Happy (Late) October, my dear friends and family! The leaves are changing, the air is chill, and the traveling potato salesmen are out and about chanting their scary tune into the night. It's that time once again to write an update about the life and times of a certain YWAM missionary in Sendai. Without further ado, here we go:
I got to go on a quick mission trip to the city of Nagoya, far south near Osaka! One of the local churches in Sendai, Praise Community Church (PCC), had invited Janet and I to join a small team to help serve the homeless in Nagoya for a few days. PCC runs a weekly homeless ministry, in which they give food to the hungry and host bible studies once a month. They also help people get off the street, move into an apartment, apply for government support, and even find a sustainable job. Some of the regulars have even became baptized Christians! Taka-sensei, the pastor of PCC, had wanted to take a team of ex-homeless Christians to do mission work in Japan someday, and he finally had that chance last week!
In total, there was myself, Janet, Taka-sensei, and five other men: Kanno-san, Suzuki-san, Kusano-san, Ojima-san and Tamura-san. All five had once been homeless, but were helped off the street by PCC and government support. Together, we drove the ten hour journey down to Nagoya. I'm sad to say that I wasn't able to communicate well with the five others, since their Japanese is different than what I've been studying in school and online. Very heavy accents, local slang and rougher words, if that makes sense. It remind me of this famous video of a new story in Ireland. Imagine learning English as a second language, and then trying to understand the sheep farmer:
Yeah. Not quite the same, but still a little tricky. Still, it was encouraging to meet and work with Japanese Christians. Actions speak louder than words!
From left to right: Kusano-san, me, Ojima-san, Janet (back row), Tamura-san, Kanno-san, Suzuki-san, and Taka-Sensei.
In Nagoya, we all met at a park, where four different churches from around the city gathered together once a month and hand out food to the homeless. There was prayer, worship, and Kusano-san even shared his testimony. At least a hundred homeless people showed up to the ministry! They had an interesting system of distribution of food by handing out numbered laminated sheets to each person, creating an orderly queue and making sure there was enough food to go around. I was in charge of taking each person's sheet as they passed by to get a bag of food. I got to speak to a few of them, and even prayed with one man! Sadly, I didn't get his name, but from what I heard, he was set to be baptized the next day! Praise the Lord!
However, not everything went smoothly. I didn't understand the full context of this, but one homeless man tried to knock out another guy, who was deliberately provoking the other, so several of us, including yours truly, had to step in-between the two and attempt to deescalate the situation. After a few false charges, we thankfully got the two men to separate and calm down. It's scary how quickly this things can heat up and go out of control, especially when it comes to this kind of ministry.
Speaking of awkward situations, Nagoya itself is very different from Sendai. Not just because it's way bigger, not just because it's in a southern warming climate, but the people there are way more louder and outspoken than the people up here. In Sendai, most of the citizens are fairly quiet, keeping to themselves and not making a show of things. But in Nagoya, people were louder and not afraid of looking foolish or silly.
In the evening, after checking into our hotel, I decided to walk around the block, looking for some dinner. The night life was packed, tons of people wandering around the streets, chatting loudly and smoking. Two people actually approached me, asking me in English if I was looking for "services". I said a quick "大丈夫" (daijoubu), basically saying "Nope, I'm good", and got out of there in a hurry. Like I said, very different place, but not one to judge unfairly. I really wish I had more time to explore the city (in the daytime) and meet more people, but it was still good for the short time we were there.
The next day, we briefly toured Nagoya castle for about 15 minutes, since the rest of the team wanted to go to a sit-down restaurant, and not eat at the food carts nearby. Shame, but I did get some nice pictures of a genuine Japanese castle. It's a tad bigger than the nonexistent one in Sendai:
After spending Sunday at church, we left Nagoya and traveled to a church in Saitama, Tokyo, called "Friends of Sinners", ran by an ex-Yakuza pastor, Tatsuya Shindo-san! There is an entire document about him and other ex-yakuza, called June Bride: Redemption of a Yakuza. Please check it out if you have the chance! It's really good!
At the Friends of Sinners church, Janet and I helped reorganize their storage, clean, and work out audio tech stuff with their musical instruments. Kanno-san and Suzuki-san, who are very skilled carpenters, actually created a wonderful tool shelf from lumber, and the other crafted a gorgeous stand for flowers near the base of the church. It was encouraging to see their eyes light up, motivated and passionate about their projects. Everyone contributed and everyone worked hard. Just like the church!
At long last, after all our work was done, and many a goodbye, we drove the five hours home, and I don't think I feel asleep faster on my humble futon than ever before. Overall, it was a good experience to see a different part of Japan, and to help those who are hungry. I hope that one day, all the churches of Sendai can gather, united, strengthened, and guided by the Holy Spirt, and all together help those who are suffering in Sendai. May it be so! Amen!
Galatians 3:28
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
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