Category: Missions

So, last Thursday was my day of infamy…where I felt harrassed at every corner by people who didn’t care that I couldn’t speak Japanese, but ended with a nice punctuation mark of bats in the moonlight, darting around catching mosquitoes. 

  This Thursday was quite different.  I talked with my eldest sister through Skype and checked in on my uncle Tom…things are completely out of the hands of the doctors…there is nothing at all they can do except make him comfortable…only God could change the course of this tide.  I managed to get all my lesson plans done for the rest of the week by 1:30ish.  I then stepped out to drop some postcards off at the post office.  I was already planning on having a late lunch at Brasserie Quixote, but the co-owner, Satsuki-san, had stepped out to take care of the potted pansies by the door, so I stopped to say hello to her.  She tried to rush me inside right away, but I showed her my postcards and motioned that I would come back. 

  They were waiting for me when I got back.  It was kind of funny.  Almost like they were staring intently at the door until I came through, and they all did a sort of cheer when I said hello!  I sat at the bar this time, and ordered my favorite of omuraiss.  People may laugh that I order the same thing…but I usually only go there once a week, and I know that I like the omuraiss…so why change?  🙂  I’m a creature of habit..especially when I can’t read what else is on the menu. 

  I’m so glad that God set up this place for me to have a ministry.  I really enjoy conversing with the people, and now that I’m learning some more Japanese, I can practice it with them, and get to know them more.  They correct me when I need it, and help me out…kind of an even trade as I share English with them that they don’t know.  It’s pretty much a hangout for people involved in the wind ensemble.  I found out the concert next month is just a pick-up concert…which I didn’t understand…but it’s just two solo instruments with the piano…the clarinet (my friend from my first visit, Shiroyama) and the flute.  Yashio-san (the conductor/restaurant owner) showed me the music and it looks really beautiful, so I’m very excited about it.  The clarinet piece is by Schumann and the flute piece is by Donjon, who I’ve never heard of, I’ll have to wiki him.

  I mentioned that I’m playing my violin at church this Sunday.  Yashio-san misunderstood me and thought I was asking if the restaurant was open on Sundays.  He abruptly said “Clooooosed” with a big grin.  I grinned back and said that I was playing my violin on Sunday for Mother’s Day.  I had to explain Mother’s Day, and then where exactly I was playing.  I had a brochure for the English ministry, which has a map for both sites, so I pointed to Kawanaka and he studied it, really curious about the kyookai (church).  I told him he could keep it, and another man there, Tanabe-san, asked for one as well.  I kind of left the topic at that, not wanting to put them in an awkward position by inviting them to hear me if they didn’t want to come.  But Yashio-san asked what time I would be playing.  So I told him it was at 10a, and then we both kind of trailed off to other topics.  I told Taka about it, and he seemed to think that was encouraging that he might actually come to hear me play!  And with that, Taka is preaching that morning, so maybe he (and anyone he might bring with him) will hear the Gospel!  Please please PLEASE pray that he might come and hear…it would be amazing to me if it actually happened! 

  Another great point…I was relaying the story to Taka and Samantha, and I was afraid I was pronouncing Shiroyama’s name wrong.  So I corrected myself and said, Shiriyama.  Taka started up and asked me what her name was again.  I repeated, Shiriyama…and said, “It means ‘White Mountain’.”  Taka started laughing really hard and corrected me that it is really Shiroyama and to never make that mistake again.  Turns out the Shiri means “butt” and I was actually calling her the misfortunate name of “Butt Mountain.”  I’m soooooo glad I made that mistake in front of a teammate and not another Japanese person, or worse! one of the ensembles members and Shiroyama.  So crazy how one letter difference changes the whole meaning! 

So, right across the Kanmon Strait, on the other island of Kyushu, in the prefecture of Kitakyushu, you will find Moji.  Moji is a port city, and it seems to have been one of the first places really modernized in Japan.  It became the hub for trends and international products for Japan in the 1920’s.  This makes it particularly enjoyable for shopping and walking and whatnot in present day.  One part has been designated at Mojiko, and it has the oldest train station building in all of Japan.  It is really neat.  Since it’s Japan, naturally the structures have the pointed and elaborate style of Japanese buildings…but with the foreign influence, especially that of the Dutch, a lot of the buildings reflect the slated decorations of Holland buildings.  It is a really neat area to go explore and to walk around.  The ocean is on one side, and then mountains form the backdrop for the other. 

