Back in the U.S.

Hi everyone,

Matt-san now posting from the very mild climate of west Chicago.  After being in Florida during early summer, and then Nagoya with its sparsity of AC, the cool Chicago mornings feel absolutely delightful.

We apologize for being incommunicado lately.  We arrived here a week ago and have been busy fighting some wicked jetlag and trying to get our affairs in order before the school year starts.  We had heard, and have found it to be correct, that jetlag coming back to the U.S. is much, much worse than going over to Asia.  Caroline has been swinging back and forth from sleeping maybe 5 hours one night to 11 the next.  I’ve just generally slept less than usual, but we’re both pretty close to being back to normal.

We’ll have more to post in the near future, I’m sure, but for now I just wanted to drop a little post and say we’re doing fine.

Blessings,

Matt

Missions Reflections Part II – Who is called to missions?

The point of my (Matt’s) first segment was that missions is the ‘redemptive spread’ of the image of God throughout all creation. So the answer to “Why missions?” is that it fulfills God’s plan for creation and our purpose as human beings. But then you may rightfully be concerned and ask: “If that’s true, then are you saying that ‘missionaries’ are the only Christians who are fulfilling God’s plan for creation and living out the true purpose of being human?” The answer to that is “No!” Missions is indeed the primary task of redeemed humanity, but ‘missionaries’ in the strict sense of the word (that is, those who travel to far lands to minister the gospel) are not the only ones who are called to missions. This raises the next question for my missions reflections: “Who is called to missions?”

The answer to this question is that, while not every Christian is called to be a ‘missionary,’ ALL Christians are called to ‘missions.’ Not every Christian is called to GO and spread the redemptive message of Christ to the ends of the earth, but every Christian is called to PARTICIPATE in the spread of the redemptive message of Christ to the ends of the earth. Only by participating in the spread of God’s kingdom over the entirety of the earth are we truly fulfilling God’s plan for creation and our purpose for existence as human beings. So the question is really not, “Is God calling you to missions?” but “HOW is God calling you to missions?”

For some of us, we are called to GO.
The apostle Paul was a ‘goer’ in terms of missions: “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20). God’s calling for Paul was to spread the redemptive message of the gospel into new lands—geographic areas where the gospel was not believed. Thus Paul longed to go even as far as Spain (Rom. 15:24). Paul understood his role in the earth-wide spread of God’s kingdom.

For others of us, we are called to SEND.
Now ‘sending’ is not merely waving goodbye as the goers go, but rather actively and intentionally participating in the kingdom spread through, among other things, PRAYER and financial SUPPORT. Paul boasted of the Corinthians’ financial support of the gospel ministry:

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else” (2 Cor. 9:12-13).

Paul even explicitly says that those who devote their lives to the preaching of the gospel should be supported financially by the church at large (although he himself would often forgo this right):

“Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:13-14).

And not only are the ‘senders’ called to participate in the redemptive spread of the image of God through financial support, they are called also to PRAY for those going out to preach. This is what Paul asked for in the letter to the Ephesians, which was most likely a circular letter sent to several churches:

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should” (Eph. 6:19-20).

Senders should be participating in the earth-wide spread of the gospel by praying for the goers. God has ordained prayer as a means by which goers may be emboldened to preach as they should. Prayerful support is a crucial element by which senders actively participate in God’s kingdom expansion.

So, “who is called to missions?”
Everyone. You included! The primary question that you the Christian should be dealing with is: “How is God calling me to missions?” Is He calling me to ‘go’ or to ‘send?’ The ‘goers’ are not more important to the task than the ‘senders.’ Both are necessary elements for the church to obey God’s kingdom mandate/Great Commission.

To those of you who have sent us here through support and prayer: thank you. I want to encourage you that you are indeed an essential element in the church’s obedience to God’s original command: “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” You have taken up this command of Gen. 1:28, which was reiterated by Jesus in Matt. 28:19-20, and lived out by Paul and the apostolic company as recorded in the pages of the New Testament. It is our prayer that you all will continue to enjoy the privilege of participating in the global expansion of the kingdom of God. There’s no better venture that any of us could invest our lives in!

