Thoughts About the Mission

Dear Friends - It's Monday morning, 5:30AM Pacific Daylight Time.  The team has been home since only 3PM Saturday, yet Japan feels so far away in distance and time.  As I sat in the midst of 125-150 people yesterday at the Crossway Church worship service, it struck me that only a week ago we were in the Chino Christ Church service worshipping with about 30 of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  From past experiences on this mission, I know that the thoughts and feelings I have for Chino and its church members will change over time, but right now I miss them terribly.

     I've just finished reading through most of the blogs from the last two weeks and realize that I left out a lot of things I had hoped to share and repeated myself again and again - repeated myself again and again.  This year's mission to Chino was a success, I believe.  It was a great experience for the children who attended: the members of Chino Christ Church who participated in the EEC program and who supported us during our stay; and for the members of South Bay Japanese Christian Fellowship and Crossway Church.  We are confident that God will use the experiences of the past two weeks to change the lives of us all.  The past two years we have had fewer adults from the Chino church volunteer at EEC - but they have been replaced by young people who attended EEC in past years and are now too old to attend.  None of them are members of the Chino church - maybe they will be some day.
     I believe our mission to Chino has affected not only the lives of children in the community, but also the Chino church itself.  Since first serving in Chino in 2009, I have seen the addition of new members to the church and greater involvement by some members in the EEC program and other church activities.  In that time, the Chino church has not only been the recipient of a mission team but has now sent out two church members to serve the mission in Sendai - a sister program to the one in Chino.  When we were the dinner guests of the Hosokawas, Hosokawa-san, who is a member of a different Christian church in Chino, told us that the six other Christian churches in Chino are aware of the EEC program going on and have kept tabs of the influence it has had on the Chino church.  So God willing, our partnership with the Chino church will continue and we can be a source of support and encouragement into the future.  If not, the seeds have been planted for members to step forward in leadership positions, for the church to begin and develop outreach programs into the community, and for them to possibly partner with their brothers and sister in the Chino community to support one another and increase their impact there.
     The mission has also had a great impact on two churches here in Southern California.  Our participation in the Chino mission has helped change the mindset of many Crossway church members - that short-term missions are not jus for the "super Christians" but are open to, and in need of people with different talents and abilities, different life and spiritual experiences, and different personalities.  And the Chino mission has brought us into a partnership with our sister church from the South Bay.  I hope the South Bay members have been as blessed in knowing us we have been in getting to know and work alongside of them.
     Our mission started in Chino but its influence is spreading outward.  We sent a team to Sendai for the second time this year - serving at the same time as the Chino mission.  There are other churches in Japan interested in receiving teams to present the same type of programs to them.  During our time of sightseeing I offered to take a photo of a family at one of the shrines and temples that we were visiting.  As I spoke with the father of this family of four, I found I out that this African-American man was an assistant pastor of a church in New York with a membership of over 7,000 people.  They send out teams on short-term missions around the world and wanted to begin one in Japan.  I introduced him to Kagiwada-sensei, who has started the missions to Chino and Sendai, and he gave him his email address.  Great things are possible through their correspondence.
     Thank you once again to everyone who supported our mission through your prayers and donations.  I am confident that the money needed to support this mission is always a great investment in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in Japan.  May God bless you and use you to reach out to your family, friends, and colleagues.  Love, Don

Koby and a participant of the English
conversation class.

    

Don, Chihoyo-sensei, Chi-chan, and Kawano-sensei

Pastor John, Yumiko, and the Kawano family

Yumiko and Sanae Yumoto saying sayonara at the
train station.

Kagiwada-sensei & Shizuka dining at an Indian restaurant.

3rd & 4th graders during EEC English class.

Celebrating Chihoyo-sensei's and
Chi-Chan's birthdays.  Chi-Chan was born
during the first mission trip  in 2007.

Miyajima and Hiroshima

The "Atomic Bomb Dome"

