Day 15: Our Final Sunday!

Hi everyone!

Sunday was the last time we were able to spend time with the entire church. It was a little bittersweet since it was our last chance to see many members of the church and there were so many that we hadn’t had a chance to even talk to. The service was similar to previous weeks and Kondo-sensei preached from Revelations 3 again about the church of Laodicea and the dangers of being lukewarm. During fellowship hour, each one of us was asked to share one minute about our experience on the trip and what we had learned, but there was so much to share so we ended up taking the entire hour to share instead of just 15 minutes.

Lunch was served after church again and we brought some American snacks to share with everyone. After lunch, we handed out gifts to many of the people that either spent time with us or served with us at Joy Joy. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with some of the church members. We made one last trip to Lawson’s to pick up some snacks and came back to have a discussion with the Japanese college group about what it means to live as a Christian.

Dinner was a potluck provided by many of the different people that served at Joy Joy. There were so many different types of food and they were all delicious too! I ate with Yoshiki and a few other men from the church. Right after dinner, there was a quiz with questions about each of the Americans. We were also brought up and asked questions like “what was your favorite food in Japan” or “What surprised you most about Joy Joy”. Finally, we went into the chapel and sang some of the children’s songs from Joy Joy and watched the slideshows that Chris and Kelly put together for each week. I was surprised at how much I had become attached to the songs, even though I didn’t fully understand the Japanese ones. Right afterwards, many of the different members gave us gifts, ranging from calligraphy to food.

Thanks for reading!

Matt

Day 13 & 14: The Final Days of JoyJoy Week 2

During the last two days of Joy Joy Week 2, I was reminded a lot of God’s faithfulness and my own faithfulness to share God’s word.

On Thursday after Joy Joy, Jackie and I had the opportunity to spend some time with our new host, Hibino-san. (She’s probably one of the coolest grandmothers in the world.) We walked to a nearby takoyaki shop where we got to see the Osaka-native snack made. Takoyaki are ball-shaped and made with a similar batter as okonomiyaki, the pancakes we had the night before. “Tako” means octopus, so in the center of these balls is octopus. After getting a few things from the supermarket, we returned home and found that some of the church ladies and a few girls on the team had already arrived for our yakisoba night.

After dinner, Hikawa-san encouraged us all with the reminder that God is faithful. She told us about an outreach ministry that HBC had back in the day and how she first learned about Christianity and church. Though she didn’t believe at that time, she later believed and returned to HBC where she was welcomed by a teary-eyed old man who had reached out to her before. She believes that though it’s rare to see many JoyJoy kids and their families return for church or Sunday school to learn more about Christianity, God is faithful to save and perhaps one day the kids will return just as she did.

Saturday marks the last day of Joy Joy Week 2. The team and I are thankful for the energy that God gave us this past week! We were a bit sad to say good bye to the kids. Still, we’ll keep these little ones and their families in our prayers. It’s awesome to see that many parents showed up to the last day performance where they heard the gospel. Please pray for fruit to come from these planted seeds and, even more, for God’s faithfulness to resonate in our minds here in Japan and back home.
– Kelly

Day 12: Halfway through JoyJoy week 2

Thursday marks the middle of JoyJoy week 2! I can’t believe it’s almost over! Having finished the first session of JoyJoy, we’re all a bit more familiar with the schedule and transitions have been going smoothly. Its amazing how organized the Japanese staff at Hamadera Bible Church are in preparing everything! It’s awesome to see the faithfulness of the staff and their complete dependence on God in the ways they serve Him!

JoyJoy week 2 bugs and monkeys classes!

After we completed our daily cleaning routine throughout the church after JoyJoy, we headed off to dinner with Kondo sensei, the pastor of HBC. He took us to eat okonomiyaki and yakisoba noodles in a traditional tatami room! Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake that usually consists of flour, egg, cabbage, some sort of meat, and other ingredients. A few of us got to try making it ourselves!

Mikey and Elkana enjoying their Okonomiyaki

Kondo sensei graduated from The Master’s seminary and has been the head pastor at HBC since then. It was nice being able to spend time with Him and hear him share about his heart for Japan and why he chose to become a pastor. We originally wanted to hang out with the whole family, but his kids have been really busy with work and other responsibilities. It’s encouraging to see the Kondo family serve so faithfully and joyfully.

