Game Over!

AHhh, its all over very soon.. the final member of the team is taking off in just over an hour's time.... The other 5 are safe back in England so praise God for that.

Thank you once again for reading our blog and if you pray, for praying for us.. Greatly appreciated..

Head Cha La

In one week`s time, the team will be out of Tokyo and off back to the UK (apart from me, I leave on Friday for Hong Kong). Geee man, time really flies.... the last few days, we have been preparing and having a kids camp....Taking care of 40 kids for 3 hours is probably the tiredest thing I have done on this mission!! I dont think I am as cut out for it as some of the others on the team!! Especially when they start to climb on you and practice their black belt karate... Anyhow, its all good stuff... The kids have learnt new songs, learnt a bit of english, learnt the story of Jesus and Jairus's daughter as well as a memory verse.... bare good stuff...

Yesterday, we had a dinner and karaoke night... great fun/good bantering.. some of the japanese were so nice.. they gave each team member individual presents ranging from bookmarks to sumo wrestler cards to 'make an onsen in your bath' to Dragon Ball Z charactors... kamekameha indeed... as usual, karoake was mental but great fun again... we all gladly sung the Dragon Ball Z theme tune..ahhh, memories of my youth... Ruth and Natanya sung Heart of Glass yet again...

Only a few more things before we leave.. we have kids camp again tomorrow morning followed by a Passion of the Christ Evening at night.. we will be showing the Passion (edited) and there will be a short talk.. Potentially its a powerful witness so pray that many peeps come to it... then on Saturday, we have an evangelistic dinner up North.. On Sunday, an evangelistic church service followed by a farewell party.. pray that many people will come and be touched by Jesus...

RIghty, thanx for reading once again... ummmmmm, some random very generalised stuff about Japan now such as
- When people wait to cross the road, they never wait in the sun... Always in the shade.. even if its 3 metres away; you gotta wait in the shade
- Gallery is a hard word for some Japanese speakers to pronounce.. apparantly they might spontaneously combust so use it with a lot of precaution...
- Boys dont give girls poems here... if they do, they are certified wierdos apparantly...
- Very limited speaking/no drinking/eating/talking on your cell phone on the train usually.. but if you can, watch an anime tv show on your cell phone, play on your PSP or just sleep... its all very civilised.. no one fights for a seat... if you ask someone to sit down, they are indebted to you!! and unless they can return the favour, apparantly its indebted for you for life!!!!! be careful who you offer a seat to!

Thanks you for reading....
Vato

korre wa calpis des keh??

Ahhhh; one more week to go in Sendai... Its crazy how fast time flies.. Last week, we had the last of our open houses and international cafes.. Praise God that numbers have been good throughout and that new people are still turning up and hearing the Gospel for the very first time... Many people have heard the name of Jesus and what he actually did for the first time on this trip so praise God that we could change some of the darker misconceptions some of the people here in Japan have about Christianity.... (think boring 'Christian' highschools where its pseudo Christian morals, no Jesus and boring chapel and songs)....

ANyway, this week we have a different plan.. we will be having a KIDS Camp on Wednesday and thursday..It'll be totally new for me.. I havent done anything with kids since I was a kid (apart from playing with my niece and that usually involves watching Sky Sports).. AHhhhh so pray pray.. coz Kids are great witnesses... at church, a few people became Christians because their kids came home and said things like 'daddy, whats a soul??'.. 'mommy, i want to go to church today.. what happens when we die?'.... parents often send their kids to these english kid camps so lets pray that God can work with strength.....

Here are some other random thoughts
1- Calpis is a great drink... sure, it sounds like something not so polite but its really great... glass of calpis in London costs like 2 pounds, here its like 50p
2- Pot noodle technology here is at a different level!
3- They are selling Mariah Carey cds for 50p.. if anyone wants one, drop a comment.. she realy must have fallen off BADLY here in Japan!
4- No one on the team knows what 'bare good' means..
5- 'Lets Marry' (in japanese) can either mean 'do you want to marry me' or 'i do not want to marry you'.....talking about confusing for the people here!!!

Final OK!

