Looking Back to Osaka

Greetings from Kobe!

I recently returned to Kobe from my summer in Osaka. I do apologize for not posting updates on a regular basis. My schedule was not as consistent as I had wanted and I never put time aside to write for the blog. Since I am back in Kobe and getting back into my “normal” life, I thought it would be the right time to write about what has happened over the summer. Since it will get to be a bit long, I'm going to write another post about my future plans here in Japan.

Looking Back to Osaka:

My first week in Osaka I was meeting the missionaries and getting accustomed to Osaka's Subway system. It was nice to be meeting and working with fellow Americans serving in Japan, not only because they spoke English primarily but also because they reminded me of people that I served with stateside over the years. I was also introduced to the Universities where our ministries were primarily focused and the Japanese church that we were partnered with.

Around the second week, our first short term team arrived. While we initially planned to have the team do some evangelism around the city but because this team had been connected with Japanese students who had been exchange students who had stayed at their local university, their focus shifted to relationship building and connecting them with the missionaries in Osaka. The good relationships helped create opportunities for spiritual conversation and talking about the Gospel.

The second short term team was much smaller but attracted a larger group. Much like the first team, they had made connections with exchange students while in the United States, and we threw a party for the students to reunite with their hosts from America. It was a nice large party and made several contacts, including a few who consistently brought other students to meet our Osaka team even after the short term team left. Since we had some college interns coming while the second team was here, I was given the task of guiding them around Osaka, primarily around Namba. It was good to spend some personal time with the small team.

As I mentioned above, we had a small group of college interns, who served with us for five weeks. They were young but all had experience with missions prior to coming to Japan. Their enthusiasm was great and I was glad to work with them for the summer. They continued to build relationships with Japanese college students and encouraging them towards spiritual discussions. In a way, it made me feel a bit old when I recognized some of my old tendencies from when I was that age and serving in the youth group, but it also made me feel encouraged that these young men and women were getting started on their missions journey at a much younger age than I. I look forward to seeing them again, either as career missionaries, in Japan or elsewhere, or as leaders for short term teams.

One of the last teams I worked with was one that I was given extra responsibilities. I was their guide through the Osaka Subway. I'd meet them at their rental in the morning and escort them to the morning meeting spot, then in the evening I'd escort them back to their rental, and in between I would be doing the ministry of the day. So for most of the week I was escorting a dozen people through the Osaka Subway during the morning and evening rush hours. I don't say this to complain, in fact this group was excellent in staying together and we grew more friendly over time, but I will just say it was one of the times that I most consistently in a crowded subway car, more so when I was not with the team ironically. Even in the crowded subway, one member of the team, and a member of the smaller group I worked with, would find opportunities to talk with strangers on the train. I was both astonished and blessed to see such boldness for Christ for that member in particular. (the whole team was good, but this member was exceptional).

This was also the week that I finally had a chance to do what I always imagined a missionary's job being, doing outreach on the sidewalk. We did several outreach events, one we did during the morning was called “What's Your Dream” where we would ask people to write what their dream on a white board and we would post a picture on Facebook. We would then use this as a jumping point to share about our dream/calling to serve God. We did a different outreach in the afternoon which I had a bit more success with, at least in starting conversations. I was rough at first but after a while I had several good conversations, as far as the language barrier permitted. Even with the language barrier, the material we had was in Japanese, so I was able to hand out several tracts (one of which is "Manga Mission", which is the Gospel message presented in the form of a Japanese comicbook.) to people who seemed willing to listen.

While I was in Osaka, I attended a Japanese church, that the some of the career missionaries attend, which has a College ministry focus. We had a Friday evening outreach every week which was good, there were many good opportunities for spiritual conversations, including one evening where think a Japanese student came to Christ (although I have not been able to follow up on that since I did not know who it was). I also got connected with a Sunday small group and got to have conversations with Christians, both Japanese and American.

Prayer Requests:

Pray for each of the short term teams. They have already returned to the States, but pray that God keeps their hearts for the mission. Especially pray those who worked with exchange students. Their work tilled the soil while these students were in America and helped them to be more open to the message from us serving in Japan.

Pray for the Japanese exchange students. Many of the students showed an interest in Christianity while in the states, a few even professed to be saved. But in returning to Japan, they go back to their Japanese ways and even a few who have professed to be saved have set their Christianity aside because they are back in Japan. Please pray that we can crack that cultural bubble and let them know that they can be Christian and Japanese, especially in Japan. But there is also some who are experiencing the reverse, they have returned to Japan with a different and more critical outlook on Japanese culture. Pray that God will use this discontentment with Japanese culture to open their eyes to the Gospel.

Pray for the career missionaries working in Osaka. The college ministry that the couple I was working with grew exponentially over the summer. They have many new contacts to follow up on and relationships to build. I've also heard of other works God is doing with the other missionaries on the team in Osaka. Please pray that God will help them be effective ministers to the Japanese people but also to bring more workers to the harvest.

Here are a few specific people to pray for.

K – a young woman I met during the outreach we did. While we ran into the language barrier pretty hard towards the end, I gave her a tract with some information including contact information for the ministry in Osaka. But I also bring her up because as our team packed up to leave, we saw several Jehovah's Witnesses set up near by. Pray that God gives her, and many others who we've witnessed to, to come to know Christ as savior and to have the wisdom to not fall for false teachings.

H – a young man who returned from his exchange program recently, he has been struggling lately with depression and getting mixed up with the wrong group of friends. When I first met him, he had a black eye and even confessed to getting drunk from time to time. But he is talking with missionaries regularly and is growing to trust us. Please pray that he can come to know the Lord and be freed from his depression.

Z - a young man who was recently saved. He has a good heart and is learning about Christ but has been caught in the middle of some church politics. Please pray that he grows in wisdom through the Word and patients in the midsts of these trials.

And as for me, Please continue to pray for my ministry in Japan. I'm back in Kobe and getting ready to start things back up here. I've also been encouraged to expand my horizons here and I will be taking on some additional responsibilities and maybe some new outreach opportunities.

Also a praise, I received my visa and will be staying in Kobe for the next year at least. I will go into more in the next post.

Also pray for my roommate. He filled in for me while I was in Osaka and he is here for another two weeks. It is nothing personal, nor is it that we don't get along but for his sake, I will spare the details and just say that there is some tension in the apartment about certain responsibilities.

That will be all for tonight, but I will be getting the next part out later this week, if not by tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

God bless,

Carl