Kind blessings,
Matt

Final pics

Well, friends and family, our hearts are sad…we’re leaving Japan in a few hours. A friend asked me tonight what I would miss the most, and without hesitation I replied: “the people!” Indeed, so many have made an impact on our hearts that we will not soon forget, and don’t ever want to! The sadness we felt in saying lots of goodbyes this weekend (particularly today) was softened only by the hope that perhaps we’ll get to return next summer and connect again with these new but dear brothers and sisters. In the meantime, they’ll be in our hearts, on our minds, and in our prayers!

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. I might blog more in a separate post, if I have time. We still have to pack!

For now, though, and especially if I don’t have time to blog again while we’re here: please continue to keep us and Japan in your prayers. Thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting us prayerfully and financially in order to make our trip here possible. It has been such a significant experience for us, in a myriad of ways, and the Lord has blessed us more through it than we could have imagined prior to coming here. Thank you for encouraging us while we’ve been here. While we’re happy to have been able to serve in different ways throughout the past month, we really feel that we have been the biggest recipients of this trip: the Lord’s call on our lives here has been confirmed in wonderful ways, and we now have faces to pray for, relationships to stay in touch with, and great motivation to get us through the next four years of school. We’ll need it! And we need you. What a blessing the body of Christ is!

With love,

Caroline

Matt with his persevering Greek students, on the last day of class (Thursday).

Here are a couple more photos that Danielle sent us from our Thursday-night dinner at her (and Mary's) apartment.

Here we are just after playing some really funny games! One involved sticking Post-It notes labeled with the names of different vegetables on each other's foreheads, then asking yes-or-no questions to figure out your own "identity."

Another karaoke snapshot!

We've blogged a lot about how many bikes are here; here is a small glimpse! Matt is unlocking our bikes outside of Apita, the closest supermarket/Starbucks/etc. near our house on Saturday evening.

Guess what is also located inside of Apita? The menu at Japanese McDonalds is remarkably similar, in price and in content, to the menu in one of its American locations. You can get a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke, even Egg McMuffins, hash browns, or a McFlurry...although the "milk tea oreo" McFlurry option does indicate some Japanese influence.

It's a bit dark, but here's where we went for dinner on Saturday: a yakiniku (Korean) place. Thanks for the recommendation, Tim and Becky! We really enjoyed it!

You can't really tell from this photo, but Matt's sitting on a flat silk cushion at a very low table. We've taken off our shoes (see the shoe shelf on the left side of the picture). The interior of this restaurant was quite smoky, due to the fact that you cook your food on individual gas grills in the center of each table.

Here I am attempting to cook our meat (beef) and some vegetables. Shortly after we were seated at this restaurant, Matt and I realized we were in trouble: the Japanese menu we were handed had no pictures whatsoever, so we had no idea what to order! I suggested just pointing to something and waiting to see what we were brought, but Matt wasn't too keen on that idea. When we finally figured out how to ask for an English menu, which we gratefully received, I was soon glad Matt hadn't followed my advice. We could have ended up with intestines, heart, womb, tongue, or other unappetizing cuts of beef and pork. We chose round, though, and some vegetables and miso soup. Yum!

We also ordered some "cold Korean noodles", which were quite delicious, although we weren't entirely sure what we were eating. You can see Matt eating some vegetables out of his miso soup in the background of this picture. To enjoy the broth, you hold the bowl with both hands and sip it...which, interestingly enough, is actually more efficient than using a spoon!

Now for the most recent photos, from church this evening. Matt led worship today (but didn't preach); here's a shot of worship practice taken from upstairs (where the seminary meets) looking down on the sanctuary.

Here I am teaching kids' Sunday School again. I think we're practicing a Bible verse in this picture.

