice to have some
of my favorite foods in the land where they come from. Sashimi and soba noodles. I won’t say another word about the
food…it was delicious…yes, it was…I love the food in Japan.
After
dinner, we split up and went shopping inside this shopping center/mall which is
11 stories tall. Louis and I are
back in the room now, getting ready to go to bed – which I haven’t slept in
since being in Chino. I had no
trouble sleeping on the futon, but it will still be nice to sleep on a bed
again. It’s nice to be able to
have a nice meal in a restaurant, buy some gifts, and to sleep in a bed, but it
still feels strange to not be in the midst of our Chino brothers and
sisters. All the niceties of
visiting a big city like Tokyo and staying in a nice hotel mean nothing without
friends and relatives. Thanks to
God that we have the other members of the mission team here to experience these
things with. It’s great to be here
in Japan, but I also look forward to returning home to be with family and
friends. See you soon. God bless you all.
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