Okaasan Update

I just wanted to throw up a blog update about Okaasan and the Abe family.

I have been in contact with Wayne, our team leader, and getting updates on how everything was going. The Abe house was finished about a week and a half ago, and they had the house dedication ceremony last Friday. During the house dedication, a local pastor comes and there is a time of worship, prayer over the house and family, and then the message. During this message Pastor Suzuki explains John 3:16 and explains who Jesus is and what we believe. He then asks the family if they would like to give their life to Jesus. Even if the family does not make that decision, they are presented with a Bible. This Bible has been personalized by the members that have worked on the house, and they write little messages and stuff inside the cover. In addition, an easy to understand book on Christianity is give to them as well. 

So at the Abe-san ceremony they chose not to make a commitment. I have no facts to back this up, but I have a feeling that even if Okaasan would have wanted to, she would not have spoke up. The reason I say that is because in Japan the focus is on the family name, and the man is the head of the family. A woman going a different route than the family is not common and would probably raise some eyebrows. Japanese culture is all about not making waves; there is a Japanese proverb, " 出る杭は打たれる。" ....."The stake that sticks up gets hammered down."

A main problem in Japan when it comes to sharing the Gospel is that Christianity is seen as "foreign" and not Japanese. The view is that Buddhism and Shintoism is Japanese, Christianity is European/American. Therefore, the thinking is if you are a Christian, you're getting away from your Japanese roots and away from your family tradition. That view of Christianity being European/American has started to fade with the younger generation, but their parents are typically not in agreement.

Despite this, there is a way that can get past the stereotype: Japanese Christians building relationships with them. Now, I'm not saying that other Christians can't be effective, because that is not true. However, a fellow Japanese citizen talking to them makes them see that Christianity isn't just for Americans. The second half of what I said was much more important: building relationships. This is the case in all cultures, but especially in Japan. It is all about the relationship!! Without building a relationship, a Japanese person will politely listen and nod their head, but will not do much more than that. Once a relationship is formed, though, doors will open up.

So back to Okaasan and the team. I am so proud of Wayne and am so honored to have been on his team. Wayne has been intentional about forming a relationship with the family, especially Okaasan. As I said, they finished the house 1.5-2 weeks ago, yet Wayne and the team continue to stop by their house for tea time. Now, there is not much time in the day for them to do this; the carpenters have busy schedules. So I was so happy when he told me that they make time to stop by and have tea with them. 

So with this blog, I just wanted to shine some light on the challenge of sharing the Gospel in Japan and also talk about how honored and proud I am that I was able to be on Wayne's team.

Please pray for the Abe family and the continual relationship building that Wayne and the team is doing. They are only there until the end of April, and then the base is getting taken down and they are going home. Pray that God will do unexplainable things in the next couple weeks and that after Samaritan's Purse leaves, that the Japanese churches would be blessed and effective in maintaining relationships and sharing the Gospel.

Day ju: Tokyo with Takuya and Sae

Sorry this blog is late..I got home from my day with Takuya and Sae and was so tired I fell asleep right away.

The day started out with church at Kiyose Evangelical Free. It is a beautiful church and I enjoyed the service even though it was in Japanese. After the service the church had lunch. It was the same type of soup I had at Shiogama Bible last Sunday, and it is one of my favorite Japanese meals. Everyone there wanted to know more about me, and they were really fascinated at how much I weigh and that I am an average height in America (about 6'1").

After lunch I got on a train and went to Ueno to meet Takuya and Sae. This was our "home base" last year, and I arrived 30 minutes early so I walked around for a while and saw some of the stores we went to last time. Anyway, I met those two and we headed to a place that used to be famous for their electronics. We enjoyed walking around and looking through the stores. After that we went to a shrine and then to the Tokyo Tower on the south side of Tokyo. Every place we went yesterday was a first time for Takuya and Sae as well, so we had fun just exploring. We got to Tokyo Tower, purchased our tickets, and went up. There was a great view of Tokyo, and once the sun set it was even better. Right when we were about to leave a little boy next to me yelled "Hanabi!!" Hanabi are fireworks, and we watched the fireworks show that occurred right over the Rainbow Bridge..it was great!

After that we traveled back to Ueno for supper. I told them to choose the restaurant and they chose a place that I don't remember the name of...more or less it was an egg, flour, and then a variety of choices such as pork, chicken, squid, corn, shrimp, cheese, etc. Each table had a grittle and you cooked the mix they gave you just like you would a pancake. It was very good, even the squid one! After supper I said goodbye to Sae and then boarded my train for Higashi-Tokorozawa. Takuya was nice enough to go with me to make sure I made it on the right train connection before saying goodbye and going back to his house.