We learned the story of Joseph today (hence the puzzle on the board), focusing on how his life is evidence of God's wisdom in working all things together perfectly to accomplish His purposes.

7 of my 11 students, ages 4-10!

At the end of class each week the children color pictures related to that day's lesson/Bible verse.

I'm helping open some colored pencils for Coco-chan, the little girl in the pink shirt. She surprised me at the beginning of church today with a beautiful "thank you" picture she colored for me--so sweet!

Takumi Watanabe fell sound asleep in Sunday School, so I carried him downstairs at the end of the service. He was worn out--his family had been at church literally all day!

The final song of today's worship service at ANF: "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (one of my favorites!)

Chatting around the snack table after the service

Matt with the Oh's youngest daughter, Elliot (she's named after missionaries Jim & Elisabeth Elliot, who--interesting tidbit for you--graduated from Wheaton College, where we're headed!).

L to R: Jenn (an English teacher and Covenant College grad), me, Nabuyo (who speaks English very well, after going to college in Alabama), and Ai-Chan (a sweet college student).

Danielle is hanging out with the children after the service. Since the latter ends around dinner time, Reiko-san fixes dinner for the children each week. What a great idea! She is an amazing lady.

With another amazing lady: Pearl, Michael's beautiful wife (and mommy of 5!).

Matt with both Michael Ohs!

With Eiji, Reiko, and baby Elijah Watanabe

Eel sushi pictures and more!

This is a happy "our camera is working again--yay!" picture. Matt fixed it the other day. Praise God!

This is from our dinner at Danielle and Mary's apartment on Thursday night. The Japanese girls are college students (English majors), Masae and Haruka. We had so much fun this evening, and Danielle fixed a fabulous Japanese meal for us!

From left to right: Masae, Danielle, Haruka, and Mary

These pictures are from our sushi lunch on Friday with the seminary team. In this picture are Taka (CBS grad and the teacher of the Japanese Greek track), Shohei, Michael, Kent, and his wife Irene. We love them all!

Here's our table, just across from them. We enjoyed lunch with Paul and Danielle.

Now for some of the really funny pictures: Here, Matt and I are preparing (yes, a bit dramatically) to eat pieces of eel sashimi (broiled eel with a sweet "barbecue" sauce over rice). Will we do it? Drumroll, please...

I took the plunge a split second before Matt, and yes, we both ate all of the eel! It had a pleasant, sweet taste, but I wasn't crazy about the texture. (That probably makes it sound really bad, but it's not that weird. It's actually really soft.)

I tried a Japanese dessert called "mochi" (not sure how to spell it) that looks like eyeballs wrapped in leaves! It was tasty, though. I really liked it! For more info on mochi, see the end of my last post.

Last night (Friday) after dinner we joined our friends for an evening of karaoke, which the Japanese are wild about! It was lots of fun, and funny, too, as you might be able to tell. Here Danielle and Mary are singing a dramatic duet of the song "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.

Matt and I sang together, too, to Maroon 5 and Billy Joel songs. So fun!

Here's a view of part of the rest of the room. The big tv screen flashes the lyrics to the song of your choice (English, Japanese, Korean, you name it!), all the while rolling hilarious and often irrelevant background footage.

A couple of Japanese college girls were with us--you might find it odd (as we do) that they are flashing the "peace" sign, but for some reason we can't quite figure out, most Japanese do this in pictures!

This is by far my favorite photo from the evening. Matt is belting the chorus to a "Journey" song that he loves--sing it, Baby!

Missions Reflections Part I – Why Missions?

I (Matt) thought that as our time here comes to a close, I would offer some reflections on missions and the rationale behind it. Perhaps some of you reading this blog may want to ask the question, “Why missions?” Why would someone leave their country, friends, and family, move somewhere far away amidst a people they don’t resemble, with a language they don’t (yet) speak, and minister there? This is a very good question to ask, and the comment that is often added to this question goes something like: “There are plenty of lost people who need the gospel right here in America. Why go so far away when there is need here too?” Have you ever heard this, or perhaps even thought this? I have thought this very thing myself. But then I learned something: the story of the Scriptures.