Dear Friends - It is Friday, August 7th, 11PM.  I'm finally settled down at the computer feeling clean and refreshed after a nice hot shower.  The hotel has its own onsen, but the convenience of having the shower in my hotel room is hard to beat.  The heat and humidity has been brutal since we left Chino, but the activities have been outstanding.  The weather today was the same as the other days since Monday - but the day was the most memorable by far.  We began the day by going to Miyajima Island and visiting Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.  The shrine sits above the ocean's waters at high tide and sits above dry ground at low tide - like when we were there.  At low tide, people are able to walk out to the Ohtorii Gate, but clearly unable to do so at high tide.  We visited other shrines also before having lunch there.  We then returned to the mainland of Japan and Shizuka took Koby and me to Hiroshima, where we visited the "Atomic Bomb Dome" and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.  I have seen many photos of the dome and it was very moving to actually stand right before it in person.  We then walked through the Peace Memorial Park to reach the museum.  In 2013 and 2014 I watched observances of the anniversary of the bomb being dropped on August 6, 1945 while sitting in hotel rooms in Tokyo and Yokohama.  At those observances sat many of the top leaders, or their representatives, from around the world.  Today, workers were removing canopies from the grass, most likely sheltering the guests from the heat.  But it was the exhibits at the museum which were the most dramatic and emotional.  Shizuka, Koby and I used listening devices that explained all the photos, charts, and recovered remnants from the atomic blast.  Some of the photos were too terrible for me to look at, and many of the personal stories were simply gut-wrenching.  Visiting the museum was clearly the most important part of the sightseeing for me.

     Tomorrow we will do a little sightseeing in the morning before going to the Narita airport to return to L.A. after 2-½ weeks in Japan.  There is so much that has happened during our time here - it will take a long time to process all of it.  Thank you to everyone for your support financially and especially your prayer support.  It has been a great, great blessing to be in Chino - to experience the warmth, generosity, and thoughtfulness of the Chino Christ Church members and of Kawano-sensei and Chihoyo-sensei.  It was wonderful to get together with people in the Osaka area - friends and former members of the South Bay Japanese Christian Fellowship, and friends of Kagiwada-sensei.  I intend to write a little bit more once I get back home - to share more of our wonderful experiences during the mission.  It's after midnight and I need to get my rest for tomorrow.  The mission has been fantastic, but it will be great to be home with all of our loved ones.  God bless us all.  Love, Don

The O-torii Gate in Miyajima- visitors
walking up to it at low tide.

70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima

Dear Friends - It is 11PM on Thursday, August 6th - the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.  As I write, the TV is tuned to a station showing video and photographs taken of the devastation caused by the bomb.  Although I don't speak or understand Japanese, the images speak for themselves.  I have seen the city leveled with very little left standing; there are images of burned bodies, some caught in mid-stride when the the blast reached them; and there is an interview of a woman survivor, with the scars and disfigurement the bomb blast caused.  I won't be writing about the mission tonight - my heart aches as I watch this broadcast and the tears fill my eyes.  There are now images of more victims, showing their burned flesh being treated by doctors.  Tomorrow, Kagiwada-sensei will be taking us to Hiroshima.   God be with us all.  Love, Don

Thursday in Osaka

Dear Friends - It is now 7:40AM in Osaka - our second day here.  It is hard finding time and the energy to write blogs this trip.  I wanted to tell you about our last Sunday in Chino, but I'm getting further and further behind in telling about our trip.  I hope to write you about Sunday - maybe after the mission is over.  After spending Monday and Tuesday in Toyama, we moved on to Osaka on Wednesday.  We spent the day in Kyoto visiting a few Buddhist temples and other historical sites.  The purpose of visiting the temples and shrines is for Kagiwada-sensei to give us a historical and cultural perspective to Japan's reluctance to accept Christianity.  He is a storehouse of knowledge as we go from place to place - sometimes having more information than our guides.  Today we will be heading out to Kyoto once again.  Last night we had dinner at the restaurant owned by the mother of Hyun-sensei, the pastor of the Japanese-speaking congregation at Crossway Church, and his sister Yooka, a member of Crossway church, also.  As proprietor of the restaurant, she is the hostess, waitress, server, cook, and chief bottle washer.  She runs the restaurant by herself.  We had a great meal in this restaurant specializing in grilled meats on skewers.  The restaurant has about 10 seats and is frequented by many regulars - Kagiwada-sensei said diners often engage in conversation and the atmosphere is very warm.  There was one other diner while we there, and sure enough, the Japanese speakers from our group were speaking with him and we ended our time at the restaurant with him taking a group photo of us.  We were also joined for dinner by Jaime, a young lady who was a member of the South Bay church but living in Japan for the past few months.  This 21 year old young woman has hopes of possibly staying in Japan permanently.  She was very happy to see her former pastor and good friend Shizuka. With her engaging personality and adventurous spirit, she should do fine in Japan.  Being fluent in Japanese doesn't hurt any.  While in Chino for ten days, we only had rain a few times.  The weather in Osaka and Kyoto is tough - temperatures in the high 90's and 100's with extremely high humidity.  It would be nice to have a break from the humidity.  Being in Chino, a rural area, the atmosphere is warm and friendly and there is a nice comfortable pace of life.  Being in a big city now, everything is fast-paced and impersonal and it is very crowded.  It would be great to take all the cultural sites from the city and to place them in Chino.  But of course, that would probably bring the problems of the city to Chino - not a good idea.  We will be setting out for another day filled with culture (a rarity for me), so I need to get ready.  God bless you all.  Love, Don

A group shot from the restaurant.  