Yesterday, we went to the museum that Eri used to work at.  It’s a historical museum for Shimonoseki/Moji area, focusing on the developments in that region, some of the folklore and whatnot, and the major battles that occurred.  I couldn’t take any pictures, but the exhibits were so elaborate!  Some were made of paper, some clay, some fabric, wood, etc…they were artistic renderings of the historical people and events of Shimonoseki.  I learned that as a legend, the strait was blocked by a small mountain, with only a little hole in the middle to allow passage of small ships.  One day, the empress and her fleet was going through the strait to meet the enemy on the other side.  In the night, the mountain was mysteriously taken away, and the strait was opened up for the fleet to pass, allowing for the empress’ victory.  The remains of the mountain moved from their place and formed the island of Hikoshima (the place I walk to frequently).  It was an interesting story, myth, of course…but very neat.  The part of the strait that had been blocked is actually where the great Shimonoseki Bridge spans across between the islands.

It was a really nice time yesterday because Samantha is done with her schoolwork for the year, and so is a little less stressed out.  Also, Eri and her sister Ayako are Christians, and that makes for a very nice time of fellowship.  They both speak English very, very, very well.  Ayako is 24 (I think) and lives and works in Fukuoka, so she’s not up here often, but she came up for Golden Week and we got to hang out.  Eri is 19 and is quickly becoming a good friend for me.  I have a link to the pictures I took below, so feel free to check them out!  Oh, I’m particularly pleased with one photo that I took of a little performance monkey. Oh, and we saw the same trick artist performing on the boardwalk.  It was funny…he yelled at me for having my hands clasped (to support me as I was sitting kind of funny) while he wanted everyone to clap, or be prepared to clap.  Very fun time!  Everyone have a great week!  And thanks for your prayers with my uncle.  I really appreciate them.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109608&l=93f41&id=500635206

I wanted to ask for prayer from you this morning/evening.  My dad is in Alabama right now visiting with my Uncle Tom who has been fighting a severe form of cancer for the last several months.  He has been back in the hospital for a few days and is not doing well at all.  He is so weak and things do not look good.  There are three new tumors that have sort of converged on each other, forming a massive growth all along his waist, clear from his back and across his stomach.  They are so large that it makes him look about four months pregnant.  The doctors have just declared that it is inoperable, but they haven’t given any timeframe.  They have him on a high level of morphine, so there are some moments when he’s very lucid (I talked to Dad and he said that he was very jovial with some of the many visitors that he’s been having) but other times he’s slurring his words and in extreme pain.

Please pray for him.  God can still heal him completely…because God is a God of miracles.  I know that God can use my uncle to demonstrate His power to the world.  But if it’s not His will, pray for Tom’s wife, Cindy, and their children, Candi and Jody.  Candy, herself, has some medical problems as she had a stroke maybe two years ago (from a combination of migraine medication and birth control) and she is now pregnant.  She’s under close watch of her doctors, but they say everything looks great for her.  (Candi’s also married to Chad and they have a sweet little girl named Carleigh)

And pray for my family too…this will be the first time someone close to me has passed away.  I know there’s nothing that I could do, but being so far away, I feel even more powerless.  I know that God will comfort me, but it’s sad that I can’t be with my family during this time.  But God knows what He’s doing, and I will focus my heart on the hope and joy of seeing my uncle again in heaven.

Thanks for your prayers. 🙂

Today was a day characterized by failure in communication.  Rather, it was a good day, amidst a few bad conversations.  Let me explain:

On my way to mail a letter that I was extremely happy to mail, I stepped up to the crosswalk, pushed the button for the signal to come up, and then waited alongside the busy street.  The intersection isn’t so much an intersection as much as the busy Yamato Street and a few businesses that needed an outlet on to the street and a place for pedestrians to cross easily.  Therefore, it takes a long time before the signal decides to stop the traffic and let people and bicycles to cross.  As I was waiting, an older woman rode up on her bicycle.  She had a white mask over her face and when she arrived at the intersection, she dismounted and pulled the mask down to her chin.  I said “Konichiwa!” proudly and was answered with another “konichiwa” and a strand of phrases in Japanese that I have no idea what they mean.  I promptly told her, “I don’t understand Japanese” in Japanese, which usually stops any further flow of dialog, especially with older Japanese people.  However, this seemed to only throw fuel on the fire.  As she clutched her bicycle handles, she raised her voice and sent another set of Japanese phrases at me…in the flurry of words, she released her bicycle and began making wild motions at me with her hands.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  So I again said, “wakarimasen…sumimasen (I don’t understand…I’m sorry).” and then looked away from her.  She kept muttering things…even yelled at a woman walking on the other side of the street.  She picked up her speech with me again, and made a motion to push the button.  She thought this whole time that I hadn’t pushed the button and that we were going to stand there for all eternity until someone else walked up and pushed the button for us to cross.  The light changed and I motioned for her to go…which she did and then quickly passed me and I ducked into the post office, much relieved.

