August 11-13, 2019 Yamato Ai Senkyo Dendosho & Kids Connection

This week, we served at a Korean church in Yamato, helped out at a center for children with disabilities, and watched 50 dancing Pikachus. Yes, you read that last part correctly. 50. Dancing. Pikachus.

On Sunday, we spent the morning and afternoon at Yamato Ai Senkyo Dendosho, a small Korean church in Yamato. They may be small in number, but they more than make up for it with their passionate worship and zealous prayers. We felt immediately welcomed and loved by everyone there, and had a great time serving throughout the day. Daniel led some worship songs, while Ai and Li gave their testimonies during the service. We all stayed for a delicious lunch, after which we had a prayer meeting. During this meeting, Daniel and Trevor also shared their testimonies, and everyone shared their stories, about the history of the church, and about its vision to spread the gospel. We were all inspired by the tenacity and passion of both the pastor and the congregants, and it was a joy to pray with them for God's kingdom to go forth in Japan.

Exploring a phone booth at the Ramen Museum.

On Tuesday, we spent the day at Kids Connection, a center for children with disabilities. We had a great time getting to know the kids and the staff there! The leaders are Christian, but the rest of the staff and kids are not, so it's a unique opportunity to share and demonstrate the gospel in their community. We had originally planned to take some of the kids bowling at a local sports center, but when it turned out to be closed, we split up into two groups, one of which went to a small amusement park, while the other (including the four of us) went to the Ramen Museum! We were able to sample a couple of different kinds of ramen there, but because it was a national holiday, the place was incredibly packed, so we didn't get to do much else. We went back to Kids Connection and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids, then joined the pastors from Yokosuka Nagasawa church for dinner (another all-you-can-eat extravanganza)! They seem determined to send us home several pounds heavier than when we arrived.

Full hearts, fuller stomachs.

In between ministering, we took most of Monday to rest, but we did head to downtown Yokohama in the evening for the final day of Pikachu Outbreak 2019, Yokohama's annual Pikachu-themed festival! We saw a Pikachu parade by the harbor, then made our way to a nearby park for one of the most surreal experiences of our lives: 50 Pikachus emerged from the forest, danced a choreographed number, then disappeared back into the forest whence they came. It was a crazy evening, and a great way to have some fun in the midst of a busy week.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for Yamato Ai Senkyo Dendosho. They are a small church, but they are growing and already thinking about expanding their ministry in the future.

2. Please pray for Kids Connection and the invaluable work that they do. Japan puts a premium on conformity, so it can be a difficult place to be noticeably different. Pray that the staff would get all the resources they need to continue nurturing the kids who come, and that they would find ways to share the love of Christ with them.

3. Please pray for our team. We're nearing the end of the trip, and have had a couple of very long weeks, so we're all starting to feel fatigued. Pray that we can run the race to the end!