So I have been in Japan for just over a week and have completed two of the three camps. The first camp was for primary school children and the second for families. My duties for the family camp primarily involved cleaning the toilets and making sure there was enough boiled drinking water. However other duties included lifeguard, carpenter and sound engineer! On Friday evening we built a makeshift stage and Catherine gave a wonderful Harp performance. We built a camp fire and had hand held fireworks that the children played with. Not at the same time as Catherine's concert of course! With the rhythm of the waves caressing the shore and the Harp's therapeutic melodies it was the perfect way to relax after what was a long and busy day.
I also met some of the other missionaries and learnt that Japanese social groups are extremely partisan; the Japanese are a very cliquey set of people. As such the society is very fractured and many Japanese are apparently very lonely. Most of the newcomers to the Church have been people who do not conform to a social clique such as housewives, the retired or young mothers. Social groups are very important to the Japanese and are usually based on standards of education or employment. On the one hand it is good the Church can facilitate the longing by some Japanese for acceptance and fellowship, but on the other it is sad that the Japanese in general are so discriminatory towards their own people.
Well I am blistered, sunburnt and aching after 5 days of camping and ground working and tomorrow we go to Tohoku for six days to help clear houses and aiding in other cleaning operations going on in this region. But what gives me strength is reflecting on what Jesus said to His disciples at the Last Supper that He came not to be served but to serve and washed His disciples feet as proof. I worship a servant King and Jesus' example inspires me to carry on; I hope that these experiences help me to become more Christ-like.
Earlier today I took the train (with instructions from Peter and Edi for which I was most grateful) to a nearby town called Heizan Sakamoto to the church there to give my testimony. I decided to use another new phrase that I've acquired: "Koko ni iru koto ga deki ureshii desu" - I am very happy to be here. The people there seemed to receive my token gesture of Japanese graciously. Afterwards there was a time for the 'peace' to be shared and I spoke to an American named John who was encouraged by my testimony. After the service had finished we ate lunch together. It was good to fellowship with some of the members of the church in Sakamoto and I spoke to an older gentleman about the similarities and differences in Japanese and British history as well as the two countries views on nationalism. Despite having many differences as I learn and reflect upon Japanese society the more I realise there are many similarities. These similarities are not always positive and it has helped me to see the reasons why it is also so hard to evangelise in Britain. Conversely I was encouraged by a testimony brought by one of the Korean missionaries at the church of a non-Christian woman who came to the family camp. She had text messaged the missionary saying how much she enjoyed the camp and how different it was to Buddhist camps she had gone to previously. She explained how much warmer, friendlier and brighter our camp was compared to her experiences of Buddhist camps. People here in Japan are desperately in need of God's love.
I have also been challenged by the WEC missionaries lifestyle of faith. They do not have a salary and trust God for all their needs; Ben was able to share some amazing testimonies of how God has provided when they had practically no money. It is a step of faith I am still uncertain I could take, but certainly it is inspirational how faithful God is.
We must get up early tomorrow morning, for around 5 am in order to travel to Osaka to collect the van we have been allocated to drive up to Tohoku - the journey itself to Tohoku will take roughly twelve hours so it will be a long day! Please continue to pray for the following:
1) physical strength for the work in Tohoku
2) for a thawing in Japanese social groups so that people are more embracing of each other and more open to the Gospel. The splintered nature of Japanese society makes evangelism very difficult as people are suspicious of others outside their social sphere.
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