I really enjoyed seeing them again, and we had a lot of fun. Takuya is moving to the U.S. soon to go to the University of Michigan for his doctorate, so I can't wait to take him around Minneapolis when he visits!

That was my day in a nutshell. I leave for Narita airport in about 30 minutes and will arrive in Minneapolis Monday night.

I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting me in every way this trip. It has been an amazing time, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I will blog a couple of times yet when I get back to the states about the deeper spiritual issues in Japan and why only about 1% of the population is Christian. I learned a lot about that on this trip, and I want to share that with you as soon as I get back to my laptop.

Anyway, specific prayer requests:
-safe trip back
-the missionaries, and perhaps more importantly the Japanese Christians...that they would be empowered to use the relationships they have built to do great things for the kingdom.


Thanks again, and see you back in the states!

Day 9...goodbye Tome, hello Tokyo

Today was more bittersweetness as I had to say goodbye to all the amazing people I met at the Tome base. This blog is mostly going to be a tribute to them, and then I will finish up with the little bit about my trip to Tokyo.

Wayne: this was the 2nd person I met, and right away I felt relaxed and comfortable around him. As I worked with him, talked with him, and worshipped with him, I came to know and love him as an amazing spiritual father figure. This man loves the tar out of you and cares about your spiritual growth immensely. I hope to meet him again sometime, and I can't wait to worship our Lord together in Heaven someday.

Mike: soft spoken man who is one of the most loving and caring men I have ever met. I learned so much from Mike about being a servant for the Kingdom. We had lots of good talks at the table, and I really enjoyed hearing about how God has worked and is working in his life. Just like Wayne, I can't wait to give Mike a giant hug in Heaven and worship the King together.

Chloe: she was the first person I met, and honestly was the answer to a prayer I had prayed that day about helping me to settle in and be comfortable. She took the time to show me around and get me settled in to an unfamiliar place. We had a lot of fun working together and joking around. I will miss Mike and Wayne picking on her and will have to try to fill their shoes when she gets back to Bethel!

Nate (from mn): great guy that was kind enough to give me one of his blankets so that I didn't freeze at night. Always friendly and willing to talk.

Nate (from nm): super funny guy who always brightened my day up, even though I don't think he realized it.

Julian: love talking to this guy. Genuine and has a great heart for the Lord. Appreciate the conversations we had, even though we didn't get to work together much.

David: this man has an amazing testimony that I will outline in a later blog. David has one of the softest hearts and always asks how I'm doing and how my day went. Some guys just have that calming demeanor about them, and David is one of them. Can't wait to see him again in Heaven!

Daike and Daniel: these two translated for us. They have a genuine passion for the Japanese people to come to know the Lord. I am so thankful for their help and helping me communicate with Okaasan.

Last but not least,
Steven (Stephen?): this man stuffed old drywall into trash bags ALL day for about 2 days...an did so with a smile in his face. I have so much respect and gratitude for his servant heart. I loved talking with him at the base and laughing with him all the time. Great man of God.

I met more people than this, and they all played a role in making my time in Tome one Of the best experiences of my life. I will thank them when we are all walking the streets of gold.

So now, on to my day. After I said my goodbyes I for a ride to the train station, which was 40 minutes away. I then bought my ticket and went to the platform. The Shinkansen is well known as the bullet train, and regularly reaches upwards of 186mph. Despite the high speed, there has never been an accident involving Shinkansen. I got off a Omiya station and remembered how hectic Tokyo train stations can get. My connecting train was hard to find because I was a special train that was borrowing another line's track for their one run per day. Luckily, the train station officers are ok with English and I pointed to the name of the station I needed to go to and they directed me to the correct train. I got in the train and it was only 3 stops until I was at the station I needed to be at (thankfully, the train maps are also in English on Tokyo trains, so I could read the map).

I got picked up at the station by Charles, a missionary with SEND, and he took me to the SEND center. It is a VERY nice place, and I have an entire studio apartment to myself...little different than the shared living space and cots I was getting used to at Tome :) I ate supper with Charles and talked a lot with him. He is a sports ministry missionary here, so we talked a lot about sports and how that opens a lot of doors to share the Gospel. He is a super friendly guy, and I will spen more time with him on Monday morning before I go to the airport.

That was my day in a nutshell. Tomorrow I have church and then get to spend the day with Takuya and Sae!!

Specific prayer requests:
-thanks for getting me here safely
-all my "family" in Tome, that God would continue to do great things through them.