After dinner, we did some shopping at a nearby mall called Ario. We ended the day with some desserts!

The girls with the Kotas and Oumis at Ario

This week I also had the privilege of staying at some of the students homes. Melanie and I went to the house of one of her students, Waka, and her sister, Hana, who is in Kelly’s class. All evening the kids were singing both Japanese and English JoyJoy songs. Over dinner, we had the opportunity to talk to the parents about what they believed in and what they thought of JoyJoy.

Hanabi (fireworks) with the homestay kids!

They said they were Buddhist, but admitted that it was mostly by culture and tradition. The dad works as a tour leader to countries around the world, so he knows bits of Christianity and Catholicism through various European tourist attractions like famous Cathedrals and Churches, but he had never heard the complete gospel. So I’m glad we were able to share the gospel with him, who was surprisingly very attentive! Not knowing much about Christianity, the parents were interested in what their kids were learning. The kids who go to JoyJoy learn the Bible songs and lessons about God and creation so quickly, but when they go home they’re surrounded by other pressures and distractions in this world. This homestay experience definitely showed me how teachable and easily influenced kids are. It’s so amazing to see how God is using JoyJoy to spread the gospel to the parents through the children! I pray and trust that God will continue to plant seeds in the hearts of these children, and bring them to accept Christ as their savior!

– Tavia

Day 10 & 11: Week 2 of JoyJoy!

Tuesday was the first day of JoyJoy, week ni (2). For me, sometimes it takes a while to get warmed up to people, but my group of little dinosaurs were super cute and easy to be with. They know that I don’t speak Japanese, so when I use the little Japanese that I learned last week, they get a big kick out of it. Overall, they’re really good kids and I pray that they’re learning a lot from the Bible lessons, songs and crafts.

 

After JoyJoy, we had dinner at church, made by some of the church ladies. A couple of us from the team snuck into the kitchen to try to learn their cooking secrets. Hikawa-san was extremely kind to teach us how to make japanese potato salad and beef bowls (which she described as “just like yoshinoya”, but it was waaaaaaay better!).

Toto is giving Matt-sensei one last hug before leaving.

At the end of dinner, Hikawa-san was showing a picture and telling us about a dessert from Denny’s (of all places!). It was quickly and easily decided that we were going to stop by Denny’s after dinner. To our surprise, we found Nono, Toto, and Arata-san plus friends also eating at Denny’s!Arata-san helped with JoyJoy a lot the previous week (and gave us Americans a quick Japanese language lesson) and this week, their family was on their way back to Thailand. We were all overjoyed to see them one last time and we praise God for their love for the children and people here in Japan.

After Denny’s, we all went back home to our respective homestays. Tavia and I went back home with Kat and we got to spend our last night at her place watching funny videos and talking about all sorts of things.

Here’s Kat in the yukata, mixing the matcha powder. Hibino-san was teaching us what to do in a tea ceremony and was translated by Tamie-chan into English for us.

Wednesday was the second day of JoyJoy. The kids in my class seem to like following me around very closely, which is endearing but also sometimes cumbersome, but it’s fun! After another full day of singing songs, learning more about God being the Creator and playing games to learn English, Jackie, Kelly, Tavia, Kat and I headed to Hibino-san’s house for dinner. The home-cooked meal was mecha oishi (super delicious)! We also got to know Hibino-san a little bit better. A little while after dinner, Hibino-san announced that we would be having a tea ceremony, served by Kat! Hibino-san even dressed Kat up in a yukata (similar to a kimono, but light cotton instead of the traditional silk). Kat served us the matcha tea, which we drank after eating a small sweet pastry. When the tea ceremony was finished, Hibino-san let all of us try on the yukata and take lots of pictures in it.

Overall, I’m very, very thankful for the opportunity to be here in Japan. Our job was to come to encourage the HBC members, but they have encouraged and served us in more ways than I can recount. Please pray with me that our team would be salt and light while here in Japan, and also that we would be able to be the iron that sharpens HBC.

