Summer Vacation: Part One

The Japanese school year begins in April and goes until March.  There are a handful of breaks throughout the school year, including 2-3 weeks in August, when the temperatures are very atsui (refer to a previous blog post).  Our English school at Izumi Lutheran Church took two weeks off in August, during which we enjoyed a break from our normal work/study routine (I also took a break from blogging. . . . as you may or may not have noticed). What do people do to take a break in Japan? you might ask. Well...we don't know what "normal" people in Japan do...but here are some of the things we enjoyed!

Summer Vacation: Part One - an evening of prayer in Iwaki.

Throughout the month of August, we've been blessed with various visitors and friends.  Several weeks ago now, some young adult 24/7 prayer volunteers make a quick stop at Fukushima City for a couple hours to visit with our small Christian community here.  We had never met before, and had just enough time to eat some Indian curry for dinner, share a little about ourselves, sing a worship song, and pray together for a bit.  What a blessing!  During their sharing, our new friends told us a little about the Global Mission Center in Iwaki (a 3-hour drive from Fukushima) - which is their home base for the present.  They invited us to join them in Iwaki for a prayer gathering Wednesday, Aug 8th - our second day of Summer Vacation.

So, after traveling by train and car, we found ourselves at the front doorstep of the Global Mission Center (visit their website).

The newly constructed "Global Mission Center" (formerly a Pachinko parlor)

The building used to be a pachinko parlor.  Pachinko is very popular form of gaming (kind of like a pinball machine, but much smaller!), and often is used as a form of gambling.  The Japanese government estimates the annual revenues of the Pachinko industry are around 29 trillion yen (roughly 378 billion dollars)!  A young Christian man in Iwaki inherited this particular Pachinko parlor from a relative, and proceeded to gut the building and completely renovate it, with plans to house a mission church.  The renovation of the second and third floors was completely just before the 3/11 Tokohu Earthquake, and the building sat empty for a bit.  Would it ever be a mission church, in this disaster-struck area?  Then, volunteers were flooding Iwaki and space was needed for lodging and communication. Suddenly it became very clear what God's purpose was for the building, and it has been a home base for relief efforts ever since, with plenty of room to house long-term volunteers, short term relief work teams, and supplies!

We broke into small groups to share about what God is currently doing throughout Japan.

Our time in Iwaki was an evening of getting to know other Christians living in Northeast Japan, sharing stories of how God is at work in Japan, and spending time in worship and prayer.

During the prayer service we colored areas of the map of Japan that we were praying for.

Fellowship time!

The Japanese-style snacks during Fellowship Time are a little different than what's typicial in the USA . .

We closed the evening of prayer by lifting up one another to God's care.

There was a large group assembled - Japanese and foreigners alike - and the prayer meeting was presented in English and Japanese.  Worship and prayer were also bi-lingual.  The evening was a rich blessing for me - like a breath of fresh air in the midst of summer heat!