Day 8...my last day at the Abe house :(

Today was a very bittersweet day. It was my last day of work since I am going back to Tokyo tomorrow. We went to the Abe house and had devotional time with Mrs. Abe-san. Chloe led it and talked about John 14:27 and how God gives us peace and comfort. Mrs. Abe-san, who I will refer to from here on out as Okaasan, seemed interested (but I must note that I have trouble reading Japanese people because they are so polite and do whatever it takes to make you happy). Anyways, she seemed interested as far as I could tell.

After that she went off to work and we got started in on what we ended on yesterday...I finished the insulation for the parts of the wall that weren't set to get bleached. Along with that, the closet with the shrine in it got demolished...oh I should mention that they took the shrine stuff out for us.., the drywall got installed in the first room, the walls got bleached, and the dirt that got left under the floor from the tsunami got removed. 

Today was slower going for us, mostly because there seemed to be a ton of little hoops to jump through in order to be able to do the main projects. I also noticed more time was spent talking while we worked, which slowed us down. I liked it, though, because I enjoy hearing about other people's lives. Wayne, our supervisor, told us a lot about his family, and I really enjoyed learning more about his background. He is one of those guys who you have trouble knowing when he is joking and serious..luckily I have had 3 years of experience with that type of personality because my defensive line coach at NWC is the same way. I describe Wayne as my 'paw' (borrowing off his southern accent) and he has been a great leader this week. He is the type of guy that will do anything for you and truly has your best interests in mind.

While I'm at it, I just want to say that I was blessed with THE BEST team. They are all awesome people who love to have fun and joke around by lovingly bashing each other...anyone that knows me knows "lovingly bashing" is right up my alley. On the ride home I was taking in all the memories I could, and I just sat and admired how everyone on the team interacted. I thanked God for giving me the best team I could have had. I will get a picture on here when I get back to the states.

So anyway, backtrack to the end of the workday. We got done cleaning up and Okaasan came home from work at 4. Since it was my last day Wayne asked if I wanted to share a special afternoon devotional. I gladly accepted and chose Habbakuk 1:5 as my verse. I talked about how God loves his children, even  if bad things happen sometimes. I then told Okaasan that I am going to miss her a lot and that I look forward to her smile every day. When she looked at me and smiled I almost lost it. But I continued that I pray for her every day and it is my greatest hope that she comes to know God..not god. I said that whenever I remember this time, I would always remember her as my okaasan. Now some background to this.. Okaasan was a new word I had literally been practicing all day so that I could call her my okaasan..when I lifted a board I said okaasan, when I cut insulation I said okaasan, you get the picture...so after all that time, this was the moment I could win her heart...aaanndddd I said "akaasan". GAHH!! Everyone laughed because they knew how much I had been practicing, but Daike, our translator fixed it for me and on we went. Ok, back to how my devotional time went.   I thanked her for the blessing it was to be able to help on her house. She told me that I need to come back and visit sometime, and she made the comment that I could sleep there...and I just now fully got the effect of that--I just connected it to the joke we had yesterday, except she was serious this time. I told her I really wanted to come back and see them in the future. The boy was standing there as well, and I told him I looked forward to seeing him golfing on tv in a few years. I thanked them and did the traditional couple hundred bows :) and then asked her for a hug..now hugging is typically not done in Japan, but Okaasan smiled and graciously gave one. After that we loaded into the van, nicknamed "the fridge", and headed back to the base. 

We had a great supper and then had a great 30 minute worship time. Afterwards I got pictures with a bunch of the great people I met at the Tome base, and then just enjoyed my last night here.

I would give anything to be able to stay here longer, but I know I can't. I have really enjoyed my time here, and hope to someday return to Tome and Ishinomaki. Tomorrow I head down to Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train) and will get to see the countryside. But that is tomorrows blog. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. 

Specific prayer requests: 
- Okaasan (mrs. Abe-san) and the rest of the Abe family
- Takahashi-san..I haven't talked about him but he is involved with Samaritan's purse and loves being around us..he loves the Bible's teachings and what we live for, but he has not made that commitment. He is a fun guy who is always smiling. I will get a pic of him up too when I get back.

Day 7...house dedication and Mrs. Abe-san

Well, the day started on a good note in that I got a great night sleep. I attribute that to getting another blanket last night so I didn't wake up freezing multiple times in the night. Anyways, that's not important compared to the day's events. 