Final OK! is japlish at its finest. Taking a combination of english/japanese and original japlish, Final OK! is the latest incarnation of a truly horrible yet beautiful language. Final in this context means 100% or definately or certainly. I know it does not make sense but thats how it is. OK means OK! Originally, we had Final Answer! Taken from a game show not too unsimiliar to Who Wants to be a Millionaire... So people used to go around saying 'final answer'. But now, its all about Final OK!! Its a flexible word; can be used as a statement. 'of course, its Final OK!!... or a question... 'Final OK???' which will usually be replied with 'not final OK' or 'yes, Final OK!!!'.. Remember, you also have to say it in a japanese accent. That is 100%. That is FINAL OK!!!

Apart from learning japlish (okay, maybe only I am learning japlish), the rest of the team has been busy here in Sendai.. Last week was productive and we praise GOd for it. Quite a few people came to our OPen Houses and Cafes... Some people actually heard the name of Jesus for the first time ever in their lives... a few people started to read the Bible for the first time as well... others heard the full gospel as well.. people here are all at different stages so lets pray that God continues to work in their lives and leads them foward, bit by bit at the pace he wants to lead them....

This week, please pray for more good gospel conversations.. that people come to a girls/boys evening on Tuesday... and that more peeps come to the international cafe.. a few team members are now meeting up with people one on one to read the Bible so thats awesome as well..

ikedakemas!!!

Time to blog again!!!

Its been a few weeks since I have blogged... Hope that everyone has been entertained by Natania!! Time is really flying by here... we are getting some momentum and things are looking up so praise the Lord... We have had a round of open houses and cafes and people have been interested in the gospel so praise God for that.. even if nothing else happened in this trip, we praise the Lord that we could introduce the concept of Jesus to some people for the very first time.. Japan is a dark place.. there are very very few Christians (a church of 40 here will be like a church of 4000 in the UK.. seriously guys, thats what its like here) and in general, most people do not think at all about spiritual matters and questions like what is the point of life.. there is a huge peer and societal pressure in the land.. we need more Christians here! Come!!!!!!!!! Come right now!!! or when you can!!!!

In other news... I have had the great expierence of going into an all woman's college.... never again i say!!!! Have also had some fun times doing karoake, going to a hot spring and just hanging out with my team and the Japanese students..Am also getting used to sleeping on a floor and not having a daily shower though i dont think i will continue that habit when i get back to Hong Kong.... in a way, i have not had such great culture shock since Hong Kong is quite similarish to Japan in many aspects.. in some other aspects, its a lot different! And yeh, the food here is great.... Sakura, Misato, Taro, Soho-Japan, Ikkyusan and all those other places in London can not compare with the price or quality here!!!

Please pray for the open houses and cafes this week.. we were building up some momentum at the end of last week so please pray that it will continue this week... that more people will be interested in Jesus, will open up their lives and will hear the Gospel preached powerfully!

ps... it is not me who requested Barbie Girl by Aqua.. I proudly requested such great tunes such as MC Hammer!!

Ben

In a microwave

Okay, like no one else is blogging right now.. I'm not sure exactly what to write here.. Being a team blog, its different from my 'personal' blog where I can really rant, rave and write things which no one above 24 is going to read.

Man, its so hot in London right now. I feel like I'm in a microwave.. or like a pork dumpling being steamed up.. For me, I know its hot when my glasses start slipping off my face because of the sweat. Yesterday was the first glasses slippage day since last Summer. Summer has arrived and that means we're off to Japan sooner rather than later.

So yesterday the team met up minus Natania. It was good to pray together, go over some of the plans, the itinerary (cant spell that work) and just chat. It also involved a 10 minute walk up a steep hill to James's house which nearly killed me in the heat. But its all good.

There's quite a lot of planning and preparation that has to take place over the next few days or so. Writing talks, Bible studies, making t-shirts, planning kids camps, planning open houses, evangelistic dinners, what to cook, what to wear, bla bla bla.. Please pray that we prepare diligently and by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we prepare not for our glory but God's. At church today, the preacher (Rico Tice) was on fire (not literally) and gave a great sermon on 2 Thesalonians 1:7-12 and how we have to preach the gospel so so urgently. The basic point is.. where will your friends be in 150 years time?

Here we go..

Ben