Homestay

I had the privilege of home-staying with Mr and Mrs Sakamoto, an older couple who live near Harvest Church. I was picked up on Saturday afternoon by Mr Sakamoto, straight after the children’s event. A dinner of Sukiyaki (including Australian beef) was followed by a good discussion about our travels and lives.

Mr Sakamoto is a retired University lecturer in Psychology. Mrs Sakamoto is a retired high school geography teacher who has taken school excursions to over 20 different countries. They shared with me about their recent trip to Turkey to see Bible sites like Ephesus and Smyrna.

They have a particular passion for seeing churches grow, and we spoke late into the night about ways to help the Japanese church grow.

The next morning, the Sakamotos took me on a trip around the main sites of Hirosaki City. We saw the castle area and some of the historical buildings. We also saw a Buddhist pagoda near Hirosaki High School (where Yudai attends). We saw the prestigious Hirosaki University where Junji from Harvest Church lectures in ethics. Early Methodist missionaries were a big influence on the educational institutions.

We were able to pray together for Japan and the spread of the Gospel – a sign of our true partnership in Christ despite language and cultural differences. We then joined the evening service at Harvest for the Christmas celebration and Christmas party afterwards.