Love,

Melanie

Day 9: ABC Pre Joy Joy & Nara

On Monday, we started off the day with a team meeting and a time to pray for the upcoming week. We didn’t have Joy Joy… But that didn’t keep our team away from ABC Pre Joy Joy! This is a program that HBC puts on for toddler age children that are a little too young to attend Joy Joy. Kat started off with a couple songs like “The Hokey Pokey” and “The Wheels on the Bus.” Then we got to sing some American songs with them (like “Jesus loves me”!) Next, Et-Chan had a Bible lesson on God’s creation. And after that, we got to do a sticker craft and sing more songs with the little ones. Please pray that God would be working mightily in these little ones and their parents as well.

We had a sandwich lunch at church and then headed off to do some sightseeing in Nara! Our team was joined by Maaya, Kat, Ash, Takashi, and Nishimoto San. (Shoutout to our tour guides/translators!! Without them, we’d probably be lost in the Namba subway station.) We took several trains and a subway to get to Nara. It was humid and very hot, so we made sure to stay hydrated. Nishimoto San graciously prepared an itinerary for us, so here’s what we did!

Almost immediately getting out of the station, we were greeted by a bunch of deer. Yes, live deer! They roam around Nara Park and are very accustomed to humans. You can even buy crackers to feed them… Definitely not something we see every day. Our first stop was Yoshikien Garden, made up of: the Pond Garden, the Moss Garden, and the Tea Ceremony Flower Garden. It was very green and very pretty. The tea house was neat and peaceful.

Next, we walked to Todai-ji Temple. It is a Buddhist temple with the main object of worship being the “Vairocana Buddha.” The back of my admission ticket says that the temple is “a place of prayer for peace and affluence on earth.” It is a grand looking building and there were tourists with selfie sticks everywhere. My family and I had been on tours that brought us to Buddhist temples when traveling through Asia in the past. I guess I had always viewed them as nice architecture… just another aspect of Asian culture. Maybe because I had been on vacation and the temples were just another quick stop off the tour bus. In the past, I had pretty much been indifferent to the statues and people worshipping them. This time, something felt different at Todai-ji. As we did a walk through of the building, we saw people burning incense outside the temple, throwing coins into a chest before the main Buddha, and bowing towards the statue. Elkana described walking through the temple as simply eerie and I definitely agree. We saw men, women, and children passionately worshipping the 63.3 foot tall Buddha. I think what really saddened me was the fact that we had already been interacting with the Joy Joy kids for a whole week. These children in our classes may come from Buddhist families that do worship these false gods and perhaps go to temple themselves. These kids grow up in a country where it is the norm for people to place their faith in this animate object. It’s just what’s culturally accepted. Seeing people worship this enormous bronze statue as their god made the spiritual darkness of Japan much more real to me. And it was definitely sobering for the entire team. Chris reminded us that we were all just as lost as the Buddha worshippers before God mercifully saved each of us. This made me think of Ephesians 2:4-5. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved…” Whether the visitors were devout Buddhists or not, I pray that God would be working in this country. Though it is dark, we can have confidence that our true and holy God is completely sovereign over all things.

Afterwards, we headed back towards the subway station to go back to Namba for dinner. Before departing, some of us got refreshing soft serve ice cream cones (much better than the soft serve at Feast, UCLA’s Asian dining hall!)

On the train ride to Namba, Trevor and Chris got into a conversation with a couple teenage guys. They were able to share the Gospel with them. They got to talk about God as creator and Jesus Christ our Savior! However, the language barrier was definitely frustrating. Still, we are thankful for the opportunity to share about God’s gift of salvation, even if it’s with random strangers on a train ride.

At Namba, half of our group got soba noodles and the other half went back to the Hawaiian burger/sandwich place. Oishi! After dinner, we briefly checked out an arcade and then took the train back to our respective host families.

Thanks for reading and just a reminder that Week 2 of Joy Joy 5 Days begins tomorrow (Tuesday)! There will be about 100 new kids attending. Please pray for open hearts, open ears, and open doors! And also, that God would give our team and the HBC Staff energy as we all seek to glorify Him through our service and evangelism.

