Friday, August 2nd

Dear Friends, Sisters & Brothers - It is Friday night, 11PM (actually Saturday morning, 5:45AM - I wasn't able to get online last night).  Almost everyone is in their room now receiving restoration from the busy day we had.  The day began with a message from Kawano-sensei as usual - Philippians 1:3-6. "I thank my God in all my remembrances of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel form the first day until now.  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  It is the last day of EEC - it lasted only 3 days, but for some kids and parents it may last forever.  30 of the 70 participants were new, even to Kawano-sensei.  Some who have worked at EEC a long time may miss some children who are not here this year.  God's plan is for some who have never been in church before to be here this week.  The limit for EEC was first set at 60, but then expanded to 70.  The program has been approved by the Chino Education district, so the Chino church was able to send out letters to 1,600 students in Chino.  If they could accept everyone, their church would not be big enough - they might need the City Hall auditorium to accompany everyone.  They might need to build a stadium to accompany everyone.  Kawano-sensei trusts that the 70 children who came to EEC will go out and share what they learned with others.  Sensei asks us to keep the children in our prayers as we go back home.  There is a school song titled "I Remember When Summer Comes," Sesnsei hopes the children will remember EEC when their summers come.  As Paul shared with the Philippians, God will keep doing this good work in us, and only God can complete this good work in us.
     EEC was fantastic today.  In the debriefing, people told of how well the activities went today:  the closing assembly was wonderful with each of the 4 groups singing a song for the parents; 2 children from each group shared what they liked about the camp; and there was some very heartfelt sharing from some members of the Chino church who helped out at EEC this week.  I know this doesn't tell you a whole lot about EEC, but it's hard for me to recap what happened today and to pick out just a few things above the rest right now.  Maybe I'll be able to say more in a future report.  We had a karaoke machine set up this afternoon and some of us sang some songs with a few people from the Chino church.  Egawa-san, a 71 year old fellow was singing "La Bamba," "Edelweiss," and other songs from the 60's and 70's for us.  One gal who appeared to be in her 30's was singing Beatles songs.  More than a little strange to witness this.  Following that was a barbecue with cooking with cooking on the bare ground in the carport.  The carport is hard-packed dirt and the charcoal is put directly on the ground, and there are a few cinder blocks to hold up the three grills.  There were various meats, vegetables, and noodles cooked - it was a great feast.  You will never hear me belittle or complain about meals served at SFVHC, but this was a meal that would be hard to top.  There were many families whose children attended EEC that came to join us.
     Everyone was tired from all the activities of the day, but all the regulars perked up when they heard the call for sento.  It was great taking the cleansing shower, before soaking in the bath, to clean off the sweat and dirt that had accumulated today.  I also got a chance to clean off the hair stuck to my body.  Today was "Crazy Hair Day" and I had Erica clip the hair from one side of my head, leaving the other side with a week and a half's growth of hair.  The problem is the two sides weren't all that different from each other - there's less and less hair on my head every day.  I don't know if anyone noticed what I had done with my hair.  Oh well, I tried.  I need to get to sleep now as we will go sightseeing in Matsumoto tomorrow.  It's about a one hour train ride from Chino.  There is a castle there that we will visit and then do some sightseeing and shopping, I think.  Thanks to all of you for your prayer support. Everyone was doing well today and everything we did seemed to be blessed by God.  There has been a lot of rain but it hasn't impacted our programs, and the heat and humidity has been very bearable.  Time to hit the futon.  Good night and God bless you all.