Dear Friends, Sisters & Brothers - It's 3:30PM in the afternoon; all the kids form EEC have been gone for over an hour; some of the gals have taken our t-shirts to the laundromat so we don't smell tomorrow when we wear the same shirts; all the young people, except for me, have gone out to do some sightseeing and shopping; and I'm one of the few people left here at the church. It's a good time to write down some of my thoughts so I can get to sleep earlier tonight.
We began the day again with another message from Kawano-sensei - the scripture was John 6:27 - "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." This is the seventh mission and the kids await something special each year. The t-shirts change each year and the kids always say, "This year's shirt is the best." They anticipate what next year's shirt will look like. The adults on the mission await the food - it is always special, just like last night's meal with the Yumotos. Our t-shirts, there is no other shirt like it. Our food, there is no other food like it. In Japan, it is not common for people to go to a church. The number of people who attend church and have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ is very limited. In the past seven years more than 400 Japanese people in Chino have had a chance to hear the good news - a rare opportunity in Japan. Kawano-sensei says this mission is worth 3 years of labor. Sensei says that God concentrates His purpose in this mission. And God prepares food to nourish the spirit of the people. 30 of the 70 are new participants at this year's EEC. This may be their only experience to be nourished. The "sister" that was baptized last year before passing away, first heard the message about Jesus 60 years ago. We must make sure our food will nourish us for everlasting life. We give thanks to God for providing us with the opportunity to nourish with food for everlasting life.
Today we finally began EEC. We've been planning for this for nearly 4 months, now. All the activities seemed to go well and all of the groups had plenty of people to oversee the kids. There were people form the Chino church who have been helping for many years and others who are helping for the first time. We have a seminary student from Tokyo here to help us with EEC who will then return to Tokyo when EEC is over There is Ryoko Kashiwagi, now living in Japan, who will be coming to help us the next two days - she attended SFVHC while attending school in the U.S. and was part of a couple missions with us. We have a young mother helping out, Minori, who speaks English very well. She attended UC Santa Cruz a few years back. I wonder if her parents knew UCSC's reputation before sending her there. This does not seem like a school Japanese would consider for their children. Oh well, the experience did not seem to cause any lasting problems for her. There is Mr. Egawa, the husband of the woman who died recently form cancer - a non-believer but trying his best to understand and believe in Christianity. He is the leader of a group of about 18 kids. Egawa-san has kept a friendship with Stan Date from SFVHC - it is easy to see why. He seems to have the same "drive" as Stan. He carries a map of the San Fernando Valley and has the location of Stan's home marked, as well as the home of Roland Hazama, pastor of SFVHC. I understand that Egawa-san suggested to Stan climbing Mt. Baldy as training climb in preparation for climbing Mt. Fuji in Japan. The people of the Chino church would easily fit into the family of the San Fernando church - their hospitality and generosity matches that of our church family, and there seems to a few quirky characters as well, just like...I'm going to lie down and rest for a while now. I'll continue the report to you later today.
It's 9:30PM and we've just gotten back form the...you guessed it the sento. Everyone's sitting around just relaxing now and things are winding down. Have a wonderful day - it's 7:30AM in L.A. now. God bless you all.
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