Tuesday, July 30th - Our First Full Day in Tokyo
Dear Friends - It's 6AM and I'm writing you from my hotel room in Ikebukuro, a part of Tokyo. It feels a little strange to have a room to myself where I can be a total slob without getting in the way of my roommate in Utsunomiya, Donny. Without the hustle and bustle of participating in one of our planned activities or planning for the next one, I've had time to reflect upon the mission trip a little bit. During our preparations prior to coming to Japan, I had some concerns about how our team would come together and work together as a united team. It was difficult for us to get the whole team gathered for meetings because of the activities of the members. From past experiences with mission teams to Japan, I was confident that things would work out fine in the end - God does not make mistakes in who he selects for a mission team.
I''m going to take a break, now. I'll get back to you later.
"...it's a small world after all." It's 10PM and we just got back from a day at Disneyland. I'll talk about it later.
It took me a long time to realize that God always selects the members of our mission team as a team. A group of individuals who have different personalities; different gifts, skills and abilities; but all with a desire to serve God and to work together with the other team members for a common goal. It was true once again for this year's team. Seiko is the anchor for our team, providing the bulk of the translating for us. Her skills are extremely important for mission team. Instead of giving a word for word translation, she adds context and background to her task. She works hard to insure that we have a greater understanding of Japanese culture and customs as she translates for us. Donny is very conscientious and detail oriented. It's great to have him on the team because I have neither of those qualities. He spent a lot of time crafting his message for our first worship service with the Utsunomiya church. He rewrote and edited the message to be exact in sharing his message from God. He has been our guide around Tokyo and has done a great job - checking bus schedules, maps, and other information he gleans from the internet to get us to places safely and in a timely manner. I've been sitting here trying to think of how to describe Jonathan. He is kinda like my dog, who is noisy and can be a pain sometimes, but is very lovable. Jonathan does some strange and goofy things, and can be a pain when you are the victim of his pranks and teasing. But it is his heart that draws people to him and allows you to ignore or maybe even embrace his crazy side. His energy and enthusiasm when interacting with the children entertain and encourage them to join in - which was great for the EEC program. Spending time with him in more serious conversation is enjoyable, too. There's more going on in there than is always evident. (I can't believe I'm complimenting him. I'm still looking for ways to get back at him for his teasing.) Jayden is the one I appreciate the most, and have the most pity for. She is the only young female on the team and his had to put up with the jokes, inappropriate topics of conversations, and immaturity of the male members of the team. She tolerates the men and maintains her dignity and pride at all times with a quiet, calm demeanor. She is very sweet and her love for God and love for people is evident in all she does. The children we have worked with on this mission are naturally drawn to people like that. Mason has been, perhaps the biggest surprise to me. He has a very subtle sense of humor that wasn't so apparent before we came to Japan. He is similar to my son, Marc, and can say outrageous things with a straight face. Seiko was fooled again and again by this young man. Mason has a very kind and loving heart, like the other two young people, and worked very well with the young people during our activities. He also is a wonderful photographer and videographer, putting together a great video that was shown to the parents and kids on the last day of EEC. He will have a video to show our church family when we return to the U.S.
As I shared earlier, we spent the day at Disneyland. Although it was hot & humid, it would have been hot & humid whatever we did. So why not go to Disneyland. There is much that is very familiar and similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, but there are also many details that make Disneyland Tokyo unique. (I don't have the brain power to talk about Disneyland right now - maybe in a future post.)
I need to go now and take a shower to clean and refresh myself. Tomorrow is our last full day in Tokyo and in Japan. We intend to do some shopping and walking around - so I need to get a good rest for tomorrow. Even though we are no longer in Utsunomiya with planned activities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are not on vacation from serving Him and being ready to share the "Good News." Please keep us in your prayers as we finish our time in Japan. Again, thank you for your support and prayers over the past two weeks. God bless you richly. With love, Don
p.s. - I've been unable to attach photos to the blog entries. I will try to share them when I get home to my desktop computer.
"...it's a small world after all." It's 10PM and we just got back from a day at Disneyland. I'll talk about it later.
It took me a long time to realize that God always selects the members of our mission team as a team. A group of individuals who have different personalities; different gifts, skills and abilities; but all with a desire to serve God and to work together with the other team members for a common goal. It was true once again for this year's team. Seiko is the anchor for our team, providing the bulk of the translating for us. Her skills are extremely important for mission team. Instead of giving a word for word translation, she adds context and background to her task. She works hard to insure that we have a greater understanding of Japanese culture and customs as she translates for us. Donny is very conscientious and detail oriented. It's great to have him on the team because I have neither of those qualities. He spent a lot of time crafting his message for our first worship service with the Utsunomiya church. He rewrote and edited the message to be exact in sharing his message from God. He has been our guide around Tokyo and has done a great job - checking bus schedules, maps, and other information he gleans from the internet to get us to places safely and in a timely manner. I've been sitting here trying to think of how to describe Jonathan. He is kinda like my dog, who is noisy and can be a pain sometimes, but is very lovable. Jonathan does some strange and goofy things, and can be a pain when you are the victim of his pranks and teasing. But it is his heart that draws people to him and allows you to ignore or maybe even embrace his crazy side. His energy and enthusiasm when interacting with the children entertain and encourage them to join in - which was great for the EEC program. Spending time with him in more serious conversation is enjoyable, too. There's more going on in there than is always evident. (I can't believe I'm complimenting him. I'm still looking for ways to get back at him for his teasing.) Jayden is the one I appreciate the most, and have the most pity for. She is the only young female on the team and his had to put up with the jokes, inappropriate topics of conversations, and immaturity of the male members of the team. She tolerates the men and maintains her dignity and pride at all times with a quiet, calm demeanor. She is very sweet and her love for God and love for people is evident in all she does. The children we have worked with on this mission are naturally drawn to people like that. Mason has been, perhaps the biggest surprise to me. He has a very subtle sense of humor that wasn't so apparent before we came to Japan. He is similar to my son, Marc, and can say outrageous things with a straight face. Seiko was fooled again and again by this young man. Mason has a very kind and loving heart, like the other two young people, and worked very well with the young people during our activities. He also is a wonderful photographer and videographer, putting together a great video that was shown to the parents and kids on the last day of EEC. He will have a video to show our church family when we return to the U.S.
As I shared earlier, we spent the day at Disneyland. Although it was hot & humid, it would have been hot & humid whatever we did. So why not go to Disneyland. There is much that is very familiar and similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, but there are also many details that make Disneyland Tokyo unique. (I don't have the brain power to talk about Disneyland right now - maybe in a future post.)
I need to go now and take a shower to clean and refresh myself. Tomorrow is our last full day in Tokyo and in Japan. We intend to do some shopping and walking around - so I need to get a good rest for tomorrow. Even though we are no longer in Utsunomiya with planned activities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are not on vacation from serving Him and being ready to share the "Good News." Please keep us in your prayers as we finish our time in Japan. Again, thank you for your support and prayers over the past two weeks. God bless you richly. With love, Don
p.s. - I've been unable to attach photos to the blog entries. I will try to share them when I get home to my desktop computer.
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