Japan Mission Trip Blog - check it out

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Hi everyone.

You probably noticed Warrior4Christ and I are back from our Mission Trip to Japan. Actually we got back on the 22nd of July, but whatever. Thank you to all of you who prayed for us. We had a great time. It was a challenging, but definetly a strengthening (and stretching) experience.
If you wish to see a bit of what we got upto we have a mission team blog you can check out at:



[url]gracehope2006.blogspot.com[/url]


(just click the link)


On the right of the blog you can access the previous days also (under 'Previous')

If you wish to spot Sam (Warrior4Christ) and I (Warrior4Jesus) on Day 5 of the blog Sam is the guy wearing the shades and a blue striped shirt and I'm the guy sitting down at a table making crosses and singing and wearing thongs (or flip-flops) whatever you guys in the US call them.

If you have other questions to ask not answered on the blog don't hesitate to email or PM either me or Sam.


Thanks and God Bless!

[oro!]

You seemed to have a lot of fun.
Here are some questions:

1. How did the culture shock feel/progress?

2. What do you think your group's spiritual impact was?

3. What was your favorite time?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Hey Oro!,

1. The culture shock was more advanced for some of us. I had never been on a plane and overseas, let alone gone on a mission trip before. For me going from Narita Airport and going through Tokyo to get to Ome (where the church we were working alongside is) was overwhelming. There were powerlines everywhere, massive skyscrapers everywhere, concrete and steel galore. There was a severe lack of room to move. This is stark contrast to living in a city of 1 million people. It was interesting to see that while there was a lot of buildings etc in Japan, they were mostly very clean (maybe not the most athestically pleasing ones though) and greenery was found in many places it wouldn't normally be found. I can see where some anime/manga people got some of their ideas - the city looked like it was in the process of being taken back by nature. There was also a severe lack of trees to be found.

Japan is a very clean and orderly place, it is also very crammed. It's just as well most Japanese are polite. They are a hard culture to penetrate (possibly the most difficult in the world. They place a huge importance on being part of the group and doing your best at everything and more. Being an individual in general is frowned upon, but some of the less welcome 'imports' from the Western World are making their mark there. In general most people were well-mannered but it was all very much surface communication.

2. Our time with the Japanese people at the church we worked alongside was valuable. They were much more open (some still not being Christians). The thing we found as a group was that we noticed some of God's work in what we were doing and just had to trust that God was taking care of the rest. Much of what we did was behind the scenes for Japanese Vaction Bible School, among many other things. Some constructed a new sign for the church. We all went to a Bible Camp in the mountains to do much needed renovations. We went to parks and evangelised, we went to schools and sang songs about Jesus love. A mission trip is a lesson of God's love, learning to grow in your faith and have humility.

3. My favourite time mission-wise was going to the elementary and highschools to sing and tell the kids about Jesus love for them. They were Christian schools but the majority of kids were not Christians. They loved us (and I'm sure they saw Jesus in what we did). I also really enjoyed going to the park and mucking around with the kids, doing balloon animals and singing there.

My favourite time tourist-wise (had two days off) was going to Studio Ghibli Museum at Mitaka in Tokyo. That was awesome! Made me appreciate Miyazaki and his team's work all the more.

Thanks mate!

[Photosoph]

Aw man! Studio Ghibli Museum!!! X3

It's good to have you back, and from the quick reading I did from some of the entries on the blog, it sounds like you had a really good time.
How did you cope with the language barrier? Did you already know some Japanese (I mean... more than 'Kawaii!' and 'Gambate!', which is basically all that I know. ^_^" ) or did you have a translator with your group?

It must've been cool to be part of a Japanese church service. ^_^ What a great experience!

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Soph, good to see you mate! I hope your health is going well. The language barrier was a tough one definetly. Sam (Warrior4Christ) my bro, helped translate some stuff for us but most of the time we had the American missionaries to help us out, or one or two of the Japanese church members. I knew some very basic Japanese which helped a bit, but knowing more would have helped. Yeah, the Japanese church service was a great experience. Quite different buy eye-opening indeed.
God Bless!

[shojoiscool2]

that is so cool, I would love to do that one day

[RubyJewelStone]

That was awsome. I'm glad you all could go over there and do a bit of work followed by a whole lot of fun.
Mission trips rawk. <3

[Sammy Boy]

Hey that's so good to know you two went on a short term mission trip. May God continue to lead and use you in the future.