Millie

Day 8: Blessings on blessings

Hey everyone,

Sorry I am behind on the post from Sunday. I have not had a chance to write until just now.

But anyway, things have been going well over here. On Sunday we enjoyed our second church service here at HBC. The previous Sunday was our first full day in Japan, and it was great for me to be able to reunite with friends that I made from my trip last year while the rest of the team started meeting everyone and making new friends. By this Sunday, everyone had already made friendships with a lot of the members of HBC because we already finished our first full week of Joy Joy and in doing so spent a lot of time serving with and bonding with them. This Sunday we also heard pastor Kondo (the head pastor of HBC) preach for the first time because he had been doing some ministry in the US for the past few weeks and was not at HBC last Sunday, so it was great for the team to meet him and get to know him a little bit.

In between the first and second service, we each split up to join small groups with different members of HBC and talked about really anything that came up in the conversation. I was with Goshi San and Chris Mortimer, one of the missionaries here from America, and we had a serious but also slightly funny conversation about the kind of clothes that pastors as well as regular church members should wear during a Sunday worship service. We had slightly different opinions but agreed that even though scripture doesn’t address the issue much we should still be careful and think about what message we are sending to both brothers and sisters inside the church, as well as to unbelievers outside the church with how we dress ourselves.

After the two services were over, we were visited by Chris Chin and Rachel Xu from UCLA Grace On Campus. They had been traveling in Japan with Chris’ parents and decided to visit HBC and it was great to be able to see them and introduce them to our friends at the church.

After the services were over and Chris and Rachel left, a few of the team members went to help out with the high school and junior high ministry called Joy, and the rest of us had a meeting with Chris Mortimer who works as an English teacher at a private elementary school, and he talked through how we can improve our English teaching skills for the next week of Joy Joy. It was really helpful for us and we have a lot more tricks up our sleeves to make us more effective.

We spent most of the rest of the day at the church spending time with some of the members who stuck around, and then later we went to Plat Plat again with Maaya and Kat to have dinner at a great barbecue restaurant. After dinner, some of us grabbed some donuts, and i had a great conversation with Kat. Kat moved to Japan from California about six years ago after she came on this same STM team from Grace Community Church four years in a row. I asked her what the main reason was for her to want to move to Japan, and she said it was because she realized how much spiritual need there is here in Japan and she wanted to help. This is something that i have been thinking about a lot myself since my trip to Japan last year. Japan has so few Christians and so few solid churches, and it needs more Christians like Kat who are willing to live there in order to be a witness of the gospel of Christ that these people need to hear and believe in order to be saved from their sin and the punishment of hell so that they can be reconciled to a right relationship with God. I have seen the need here in Japan and God has put and grown the desire to move here in my heart since my trip last year, but it will likely be a long time before i can do so and that can often be discouraging. Kat encouraged me to continue to be faithful and obedient to the Lord wherever He has me and he will make His plans known to me in time.

This trip has been great for many reasons, and one specifically is even though we came to be an encouragement and blessing to the members of HBC, they are often a greater blessing and encouragement to us. My conversation with Kat is one example of that, and there have been many other conversations that my team and I have had with different members of the church that have encouraged and strengthened us in our faith, and we are extremely grateful for that.

Please continue to be praying for us! I am writing this on Tuesday and we just finished our first day of our second week of Joy Joy. Please pray that the Lord would give us and the HBC staff energy and wisdom to finish Joy Joy, and that he would help us be a light to these kids through our love. Please pray that He would help us be a greater blessing and encouragement to HBC and that we would help them grow in their walk with the Lord. Please pray that God would have mercy on the students and their parents who will hear good news of Christ and that he would take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh and new life by believing in Christ.

“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” -1 Timothy 2:3-4
– Trevor

Days 6 & 7: The final days of week one!

Ohayo Gozaimasu! (That is Good morning in Japanese)

We have officially completed week one of Joy Joy 5 Days, and what a blessing it was.

Friday, Joy Joy continued on with the same schedule as the previous days. Once it was finished, we spent the day at church with several church members, helping with any little details that needed to be taken care of as we prepared for the final day of Joy Joy (Saturday).