The second occurence happened after I disembarked from the train at the Ayaragi station.  There had been a young woman on the train sitting across from me with bright pink and white striped socks that came up to her knees, and thick eyeliner on, coming out from her eyes in a line, true 60’s-70’s style.  I was walking away from the station setting out to walk up to the church when I felt a tap right in the middle of my back.  I turned around and the woman started asking me something in Japanese.  I thought maybe I had left something on the train…but she didn’t have anything…just herself and her rapidly spoken Japanese.  I heard her say, “America” and I answered in the affirmative, hoping it would trigger her using English.  It didn’t, surprisingly, because at her age she would have studied English through most of her time at school…but she seemed like she didn’t know any English.  I told her I was an English teacher, and then we were at an impass.  She kept talking to me, no matter how many times I told her I didn’t understand.  I think I finally got what she was trying to tell me…she pointed at me and said, “Kawai!  kawai!”  which means, cute!  So, either she thought I was cute, or my outfit was cute.  I think I heard her say “German.” But I wasn’t about to open THAT door with my two phrases of, “Sprechensi deutch?” and “Komensin hir mein kin.” and don’t forget gazundheit.  After a while of awkwardness, she said goodbye and went off in the other direction.

The third and last event was again at the Ayaragi station waiting for the train to come for Shimonoseki.  It was running a little late, but they usually are in the evenings.  An elderly woman was sitting down in the station and an older business man had just arrived in a taxi, and I was sitting down as well, just a seat down from the woman.  The man asked the woman something and since they were pointing and looking at the timetable, I assumed it was about the train being late.  Then he turned to me and asked me something in Japanese.  I told him I didn’t understand Japanese…getting tired of using that phrase.  Like the others, it didn’t stop him one bit as he went on and on, earnestly seeking an answer from me to his question that I had no idea what he was asking!  He wore himself out and turned around.  Me, in my goofiness and…possibly…idiocy…pulled out my phrase book and managed to say that the train was late…the woman answered, “choto…choto”  (a little bit, a little bit).  The man revived and started talking to me again in Japanese…I said quickly that I am an English teacher…and he said something which I assumed was him asking me where I taught at.  I told him Shimonoseki Christian Center.  I handed him a flyer and told him to keep it.  He said without hardly any accent in English, “I want to teach me English.”  Heh.  I told him to call the number and get the information…but since we could no longer communicate, I said goodbye and walked out to the platform.

In all of this…the day was still, however, a good one because, walking back from the church to Ayaragi station, I found myself surrounded by a group of bats swooping down and catching the mosquitos all around me.  It was amazing, and I was so excited.  Yes, I was excited about the bats.  I’m weird, but you know this.  So, after all this…at least there were bats.  🙂

I’m pretty sure that I forgot to mention my fiasco on Sunday.  I wanted to wear a particular tank top, but discovered that the straps were a little long and would make things kind of uncomfortable during the day…so I decided to fix them.  I had enough time to hem them up before we had to leave for the train to go to church…so, I pulled out the needle and thread that I bought, planning ahead for such a calamity, and went to work.  I folded over the strap and began to stitch the bottoms of the loops.  I was feeling very proud of myself at that moment until I finished both straps and found that the loops now stuck straight out from my back…I would have to attach the other side of the loops, but I had no time.  Suddenly, a memory of something mom told me from a coworker flashed into my mind and I grabbed a stapler and stapled the other side of the loops.  It worked…and held all day.  I had my first epiphane of being a real missionary – making due with what you have – and boasted of it to the women on my team…they laughed and thought that I would be proud of my sewing my top…nope, I was proud of the staples.

I believe that my trek up Oinoyama Park and back again, on Monday, and then our tour through Moji and then even under the ocean, has made a blister come up deep under my skin between my toes.  It’s kind of painful…but after a while, it won’t hurt as much…but I’d appreciate your prayers for my recovery.  My flip flops are feeling kind of lonesome and I’m going to be walking all around Karato this Saturday and they will hate to be left behind.