So we headed to the worksite like normal. We were assigned to the Abe house again, which I was really happy about. It was also nice to be in the same house two days in a row. We got there and took out a closet floor that had lots of mold under it. The closet was right next to their ancestor worship shrine, so we had to be extremely careful, especially when we knocked out the walls. By the time we got that done it was time for break. 

Right after break we left the house and went to the 'ground zero' area of Ishinomaki for a house dedication ceremony. This ceremony happens at every house once the carpenters are finished. As a side note, though, finished does not mean ready to move furniture into..Samaritans purse does everything but the painting and some special electric work that is done outside the drywall for free. After that they have to hire someone to completely finish it..even still, SP saves them a lot of money. 

Anyways, back to the dedication. Everyone that had worked on the house was there, along with Pastor Suzuki and his wife. We sang worship songs in Japanese and then Pastor Suzuki gave the message in John 3:16 and told the homeowner about Jesus. When he asked the man if he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart, the man said that it was all a lot right now and that he needed some time. That is totally understandable, and Pastor Suzuki is going to follow up with him. Hopefully it will sink in soon. We prayed over him and over the house, gave him a Bible and some easy to understand stuff about Christianity, took pictures, and said our goodbyes to him. He was a very nice man, and I hope he will act on his interest in what we believe in. 

It was then time for lunch, so we ate quickly. With about 2 hours less in our workday, we had a lot to get done before our day ended at 4:30. My afternoon was spent packing insulation into the walls and cavities in the floor. Over the past 2 days I have almost become more of a carpenter than a mud out person. That is totally fine with me...I really enjoy carpentry stuff. In addition to having to use math skills, doing carpentry work makes me feel like I am working with my grandpa again. There have been countless times this week where I have heard him in my head saying things like, "here, kassidy, turn the hammer this way..it will make it easier." it has been a great time to reflect on the great memories I have with my Grandpa.

Well, enough of my heartfelt moment, back to the day. We got to 4:00 and the family came home. As I said yesterday, it is a husband and wife and their 10 year old son who is a great golfer. The dad spent about 10 minutes talking with Wayne, our leader, about what types of wall he wanted and all that good stuff. Then he and the son left with the golf clubs. We finished cleaning up and then prayed with the mom. She is such an amazing lady and is so friendly. The carpenter team left in their van and us 3 mud out people were left there waiting for our ride to get there. In the meantime, we got a chance to talk to the mom a little bit (I really wish I knew enough Japanese to carry on a conversation..). When our ride was about ten minutes late we joked with her that if our ride didn't come we would just crash at her house. She laughed and eagerly nodded her head. I think she really enjoys us. 

Tomorrow is my last day at the Abe house because the carpenters don't work on Saturdays and we can't work without the carpenters there. I am sad that this week has gone so fast..I wish I could stay here for a couple months more...but I am very appreciative of the opportunity I have been given, and I have enjoyed every second.

Last thing..sorry this blog is so long today.. At sharing time tonight a Japanese girl talked about working at an elderly woman's house. She said that the lady's family doesn't stop by much and all her friends and neighbors have picked up and moved away. She expressed that she was very lonely and just needed someone to talk to, so the girl sat down and had a long conversation with her. This woman sees the joy and hope we have, and it was evident she is attracted to it..hopefully God does great things in that woman's life!

Ok, that was way too much stuff, but today was a great day.

Specific prayer requests:
- Mrs. Abe-san (we don't know her first name, and we privately call her 'okaasan' which means 'mom' because she has one of those "your mom away from home" personalities) and her family...that they would know God's love and get rid of the idols in their house
- the elderly lady that was talked about in sharing time
- the gentleman whose house was dedicated today, that people would follow up with him and he would let the holy spirit sink in

Thanks for your prayers and for enduring this extremely long blog!

Day 6: the Abe house

Today we were assigned to the Abe family's house. This house was not as structurally damaged as the previous one, as there was only about 3 feet of water in it when the wave hit, but this house's biggest problem was mold. Today was different as well in that we (the mud out crew) was working with a carpenter crew. Usually the mud out crew starts and gets everything stripped down, clean, and ready to go, and then the carpenter crew comes in and finishes the rebuilding. The reason this house is different is because the family is still living in it. This adds a special challenge because we have to do things in sections and a lot more carefully so we don't break anything. In addition, at the end of the day we have to board everything up for overnight. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself here...first I want to mention the verse God revealed to me this morning. After breakfast I grabbed my Bible and prayed, "God, what verse do I need to have in my mind today?" I then did one of those 'magic' open your Bible to a random page and read what's there deals. I had opened to 2 Corinthians 1. I only made it to verse 5 before it was clear what God wanted me to know. I sat and meditated on verses 3-5 for about 10 minutes and prayed about it. I encourage you to read it and find someone who needs to be comforted.

