Japan Journal Entry #2

Friday August 12^th 2010

This morning was kicked off with a powerful worship session. Sarah, Christie, and a girl named Leah joined our group and blessed us with their beautiful voices. John seemed to be the highlight of the intercession, and it was so precious to see God speaking to him, encouraging him, bringing him to tears. He is such a treasure. Inside and out.

I enjoyed a long bike ride to a picnic, shortly after lunch. I was so blessed to spend the entire hour and a half talking to John and Jean about their vision, their children, their lives. Both of them, but especially Jean, poured out so much of her heart to me. Listening quietly, I was able to see into the difficulties she’s experienced here. Difficulties that have been many, and so painful...I felt that somehow God was using me by simply listening.

I think we are fulfilling our calling here…I can see already that we have been an encouragement and blessing to John and Jean. Their eyes are more peaceful, less troubled. And John has been laughing more than I ever saw him laugh last year!

It was lovely to see Hiro and Miumi again! (They are a couple in ministry here, both Japanese. They own a cafe were they do outreaches, including church services, Bible studies, concerts, etc.) There was a group of about fifteen of us down by the ‘beach’, which is really made up of boulders and logs. Yiko, a new friend, showed me the different ‘states’ of Tokyo. From what I could understand, all of Japan is made up of these tiny states. Funny enough to an American—you can see several states at a time.

As we were walking back, John and I were strolling together and he made a comment… "This is it, man. Hanging out, having fun. Yes, drinking beer, dear…this is the gospel to me. This is how you have to do it in Japan. Sharing life with each other.”

Quote of the Day:

“It was a joke. That was why it was funny.” ~Manuel, after a particularly ridiculous comment.

Saturday, August 14^th 2010

This day has been nothing but rushing! We breakfasted and scooted out the door around ten, and haven’t stopped until now. Now it eleven o'clock.

Now, something about Japan must be understood. There are innumerable trains to catch. This is good. However, there is also almost unending walking. (Which is also good, because otherwise I would get no exercise at all.) Walking, standing, walking, standing, walking, and standing, and popping in and out of AC all the while. This makes for long days, no matter how interesting the sights are.

We began with a trip to the government district, and straight to the government building. Straight meaning lots of pauses and bathroom breaks and distractions. It was strange to be back in a building I never thought I’d enter again.

The building itself it sixty some floors high. On the forty fifth floor they have built all open windows, with shops for the tourists to buy their souvenirs. You have a magnificent view of the city, and on the most clear days, you can even see Mt. Fuji in the background. It's a perfect place to pray for Tokyo.

I had two interesting things happen there. One was seeing an Indian/Middle Eastern man with a severe limp. I felt so strongly to pray for him, that my heart was actually wrung with the intense desire to see him healed. I prayed for him for quite some time, and though I asked, I never felt to go speak to him, but to look at him and not look away, and pray fervently.

My second instance was meeting a young Korean man named Micky. He is an ex-Catholic, no longer interested in religion. He and I talked for a very long time. He felt the need to show Manuel and I all of his photo’s on his camera--all three hundred and some. But I felt that our interaction was precious, somehow, and that God had something to teach me, and something to touch him.

We continued on our way, winding through the underground malls and restaurants, sometimes bursting up into the air, and descending again below ground. I lost track of where I was a dozen times, and when we finally settled into a tempura restaurant, I couldn’t guess whether I was several stories up, or several stories down. (The tempura, by the way, was fantastic. My favorite Japanese food.)

Our next stop for our prayer walk was Tokyo ‘Times Square’. Everything is garishly decorated. Everything begs your attention. And so many faces look so empty. It's a circus, a maze of brilliant lights, thousands of faces that flash by you, a web of noise and traffic that is best observed from the center of it all. But the center of traffic isn’t a place where you can have a worship session. Which was the point of our being there.

So, God found a different place for us—a side street narrow and lined with trees and foliage. It looked like a trail through the forest, except for the skyscrapers towering over the trees. There Manuel played guitar and we sang worship songs. I got Exekiel 33 as a passage to read over Japan.

It was a great time. Sometimes in outreaches like this it is so hard to relay to others what exactly you did on outreach. Sang, worshipped, read Scripture over the country, prayed….but the reality is, those things are tangible here. What sounds so simple is often SO difficult to force yourself to do, like wading through molasses…but when you push through and truly worship and pray, in just the same way, you can feel spiritual matters shifting, changing, growing. But how do you explain such things to everyone at home?

Such a long day. We are all going to a well deserved sleep. Tomorrow is even longer, so I hope we all sleep well.

Sunday August 15^th 2010

I slept late today. As did we all. We needed it.

We attended church where our team did last year! It was good to be back with that sweet congregation. There are probably twenty in all, and only ten today because it’s family holiday. The church is very traditional in the style of the service. I had tremendous fun singing in Japanese, for they were all songs that I knew, yet instead of English lyrics, it was phonetic Japanese.

After the service, during which we were all graciously introduced and greeted, we ate lunch with them. It might very well have been one of the best meals we've had here. The congregation was so encouraged by our presence and so happy to sit and converse.

That evening we were able to participate in evangelism with the congregation from the morning service. The streets of Akahabara are a mass of teenagers and young adults. Many are dressed as Anime characters. Hiro has told us stories of these people, who live their entire lives reading, watching, making, Anime to the point that they live in an Anime world. Some emerge only to buy food, and disappear again into their dream state. Anime porn is prevalent. You may even go to applications where you have an Anime boyfriend or girlfriend. This is as much of relationship that some people ever have. It truly is a bondage.

For half an hour or so we played worship music, sang, and passed out Bible tracts. As I stood near Alice, who was playing the guitar, I was able to watch the passerby. I noted that many looked angered, sullen, or in a strange dreamlike state.

“Zombies.” Brandy said flatly. “This place sucks the life right out of you. Their faces are empty.”

Interesting Fact: In Japan there is a phrase—disturbing the waa. It means that you disturb the atmosphere of quiet and respectfulness. Like walking into an office where everyone is working and popping a plastic bag.

As foreigners disturb the waa by raising our voices above a quiet murmur, by talking on a train, by Harpers screaming.

......... As a matter of fact, our mere presence as foreigners disturbs the waa.