Tuesday, August 4th

Dear Friends - It's now 5:20AM, Tuesday morning and we're in a different church now, in the city of Toyama.  We are the guests of another Kobayashi family - not Koby's.  Kobayashi-sensei, the associate pastor of this church, and his wife have welcomed us with a place to stay and rest for two nights while we spend time during the day sightseeing.
     The last day in Chino is always hectic - we start the morning with breakfast and then clean the church.  We clean the church every morning we are there, but the final morning we do so more completely - not wanting to leave the Kawanos with extra work to do after we leave.  After that, we must rush to get our luggage together and get to the train station.  Yesterday, there were members of the Chino church to drive us to the train station and to see us off.  We only had a short time to say good-bye and get the last minute photos taken before boarding the train.  This year is different than others because we are leaving Chino and going in different directions.  Shizuka, Koby and I rode the train to Matsumoto and then transferred to come to Toyama, on the west coast of Japan.  Along the way we connected with Kagiwada-sensei and Monica from the Sendai team and will spend the rest of the week sightseeing.  Yumiko and Pastor John left Chino on a different train after us to visit family and friends and will reunite with us on Saturday for the flight home.  Kaori caught a train to return to her home in Tokyo.  She will come back to live in the U.S. in December.  Erica will spend the next 2 or 3 weeks in Japan visiting family and friends, but is still in Chino right now, guest of the Yumoto family.  After selecting the two teams for Chino and Sendai in March, spending four months in preparation, and spending a week and a half serving in Chino, our mission to Chino Christ Church is now over.  We had a marvelous mission - all the programs and activities we presented went very well.  Everyone did a great job of preparing and serving here in Japan.  There is so much to be thankful for and to celebrate.  But right now my heart aches as I miss my brothers and sisters of the Chino church - especially the Kawano family.  This is my fifth year of serving in Chino and every year it is harder to leave them.  I would love to have the members of the Chino church transported to the San Fernando valley to become a part of our church family - to spend the rest of my life on earth with them.  But I must be patient and wait for the day that we are taken home to our God and can be together for eternity.  Right now, God needs them to continue the work of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with their loved ones and their community.  May they serve the Chino community with the same spirit, joy, and love as they have served us these past ten days.
     Kagiwada-sensei and Koby are now awake and we'll be having breakfast and then going out for the first full day of sightseeing.  I hope to tell you about our last Sunday in Chino in a later blog.  Thank you for your prayers - they were answered on this mission trip.  God bless you always.  Love, Don

A picture of the Chino church members.  It was taken from the pulpit as I had the opportunity to share with them.

 

Last Night in Chino

Dear Friends - It's 11:45PM, Sunday night - a lot has happened in the last two days since I wrote for the blog.  On Saturday we went to Matsumoto by train - an hour ride going west from Chino.  We broke up into three small groups - some went on the tour of Matsumoto castle, and others went shopping and sightseeing.  My group went to a soba (noodle) restaurant where I had tempura with my cold noodles.  It was a great meal made even better by being surrounded by good friends.
     I'm sorry, but I've been talking with some team members and it's now 12:30AM, Monday morning.  I'll have to get back to you tomorrow to continue this post.
     It's now 5:40AM Monday morning.  After waking up about a ½ hour ago, I decided to get up and spend some time writing.  The air is cool and refreshing as I sit in the sanctuary by myself.  Pastor John was already up spending time in prayer and has now gone out for a walk in the community.  Chihoyo-sensei is up, probably preparing for breakfast.  She is a wonderful woman who serves us endlessly with love and warmth.  I am fighting back tears as I think about leaving Chino in about 2-½ hours.  Each year I have come to Chino, it is harder and harder to say good-bye to these brothers and sisters.  Last night we went out to dinner and were joined by Hisao and Hisako, a couple I first met 6 years ago.  In spite of terrible injuries they have suffered in that time, both use a crutch to walk, their is great joy in their hearts that they warmly share with us.  Also joining us was Sanae Yumoto - who has served the mission teams to Chino since the first trip in 2007.  Her warmth and joy light up the room every time we see her.  Her two daughters, Aina and Hikari, served us during EEC and throughout the trip.  Her son, Nozomu, served with the mission in team in Sendai this year.  There was wonderful conversations and plenty of laughter as we shared this meal together with these special people.  Team has been dwindling in size since the past few days.  Megumi and Junko, the two seminary students from Tokyo, left Friday afternoon after the EEC had finished.  They both will move on to other churches to help out, just as they did in Chino - this is part of their service they perform during their summer break.  Sunday afternoon Pastor Raynold from the Crossway church left to go on to Machida, in Tokyo.  His visit there, after visiting Sendai and Chino, has allowed him to touch bases with the 3 churches in Japan that Crossway currently sends mission teams to.  Then late afternoon yesterday, Lily and her husband Soshi left us to return home in Tokyo.  Soshi served on the 2012 team to Chino, and he and Lily plan to return to the U.S. early next year.  So that leaves us with Shizuka, Erica, Kaori, and Pastor John from the South Bay church, and Yumiko, Koby and Don from the Crossway church.  It seems empty without the presence of all these brothers and sisters.  Later this morning, we will have our prayer meeting and breakfast and then give the church a thorough cleaning after our presence here for a week and a half.  Erica will stay in Chino another day before leaving and spending another 2 or 3 weeks visiting.  Pastor John and Yumiko will leave us this morning to visit family and friends.  Kaori will remain in Japan until her return to the U.S. in December, I believe.  Shizuka, Koby, and I will meet up with Kagiwada-sensei and Monica, from the Sendai team, to do some sightseeing until our return on Saturday.  Kagiwada-sensei has planned our time, which will include visits to Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima.  It will be great for me to be able to visit these places, but it will not be the same without all the team members present.