We took Friday evening a little easier since Saturday was going to be a big day as the children in our classes would be putting on a presentation for their parents, many of whom do not know the Lord. Before dinner a woman named Arata-san gave us a Japanese lesson that included words that would be helpful for the classroom. A few women from the church prepared a delicious dinner for the team and a few of the young staff members named Kat, Ash, and Yoshiki. The main dish was fresh Tonkatsu! METCHA OISHII (super delicious)!

Saturday was the final day of Joy Joy. The schedule was modified to fit in time to practice for the presentations. During the practice time, the parents were in the multipurpose room called the “Hall” where we normally have craft time and lunch. Before the English presentations, Kondo Sensei (the pastor at HBC) gave a Gospel presentation. Please pray with us that the Lord would grow this seed that has been planted in their hearts and that they may have a desire to return to HBC. Here are some pictures of the English presentations! (Bugs: Kelly Sensei, Elephants: Matt Sensei, Deer: Elkana Sensei)

After Joy Joy a large group of us took the train to Namba, a huge shopping mall, for dinner. We split up into to two groups; some of us went to go eat sushi and the other half went to eat Hawaiian
burgers and sandwiches. Both groups raved about how yummy the two options were. It was great to be able to talk to Kat, Maaya, Tamie, Takashi, and Ash some more and to get to know them a little better. It’s so amazing to hear how the Lord brought them to Himself and to HBC and the sacrifices that continue to make out of love for Christ. I hope that we can continue to have edifying and encouraging conversations while we are here with them in Japan and that they would know that we are family no matter where we come from or wherever we are on the planet. They already have become sweet friends whose relationships I will cherish deeply.

Kelly and I have had the privilege of living with the Kota family. They are a deaf couple in their sixties and have two children. Yukari, their daughter, lives at home. When she isn’t at work, she helps out with Joy Joy as well. It has been pleasure watching them serve the church and us. Chris Mortimer the missionary here always jokes that Mrs. Kota would be able to do sign language with her hands tied behind her back because her facial expressions communicate so much. It’s so true! She is very easy to understand and is so much fun. Kelly and I have been riding bikes to church every morning besides Sunday mornings, which has been a blast (despite looking like we are melting once we walk into church for our team meetings).

Here are some of the words we learned from our Japanese lesson we had on Friday. Practice with us!

1. Ohayo- Good morning (informal best used with children)
2. Genki?- How are you?
3. Kite- Come!
4. Atsumatte- Come together
5. Narande- Line up
6. Suwatte- Sit down
7. Tatte- Stand up
8. Mite- Look!
9. Kiite- Listen!
10. Wakaru- Do you understand?
11. Wakatta- Did you get it?
12. Dekita? – Finished? (used for things like during craft time this would be appropriate)
13. Owatta- Finished?
14. Tabemasho- Let’s eat!
15. Oinorishimasho-Let’s pray!
16. Itadakimasu- Let’s eat (the most common version I’ve heard used)
17. Oishi?- is it yummy?
18. Gochisosama- Thank you for the food!

In Christ,

Jacquelyn

Day 4 & 5: Joy Joy 5 Days Continues!

Since the last update, we’ve had two more days of Joy Joy 5 Days. So far, our general daily schedule has looked something like this (to add onto what Mikey already wrote):

We arrive at church around 9:30 to have a team meeting, which is followed by a meeting at 10 with the Joy Joy Japanese staff, HBC church members. In our team meeting, we have some debriefing, a devo, and prayer; on Wednesday (the second day of Joy Joy), Matt shared from Philippians 2 on how we are “brother[s], fellow worker[s], and fellow soldier[s]” to each other and the Japanese staff, and on Thursday, Trevor pointed us back to our goal of worshiping God through our trip.

Midori helps translate most of what is said in Japanese in the next meeting with all Joy Joy staff, in addition to overseeing a lot of Joy Joy activities. Midori and her husband, Chris Mortimer, are missionaries who serve at HBC. (On Sunday, through Chris’s live translation, we were able to listen to the sermon delivered during the church service in English through headsets.) A church member also shares a brief encouragement from the Bible and prays for the day, and we sing a few hymns with the Japanese staff – personally, this is one of my highlights of the day because we’re able to sing familiar songs (Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, The Old Rugged Cross) together in our respective languages. Though it may often seem like we don’t understand each other’s language, this a great reminder of the bond we have as brothers and sisters in Christ!