Since creation, it has been God’s plan that He would rule as King over the entire earth, and hence be worshiped and obeyed over the entire earth. When God created humanity, He made us in His image: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Gen. 1:27). In the ancient world, kings and emperors would place images of themselves throughout their empires to show the extent of their reign—to mark their territory, so to speak. So when God makes humanity in His image, human beings are being depicted as royal representatives (i.e. “and let them rule over the fish…birds…livestock… over all the earth”). We represent God on the earth – a very noble task.

We then read exactly how far God desires His images to spread and show the extent of His reign: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Gen. 1:28). God’s plan for the extent of His reign is no less than the entirety of the earth, therefore He commands humanity to spread and fill the earth and represent Him. This was His plan from the beginning… before the Fall.

In Genesis 3, humanity disobeyed God and fell into sin. This brought a problem: humanity no longer reflected God properly as His image—we now are inclined to disobey Him and follow Satan’s word. We are still created in the image of God, but this image is now marred and scarred, not properly reflecting and not properly representing God’s reign here on earth. But God’s plan never changes – His plan is still to be reflected by His images throughout the entire earth.

In the midst of the cursing that this disobedience brought, God promised to send a Redeemer and bring restoration from this fall into sin (Gen. 3:15). An offspring of the woman would come and crush the head of Satan. The rest of the Old Testament is the history of God’s dealings with Israel, the nation through whom God chose to bring His Redeemer. Israel as a whole was unfaithful to God’s commands, much like Adam and Eve in the Garden. But through Israel, an offspring of the woman, through the line of David, finally came: Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, came and atoned for the sin that was brought by the Fall, bringing salvation and restoration for all who would believe in Him. Thus when we become Christians, the image of God that was marred and scarred because of sin, and thus didn’t reflect God properly, is now healed and restored through the work of Christ, “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). When we are redeemed by Christ, we then begin to rightly reflect God once again. We are still called to “be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” This command has never gone away.

This is the background to Jesus’ Great Commission in Matt. 28:19-20: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Jesus is commanding us to go and spread God’s image by bringing the message of redemption, which restores the marred image. God has always wanted His images to spread and reflect Him and His kingdom throughout the entire earth. The spread of the gospel to all nations is how this task is accomplished now that sin is in the world. By preaching the gospel and extending the church throughout the nations, God’s original plan for creation is accomplished – His image rightly reflects Him everywhere.

So why missions? Because that is the central task of what it means to be a human being – to spread across the earth and obediently reflect God’s kingly reign. Missions is the ‘redemptive spread’ of the image of God throughout all creation. By bringing all nations into faith and obedience, God’s image is restored in that place and He is thus rightly reflected and glorified.

This means that it is not enough to minister the gospel in America (or wherever you are from), though that is surely needed. God did not say, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill America and subdue it.” We should certainly minister in our home land, but to set our sights only on America is not big enough. It does mean that the church needs to strategically look at the entire world, see where God’s kingdom is not recognized (that is, where His images are not rightly reflecting Him), and allocate our resources and go to those places and redemptively spread His image there. And there are places on the earth that are much, much less Christianized than the West, such as the 10/40 window, within which Japan is a part.

What we’ve been up to this week, Part II

Back to my recap of the week…

On Wednesday morning I biked over to ICAN, which stands for the International Christian Academy of Nagoya. It is a school that some of the missionary kids here go to, and I had met some of its teachers at All Nation’s Fellowship. My mom wisely encouraged me to visit this school before we left, and I decided to follow her advice! (Thanks, Mom! You always have great advice for me!)

ICAN was established about 10 years ago by missionaries, primarily for missionary kids. It is an English-speaking Christian school that has grown over the last 10 years to include many Japanese families (in fact, MK’s are in the minority at ICAN now, as are Christian families!). What a cool ministry! The man who gave me a tour of the facilities, Mike, shared a couple of stories of how Japanese parents had come to know Christ through the school over the years.