     I'll jump backwards now to fill you in with what we did the last 2 days.  On Saturday, after spending the day in Matsumoto, we went to the Hosokawa home for dinner.  You would not believe the marvelous dinner placed before us.  Most of the food is not what you'd get when going out to a Japanese restaurant in the U.S.  As good as the meal was, it was the hospitality and the joyful conversation around the table that made this time extra special.  We have been invited into 3 different homes during the last 3 visits to Chino - overwhelmed by the graciousness, generosity, and love of these wonderful brothers and sisters.  That afternoon as we made our way from the train station to the Hosokawa home, about a 20 minute walk, lightning and thunder began to roll in.  The rain held off until we all were safe and dry at the Hosokawa's.  What I almost forgot to tell you was the Hosokawa's have converted a bathroom into an onsen-style room.  There is the typical shower, low to the floor, with a large personal tub to soak in.  I will have to discuss this with my wife Janis when I return home.  She really doesn't need her own workroom for her quilting and crafts.  Anyway, Shizuka and Chi-chan, Kaori, and I had the opportunity to use the onsen at the Hosokawa home - another marvelous family from the Chino church.  It's now 6:45AM and their is a lot of activity now as we prepare for the prayer meeting and breakfast.  I need to be more helpful right now.  I will write about Sunday in my next report to you.  It is hard to believe that it is nearly time to leave.  Great thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts, and well wishes.  May God bless you as we have been blessed in Chino.  May you experience the same joy, peace, and excitement that we have.  With thanks to God for each one of you.  Love, Don

Don, Shizuka & Soshi in the restaurant.

Yumiko, Kaori & Aya-san at the soba noodle restaurant.

Our meal at the Hosokawa home.  This photo
does not show everything we ate that evening.

EEC is over

Dear Friends - It's 5:40PM Friday and the kids from EEC have been gone for over 3 hours now.  Some people are preparing dinner, some are doing tasks for the upcoming worship service and some are zonked out.  It's always bittersweet to finish the EEC program.  It takes so much energy and preparation, being at your best while trying to present a high quality lesson to young children.  The children are so high-spirited, it feels like you're trying to tame a herd of hamsters at times.  But we've spent 4 months or so preparing for this event, and like the day after Christmas, there's a slight letdown after a big event you've been waiting for has passed.  Tomorrow we will travel to Matsumoto to do some sightseeing and in the evening we've been invited to a church member's home for dinner.  I understand that they have their own private onsen.  I'm going to see if they will adopt me into their family.  Thank you for all your prayers - we were blessed to not be impacted by rain, for people to be protected from ailments and illness, and for the program to proceed without any glitches.  Dinner will begin in a few minutes, so I'll get back to you to give you more updates.
     It's 9:10PM now.  Pastor Raynold from the Crossway church arrived about 11:30AM today and got to see some of our EEC program.  He also was able to join us for our annual curry lunch during EEC.  The women who prepare our lunches are fantastic.  The curry is great - especially when you consider that they feed over 100 people.  My brain is shutting down and I'm finding it difficult to write coherently.  Thank you once again for all your prayers.  MEBIG and the worship service on Sunday will be the last activities we present - you can pray that God is honored by our words and actions and hearts will be changed.  May you be blessed just as we have been.  Love, Don

Koby snooping as Erica checks her email.
This was part of his "Hulk" costume - as the mission
team dressed up as super heroes.