Foot Washing Ceremony

Saturday,  August 15th,  is the day the Japanese recognize as marking the end of the war.  Chiori Kawamoto a.k.a. Mighty Woman of God, who is the National Office manager had it on her heart to do something meaningful on this day.

Heavy on her heart was all the wrong that Japan had inflicted on her neighbours during the war.  Chiori wanted to mark this day by Japanese brothers and sisters reaching  out to bless people from other nations.

Rhonda and I were invited to participate. In this picture you will see Chiori and another Japanese sister, Fumi, now a missionary to Kosovo,  washing Rhonda and fellow Canadian Sandy’s feet.  It was a very special  and also  humbling time to receive this honour from our Japanese brothers and sisters.

Smile School, 6 August, 2010

After we finished all our prep work during the previous five days,  we set out to the local school to hold a one hour English class for the kids. We were partnering with the school’s Smile School, or after school day care program.

We were given a hour in which to teach the kids some English. We decided to teach them numbers and colours. But before this, we engaged them in a game of Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes. The kids really enjoyed this, especially as we did it faster and faster.

Afterward, the kids broke into teams with one person from our group each. These teams then went around the room stopping at “stations” around the room where they played games to practice their English. All the kids really seemed to enjoy this and it seemed to work very well.

At the end, we played “Capture the Bacon”. During the whole time the director of the Smile School was smiling excitedly and taking pictures.  When we finished he told us how pleased he was with our program. He was impressed that we played games to teach English, he felt that it would sink in better that way, and was just in general very happy with our program.

Overall, this time was really fun for all of us and was a good learning experience for us. Also, we are excited to come back again, which we hope to do very soon.

Tsuby! You are one in a million!!!

After the singles outreach Rhonda & I headed out for the Asakusa Temple where we were going to meet part of our team as they were planning to visit the stores and also see the biggest firework display in Tokyo.  This event attracts an estimated one million people and as you can see from this picture it is already VERY crowded and there are still two hours before the fireworks begin.

Well you can imagine my surprise when in the midst of all those people suddenly out of nowhere appears a familiar face –  Tsuby, one of the  high school boys in the small group I lead for Tokyo Baptist Church.  So, Tsuby, today you really were a one in a million blessing in the midst of the push and shove of the crowds.

Our friends finally arrived.  Two of them are volunteers for the English outreach this week and next week.  Katy – in the white top – is from our church in the UK,  Holland Road Baptist Church, and Bonnie is from Virginia in the USA.  The guys are Olivier – DTS staff from Quebec and Jesse – DTS student from Colorado.

Singles Ministry

Through a very interesting series of circumstances, Rhonda and I were invited to share with a group of singles from various churches in the city.  Rhonda was able to give  her testimony to  the group and they were very attentive to what she had to share.

In Japan the ratio of women to men in the church is  higher for the women which makes it especially hard for them in finding a Christian husband.  Rhonda had several follow up converstions with the ladies before we had to leave for the firework display by the Sumida River.  More coming about that real soon……

YWAM Japan Staff Conference

Here we are at the YWAM Japan National Staff Conference.  This year’s conference coincided with YWAM’S global 50th anniversary.  The background was designed by our YWAM Osaka base staff.  YWAM founders Loren and Darlene were able to attend and encourage us to push on for another 50 years.

The picture on the left was a display designed by Derick Domae of our YWAM Tokyo team and represents our work in the city along with a history of the training ministry in Tokyo.

The staff conference is held every year and YWAMers from different parts of Japan assemble for fellowship, business and time to worship together.

High School Boys

Another year has ended for the student ministries at TBC. Next  year we will change and become Ignite. It has been a great year and we have seen boys come and go.  Here in the picture you can see two of the boys praying with Chris our youth Pastor who visits our small group from time to time.

Last Sunday I was happy to baptize Tusbasa one of the boys who attends CAJ where both David and Jonathan did their last year of high school.  Next year sees a new step f or Next Generation – the new name for student ministries – as they take the annual 45 camp overseas to Taiwan and Malaysia.  I plan to continue to be involved in the Ignite programme for the coming year.

Lydia – The rest of the story

It was her smile that first captured our hearts even before we met Lydia one look at the picture submitted with her application form and we just knew we had to accept her,  and there were no regrets.  As it turned out none of us wanted her to leave but just as we were sure she should come we also recognized the leading of God in her life in making her next move.

No task was too big for Lydia and everything she took on was alway done with Swiss precision and excellence and a cheerful smile – it wasn’t just on the application photo but always from her heart.

We learned that Lydia could do much more with her face than just smile.  Just before she left we had a rememberance slide show and one whole section was dedicated to the faces made by Lydia.

O ne of her greatest assests was her heart of worship.   In the early days when Lydia lived with us we were so blessed to often just listen as she spent time in her room just singing to Jesus from her heart.

We miss you Lydia and will not forget you easily……….

Lydia

Lydia…how can we fit all that we feel and know about our dear Lydia into this small blog?   One word can sum it up, though – friend.  Lydia was a friend to us, the team, and the students as well as everyone she met at church, outreach, and so many other places in and around Tokyo.  Lydia staffed our 2008 DTS – in fact, was the only staff on site with the students as the rest of the team commuted in!  The location was far from our residences and actually wouldn’t have held many more than the students and Lydia! (although other staff did take turns staying overnight).  In the 2009 DTS Lydia was “senior” staff, welcoming in Derek and Chloe.  What a team!  Lydia returned home to Switzerland to be with family and church before pursuing the next steps God has for her.  Lydia, we miss you!!!

Psalm for Tokyo

My soul cries out to you, O God.

From the depths of my heart

I want to walk with you every day

to see your love riding the Yamanote line

your peace filling the emptiness

I feel in the eyes of those who do not know you.

My soul cries out to you O God

From the depths of my heart

I want to touch you every day

I see your grace, beauty and creativity

flowing from the culture in Japan

Let it flow back to you in never ending praise

My soul cries out to you O God

From the depths of my heart

Graduation

Graduation is an exciting time.  No, our girls have not graduated from high school just yet but it was an immense effort to complete all the assignments of their correspondence courses in time before they expired.  So we decided to all go out together for a meal at our local Coco’s restaurant.

It is always good to celebrate your successes and rejoice together over minor accomplishments as well as the major ones.