So then we headed to the worksite, and we started by ripping out drywall and removing the millions of drywall nails. After that we ripped out the floor and cleaning the mud and muck out from under the floor. By that time it was time to head back to the base. We made temporary floor out of plywood so that the family could still get around their house. As we were doing that the ten year old son came home from school. He was very polite but in obvious shock at the sight of 9 Americans ripping apart his house. Luckily our translator was right there and explained to him what was going on. 

His mother and father soon got home and the carpenter leader talked with them about rebuilding specifics. They were extremely nice people and continually thanked us for our work. We found out that the boy was a really good golfer, and was the best golfer in the entire Tohoku region in the 12 and under age bracket. We had a lot of fun talking with him and trying to convince him to admit that he was a better golfer than Tiger Woods...being a Japanese person, he was extremely humble and we could not coax him into it, but he laughed a lot about it. 

It was really good to meet the people we were helping. Yesterday the owner came by for 5 minutes, but I was in the back and didn't get the chance to meet him. Just to meet the people and put a face with the house was really encouraging. 

Tonight at sharing time there was a story from one of the house dedications (house was dedicated and declared finished). The Japanese pastor, Suzuki-sensei preached a message on John 3:16 and both the mother and the daughter that lived there made a decision to walk with Christ!! Hopefully they get plugged into a church and grow. Being a Christian as a Japanese native is so extremely tough here because of a number of reasons including ancestor worship, Buddhism in culture, an family pressures of staying with the family tradition. Great things are happening here, but Satan isn't letting go of his old stomping grounds easily. Much needs to be done yet, but this is a good start! 

Right now I am sitting in the commons area listening to the Japanese people sing common worship songs in their native tongue. There is something about worshiping in Japanese that makes my heart melt for the Lord...I love it!!

But that's all for now. Specific prayer requests:
-the mother and daughter who accepted Christ today
- the Abe family..that they would begin to ask about Jesus. We had a short devotional time with them this morning and a prayer time with them before we left. Hopefully it sparks some interest..

Day 五 (5..pronounced 'go')

Today was the first day of work, and it was everything I was expecting and had been waiting for! We woke up at 6am, had breakfast, and a guy shared a devotional. We then headed to Ishinomaki, about an hour commute. The Tohoku region is the major farming area
Of Japan, so there is rice field after rice field, all surrounded by hills...it reminds me a lot of NE Iowa, actually. We got into Ishinomaki, but didn't see much damage.....until we got on the other side of downtown.

Ishinomaki was arguably the hardest hit by the tsunami, and the earthquake actually sunk the town a meter or two. On the edge of town by the water, the street and area floods twice a day when high tide comes in. Once we got past downtown things changed.. Suddenly there were houses without windows, debris piles everywhere, and many blank lots where houses obviously once stood. I just stared in awe at how much devestation remains after a year of cleanup. Just down the road from the house we worked at was a massive pile of debris (by massive, think about the length of 2 football fields and as high as 2-3 full sized Cat backhoes).

We got to our house an joined 5 marines who were already there working. Our job was "mudding out", which is the process of completely gutting the house, power washing and bleaching it, and then giving it over to the carpenters once it has been completely disinfected (mold is the enemy here). Today's job was to tear down all the drywall...and it took 11 people all day to do. The house, we learned, was only 2 years old before the tsunami destroyed it. I wanted to post a picture on here, but I can't on my iPod... Anyways, the waterline was into the 2nd level, about 10 feet off the ground. The whole time I worked, I just thought about what that day must have been like, and what the homeowner's story is of that day.

After the day was done, we headed back to Tome and ate supper. After supper there was story time where people share things that happened that day. One lady shared about the daughter of the homeowners at the house she was working at. The daughter asked her about God and said she wants to know God. Another person shared how their homeowner was afraid to leave the house because she does not know what happened to her husband. He worked in the shipyard, and called her and told her to run away because the tsunami was there...then the phone went dead and that was it. The woman has 2 daughters but is afraid that if she leaves home she will either lose her daughters or miss her husband of he comes home. There are many sad stories like that, but out of those stories there are positive ones as well. One quote that describes this perfectly was something that got translated for me at the Celebration of Hope on Sunday: "if the earthquake and tsunami had never happened, there is no way I would have went to church and became a believer."

That's all for now. Oh, specific prayer requests today:
-the lady I talked about who is afraid to leave home
-the little girl that wants to know more about God

Thanks!