Land is hard to come by here, and as a result ICAN has four different campuses, for kindergarten through 8th grade. They plan to begin adding a high school within the next couple of years, growing one grade level per year. When I inquired about class size, I discovered that it ranges from about 4 to 20! It’s definitely a small school. They offer a traditional range of subjects: Literature, Math, Science, Social Studies, etc.–even Art and some musical opportunities. Students take field trips, too, just like in the U.S.–in fact, the school was empty when I visited due to a field trip!

One of the two ICAN campuses that I saw has a nice library filled with English children’s books, most of which are imported from the States. Sports such as soccer, baseball/softball, basketball, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, and Japanese martial arts are available outside in the community for children to participate in, but are apparently very expensive. ICAN’s teachers get paid a small salary, but many raise additional support in order to serve. Some serve for just a year or a summer; others have been there several years. The age/experience range is large: from teachers with 40 years of experience to those fresh out of college! Most are on the younger side, and most (though not all) come from the States.

As I toured ICAN and asked many questions, I did so with a new perspective: not looking for a job, but thinking long-term of our future children’s schooling needs, should we move to Nagoya. I am grateful that this community exists, and Michael and Pearl (who have two children there and have been very pleased with the school so far) told me yesterday that it is healthy for children to have this experience as opposed to being forced into Japanese school. Homeschooling, of course, is a possibility, but isn’t for everyone. Neither homeschooling nor Christian schools are recognized by the Japanese government as legitimate educational options in terms of college prep, so students who pursue this type of education (MK’s among them) are essentially forced to go to the States for college.

I learned much more about ICAN than I have time to write about now, but if you’re curious about something I neglected to mention, feel free to comment on this post and share your questions with me!

On Wednesday afternoon I headed over to the seminary, where I met Matt and Paul (our friend and one of Matt’s Greek students) for lunch. We enjoyed some delicious ramen and Korean food that Paul’s friend had given him–yum! Then we headed out in the heat (yes, on our bikes!) for a 10-minute ride to visit a shrine.

This was a new kind of shrine to us: it was essentially an entire mountain that was literally covered with idols and “worship spots” with altars of sorts (some with candles on them) for people to come to. Stone statues of many different gods, all different shapes and sizes (the small ones had bibs on them–not sure why) dotted the slopes. It was eerie. We actually wouldn’t have had a clue what this mountain contained, were it not for Paul’s guidance. As we approached the spot on our bikes, it looked like a beautiful hill covered thickly with trees, with steep stone steps barely visible beside a couple of simple cloth banners bearing Japanese characters. Once we began to ascend the steps, which were steep and quite numerous, we had to climb for a few minutes before we started to see the stone idols. We were literally in the middle of the woods, in what would be a beautiful area–right in the middle, ironically, of the beauty of God’s creation (I had just taught the children in Sunday School last week the biblical truth that all creation declares God’s glory)–were it not for the numerous monuments to false gods it contained.

It is really a bit difficult to describe this experience in words; pictures might help in the future, and I did take many, with a disposable camera. Paul took one of Matt and I in front of a large statue of Buddha, and it was a weird experience–we weren’t sure whether to smile in the picture or not, as weeping would probably have been a more appropriate response! Far from being happy tourists on a sight-seeing trip, we were Christians undergoing an ever-increasing conviction to pray for this land, to come here and participate, however God enables us, in the supremely important task of declaring His glory to the Japanese people and praying against the Satanic stronghold here.

When we finally reached the summit of the mountain, we walked with Paul to the fenced-off edge (from which we had a beautiful view of the city stretching below us and mountains off in the distance), then gathered in the shade for a time of prayer. Please continue to join our hearts in praying for this nation! On the surface it looks almost perfect in some ways, but Japan is a country deeply embedded with spiritual darkness…much like the mountain we were on, in fact (Paul commented on this).

