Welcome to Carolina…Au Revoir to Chloe…

Carolina

Yeah!  Another new staff person and our first Latina to join the team here in Shinagawa.  Carolina arrived from El Salvador and jumped right into our daily routine of worship from 8-9 followed by Japanese study from 9:30-13:00.

Her big smile and joyful disposition add an awesome element to our work.  She is of course a Spanish speaker but also fluent in English as she has worked as a translator before coming to Japan.

Chloe

Meanwhile,  Chloe is planning on leaving at the end of this month for a season.  Not for good,  just a few months.  Here in this picture Chloe is holding the bouquet she caught at a mutual friend’s wedding.  The Groom was from (Shibuya Harvest) the church Chloe attends and the Bride was from TBC (our church).  Who knows –  Chloe may come back married!!!!!!!!

Do Justice

It was last year at this time that we  facilitated the tour of Susi Childers of Voice for the Voiceless as she spoke at different churches of the plight of the voiceless.   The issue of women and children being trafficked, especially for sexual purposes,  has stayed with us.  Every third Monday of the month we have an open worship meeting here in Shinagawa to which you are all welcome to come. At the end of the worship time we take a moment to pray for this pressing issue.

The verse from Micah 6:8 has been one of my life verses for many years.  It says….”He has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you?  but to DO JUSTICE to love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

I have often wondered just what is meant by “DO Justice”?  Last spring I found this shop right here in Tokyo.  Unfortunately it has nothing to do with doing justice but as I pass this store every time I go downtown  it is a timely reminder of what God has called me to do in this city.

I am looking forward to the time when the Church here in this nation produces a real “Made in Japan” expression for doing Justice.   We are seeking ourselves to know what the situation in Japan is.  Recently we have had a few of our team learn more through attending meetings held by “Polaris”  an NGO that works here with the issues of the sex industry and especially with those who have been sold into sex slavery.

It seems that the law here in Japan is very vague and does not give much power to the police to do much to actually help those in slavery to be set free.  In fact we were told that if we became aware of the possibility of a woman being used as a prostitute in a human trafficking situation one would  actually have to sleep with her in order to provide the necessary evidence for the police. This and other complicating factors especially in the issue of child pornography are frustrating for those wanting to see justice done for others.

Polaris also told us of the US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 results which included Japan.  We are learning much and looking to the Lord to know what our part with the Body of Christ in Tokyo is in carrying His heart and salvation to these people.

The Body Shop here in Japan as well as elsewhere in the world is making efforts to stop human trafficking.  It was very encouraging to see the poster on the right at a local Body Shop store.   It is good to see that efforts are being made in the business world to ensure that slavery in any form is not perpetuated in the world today.

My heart is to understand this issue especially as it is in existence right here in Japan and see how we as the body of Christ can “DO JUSTICE” for those who are oppressed and cannot act to defend themselves.

Voice for the Voiceless has a 30 day prayer journal highlighting the issues of human trafficking and slavery that are happening in the world today.  While this book focuses on women and children there are also situations of men being held in slavery, too.  If you would like a copy of this book they are available at Photogenx/Voice for the Voiceless.

Hatanodai #5 Post 3

Ok, our final post on section 5!  We begin this post with another “Cute” but narrow house with a very “Cute” car in from of it.   I personally would be too scared to actually try and drive one of these vehicles on the roads as I would feel so vulnerable, worrying in case I ran into a big truck.

We continue to call out people to come and experience the love of God in their lives and for Opportunities to open up f or us as a mission to reach out in effective ways to help them understand His great love.

Hatanodai 5 chome like section 4 has a large number of apartments or flats but no skyscrapers.  Buildings are rarely over five stories high.

Here on the right is the Holiness church which seems to be a fairly new building.  We are looking forward to an opportunity to visit them soon and learn from them about their work here in the city of Shinagawa.

As our custom is when completing a section of our prayer walking, Rhonda and I visited a local coffee shop for a quick coffee Latte before returning home.

We plan to complete the Hatanodai section of Shinagawa by having our team all join us to walk through section 6, so our next post will be a little different.  Hope you have enjoyed the journey so far.

LDC Training

For  me this has been a loooong time coming. Monday morning is now officially one of our two weekly staff training times.  This became a reality as we entered this season after the DTS.  I have been using the materials that Rhonda & I studied at the LDC (Leadership Development Course) in Taiwan.

As well as going over the materials we have several team building games and exercises.  In these pictures you can see two different teams working together to build a free standing tower, using just newspaper and cello-tape. We previewed the activity by looking at the different kinds of team players there are and then set to work as a team!  Both teams were able to make a tower that reached to the ceiling and were very impressed with their results, seeming to  enjoy the experience as well as learn about how they and others function on teams.

The theme that I have been teaching on so far has been self-leadership.    Our staff have been challenged to complete the sentence:  ” The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to………..”

On Tuesday afternoons David also teaches on the theme of leadership from his own material gathered through his years as a pastor and leadership in YWAM’s Schools of Worship.  This is just part of our continued efforts to support and nurture the ministries and callings God has entrusted us with in these staff.

Hatanodai #5 Post 2

This impressive building is both a culture centre and a children’s centre. Some community programmes happen here for all age groups but most programmes are for preschool and elementary age children including a preschool which one of our team member’s child attended.  It was through relationships made at this preschool that the team’s children’s club and club camp began!  These relationships have carried into elementary school as all graduated to grade one  :)

The aging population is an ever present concern in this nation, with the projected possibility of having two people in the work force for everyone over the age of 65 by the year 2025.  This gives a major headache to the pension section for the government yet also presents a challenge for the Church to reach out to all of those older folks with more time on their hands.

Once again I am giving you a picture of a very old wooden house.  I am continually amazed to see these buildings in modern Tokyo ,Japan and often right next to brand new buildings.

Here is another church right in the Hatanodai area.  It is of the Holiness denomination and has  a nice new building.  Rhonda & I did see this church when we did a prayer walk around the boundary of Hatanodai as it is right on the border of the area.

When we worked in Noda several many years ago  ( before we had a blog so you won’t find it in earlier posts!) we also visited the local Holiness church and had  good fellowship with them.

This now makes three churches in Hatanodai we have found so far which is not even one church for each of the 5 sections of Hatanodai we have walked.  There are many needs in this city with  much work to be done.