Week 1

Sorry it took so long to get this thing up and truly rolling, things in Japan have just started to settle into the groove for the summer. Let me start at the begining with the flight.

The flight over wasn't as bad as I expected. It took just under 13 hrs, but the weird thing was that because we were chasing the sun, it never got dark. For the people in the plane it was something like a 36 hour day. It was hard to nap on the plane mostly due to lack of room. You could however watch movies until you passed out, so I tried that a couple times.

Thankfully when I and the rest of the people from the Sunland area arrived in Tokyo the SIJ team kept us moving so we could avoid jet lag for the most part. They immediately herded us to a train where we started our journey to the Olympic center where we would be staying. The Olympic center I believe was created for the Nagano Olympics a couple years back and has dorm like facilities and a couple classrooms. We slept in one person rooms a little bigger than a closet but overall the place was
amazing. It had its own convenience store, 3 restaurants and a whole bunch of sports areas. Mostly we just woke up early, headed to breakfast- let's talk about breakfast for a second. The Japanese have a very different idea of breakfast it seems. They go ahead and use lunch and dinner food for breakfast for the most part with no distinction. SO for my first breakfast in Japan it was Miso soup, spaghetti, Nato (fermented beans-I had to try it once) , and a whole lot of white rice. White rice is pretty much available at every meal. IT was different but not bad. typically after breakfast we would break into our teams for the previously assigned devotion of the day. This was awesome as it gave me some opportunity to learn more about my team and spend some time in the word together.

A quick rundown of the team-
Konoko is a young Japanese woman who travels between Shizuoka and Penn state recruiting people to come to minister in Japan. She always has an amazing attitude and even though she's very young she has that "wise beyond her years thing" going for her. She has acted as our primary liaison for the most part in Japan, and elps hold the Shiz BEST club together.
Mandy is what they call a "midtermer" in the ministry in Japan. which means she signed up for a 2 year term and for the most part is a fulltime in the ministy here. She is a great encourager, has a great sense of humor and is is actively seeking God while in Japan.
Elbert is the other midtermer in Shiz. He rarely runs out of energy, loves the Japanese people and culture and has been awesome showing us the ropes the first couple days. He did the SIJ thing a couple years ago and then finished up at Penn state and came back to minister more.
Thomas is from Oregon and would probably be considered the comic relief of the group. He sees things a little bit differently than everyone else and has a great attitude and optimism in every sitiuation.
Kevin and Cody are from Iowa state and went to high school together. They both shared a similar interest in all things Japan and so it seems natural that they would pick that as a summer mission. Kevin is a musician and plays an awesome guitar, Cody likes computers and both have been very quick to adapt to Japan.
Kathryn is from all over and previously served in Japan with her church. SHe also spent some time in the military so she often gets the team moving in the right direction by setting a great example.
Johanna is from Penn state and is the only extrovert in the group. She's going to be a teacher and already has that great teacher attitude where everything is fixable and new experiences are exciting.
Amanda is from Louisville and her father grew up in Japan. So it's been her goal for the last 2 years to come and minister to the people she has heard so much about. She is quick to laugh and very encouraging to the rest of the team. ]
Gaby is....well I don't know yet. Gaby just got out of school and will arrive at Shiz a little bit later.

So after devotions we would attend some orientation workshops helping us to adjust to the new country, what to expect ministry wise, and how to work as a good team. After a couple days together our team really clicked and so far has gotten along great. I think the most surprising thing from the orientation is much they stress patience in ministering to Japan. The Japanese people do not jump into life changing decisions quickly and really having not grown up in a "Christian" culture like the US have only a vague idea about the bible and Jesus, and for the most part that view is that the Bible is good literature and Jesus had some good insights for a fictional character. Mark told us all that we only have 2 months, and the most effective way to minister to the Japanese in those 2 months would be to love them, and show them a great example of Christian life. He said the the Japanese would not forget that and that is really all we have time for. Japanese culture and really Asian culture in general is constantly looking at the big picture and take life decisions very serious and take a very long time making them. For example one of the staff members here in Japan has been meeting with 3 or 4 guys in a bible discussion group for a few YEARS, and even though they faithfully keep coming back none have professed faith. They are very reluctant understandably and so our ministry will just be to shine a light on Jesus and the Bible to give them a picture of what Christians our. No small task.

Along with the orientation we also had some time to go to Shin-Juku (one of the burroughs in Tokyo) which is one of the busier down town areas and have dinner and get a look around. Konoko led the group on a quick tour of the area and through super busy train terminals. It was pretty amazing. She also took us to a shrine built to honor one of the previous emperors and is a huge forest looking area ion the middle of Tokyo where people come to pray.

After the orientation Nagai-San (one of the long term staff in Shiz) came and picked us up in an awesome older bus and took us to our new place. THe first night here we met the staff which consists of-

The Brians, Brian VanZante and Brian O'Donnell. Both have wives and kids and speak fluent Japanese. Brian O'Donnell did SIJ 4 years agoo or so and is noow back for a long term, and Brian VanZantehas been here for I believe over 4 years working with the students at the local unic\versity.
Nagai-san is the owner of the house where the guys in the team are staying. He was also the creator of the BEST club, the SIJ program and I beleive that's probably just scratching the surface of what he's done. He calls himself the last samurai and is a very strong Christian, he wakes up at 3am every morning to study a subject he's not yet mastered (currently its math) and keeps super busy throughout the day. He's done pretty much everything and been most everywhere, I would have to say Nagai-san is probably one of the most interesting men in the world.
Mark Rood is not part of the Shizuoka team but leads the SIJ program in Japan. He took all the "Summer Friends" (that's what they call SIJ participants like myself) through orientation and has been here in Japan for the last several years working in Tokyo.

This post was a lot longer than I initially intended, I guess I'll have tummarize better next time I'll end with a could of cool things,
This video was of the beach about a 5 min bike ride from the house that we're staying at. You can see most of the team in it and Ryosuke one of the Japanese students also staying at Joyhouse (the name of the place I'm staying) THe Ocean is very active and they told us not to go swimming for fear of riptides, but its an awesome place for quiet times.

THis video is of Shizuoka at night from a nearby mountaintop. A graduate BEST club member came back to visit so we went up there that night and just enjoyed the view. It was much better in person, that little camera doesnt really do it justice.

Real quick a couple of things that God has been showing me. I read through 2nd Corinthians 7 where Paul talks about how encouraging Titus was to the believers there and realized that that is really one of the main reasons I'm here. To encourage the staff here and revitalize them as they are pretty much on an island here by themselves. Also we went through the passage in John where he talks about the dying seed so I'm getting just a vague idea of what dying to yourself means.

A Couple things you could pray for
-Patience ministering to the students. There isn't going to be a whole rash of conversions this summer, in fact the possibilty of even one seemed pretty slim.
-Also patience with the language barrier, many of the students speak passable english and talking to them is doable but is very tiring.
-That Me and my team (my team and I :) ) will be able to be great examples of Christians and Christ's love and grace to the people here Japan at all times as they are watching us closely.
-That God would help me be more outgoing and approach the students aggressively, something I'm naturally comfortable doing.


I think that's it for now hopefully I'll be back soon to update in shorter and more frequent sessions.