Kids start coming in at 10:30, and then we start our program at 11 with a time of worship, where a mix of Japanese and English worship songs are sung. The kids (mostly the younger ones) sing with a lot of enthusiasm, which is very encouraging to see even though I think many of them don’t normally attend church.

The kids are about to sing a song in Japanese!

We split into our respective age groups at 11:30 – each age group is called by a color (pink = youngest [4-5 years old], blue, orange, green, purple = oldest [11-13 years old]), and within each color, there are two groups, with each led by one of our team members. Team leader Chris goes around to supervise, help where needed, and take pictures. The color groups move around the church for various 45-minute activities – English and presentation practice, message, crafts, and lunch. The Japanese staff do a lot of the work – we’re mainly in charge of leading the English time, helping them with the activities at each station, and guiding the kids from station to station.

Tavia’s kids do a worksheet after the message.

At 2:30, we have a closing worship time, similar to the opening worship time, where we once again sing a mix of Japanese and English songs, and at 3, the kids are dismissed to return home. We then clean up around the church and assist the Japanese staff with any other preparations they need help with.

HBC either arranges activities for us to do afterwards, or we’re free to explore or go shopping – on Wednesday, we went shopping at a nearby mall, and on Thursday, we ate out with some Joy Joy staff members at a nearby restaurant owned by a HBC member.

We went to a Daiso store and tried to take a group picture (Kat and Yoshiki, HBC members, are the other two in the picture; another member, Ash was also with us, but didn’t make the picture, while Ashley was at a homestay).

Though the kids I work with (those in the blue group) don’t seem to understand or speak much English and it can seem difficult to communicate even with the Japanese staff, there are plenty of reminders of God Himself, who we are seeking to worship through this trip (as Trevor shared for Thursday’s devo): the board in the message room that has a number of God’s attributes posted to it in both English and Japanese, the numerous mentions of “kami-sama” (God) in songs and the messages, the HBC members who serve us and the children joyfully, the crafts centered on God’s creation, and just God’s providence in bringing us and the children to HBC/Joy Joy.

Please continue to pray for Joy Joy 5 Days and HBC! It can be especially tough for HBC members, who may get discouraged when it seems like their efforts produce no fruit. On Thursday morning, Oumi-san (my host family, along with Millie’s) shared with us how few children who attend Joy Joy stick around for Sunday School at HBC after it has ended, and how she wishes they would continue attending church. Nonetheless, praise God for the opportunities He had given us to proclaim His name and have fun with the kids despite the language barrier; as Watchi-san shared during our Wednesday morning general staff meeting, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 calls us to rejoice always, because God had granted us salvation through His son. Pray that God would continue to strengthen our trust in His perfect sovereignty and will!

Day 3: First Day of JoyJoy 5 Days

Today was our first day of JoyJoy. The team arrived at the church at 9 am, and Chris led a devotional on Colossians 3:12-14, encouraging us to put on hearts of compassion, kindness, and humility. As a team, we discussed practical ways of doing this. One way was preparing to actively show love to the children we would be ministering to in hopes of showing them the love of Christ.

As the kids started to file in, the team members greeted and welcomed their students. I definitely did not know what to expect, but was trusting in the Lord for strength and wisdom in leading them. As my group went through worship, crafts, a short message, lunch, English time, and closing worship, I got to know the personalities of my students a little more. They are pretty well-behaved and a couple even offer to help, too. In the time of one day, I have grown to enjoy their company and will be praying for their souls.

In our short time here, I have come to realize the great hospitality our Japanese hosts have shown us. JoyJoy is basically run by our Japanese counterparts. Our team only helps in English worship songs, guiding the students from station to station, and teaching English, but the Japanese also work as our translators and assistants. And yet, even coming back to our homestay, we (Chris, Matt, and I) were treated to an extravagant sushi dinner. Our hosts have also purchased for us bread, cereal, milk, and coffee for breakfast. Though our first few days in Japan have been tiring, from jet lag to staying all day at church for JoyJoy preparations, seeing how much the people of Hamedera Bible Church have been serving us reminds me to remain humble.

