Let's Go Japan – Youkoso (Welcome)

Many of you know that I spent 5th grade in Tokyo, so I took a little time away from the team to check out my old house. Getting across Tokyo by myself on the train system was quite an experience – especially at rush hour! Fortunately, after much improvised sign language and broken Japanese, I found the neighborhood. Sadly, our big, western-style house is gone and has been replaced by five houses that rent for $5,500 – a month! Still, it was fun to see the playground where we spent hours playing, the American school we attended, and the big mound in the park that we used as a bike ramp (and where my sister, Rhandi, really skinned her knee one time). Ah, memories.

– Bobosan

Yesterday we met and handed out fliers at Kanda University for our Texas night. We handed them out to students on their way to class. We prepared our Texas decorations and dinner of Taco Salad for our Texas night at Makuhari church. Our MC Jeff demonstrated the technique of building a Taco Salad. We had around 8 students come some new to the club including a man who came because of the flier we had handed out earlier. We had a fun night filled with Texas and Japanese trivia, line dancing taught by Anne, Lizzy and Libby. Lizzy gave her testimony which Mariko translated. Several of the students that came were students we had seen on Friday night at the welcome party. LiBBY

On Sunday, June 11, Anne, Jeff, Libby, Matthew, Mariko, and Haley boarded a train and headed to the Oyumino Church, Honda Chapel, for some worship and fellowship. Being American, one is not used to a worship service in Japanese, but after hearing hymns sung in Japanese and English at the same time, one quickly realizes how global God truly is. What a great reminder! The team even sang a praise song for the approximately 100 people in attendance. After the service, the team lead the Sumodon youth group in a time of fellowship and praise. We each introduced ourselves to the high school, university, and young adult folks in attendance. Jeff gave his testimony, with Mariko translating. The team then performed a skit which we titled “The Lost Daughter”. Think of the Prodigal Son with some gender changes, and you have the idea. Key actors in this most magnificent parable were Jeff as narrator, Mariko as translator, Matthew as the loving Father, Libby as the Lost Daughter (try translating “Prodigal” in Japanese!), Aaron (fellow Texan teaching English in Japan) as the older son, and Haley as the servant. It went over well! How funny those Texas actors were to the Japanese! Interesting enough, Libby was later told that the Prodigal Son is a parable that is often used to convey God’s love to the Japanese people. What’s amazing about that fact is that we did not know that before deciding on acting out this parable. Amazing how God works, isn’t it? After the skit, the team broke into smaller groups, where we shared with each other – about our cultures, our personal lives, and our loving God. Smaller groups tend to allow for good dialogue with the Japanese. It was a great time of fellowship! – Jeff san

If you think listening to a sermon in English can be long (not Skip Ryan’s, of course), you should try listening to two of them in Japanese! We split the team in two today. One went to Midoridai, the other to Oyumino. My group went to Midoridai where we participated in a morning worship service, lunch, an English class, an afternoon worship service, and a pizza party with students. Lunch was delicious and they were kind to fix both Japanese (beef bowl) and American (spaghetti). They even transliterated the Japanese so we could sing their worship songs – in Japanese! So here’s the crazy part of the day: there’s a Japanese lady that can’t speak English, but she can speak Spanish. Thanks to Cindy Steele (don’t worry, Mama Steele, we haven’t lost her…yet) and her Español skills, we were able to make conversation. Who would have thought that we would be using our Spanish in Tokyo of all places?! It was a lot of fun, we made many new friends, and we loved being at Midoridai – two sermons and all! We see more Tokyo sites tomorrow with students…

We spent last night in Shinjuku with the Japanese univeresity students who did a Dallas homestay back in March. We love those kids and it was great to have them show us around an area of Tokyo that’s a lot like Manhattan – bright lights, crowds, tons of restaurants, etc. After dinner at “Asian Kitchen,” we ended the evening with some Karaoke. The Japanese do it differently than we do back in the States. You sit in a private room with a giant TV and you pass a microphone around. A few of the hits we sang: Hold On by Wilson Phillips; Linda, Linda (a Japanese fave); and Livin’ La Vida Loca. I sang Copacabana (Adele, that was for you). It was great fun and Jeff Williams certainly won the award for best singer. I don’t know who picked it, but we ended the evening with Amazing Grace. The students knew all the words – in English! What a great way to end the day with our new friends who are still trying to figure out what being a Christian is all about.
— Bobo

We’re here!
Originally uploaded by pcpcmissions.

Here’s the photo that I promised. There are more to come. If you would like to look at some of our other pictures, click on the picture.

We are here! We arrived at 12:45pm, Tokyo Time, which would be 10:45pm (CST). We arrived on a wet Narita runway. The landing was quite interesting. At first, we had a nice smooth landing, but then we had slam on the breaks (or that’s what it felt like). Anyway, it was great flight… no harm done. I (Brian), actually took part in the eating of sushi on the plane. For those that know me, I’ve never been a fan of sushi… the rest of the team got a chance to giggle at my chopstick skills. Anne, Cindy, and Haley were the only ones to get some sleep on the flight. The rest of us… well, as you can tell by this post, NO SLEEP!  Oh well. We are now at the hotel and preparing to head over to the IMPACT meeting at the university. Well gotta go. Saoynara! (sp?) Pictures to come…