Back Home

This is the final, ‘official’ blog post for Kids’ Gospel Team 2008. We just want to say once again that we had a marvellous time in Japan.  It’s hard to believe that it’s over already.
We are now exhausted after some 20 hours of travelling since 11am on Friday morning. We said farewell to Gareth and Ruth Ayling and Ruth Paige before boarding the train to Narita. Alison accompanied us as far as she could in the airport and we were also met by two of the families from Yotsukaido, and it was lovely to be able to say farewell to them.
The flights seemed to pass by much quicker this time round and we arrived in Belfast to be met by an eager crowd- families of the team members: Angela, Jim and Chris Marshall, Sam Black, Lorna, Davy and Jonathan Mullan, Sue and Robert McKinstry and Tony and Joanne Hacking; as well as Nana and Papa Hacking (known as N a P to the bloggers), Sally Grant and adopted parents to Farrow-san: Johnathan Duff and Gareth Lenaghan.
Everyone arrived home safely. No further ailments occured (though a few are still coughing and sniffing with their colds). There are three suitcases still outstanding in Heathrow, though they should be delivered tomorrow.
As some final prayer requests:

• We really need to catch up on rest and give our minds and bodies a chance to process all that has happened.
• Readjustment to the climate and time in Northern Ireland
• That the remaining luggage will arrive safe

Once again, thanks to all who have been reading the blog and offering support, your encouragement has been a great blessing.  We are happy to be home, but also sad that our mission is over.

Best Regards

Kids’ Gospel Team

Sayounara

We are in the middle of packing, and panicking about the luggage allowance. Due to the generosity of the two churches and our home stays we are definitely returning with more than we brought. Our final treat today was a trip to a gourmet coffee shop, where they roast and ground their own coffee, the owner had just received his diploma today as a “Coffee Meister” (maestro).

We went for dinner with Graham, Alison and Daniel this evening, said our good-byes to Graham and Daniel. Alison is escorting us to Narita airport tomorrow, we leave the guest house at 7.00 am (11.00pm BST) our flight is scheduled to leave at 10.50 am (2.50 am BST).

As much as everybody is looking forward to seeing their families again, it really is with great sadness that we will leave tomorrow. We have made some great friends in Yotsukaido and Ichikawa and are sad to say Sayounara. Davy, Tony & Angela I will give you my credit card bill when I arrive home as your daughters have maxed it out today.

DF

What do you do with a problem like Maria

Yesterday was Elaine’s birthday so we tried to make the day special for her. While we were at Yotsukaido, Ohashi Sensei commented that Elaine reminded him of Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. So that was the theme of Elaine’s birthday. We managed to get a copy of the sound of music in English and Japanese and that was the team’s birthday present to Elaine, along with an ice cream birthday cake with the name Maria iced on top. In the evening we ate Pizza, and watched the Sound of Music. Sam had also sent a birthday card and present with Stuart, so judging by the number of tears shed, we guess that Elaine had a happy birthday.

Today was our opportunity to spend time with Graham, Alison, Kathryn and Daniel. At least half a day with Kathryn until she went off to camp. You might think it rains a lot in Northern Ireland, however trying spending a rainy day in Tokyo, at 28 degrees with 80% humidity. It felt like a year’s rainfall all in one day. However not to be deterred we went to Tokyo city centre for sight seeing. We went to the Tokyo Metropolitan building, a twin tower building, up to the 44th floor to look at Tokyo. However due to the rain, clouds and haze we managed to see half of Tokyo, still a pretty impressive sight. We also did a bit of shopping.

It was great to spend the day with the Orr family, just chatting and catching up. Unfortunately rain is forecast for tomorrow, so we will wait and see what weather tomorrow brings before deciding on any plans.

Please continue to pray for Yotsukaido family church and the Chapel of Adoration. That the children will remember the Kids’ Gospel week. That they will still be singing the words of the songs they heard and thinking about the daily talks they heard. Pray that the children will be keen to attend Sunday Schools at both churches. After the week at the Chapel of Adoration the children received a Manga copy of the life of Christ. Manga is a popular form of comic book in Japan, pray that the children will read and understand the Manga book, that they will share it with their families and it will lead them to attend the Chapel of Adoration to find out more about Jesus from Sozo Sensei or Orr Sensei.

D.F.

