Time is really flying here in Japan! I can scarcely believe
that I have been here over two months already.
It has been a very busy fortnight, so much has happened since my last
update. Hopefully I will be able to tell you just a little bit about all the
amazing things God has been doing.
Oasa Primary School
With the team here we’ve been able to do much larger events.
We ran a one-day English and Culture Camp in a Primary School in Oasa (a nearby
town, outside of Sapporo). It seemed to go well, the children all listened
attentively. We had 6 nationalities present so we each gave a brief
introduction to our country. The children had also prepared questions in
English to ask us.
I was asked, ‘What is
the flower of Northern Ireland?’, so I was able to answer ‘shamrock’ and
give a brief explanation about St. Patrick and the Trinity. I did feel slightly sorry for Delia though;
she was asked, ‘What is the ecological
situation in Germany?’
We also got to spend lunch-time with the children. I had my
lunch with the 3rd Years (8-9 year olds). I was quite surprised to see how school
dinners were done in Japan.
Almost every Primary School provides a free school dinner;
however there is rarely a dinner hall or canteen. Therefore children eat their dinners in a
classroom with the class teacher. This is used as a time to teach or reinforce
good social behaviour and eating habits.
The children are also expected to take their turn in serving the meal to
their classmates and clearing up afterwards.
All children are expected to take part in cleaning up the school, so
immediately after lunch they all started running around with brooms, dusters
and hoovers.
School Dinners in Japan; rice (with furikake), miso Soup,
katsu, pickles and a carton of milk; it was pretty tasty actually!
Once chores were complete we all went down to the gym and
played games together. I discovered it’s very difficult to run in slippers on a
polished wooden floor (everyone has to take their shoes off in the school)!
Oasa Church BBQ
We were also invited to Oasa Church the following Sunday. Afterwards the church held a BBQ as an
outreach to the community, and where Frazer was able to give his
testimony. We were also able to invite a
number of the Rakuno Students, who we had got to know through various
events.
The Japanese reads, "God loves you."
KGK BBQ
As it is now most definitely summer, there have been BBQs
happening all over the place! (Or Genghis Khan parties, as they often known).
Purple potatoes, not something I'd seen before!
Sandra (from the UK team) is an IFES
(International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) worker, and thus has links
with KGK (the Japanese equivalent of Christian Union). Through this, we were invited to a KGK
BBQ. KGK had organised this BBQ at Hokkudai as an outreach to
other students and non-Christians.
Sandra was able to give her testimony, and afterwards two people who had
just wandered over asked to speak with her more about what she had said.
End of the Summer English Scheme.
The Summer English Scheme is now over. Attendance remained good throughout our time
and it was a great tool to build up relationships and introduce new students to
some of our work in a non-threatening manner.
This is part of the Wednesday night class. On the last
night we all went out to get ice-cream together.
Wednesday Bible Study.
As Wednesday nights are once again free, the Bible Study has
started up again. We had hoped that the
English Scheme would encourage some more people to come along to the Bible
Study, and this seems to have happened!
Our numbers have double from six weeks ago, and more students have said
that they were busy this week but wanted to come next week. What’s more, I was amazed at how much those
who had attended before had retained. Some of the guys were able to explain the
exact materials and significance of the statue in Daniel 2 (in sequence, I was
nearly put to shame trying to recall this).
They also asked some really great questions. Questions which showed they were really
thinking about things, rather than just reading the text. It was quite exciting really!
Ocean Day.
Monday 16th July was a national holiday in Japan
(Ocean Day). We invited students to just
informally hang out with us on this day. We started out at a park and ate Bentos and chatted
together. We did try and play catch or
Frisbee, but the trees made this slightly challenging.
Later we went to Karaoke.
Karaoke was quite an experience! Rather than in front of a big audience
you hire out a small room , I was quite glad about this as it meant I only had
to sing in front of people we knew. Also, we were each given a mug and had free use
of a ‘tea and coffee bar’.
As an end to the day, some of the girls asked Alyssa, Delia
and myself to take Purikura with them.
Purikura is a bit like a photo-booth, except it’s in a large cubicle
with a green-screen background. After the picture is taken you can then edit it
and draw over it. Unfortunately the machine also makes a few ‘improvements’ all
on its own. Some of them, such as photo-shopping your skin to make it look
smooth and glowing, are quite flattering.
However, it also automatically enlarges your eyes. Which, considering I already have quite large
eyes, has produced some quite hilarious results. Needless to say, no-one looks much like their
photograph above! At the end we all got
a little sheet of stickers to take home. Also, pulling faces (or ‘Hen Gao’ literally ‘strange face’) is an essential part of
Purikura. In general it’s quite normal to always take two copies of a picture;
a sensible version and a Hen Gao
version; that's why i have so many pictures of everyone with silly faces.
We were able to have some really encouraging conversations
with some of the young people there and build up relationships. It was also good for them to see that
Christians are just ordinary people, and that it’s okay for Christians to have
fun. Too often Japanese young people
have an image of Christians as either a dangerous cult or as strange or
miserable people.
Somewhat ironically, I
teach my Friday English
class right under this sign.
UK Team Farewell Party.
It seems no time at all since the UK team arrived, and now
they are going! We held an FM0 night as
a farewell party for the UK team. This
time 54 people came. The team were each
able to share what God had taught them during their time in Japan. They also sang a worship song, and everyone
in the room clapped along. The
atmosphere in the room was quite special!
We're beginning to run out of space! What a
wonderful problem to have!
At the end of the night two guys even asked if they could take
home bilingual New Testaments.
English Teaching
I have been having a number of opportunities to teach
English. The whole team was able to help
out with a number of official classes at Hokkudai University. The teacher was a Christian and asked us if
we would come along and speak with his students. This gave us a whole new group of
contacts. My class on a Friday has also
been going well, though this may have to stop soon as it is exam time at the
University over the next couple of week.
This is only a small sampling of what I have been involved
with!
Prayer Points;
Praise God for the
ministry of the UK teams. For all the work they have done during their time
here. Please also pray for their future plans.
Frazer will be travelling to Korea to do an English Camp for a month,
Cheriel will spend a month in Iwate with a team from her university and Sandra
will be returning to England to continue working with IFES. Please pray that
they might continue to honour God in all that they do.
Praise God that the
Summer English Scheme was a success!
That our numbers were good and that all the young people seemed
responsive when we introduced Biblical topics.
Please pray for those who came along, that the interest and
relationships built up might translate into attendance at the Wednesday night
Bible study.
Praise God that so
many new young-people have started attending the Bible Study. Please pray that they might continue to
attend. Please also pray that studying
the Bible will become more that simply a means of language practise, but that
they might recognise the real significance and truth contained within.
Please pray for
relationships forged with KGK. That
FMZero and KGK might be able to find a way to work together which is glorifying
to God.
Thank you.
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