After our time visiting this shrine, Matt and I cooled off in Starbucks for a few hours, where I enjoyed the chance to immerse myself in a C.S. Lewis book and Matt worked on his final Greek II lecture, which he gave on Thursday. Afterwards we made a brief stop at home, then headed off on the subway with Paul to visit a famous Nagoya chain of restaurants called “Yamachan.” Guess what they’re famous for? Chicken wings! Now I am not a fan of buffalo wings. I’ve frankly never understood the appeal of bright orange, greasy, messy, pieces of chicken with barely any meat on them. But these wings were AWESOME. They weren’t messy, and were well-seasoned with lots of pepper and maybe some soy sauce(?)–SO good. We had a great dinner chatting with Paul, and besides trying the wings we also enjoyed some yakisoba (fried noodles, a common Japanese dish) and another Nagoya specialty whose name escapes me. It was basically a fried pork cutlet with a thick red miso sauce on it. Miso is a paste made from soybeans, and it come in several colors, but people who live in Nagoya are known for preferring red. Anyway, it was good! But our food sampling was only beginning…

After returning to our part of town on the subway, we headed to Apita, a large department store of sorts where I normally do my grocery shopping. I had told Paul that I was feeling brave and wanted to try some takoyaki (little fried balls with octopus tentacle in the middle). And I did! I’ll have to post a picture as soon as he sends it to me. I must say that it tasted okay, perhaps even good, were it not for the thought of what I was eating. I had two. Matt decided to pass on the opportunity to try some himself. I was trying to talk him into it (while feeling tentative myself–I think I was just looking for some moral support!) until Paul described the texture of the octopus as “gummy.” That was a sufficient deterrent for Matt.

After I had sampled the takoyaki Paul introduced us to a DELICIOUS Japanese dessert: giant cream puffs! There is a chain here, which actually now has some stores in the U.S. (mostly Hawaii, NY, and California, I think), called–no joke–”Beard Papa.” And they make fabulous cream puffs. Mmmmm! I never would have guessed. This was my first exciting Japanese dessert experience. Matt and I had a disappointing visit to “Mister Donut” a couple of weeks ago, and though I tried some good mango pudding at the beginning of our visit (mostly to get the taste of fish out of my mouth after dinner), the other desserts I’d tried here had been less sweet than I am used to and not super appealing. I have a huge sweet tooth, so I was hoping to find something (for better or worse) that I really enjoyed, and indeed I did!

On to Thursday…Matt taught his final Greek class (his students are taking their exams today), and I spent the morning taking care of some things at home. Among my tasks: withdraw 50,000 yen (about $500) from the ATM at a nearby post office, and bake a chocolate cake to take to the Oh’s as a surprise lunch treat. The latter turned out to be more complicated than you might imagine, as I discovered that I had used up all of the powdered sugar in Tuesday’s cake! I searched unsuccessfully for powdered sugar in the supermarket, which was very frustrating because I know you can buy it here, I just couldn’t identify it because I can’t even begin to read Japanese! I finally settled on granulated sugar, which gave a surprising crunch to the chocolate frosting, but didn’t detract from the taste.

Michael drove Matt and I to his house for lunch with Pearl and the girls (baby Michael took a long nap during our visit!). We had so much fun with them! They have a beautiful house, which they own (a huge blessing), about a 20-minute drive from the seminary. It is located in a suburb with a good deal of beautiful farmland–orchards, rice fields, etc. We talked with them about life here, the logistics of moving overseas, buying furniture, etc. (not as hard as I had imagined, especially since Costco and IKEA now have stores in Japan!), and we had lots of fun playing with the girls. We were all laughing so hard! As we were talking to Michael and Pearl, a couple of the girls would carry in a tray of plastic teacups and pretend food, which Matt and I would pretend to eat, much to their delight. Their favorite was when Matt “ate” a plastic carrot–they roared with laughter! Oh, they are so adorable. Pearl is certainly a busy momma at home, with five little ones age 8 and under, but they are so precious.

