Month: July 2012

heading home

Finally, a moment when I am both awake and have wifi! This has been an eventful trip. We visited a gazillion churches, a pastor’s conference, ministries to students, factory workers, and to the homeless. We took pictures, recorded video interviews, and had lots of conversations using translators. We ate many kinds of Japanese food, some Filipino food, but also enjoyed some Mcdonalds and Subway. We had tears and laughs. After all is evaluated, I don’t think we will have accomplished every one of our objectives for the trip, but we did begin a number of new relationships, and cemented many old ones. Thanks to all of you who prayed for us, and to those who helped provide for us.

monuments

We have visited several places already, and are due to visit many others. We have seen smaller churches and larger ones. Some of the churches have traditional services, and others are more modern. We also visited a train station built around a tree. They have turned it into a shrine. People donate toward the upkeep of the shrine, and leave written prayers there in hopes of coercing the gods to be kind to them. Churches should not be like that, but many seem to be. They should be monuments to the greatness and grace of God, not to human greed.

first meal

Our first meal in Japan was quite a treat. We went to a steakhouse called Gusto. I was glad that I could recognize some of the items on the menu, even though it was not really necessary to read Japanese because all the items had pictures. I also enjoyed the drink bar, which had all the orange juice I could drink. I ate my rice with chopsticks but used a knife and fork for the burger and chicken.