Thank you for all your prayers so far, and please continue praying for us!

-Mikey

Learn Japanese with Us

O NOMAI WA? – WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

MATAASHITA – SEE YOU TOMORROW

Day 1 & 2: Settling in and Meeting the Church!

Konichiwa!

After many hours of travel, our team safely landed in Osaka on Saturday night. We were immediately greeted by the friendly faces of our host families, members of Hamadera Bible Church, where we will be serving for the next two weeks. We all went straight to our respective homes from the airport and began getting to know our hosts, and then got a good night’s rest before church.

Sunday was our first full day in Japan and our team got to meet members of HBC after being introduced to the entire congregation. Between services, we were split into men’s and women’s small groups and were each able to talk with different brothers and sisters-in-Christ, who asked to learn more about us. It was encouraging to speak with them and to hear more about themselves and their faith as well. Many of the women in my group travel long distances to get to HBC and shared about their hearts for their non-believing children. One of them made it to church for a Joy Joy meeting that day even though she had recently been very sick. Despite differences in age, culture, and language, I was encouraged by their kindness towards me as well as their faithfulness and dedication to serving the church, recalling Paul’s words to the Romans about being “mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (Rom. 1:12).

The rest of our day was spent at church preparing for Joy Joy 5 Days. We used some of our crafting skills to make a book about God’s creation of the universe that the kids will be making. (We just had to follow directions. HBC members already designed the crafts!). Our team did a run through of all the songs with hand motions that we will be teaching the kids. We also put finishing touches on group costumes. Each team member will be leading one themed group.

Mikey – Knights, Tavia – Monkeys, Matt – Elephants, Millie – Superheroes, Chris, Elkana – Deer, Kelly – Bugs, Jackie – Chefs, Ashley – Kings & Queens, Melanie – Dinosaurs, Trevor – Scouts

Preparations were fun because we got to begin working with some of the HBC members who have been diligently planning for so long. They’ve been preparing for this VBS for the past ten months, since last year’s Joy Joy ended!

       

Monday was our last day of Joy Joy preparation before session one of VBS officially begins on Tuesday. As a team, we played all of the games we were put in charge of organizing. These games will be one of the main means through which we teach the kids English words. At the end of the week, the kids will be giving a presentation to their parents about what they’ve learned. It was amusing watching some of my teammates learn the motions to English songs like “the Hokey Pokey,” or “B-I-N-GO.” The groups with older kids will be performing traditional Japanese folk tales in English.

After a full day of preparations, our team had the chance to continue getting to know church members and having fun with them. We discovered that it was Et-chan’s birthday so team leader Chris and Trevor bravely went on a biking adventure to find a cake in order to surprise her. Et-chan, my host, is a member of HBC who also works as the church secretary and has a large role in planning Joy Joy. She was surprised!

We took our first team excursion outdoors by walking to a nearby park with a couple of church members, where we enjoyed some swings, teeter-totters, slides, and even a zip-line. We also walked to Lawson’s, a convenience store, and got our first taste of Japanese ice-cream.

We ended the night with dinner at church, prepared by some of the church ladies. It was a delicious feast of tempura, with vegetables one of them had grown in her own garden. We got to eat with them and learn more about them. Our team was touched by their hospitality and service to us in cooking a meal for us. Friends who have previously gone to Japan to serve HBC have often told me that the church serves us as much and even more than we serve them, and I have often felt that way just in the past couple of days!

Thank you for praying for our safe travel and health! Please continue keeping our team in prayer as we begin our ministry here. Our team is excited that we’ll finally be meeting all of the kids tomorrow and getting to serve alongside HBC members during Joy Joy. Please pray that God would continue opening the hearts of the children who come, many of whom will be hearing the Gospel for the first time and potentially sharing it with their families. Please also pray that our team would be unified, along with members of HBC, as we serve with faithfulness and diligence for His glory!

– Ashley