Final Sunday at Ichikawa

Although we officially finished our programme yesterday, today was really our final goodbyes to some of the children, parents and helpers at the Chapel of Adoration.  We had hoped that the second time around would be less emotional but the immense generosity and hospitality of everyone here made it every bit as difficult.  We are thankful to everyone who has supported us while we stayed here:

• To Graham and Alison for many evening meals and encouragement as we adjusted to a foreign culture.
• Sozo sensei for his teaching, friendship and encouragement.
• To the OMF workers who helped to orient us in the first week.
• To the Families who opened their homes to us and allowed us to share in their lives.
• To the ladies at the Chapel for delicious meals, innumerable gifts and their welcoming hearts.

We attended the church service at 10:00 this morning.  Graham was preaching and kindly provided a transcript of the address in English for us.  We shared in communion with the congregation.  At lunchtime the team members were invited to share some of their favourite moments from the Japan experience.  This was the point were emotions could no longer be contained as recounting the different memories brought them back to life for us.

There is no question that we will be sad to return home, saying goodbye to Graham and Alison and family and the OMF team based here and everyone who has shown us love and support- but we hope the goodbye will not be forever.

We leave this blog post with the words from a song:

God be with you til we meet again;

by His counsels guide, uphold you,

with His sheep securely fold you;

God be with you til we meet again.

Til we meet, til we meet,

til we meet at Jesus’ feet;

til we meet, til we meet,

God be with you til we meet again.

Best Regards

Stuart and Arf

We’ve done it again!

Hi to all you guys back home!

This is going to have to be a quick blog entry to give you guys some info. on how today has gone. We have all managed to return from our homestays and our last experience of Japanese home life intact and with memories that will stay with us for a long time to come.

The concert has been and gone and has been another resounding success – my aren’t we modest! The Chapel was full of parents of the children taking part in the concert and church memebers and even some from OMF. The general feeling from all of them was that it was very good and that they all enjoyed themselves. The kids sang amazingly well and seemed to really enjoy themselves throughout the afternoon.

Well we are now having a bit of a relaxing time before we get changed into our summer Yukata, supplied by a lady from the church – very generous! We are then heading to the river for a fireworks display – don’t think it just for us. They are making an excuse of some festival that happens every year to celebrate the start of summer – such an excuse! So we will have to go now and get ready, before we get shouted at by someone for being late!

 

But before I sign off, I would like to invite you to a bit of high tech communication. We have 2 laptops that are Skype enabled and we would like to offer you the chance to speak with us tomorrow afternoon (3pm local time for you) via this.

To sign up to this, go to http://www.skype.com and follow the instructions to install the programme. This is a free programme that will allow you to talk free from computer to computer, so e-mail us with your skype user name and then we can join you! You will need a microphone to be able to talk with us, if you have a web cam then we can see you also!

 

So we’re off now and hope to hear from you tomorrow – literally!

 

Team Japan

Day 2: Chapel of Adoration

Today was the second day of the Kids’ Gospel programme at Chapel of Adoration.  We were encouraged to see that that children were a lot more willing to get involved and interact with the team.  The kids have been very receptive and now know four of the songs for Saturday’s concert.

Over the past day Elaine has been suffering from a sore throat following Yotsukaido and so has been taking a well deserved rest to recover.  She taught some of the songs this morning but is now starting to lose her voice so we pray that she will recover from this quickly and resume her natural role.  In the meantime Louise has been doing a stellar job teaching the songs and we are thankful that we have team members capable of stepping into different positions as required.

As David mentioned in his previous post his hearing has fully recovered.  This keeps the number of concurrent maladies to a minimum once again.  Thanks to all who were praying for him.

Tomorrow afternoon we will commence our home-stays with families from Chapel of Adoration.  We would like people to pray that communication would not be a barrier and that we will not offend the families who are opening their homes to us.  We pray, therefore, for cultural awareness (particularly David F, who is prone to wearing toilet slippers around the house )

Could you please continue to pray also for Julie, Suzie and Rachel as they prepare for their mini concert tomorrow with the little kids’ gospel.  Please pray that the kids will sing enthusiastically as best as they can and that their parents will come to see them.

Best regards

Stuart and Julie

I heard that, pardon.

Thank you all for your prayers. I took advice and decided to pay a visit to an ENT specialist who basically washed my ears out. I can now hear again. I now have a Japanese medical card.

I also appreciate all the private medical advice I received by private emails.

We will blog later, after dinner.

David.