I had my Wednesday class with the school teachers.  We were covering “should have/shouldn’t have.”  We were given a situation and then we had to come up with a “Well, you should have…” “and you shouldn’t have…”  The situation was, “My parents are very angry with me.  I almost failed my English test.”  It was Miwa’s turn to answer, and her response was, “Well, you should have studied harder and you shouldn’t have shown your parents.”  I could not help but laugh out loud…she chuckled, kind of surprised at herself…and then the other figured out the English and laughed as well.  It was a really funny moment…the kind we don’t have very often in there. 

With Misa, we were going over idioms and proverbs again.  I printed out a big list of common idioms and as we went through each one discussing the meaning, she pointed out that there are the sameones in Japanese too.  She thought that was really interesting that we could be so different and yet have the same proverbs.  She has always been very open to the Gospel so I tried to introduce some thoughts.  Proverbs are meant to convey a truth about mankind through an illustration.  Even though we are halfway around the world from each other and have completely different cultures, truths about humanity are the same.  Truth doesn’t change, only the subjects do.  She completely agreed on that point…and then moved on to the next idiom.  I wanted so badly to say, there is only one Truth because there is only One God who made us all.  But she is open and I feel like God could not be allowing her so much exposure to the Gospel without her receiving it at some point.  Pray for her.  I only get a half an hour with her, but we share so much in that time.  Her English is great and we have a great time together.

PS.  I am now a legal alien in Japan.  Here’s my proof:

Now, aren’t you glad you know me?  🙂

PSS, I have pictures the Korean restaurant, not a ton, but they are there nonetheless:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107691&l=49ac3&id=500635206

Today was a blast!  Samantha and I were invited by Hanae to go travel through Moji for shopping today.  It ended up being an all-day adventure.  Today (4/29) is a national holiday commemorating the former emperor’s birthday! so everyone was off work…unless you work in retail and food…of course.  But it was very nice.  We took a bus from Shimonoseki Station to Karato, and then a ferry across the Kanmon Strait to Kyushu island…a completely other island of Japan.  It’s kind of funny, because it’s a big deal to us outsiders, but to the natives of Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu, they don’t really care.  Anywho, we went around shopping and checking out some places and then stopped for food.  We saw a guy doing stunts, like juggling flaming torches on top of three boards separated by kitchen glasses and balanced on a round thingy…and then he ate one of the torches.

I found some great postcards, and a little pottery piece in which I can grow mini-sunflowers.  I have named it Sophie and cannot wait for the 20 days for it to bloom!  I love sunflowers!  We ate a very nice restaurant called Mermaid Cafe and then went up the top of the observatory tower and checked out the area from a heighth of 30-stories.  It was great.  We soon countered the heighth with a depth of 14-stories and walked a tunnel stretching underneath the Kanmon Strait (yes, under the Pacific Ocean), between the two islands…but first we walked along the coast promenade and were nearly blasted by the waves of ships passing by. 

After a full day of walking around the area, we boarded a bus back to Shimonoseki and parted ways as Samantha and I decided to go to Green Mall for dinner.  It’s a street that is full of Korean shops and restaurants.  I really wanted bulgogi and Samantha wanted some Bi Bim Bop.  We went up and down the street looking for something we might recognize, and came across a shop called Finally Ghetto…on the awning is all this writing saying, “The Lord is my Strength” and “The God of Elijah, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob”  Of course, mystified, we went inside.  It’s owned by a man from Nigeria who has been here for 15 years…had the shop for that long.  The clothing and accessories were definitely of the urban style and so funny to have both things in the Korean section of a Japanese city.  We were amazed.  We told him about International Cafe and he was excited to hear about it so I’m going to take him a flyer when we get it printed off.

Not to mention that as we were looking for a restaurant we stopped in front of one place looking at the pictures.  A young man stepped out from beside the building and I asked him, “bulgogi?”  Samantha is so funny because she sometimes thinks I can’t communicate with anyone since I don’t know Japanese well at all yet, but I have fun just asking people on the street for help.  It gives me a good experience, and something for them to laugh about afterwards.  It’s the only way I can start building relationships with people here…by meeting people.  In the clearest English I’ve heard in a while, he said, “Oh, you like bulgogi?  You can get it here.  I work here, come in.”  After a while, his English kind of faltered, but he was a faithful attendant as we ordered and figured out what to do.  They turned on a grill right on our table and brought out my seasoned beef raw for me to cook myself.  It was interesting.  We told him about International Cafe too, and he was excited to know that we are English teachers.  His name is Tetsu, you can pray for him.  He says he’s at work a lot, but he wants to come down to the Center to talk with us sometime. 