You’d think our day couldn’t get much better, but the afternoon and evening were also wonderful! We enjoyed a long conversation with Michael at Starbucks, then made a brief stop at home before leaving for dinner at Danielle and Mary’s apartment, which is about 8-10 minutes away from our house. Danielle had cooked some delicious Japanese food, and we shared it with two Japanese college girls (Haruka and Masae), both of whom have spent years studying English. Although one of them was shy, they both were able to understand and articulate the language well (certainly much better than my Japanese abilities!), and we had a most enjoyable evening with them. At the table we learned some interesting details about Japanese New Year’s celebrations, and we had fun after dinner playing some hilarious games.

Today, of course, is Friday, and so far we’ve enjoyed a sushi lunch with a bunch of seminary folks*, had an ANF prayer meeting, and worship team practice (led by Matt this week) is going on as I speak. They’re singing familiar songs…”Your Grace is Enough”, a Chris Tomlin song, at the moment. Tonight we’re looking forward to having dinner at the Bakelaars, where we will enjoy Evan’s cooking. Tomorrow we were originally planning on taking a day trip to visit the old, very traditional Japanese capital of Kyoto, but it is the equivalent of 97 degrees outside today, and it feels like 108 degrees (no, I’m not kidding–wish I was!), so I think we’ll save the trip to Kyoto for a future springtime or autumn visit, when the weather is more pleasant and we have more time to plan our travels. We may get to visit a karaoke place tomorrow instead, which would be fun.

Much love to you all and thank you for reading!

Caroline

*At this sushi lunch, Matt and I both ate a couple of pieces of eel sashimi–great flavor, not crazy about the texture–but we were proud of ourselves for trying it! I also tried a Japanese dessert that looks like eyeballs wrapped in leaves (I’ll share a picture with you later). The “eyeballs”, though, were a clear, chewy/soft sweet rice dough filled with red bean paste. Sounds weird, I know, but I enjoyed it!

What we’ve been up to this week, Part I

Thank you all again for your prayers and encouragement. Our time here is wrapping up in wonderful ways. We’ve had a great week so far! Here’s a recap for you, which I will have to finish tomorrow since it’s getting late here (almost midnight on Thursday!)…

On Sunday, we spent the morning preparing for church and the seminary potluck afterwards (at the house we’re living in). Everything went splendidly! Church was encouraging. I enjoyed teaching children’s Sunday School again, and Matt’s sermon went well. He got some great questions in a Q&A session afterwards…tough ones, like “Why did God create the serpent?” (He was preaching out of Genesis 3.)

The highlight of our day, though, was probably the potluck fellowship after the service. We ate dinner with a group of seminary students, families, and staff, with several Japanese children running around the house as we chatted with the adults. It was a fun, “family” atmosphere. By “family” I mean to indicate that we really feel a bond with these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. They have warmly welcomed us here, and have certainly found a special place in our hearts! The sweetest time of the evening was when we had a “hymn sing”, which is just what it sounds like: a time for singing hymns together! Danielle had compiled some great Japanese songbooks, and most of the songs were ones we knew in English…only we sang them in Japanese! She had kindly written out the Japanese words phonetically for us, and it was pretty easy to follow along. Matt played guitar, Danielle played piano, and in this country of thousands of false gods the one true God was again worshiped joyfully that evening. Praise Him!

After most of our guests had left, Matt and I spent probably two hours or so in great biblical conversation with a delightful MK (missionary kid) here named Evan. We loved talking to him! He apparently enjoyed it, too, because he and his family (they work on the church-planting side of the MTW team here) invited us over for dinner this Friday night–and Evan’s cooking! I should add that he is only 14. Impressive!

After such a busy day Sunday, Monday was mostly spent resting, reading, and teaching/preparing for Greek (that would be Matt, not me, in case you were wondering!). The highlight of Tuesday (after a Skype videochat with my family, in which Pebbles, my favorite beagle dog, made an appearance) was our third and final big seminary lunch. I fixed shrimp scampi, salad, bread, and chocolate cake, and we had another great time of fellowship with the students, families, and staff. Michael’s wife Pearl, and their five precious children (ages 0-8), were even able to join us, which was fun!

