Hello friends of Japan!
Beland posting today. Thanks be to God and little drinkable vitamins from the HBC staff, everybody on the team is alive and well!
Thus far (just about half way through the trip), the team has begun building many significant relationships with our new friends in Japan. We concentrate our visits to 2 universities in the area and have met probably over 50 people by now. Many of them have become real friends and Facebook friends, and many have been exposed to the truth of the gospel through our words and actions.
Saturday events:
The team spent the majority of the day in one of the oldest cities in Japan–Kyoto. Even though everyone was exhausted by the near 100% humidity + summer temperatures, the day was filled with many meaning conversations with both the Japanese college students as well as many church members who joined us on our trip!
Hundreds of years ago, Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan. The ancient city has preserved many rich historical and cultural aspects of Japan that can still be observed today. Since most of these historical landmarks are either temples or palaces preserved from the past, it made sense that they filled our Kyoto visitation itinerary.
In addition to the 8 STM team members, our group contained about 10 university students and 6 members of Hamadera Bible Church (which included members of the Okada and Mortimer family!)
Here are some pictures to highlight the day for you:
Beland posting today. Thanks be to God and little drinkable vitamins from the HBC staff, everybody on the team is alive and well!
Thus far (just about half way through the trip), the team has begun building many significant relationships with our new friends in Japan. We concentrate our visits to 2 universities in the area and have met probably over 50 people by now. Many of them have become real friends and Facebook friends, and many have been exposed to the truth of the gospel through our words and actions.
Saturday events:
The team spent the majority of the day in one of the oldest cities in Japan–Kyoto. Even though everyone was exhausted by the near 100% humidity + summer temperatures, the day was filled with many meaning conversations with both the Japanese college students as well as many church members who joined us on our trip!
Hundreds of years ago, Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan. The ancient city has preserved many rich historical and cultural aspects of Japan that can still be observed today. Since most of these historical landmarks are either temples or palaces preserved from the past, it made sense that they filled our Kyoto visitation itinerary.
In addition to the 8 STM team members, our group contained about 10 university students and 6 members of Hamadera Bible Church (which included members of the Okada and Mortimer family!)
Here are some pictures to highlight the day for you:
Touring this Buddhist temple allowed for many good conversations concerning the gospel vs. Japanese religions. Though many of the students come from non-religious backgrounds, they recognize the importance of Buddhism to their culture and will sometimes visit a Buddhist Temple or a Shinto Shrine to offer a prayer concerning their studies, career and relationships.
Located inside of the Buddhist Temple is this Shinto Love Shrine (pictured right). Despite the fact that Shintoism teaches animism (everything has a god) and Buddhism teaches that there is no god (everybody has a chance to become a buddha), the Japanese people believe that these two religions can complement each other. Thus, this Shrine is conveniently located behind the main hall of Kiyomizu temple.
The rest of the day was filled with much walking and celebrity sightings.
Located inside of the Buddhist Temple is this Shinto Love Shrine (pictured right). Despite the fact that Shintoism teaches animism (everything has a god) and Buddhism teaches that there is no god (everybody has a chance to become a buddha), the Japanese people believe that these two religions can complement each other. Thus, this Shrine is conveniently located behind the main hall of Kiyomizu temple.
The rest of the day was filled with much walking and celebrity sightings.
I don’t know what happened here exactly but, these two girls on the bus must have thought they hit the jackpot when they ran into Nicole Kidman (Shannon’s Japanese alias)… so Shannon had to prove that she was not Nicole by showing them her name tag identification. Still, the girls probably wanted to check the facts, so they took her name down for further research.
We were supposed to visit another Japanese zen garden to sit down and relax for a while but it was “close up” at 5pm so we wandered about the streets of Kyoto on foot for quite a while until we reached a small park. There, the team enjoyed so more good conversations with students before we said our goodbyes for the day.
We try our best to exchange our American culture with the Japanese students, so among some of the activities we did at the park was throwing the football around. Tatsuki, one of our favorite new Japanese friends (pictured below), made some quick improvements to his football throwing skills in just a few tosses. He’s got pretty good form for his first time!
We were supposed to visit another Japanese zen garden to sit down and relax for a while but it was “close up” at 5pm so we wandered about the streets of Kyoto on foot for quite a while until we reached a small park. There, the team enjoyed so more good conversations with students before we said our goodbyes for the day.
We try our best to exchange our American culture with the Japanese students, so among some of the activities we did at the park was throwing the football around. Tatsuki, one of our favorite new Japanese friends (pictured below), made some quick improvements to his football throwing skills in just a few tosses. He’s got pretty good form for his first time!
We had ramen for dinner and headed back home. What a great day! It was great way to get to know the college students a little more while ministering to and with the church families at HBC!
Great picture of the team, students, and missionary families walking toward the late afternoon sun. This is a pretty typical picture of our “ministry activities.” Japan needs the gospel and this is how our team brings it to the people here.
Lastly, for your enjoyment, a picture of our favorite team member, Tony Wu.
Lastly, for your enjoyment, a picture of our favorite team member, Tony Wu.