This is a shot of Oda Sensei interpreting for me during my recent ministry visit to Gifu.
Scroll down for to read my latest prayer letter, if you haven’t already, or to listen to the latest podcast.
And in other news, as mentioned in the podcast, I recently did a guest post at Worship and the Arts. It’s part of their “Spiritual Bridges in Anime” series. Check it out.
Hi everyone,
I know it’s not July yet, but it’s Sunday night and I thought I’d get the prayer letter sent out before another busy week begins. So here it is…
First of all, a big thank you to all of you who prayed for my ministry in Gifu last weekend! Several people emailed before I left to let me know they were praying, which was really encouraging, so thanks for that as well.
I had a great time in Gifu, where I participated in an outreach service through music and testimony. I had a great time, and was really made to feel welcome too. There were 27 people in attendance, 10 of whom were visitors, and 6-8 of whom were non-Believers! Meanwhile, back here in Nagoya, my own church was having an outreach of their own, and reported 83 in attendance, of which 16 were seekers and 5 were first-time visitors! Praise God for newcomers and for the opportunity they had to hear the Gospel!
Here are some things you can be praying for in the coming weeks…
1. Pray that God will continue to work in the hearts of those who came to both outreach services.
2. Pray for my English/Bible student, with whom I’m still meeting semi-regularly.
3. I’m planning to travel to Tokyo in a couple of weeks for a planning meeting for this summer’s national youth camp. Please pray for safe travel, as well as that I would learn something from the experience, and be able to contribute.
4. And, as always, I’d appreciate your prayers for my language studies. I have to confess that lately I’ve really been struggling to stay on top of things. PLEASE pray that God will help me to understand, to stay focused and disciplined, and to succeed!
I’m beginning to understand the wisdom in taking a whole 2-year missionary term to focus on language studies. And I’m learning to see language school as my “full-time job”. Any ministry opportunities I have on top of that are just icing on the cake — but not my main focus right now. It’s all about a long-term investment that will pay off in the years to come.
As always, your prayers and thoughts are much appreciated! THANK YOU! Hope you all have a happy Canada Day and/or Independence Day this week!
Blessings,
– robin
I didn’t begin pursuing a life of ministry in Japan because I thought I would fit in here. I fell in love with Japan because of having lived here. I also didn’t have a great sense that my personality or talents would lend themselves to ministry in Japan specifically. But, having already decided to follow God’s leading back to Japan, I had a lot of time to think about the future and where I might fit. And though I’m still figuring out the specifics, there are some things I’ve realized about myself that lend themselves to ministry in Japan.
In some ways, my personality lends itself to acculturation in Japan: I think I’m pretty flexible and willing to change, as would be needed if I moved to any foreign culture. But I also share some personality traits with what’s considered the “norm” here in Japan, such as my dislike of confrontation, or my friendly but generally-quiet and not-pushy personality.
I also have a desire to focus my ministry on youth and young adults — which, as it turns out, is a particular area of need in Japan. My talents and interests in comics are an asset, too — or could be in the future — because comics (manga) are such a big part of pop culture here (where the highest selling comic sells as many copies in a week as the highest-selling US comic does in a year). I also think the Japanese church is in need of some new ideas, and being a creative person in general could be useful.
On the other hand, there are sides of my personality that could be a problem (for me or others) sometimes. I’m a non-traditional, non-conformist person in a 4,000-year old, highly-conformist culture. I’m also working with a very traditional, conservative national church here in Japan. Will my new ideas be heard? Will I be able to use my talents and gifts to their fullest potential? Will I rub people the wrong way if I’m unwilling — or unable, or unsure of how to — adapt?
The potential is definitely there for me to feel squeezed into a mold that doesn’t fit me. The potential’s also there for me to offend or damage relationships if I don’t handle differences appropriately or adapt where I should.
But there is also a lot of positive potential if I’m willing to learn and adapt in the ways that I need to.
It’s Saturday morning, and I’m taking it slow and easy. It’s been a full week, and it seems I’ve not spent a lot of time at home. Or when I was home I was studying. So today I’m staying in. All day. It’ll be nice to relax, but I’ve also got housecleaning and blogging to do. So here’s the blogging — a look back at some of what kept me so busy this week:
1. School — We’re getting into the stuff I’m not as familiar with. I also have some catching up to do on my vocabulary. You can say a lot with just basic grammar, but you need the vocabulary to plug into it.
2. English Bible study — Monday I met with my student this week for the first time in a while. We’ll be making some minor changes to the structure of our lessons to help him get more out of it. And to help me get more out of it, too, as he’s paying me by helping me with my Japanese. We’re planning to each do some writing (journaling) in the target language and then go over it when we get together. We’ll still be working our way through the book of Mark, too.
3. Tuesday the Watoto Children’s Choir was in town. Wow.
4. Wednesday I finally met my “boss” — GP Asia area director Romy Caringal. I took the day off of school to host him, show him around, introduce him to people, and get him to the airport on time. It was a good but busy day.
5. Thursday I had to stay late after class to take the test I’d missed on Wednesday. I think I did okay. I also had extra homework, of course.
6. Yesterday afternoon I met up with a friend to go see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, Prince Caspian. I thought it was pretty good, and overall a good adaptation of the book. I didn’t think it was as good as the first movie, though, and it felt like they changed more from the book while at the same time not explaining a few things as well.
7. After the movie my friend and I went to the home of a family from our church, where several of us gathered for a dinner party. It was a good time, but with so much Japanese it was tiring too, and of course I missed a lot of the conversation. Still, it’s good to be building relationships here and being made to feel a part of things.
And that’s a wrap for another week. Happy weekend, wherever you are.
This past weekend, as I mentioned before, Zach came to Nagoya. I had the task of being his tour guide, which was kind of nice, because it gave me someone to do some site-seeing with (the locals, just like back home, take local landmarks for granted).
We met up Saturday morning around 10 at Nagoya Station. After a brief discussion we decided on three things to do: visit Midland Square (tallest building in Nagoya) and check out the view of the city; go to Nagoya Castle, where they were having a samurai parade and battle re-enactment (which was not nearly as cool as it sounds); and travel to Gifu (the neighboring prefecture) for the Fire Festival, which just happened to be going on Saturday night.
The Fire Festival was just as crazy as the name implies. Basically, a bunch of “bare-chested, sake-fueled men” (as the article read) carried around portable shrine things making lots of noise — typical Japanese festival stuff, but with the addition of fireworks being shot into the air, lighting up lanterns and sending ashes and sparks down on the aforementioned bare-chested men. There were also lots of booths set up selling various food and souvenir items. Zach got a bbq squid on a stick and I bought a huge bbq sausage on a stick; there were lots of things on sticks, now that I think of it. There were also lots of people.
Anyway, here are some photos and videos from Midland Square, Nagoya Castle and even Gifu (where it was too dark and far from the action to get good video on a cell phone but if you look carefully you may see some of those bare-chested men dancing beneath the flames).
Nagoya Castle and the surrounding cityscape,
as seen from Midland Square:
Fierce-looking samurai warriors:
Me! At the Castle:
Me again! On top of a replica of one of the
“Golden Dolphins” that adorn the top of the outside of the Castle:
More fierce samurai. Myself included:
Zach and his squid-stick:
The craziness just getting started in Gifu:
Lanterns on FIRE!
Going up the elevator at Midland Squre:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6KBFsyCbJU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
Taiko drummers at the Castle:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBBKP0TzGTg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
Craziness at the Fire Festival:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=958unGkOeFs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]