Last Days!

Well we are currently in the home stretch of mission and to be honest it only feels like we are scratching the surface when it comes to building relationships with church+town people and serving them.

Thursday was one hectic day/night because we had our Aussie Night - one of the few things that we knew was coming since before we come to Japan. But the fact that we knew it was coming meant all the more that things were put off until the last minute. That day we had gone to a seniors home where we recycled our children's program with a story board, songs (hokey pokey, if you're happy and you know it clap your hands, Silent Night (kiyoshikonoyoru)) and a short message from Martin.

Just so you know what the storyboard is here is a pic:

Pretty much it is a long strip of rice paper which has pictures painted on it and a light shining behind. Some sections are covered in wax which especially shine bright with the light behind it - it is quite stunning - something I would definitely like to have a go at back home. The pictures follow a children's story about the first Christmas - focusing on the shepherds going to see baby Jesus. The story is something that both children as well as the seniors love to watch and is also a great starting point for Martin to share about the real meaning of Christmas. All of Japan celebrates Christmas and yet most people don't even know why they celebrate. Songs like Silent Night are played in shopping centres and stores but people may not even know the words to them! This really provides a huge opportunity to start gospel conversations with the Japanese and is a great reason to go into schools and senior's homes alike to share the good news.

After the senior's home we got back to Itayanagi and crashed for a bit - but that was short lived as we found out that Ruth was so sick she needed to go to the hospital and Micah and Aaron needed to go and renew their driver's licence - so we went from having Aaron (the Ghent's youngest son who just got back from Chicago that day), Micah, Ruth and Martin to only having our team to do massive cleaning and decorating of the church (sanctuary), cooking and planning games, trivia and a sermon. Everyone went into overdrive - Danny went on a shopping run - buying up all the beef mince he could find anywhere. Pete was writing his sermon and helped with the pavlova. Judy, Roy and I were helping to cut veggies and prep food. Nat decorated and cleaned. Danny then prepped trivia. I learnt some Aussie classics on guitar - Gimme a home among the gum trees and Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree. HECTIC!

It's all a bit of blur to be honest. But finally Aussie night was underway and people seemed to be having a great time. Praise God that even though we went way overtime (till 9:30pm...was meant to finish at 8:30 coz of young families) that people were quite willing to stick around and chat. I think that Danny had some good conversations with people. We ate shepherds pie, lamingtons and pavlova. In keeping with our semi theme of sheep, Pete gave a short talk about how Jesus is the shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep to go and save the one lost sheep.

Anyways enough text...here are some pics!

The apple juice was not Australian but very amazing

Pavlova!

Whoa, Pete, what a beast eating all that Shepherd's Pie!

Strong Tea

After this was a massive cleanup job - we were all going a little crazy by this stage but we seemed to have the energy to get it all done that night=)

Today (Friday) we needed to leave the house by 7am to hand out invitations at school gates for a Christmas Party. This required a lot of effort on the part of everyone but by some miracle we all made it. It was cold with lots of snow around but quite fun. I was posted at a school with Roy - many of the children were very excited and open to taking out invitations - please be praying that they will want to come to the party.

After this we went to our last two preschools. They were super fun and we received gifts at both! Once we got back we had some zonking time where some slept, and others (Judy, Pete, Nat and I) went to an onsen 5mins down the road from church. It was super hot but super nice!!

Then Judy, Nat and I had to rush off to a Kanagi event in a town about 30 mins from Kanagi. There we ran a Christmas party with the Mesas (Armin and Heike) where we sang songs, had a visit from Santa (yours truly) played games and ate some nice food. Aside from my Santa pants falling down many times, the highlight of the night was talking to Shunsuke about Christianity. He doesn't believe in anything he says but is still quite open to talking about Christianity. I gave him a Two Ways To Live tract and told him to use it to study English as well as find out about what Christianity is. I hope and pray that he does read it and come to faith as a result. Pray boldly=) Armin said that many of the people who were there tonight had never been to any church events before so praise God for bringing those people. He purposely brought those people there that night to hear the gospel. Please be praying for Armin and Heike who have been working hard at Kanagi Chapel for the past 5 or so years without seeing much fruit for their labour. Pray that they can have strength to carry on their ministry in a town of 15000 and only a handful of Christians. Armin is feeling discouraged by this so please be praying for him and his family.

Storyboard with Christmas Tree!

Anyways that's it for me. Please keep praying for us that we can finish strong. Pray for Ruth, too, as she recovers from her cough and also for the other's on the team still sick (Danny, Pete and Judy).

Oyasuminasai! Ashita ne!

デービッド (David)