Day 1: Chapel of Adoration

As you know from previous blogs we were sad to leave Yotsukaido after being shown so generous hospitality.  However in true Japanese style the Chapel of Adoration have now adopted us and are showing us equally generous hospitality.

The day started at 8.45 with devotions from Sozo-sensei from Hebrews 12 (28 – 29), we then prayed for the day to come. We met the children at 9.30 am and holiday bible club 2 started.  We are using a similar format as that used at Yotsukaido.  The children were initially quite shy, we had a break at 11.00 am and the children re-appeared with more confidence and were happier to engage with the team.

Julie, Rachel and Suzanne participated in the kindergarten class.

After lunch we lined up outside for the traditional watermelon bashing.  It is a summer tradition in Japan.  Firstly the children were blindfolded one by one and at be directed to the watermelon by the team.  When they thought they were near the watermelon they beat it with a stick to try and split it open.  Next, the team were blindfolded and they tried to split the watermelon.  After all the beating of defenceless watermelon the children and team eat the watermelon, very refreshing in the heat and humidity.

In the evening we were treated to a home made 3 course banquet by Masada-san.  After such a meal all we could do was go back to the guest house and relax.  I fear we could all gain a few extra pounds in weight through the generosity and hospitality of our Japanese hosts.

 

Today, Julie, Suzie and I went along to help out at Little Kids’ Gospel.  33 children attended, who were between the ages of 3 and 5.  The day consisted of various games, teaching a song (to be performed at a mini concert on Thursday morning when the parents pick up their children), a tea break and a drama/story acted out brilliantly by The Mullan Sisters.  The children responded well to the morning programme and we look forward to the next two days with them.

Please pray for us…

That we would build relationships with the children

That they would pick up the songs quickly

That these children would grasp a little of God’s love for them

and…

Julie, Suzie and myself have to ride bicycles to and from our homestays, please pray for our safety and the safety of the pedestrians that we encounter!

We’re away to hit the futons…thanks for your continual support and encouragement.

R & R

Today has been a day of rest and relaxation. We all got up late, did our laundry. Some went back to bed (well only David Farrow really). Graham and Alison called to see us in the afternoon. Graham played board games with some of the lads, Alison cooked dinner. We met the translator who will be working with us next week at the chapel.

We are all rested and ready for the next challenge of working with the children in the Chapel. Please pray for David Farrow, during the water fight at Yotsukaido he got water in his ear and is now deaf in his left ear. Graham tried to get some over the counter medicines to treat, however this is not the system in Japan and a visit to the doctor may be required.

Please pray now, not that the team will get enough sleep, but that God’s work will still be done through a team living on less than enough sleep.

D.F.

P.S…Happy Birthday Papa, hope u have a lovely day!!…love Louise and Stuart…and the rest of the team!! xx

Tearful Goodbyes

Today was the day of the Kids’ concert at Yotsukaido church and also the day we would bid farewell to everyone.

After all the hard work, the children performed excellently and enthusiastically. A number of the children come from non-Christian families and it was encouraging to see their parents attend the concert. The proud parents took videos and applauded after every song. We would like to pray that some of the children will start attending Sunday School and that the parents will be inspired to speak to Ohashi-sensei about attending church or an alpha course. After the concert the children came to the team and received autographs on their tshirts. Thank you all for your prayer support for the first of our Kids’ Gospel programmes.

During the concert Rachel gave her testimony and she did very well. Again, it is very difficult to bring these personal issues into public and we are thankful for the strength she was given to speak about this.

It was also encouraging to see that some of the attendees of the music shop concert also turned up at church this morning and after hearing Rachel’s testimony we hope that this will lead them to question their need for Christ.

The culmination of the concerts led to our departure which was very difficult after a week of bonding with the children and the church. The church could not have been more kind or more generous to us. During our stay we really felt like we had become part of the family of Yotsukaido and, like saying goodbye to any family member, it was heartbreaking. We also said goodbye to the families which had opened their homes to us and again they were so kind and generous to us that it was difficult to say goodbye. Please continue to pray for Ohashi-sensei and the church as they seek to witness to people who worship in the Shinto and Buddhist religions. Their ministry is so difficult but they are so faithful in serving God in Yotsukaido.

Please pray for the team: Today was draining both emotionally and physically. We are now back at Ichikawa, tomorrow is a day of rest, but then we have to start all over again on Tuesday at the Chapel of Adoration. Again, thank you very much for your messages and prayerful support.

Regards

Stuart and David F.