Actually, I may have spoken too soon when I mentioned that our lunchtime fellowship was Tuesday’s highlight. As wonderful as it was, I think what followed was even better. We had a regular afternoon prayer meeting for the seminary–just the team members (some of whom happen to be students). Michael led us in a great devotion about humility, and then we spent a good deal of time praying, in different ways, for each other and for the needs of the seminary. It was particularly refreshing, because we prayed in several different ways. For instance, one way that we sometimes pray here is dubbed “Korean style” by our friends and is a “one voice prayer.” Prayer requests are shared, and then we all bow our heads and pray aloud, everyone simultaneously, for them. It probably sounds weird, and it definitely takes some getting used to, but there is something beautiful and encouraging about participating in, and hearing, many prayers rising to God’s throne in unity of heart and spirit. We prayed this way at the beginning of our meeting on Tuesday. After this “one voice” prayer, we broke up into groups of three and spent some time sharing two areas in which we feel God is calling us to grow spiritually (for instance, pride, patience, fear, etc.). We then prayed for each other (one at a time) in our “heart” languages–which meant that the girl who prayed for me (Ya-chan) did so in Japanese! After this time, we closed our meeting with a final round of group prayer led by Michael. This, too, was so refreshing. We went around the table four times, him beginning each “round” with a sentence-or-two prayer either praising, confessing, thanking, or asking God for something. Each person prayed what was on his or her heart, and the content ranged from very specific, personal or seminary needs, to praising God for his grace to us in saving us and thanking Him for the beauty of His global church.

Tuesday wrapped up with Matt and I braving our neighborhood conveyor-belt sushi place on our own–a feat which will only sound impressive, I’m afraid, if I tell you that EVERYTHING is in Japanese. When you arrive, you have to use a touch-screen computer to enter your information and get in line for a table, and we were able to do this only with a screen “map” from Danielle! We enjoyed our dinner very much. In case you’re wondering, I ate salmon sushi (still my favorite–sorry to disappoint you adventurous types!), a couple of types of tuna sushi, some shrimp/avocado/onion/mayo sushi (I did away with most of the mayo!), and a kind of sweet egg sushi…kind of hard to describe, but very good! The price of sushi here is unbelievably cheap compared to the States. At this place, which is on the cheaper end of restaurants of its genre, a plate of two pieces of sashimi (fish or other protein laid over rice) costs just 100 yen, or just under $1! It is fun to eat there, too, because you pull off whichever plates look appealing (and not all of them do!) from the conveyor belt, stacking them up as you clean them. When you’re through, you slide the empty plates into a downward slot at the edge of the table (through which they mysteriously disappear, to the kitchen I presume). There is a computer of sorts attached to this slot that registers how many plates you ate, and with every five plates that go in an electronic game is played on the computer screen. We’ve never won, but you get some sort of tangible prize when you do. Fun!

I have to add that I was extremely impressed with Matt’s Japanese skills at the sushi restaurant. The waiter came to give us our bill, and he rattled off some Japanese sentences to Matt, then paused, at which point Matt responded “hi” (“yes”). The man nodded, having obviously received the answer he was looking for, and proceeded to finish talking to Matt about the bill. With my mouth open, I followed Matt to the front of the restaurant to pay for our bill, only to have a similar experience. After we had paid, I finally asked Matt in shock, “How’d you know what they were saying? You obviously gave them the right answer.” “I didn’t have a clue what they were saying” he confessed, “except I heard something that sounded kind of like ‘receipt’, and I figured we wanted a receipt, so I said ‘yes.’” Brilliant!

With that funny story I’m going to leave you in an effort to catch some zzz’s. But don’t worry: I’ll catch you up on the rest of our week in a few hours!

Love you all!

-Caroline