We came back and unloaded from the long day.  I poured Sophie’s soil and planted the seeds, and loaded up the pictures from our adventure.  The link is below, please enjoy!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107691&l=49ac3&id=500635206

  As promised, I went to Brasserie Quixote for lunch yesterday.  It was great.. Samantha was supposed to go with me, but we misjudged the time and she had a class starting at 1 so she couldn’t go with me.  So, I went by myself…which was still a blast!  I started off from the Center and went to the traffic light to cross the street.  As I was walking up, I saw a man drive up next to the little restaurant, park and get out.  He waved at the woman walking up to the crosswalk and she waved back and then he went inside.  I figured she knew him, so I said, “Konichiwa” and motioned to the restaurant and asked if it was good food (through English and hand motions…I’m not that good at Japanese at all yet).  She looked at me then nodded and said yes.  I motioned that I was hungry, and the light turned so we started walking.  She had several bags in her hands, but continued on to the door of the restaurant.  She motioned for me to come inside, and we were the only three people in the place.  It was slightly bigger than the other restaurant, but not really that much bigger. 

  She said something to the man/owner, and he grinned and motioned for me to have a seat.  At this point, I kind of froze.  I didn’t know what to do.  I sat down with my back against the wall so that I could keep my eyes on the restaurant…I wanted to be an active observer if a lot of people came in.  No one else came in, though…the whole time I was there.  He asked me what I wanted to eat, and I asked if he had udon…which he said no.  I froze again.  I had my Japanese phrase book out and began flipping frantically through the menu listing in it.  He came over to the table and was looking at the book…I still didn’t have any idea.  Every time I mentioned something, he said no.  So, I showed him my book, and asked him to look through the listings.  The menu had both the hiragana/katakana and the romanji (english transliteration), and then the English translation.  He then pointed at an egg omelette with fried rice (omuraiss) and asked if that was ok.  I nodded quickly and he was off behind the counter to start cooking. 

  While I was waiting for my food, the woman came over and began to talk with me.  I think she felt bad that I was sitting by myself…but neither of us had much understanding of each others’ language.  We picked through some random comments and phrases…and got our names settled, and even our ages.  I asked if the owner was her father…at this point he had come back and was watching us talk and would add his name and age and whatnot as the questions rose up.  He had pretty good English…much better than the woman…and much better than my Japanese.  Turns out that he is the conductor for the Shimonoseki Wind Ensemble and Shirayama plays the clarinet.  I was so excited…since music, more than anything, is my second language…so I asked when the next concert was.  It’s June 15th at 2pm, and I told them I want to go.  It’s a free concert and the man is going to bring my ticket down to the Center for me once they’re cut.  Shirayama has a solo for that concert too, so I’m excited to go and hear!  I was really sad that I didn’t get to hear the Cincinnati Symphony before I left…so I’m excited to be able to listen to a large instrumental group play while I’m here.  They were excited that I play violin too.  They were really interested in it.  I’m not near as good as the Japanese violinists, but it did provide some great conversation for us in the next hour and half that I was there. 

  By the way, did I mention that the Cranes, another family on our team here, used to work for the Cincinnati Symphony??  David was concert master and I forget what Marcy did, but I talked with David about the directors and guest instrumentalists…he has met Joshua Bell!  and Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and Paavo Jaarvi, and Erich Kunzel.  I was soo jealous…I mean…Joshua Bell and Paavo!  I would love to meet either of those men…but just to hear them in concert is enough.  I’ve seen Paavo conduct the CSO several times, and Erich…but I have yet to see Joshua Bell perform.  That would be a dream come true.

  So, back to the restaurant..I’m very excited.  I’m going to frequent that place.  I have been praying for God to give me a focal point, and to give it to me quickly, so that I can be the most productive with my time here.  He has, in my student Mika and her friend Hiroka, and now in this restaurant.  I’m hoping to be able to build some good relationships with these people.  Yesterday Mika stopped by the Center to give me some special udon noodles.  Her parents were in the car waiting for her, so I went down to meet them and they were very nice.  I’m very glad that I got to meet them and they can see who their daughter is spending time with.  It’s very hard to meet Japanese families, and you are seldom invited into their homes, so I’m glad God provided that opportunity for me to meet them. 

  On another note, the ladies on my team met up today for a prayer time.  I am so excited that I get to serve with these wonderful women.  They are great, and I feel like I am going to learn so much from them.  Aki said today that it seems I’ve been here for such a long time already…she has to remind herself that I’ve only been here for a few weeks.  She said I fit in perfectly.  Isn’t that how God works?  🙂