the last hoorah

It is nearing 5:30am on our final day in  Japan as this post is being updated.  It's so crazy to think that we have only 7 more hours until the plane leaves from Narita Airport.  But even as we leave our newly made friends and the land we have tilled for the last 27 days, we leave with faith that what we have done, God will now carry through and bring all things to fruit in His time.

But before we leave, we just wanted to share one last time some of the final things we did here in Japan, and more specifically, Akabane Bible Church, this past week.

Starting from where we left off our last post, Monday was our teams day out in Tokyo.  Through the generosity of the church members here at Akabane, we were able to have an excursion to a Yomiuri Giants baseball game at Tokyo Dome as well as a few other memorable sites, all with our very own tour guides.  

Our team at Tokyo Dome...go Giants!   (Tokyo that is...not San Francisco...)

A group pose with our faithful tour guides Shimori-san (middle), Kyung Mi-san (far right), Kaori-san (second to right), and Yuya-san (far left)

We finished off the day looking at a nighttime skyline view of Tokyo.  Even on excursion days, God is always showing our team new things about Japan.  The outstretched view of endless city really put into perspective the sheer number of people here in Japan.  And out of those numbers, how few are actually Christian.  Please keep the people of Japan in prayer as the city is so full of artificial lights.  Pray that one day Japan can be lit up just as brightly with the light of Christ.

Moving on, from Tuesday to Friday, our ministry involved prayer meetings at 5:30 am everyday (in fact we have our final prayer meeting in 30 minutes), tract passing, and two English class sessions.  One for adults and one for kids.  Praise the Lord (PTL) and everyone's prayers as a few dedicated people were able to come out to our English camp everyday!  Although it was just simple English conversations, God really used the time spent speaking English to build new relationships with non-Christians in the neighborhood and allowing us to share with them the experience of coming to a church as well as meeting Christians.

Yuko-san came out everyday with her baby just through the tracts we passed out!.  She was so blessed by English class that she came back on Saturday to teach our team a bead craft that she enjoys to do as a hobby!  It was her birthday when she came so we surprised her with a cake and of course, song!

Kanaru and her brother, Taro-kun, came out almost everyday to our children's English camp (also through a tract)!  Their willingness to learn and put themselves in a new environment was truly encouraging.  Pray that God was able to sow seeds of Christ in their hearts!

There were also a few more who came out to English class with whom we weren't able to take a picture with, but please pray that as they came out to Akabane Church, even if it was just for English camp, that God really used that experience to sow the seeds of the gospel in their hearts!  

Here at Akabane Bible Church, our team was able to truly experience different aspects of relational ministry, starting with the people from English class.  During the week, we were also given the opportunity to really get close with the Kazuki, the pastor's son, and Kazuki's non-Christian  friend, Yasukazu.  They slept over a couple nights and we were able to build relationships that we pray God will continue to build on the future.  We were also able to meet other church members, while giving them all English names (just for fun).  

Kazuki (or Tim) is the one on the far right, Yasukazu (or Ike)  is above him, and the rest of of our friends, Mike (Mike and Ike), Tom, Jerry, and Ben (Tom & Jerry, Ben & Jerry)

Please pray for Yasukazu as he is studying to become a doctor.  He is not a Christian yet, but he is slowly learning more about Christianity (he even joined us for 5:30 am morning prayer!).  Also please pray for our other friends, as they are Akabane church members, that they will be able to continue to find and grow fellowship with each other!

Also, we were able to have...Sento ministry!

So basically the church didn't have a shower to we had to go to the nearby sento to shower every so often.  As we frequented the sento, we were able to befriend the owner and her husband to the point where they came out to English camp once and even helped us advertise for Hawaiian Night!  (they couldnt come because they had to operate the Sento that night...but we visited them after with leftovers!)

We even got to take pictures in the sento!  

...after everyone left of course and fully clothed!

But please pray for the "sento couple" as they are not Christian.  They are both kind-hearted people who know of church, but it requires more than just a kind heart to get go heaven.  Pray that they may be able to see church more than just another religious institution and that they may redirect their kind-hearts in a way that can glorify Jesus!

Saturday was a day of preparation for Sunday as well as an opportunity to have some children ministry at the park...it's getting close to morning prayer now so we're going to skip ahead to our main event here at Akabane Church, the Hawaiian Night Festival which was on Sunday Night.

All our relational ministry (English camp, church member interaction, park ministry, etc) as well as tract passing was for this final event, much like our festival at Shinkoiwa.  And praise the Lord, after a week of preparation and prayer, we were able to have a legitimate Hawaiian Luau!

Not only was there Hawaiian food, decoration, and music, but there were people!  so many people that we could not all fit into the Akabane service room!  God brought many of the church members and our friends from throughout the week.  He also brought out every single person who joined us for English camp, and many of them came with their families!  

Hawaiian food is...pineapple fried rice and SPAM musubis!

We were able to share a time of food and fellowship followed by a 40 minute presentation block where we were able to share body worships, skits, and even a Probert (Pastor Robert if you didn't read the last post) sermon.  We were even able to have a festive time of dancing and laughter when all was done.  

The party scene...

Thank you everybody for your prayers as we were able to turn a small 2 hour night into a huge night of food, fellowship, gospel sharing, and even church encouraging.  There is only so much more time left to write this blog and so many words that can be typed to fully describe all that needs to be described regarding the people we met and the ministry we had here in Japan for the last month.  We hope that as we were able to share a couple of posts and pictures with you, we were able to keep your prayer lists refreshed and your heart hungry for the land of Japan to see Jesus.  

We will see you all back at home very soon!  Talk to us about what you saw and read here, for there is so much more than what these mere words and pictures can say, and we want to share all the blessings we've received here with you back at home.  ,

goodbye for now~!

<3 Japhana

(currently Sanji, the anpan baker, and the k.o. crew)