Amysan

On Sunday, my team went to Nokendai Bible Fellowship. We were excited to see that some of the families from VBS came out to service.  There was a 6 minute slideshow presentation of the kids throughout the week which I think the parents enjoyed.  Then we got the kids to come up and sing one of the songs they learned for us.  Fun stuff!  After service, the other 9 members of our team arrived and we were suddenly a group of 18 again.  We had a time of fellowship with the families and the entire VBS team over sushi potluck at the church.  The sushi was purchased at Costco!  It was fairly delicious.  Finally it was time to say goodbye.  It is quite possibly the hardest thing to do when coming on a short term missions trip.  You arrive at a foreign place knowing in advance that you are called to develop relationships and you work at developing relatoinships during the short time knowing also in advance that you will have to say goodbye.  There was a round of tears and hugs and “see you next year”.

Once the potluck was over, I could really feel things coming to a close.  It would be the last time we set foot in the Nokendai Community Center. And it was the last time we would be seeing the kids.  We made plans to have dessert with Shirley and Kohichi and their three daughters as a team of 18 ( we were loud North Americans in a quiet nearly deserted dessert shop). We shared our stories and laughter over the past week. We shared lessons learned, hardships endured and quirks of each member of the team.  We all agreed that given everything, it was still such a awesome experience to have taken part of.  Most of us would like to return next year.

The next morning, Monday, we took the train to Tokyo and met up with Richard (the other missionary) again.  He took us to Yurikamome – a new-ish amusement park area in Tokyo.  THe other team was able to spend the day there.  My team still had to see Asakusa.  The other team had gotten this tour earlier in the week.  So Richard took my team to Asakusa around mid afternoon.  Asakusa is home to one of the more famous Buddhist temples in Tokyo.  Richard gave us some history of the place and explained to us that Japanese people bring their children to this temple at an early age and dedicate them to false gods.  At every major event in their lives, these children return here to rededicate their lives to the false gods and ask for blessings.  When they have children, the tradition continues.    Richard read to us a verse from the BIble:

Isaiah 44:17-18

 17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
       he bows down to it and worships.
       He prays to it and says,
       “Save me; you are my god.”

 18 They know nothing, they understand nothing;
       their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
       and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

He said that when we bow to idols, we close our eyes and minds to the real truth – the truth of Jesus and the message of the gospel.  It is possible that part of the reason why Japan is such a lost nation is that they have been dedicating themselves to false gods for so long and from generation to generation, that their eyes are blind, and their minds are closed.  And they pass this trait onto their kids.  Part of the worship of idols is based on culture – people don’t actually know what it is they are doing, they just do it because that is how their parents raised them up. But after observing how people pray in the temple, it is apparent that some people pray very earnestly. There is something on their hearts or something happening in their lives that is truly desperate – they pray for mercy and healing perhaps – these are the people that Richard tries to share the gospel with at the temple. But more often than not, he gets a “No thank you – not interested”.

It is a grand structure, this Buddhist temple, but it is a sombering experience when you watch all these Japanese people coming here, some following culture and traditional, and others seeking earnestly for God and not realizing that they are so far from the mark.  Perhaps even more saddening is that they are unwilling to hear the truth.