Today myself, George and Cecilia headed on down to the Nagakute City Office to collect our Gaijin cards. We are now officially registered as residents on Nagakute City in Nagoya and have the card to prove it. Now we don't have to remember how to write our address in Japanese characters anymore, because its on our cards. Nor do we have to carry our passports everywhere as identification. And we can now register for places that give discounts for living in Nagakute, like the Nagakute Onsen and the Irigaike Gym (just around the corner from our house).
On another note, the weather has totally changed again. Its back down to 16-17 degrees (about 60-62F for those that way inclined) and the wind is absolutely biting! It hurt my hands when I was riding home this afternoon. So glad its getting back into the 20s the rest of the week (68F+). Hopefully it stays that way.
Yesterday at Church the sermon was on something so simple, yet so central to the Christian message and it really hit home: God loves you. Sounds simple, sounds cliche even, but its the truth of the Gospel. Everything points back to this simple fact: God loves you. Why did God create you - because He wanted to show His love to you. Why did God give us instructions on how to live? Because He loves us and knows what's best for us. Why did God send Jesus to die on the cross? Because of His love for us. But here's the best bit: God didn't love us because we were worthy of it, or because we'd done alright thus far, or because we loved Him first. No - Paul tells us in Romans 5 that God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We were God's enemies, walking away from Him and not wanting anything to do with Him, yet when we were furthest from Him, He made the most costly sacrifice to fix the gap between us. I can tell people God loves them easily - but do I truly feel God's love in my life? Do I truly appreciate the enormity of what God did for me? Sometimes I don't, but I need to
Monday, April 27, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Week 1
So our first week of actual ministry is over and it was a good first week all in all. Wednesday we still weren't allowed to go to Gaidai, so I met up with Takeshi (staff) and Tetsu (student) for Bible Study at a local cafe, then hung out with Tetsu after that. Last time I was in Nagoya, Tetsu wasn't a Christian, so it was very cool to see the amazing change God has made in his life since then. He was so open and honest about his faith, his struggles and challenges. It was great to see how God has been working in his life and the leaps and bounds he's made. It was certainly a very refreshing afternoon.
Thursday we were back at AGU, for another few hours of pure Japanese. It was good though, as we met two guys who were more than happy to chat with us and we ended up spending an hour and a half with them, talking about all sorts of things, from baseball and soccer, to rap music, and overseas trips. And we ended up playing a little baseball with them which was a lot of fun.
Friday we finally made it to Gaidai! Caught up with some old friends, met some new ones, all in all a very good day. And we had no issues with the admin which was a double bonus.
Thursday we were back at AGU, for another few hours of pure Japanese. It was good though, as we met two guys who were more than happy to chat with us and we ended up spending an hour and a half with them, talking about all sorts of things, from baseball and soccer, to rap music, and overseas trips. And we ended up playing a little baseball with them which was a lot of fun.
Friday we finally made it to Gaidai! Caught up with some old friends, met some new ones, all in all a very good day. And we had no issues with the admin which was a double bonus.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Baseball fun
Last night some of the staff and myself and George went along to a professional baseball game between the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya's team) and the Hanshin Tigers (Osaka and Kobe). We had a lot of fun! Fortunately the Dragons won which made it that much better. Masayoshi is a Tigers fan, so that made things more interesting too haha. The fans are amazing! There were two sections for both teams die-hard fans, and they made noise the entire game. There were trumpet players, everyone was wearing the team colours, 4 or 5 flags for each group of supporters, drums - the works. They cheered in unison, chanted in unison, clapped in unison - it was amazing! We even learnt a few of the chants and traditions, although the Dragons team song is still a little beyond me.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Day One
Well, Day 1 is over. It wasn't a particularly busy day, but it had its challenges. George and I went and had lunch at AGU, chilled out in cafeteria and observed the students. George immediately decided he didn't like them - they seemed way too cool for his liking. And I could certainly see his point - every guy looked like he'd spent an hour doing his hair and putting his earrings in before he got to class. And every girl looked like they'd put an entire bottle of hairspray into their hair and picked the highest heels they could find to wear. And those few who weren't dressed up like that, were usually in sports uniforms, as AGU has a big sport focus and has quite a few strong teams in different sports. But we were challenged by the story of Jonah, not to pre-judge the people at AGU. Jonah had decided the people of Ninevah were evil and not worthy of God's grace, but God had other plans. Likewise, the students at AGU might seem too cool for the Gospel, but God may well have other plans.
We paired up with two of the staff (Takeshi and Masayoshi) and went out to meet some students, chat with them, see what they were like and find out what we could about the campus, as we knew nothing really. I was with Takeshi who speaks basically no English, so that was challenging, then add to that trying to talk with Japanese students who also spoke little to no English and I was in for a mentally tiring afternoon. It was tough, and I didn't understand everything that was said and I had to concentrate quite hard, but if I keep it up I'm hoping my Japanese will improve a lot more.
We paired up with two of the staff (Takeshi and Masayoshi) and went out to meet some students, chat with them, see what they were like and find out what we could about the campus, as we knew nothing really. I was with Takeshi who speaks basically no English, so that was challenging, then add to that trying to talk with Japanese students who also spoke little to no English and I was in for a mentally tiring afternoon. It was tough, and I didn't understand everything that was said and I had to concentrate quite hard, but if I keep it up I'm hoping my Japanese will improve a lot more.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
It Begins...
Well, here we sit, on the eve before we head onto campus for our first day of campus ministry - and I'm pretty excited. After all the mess created with trying to get onto Gaidai its nice to be able to get into the nuts and bolts of what we're here to do. Admittedly, tomorrow we've off to Aichi Gakuin University (AGU) which isn't the one causing us problems, but it will be still be nice to kick things off.
Things are looking good for Gaidai this week now too, although its still a logistal/administrative nightmare. I get the feeling they just don't want us on campus. Oh well, we shall continue praying and asking God to guide us and show us how to respond, whilst loving the campus admin staff. I have my first day on Gaidai on Wednesday, then there again on Friday, with a day at AGU in between.
The other day myself and my housemate, George, and two of the staff here, Takeshi and Masayoshi gathered for some lunch (with all you can eat parfait!) then an afternoon of prayer and reflection before starting ministry on AGU on Monday. AGU currently has no Christian ministry, so we really wanted to commit it to prayer before we started a ministry there. So we climbed up a hill overlooking the whole area where AGU and Gaidai are to get a bird's eye view - it was pretty cool. Definitely prepared us well. We looked at some Scripture, and I was challenged by the story of Jesus in Mark 3, where He chooses the 12 disciples by going up a hill and calling them, giving them authority. So too, we are called and have been given authority to preach and teach - by the Creator. So we have no need to fear if we're following His calling.
Things are looking good for Gaidai this week now too, although its still a logistal/administrative nightmare. I get the feeling they just don't want us on campus. Oh well, we shall continue praying and asking God to guide us and show us how to respond, whilst loving the campus admin staff. I have my first day on Gaidai on Wednesday, then there again on Friday, with a day at AGU in between.
The other day myself and my housemate, George, and two of the staff here, Takeshi and Masayoshi gathered for some lunch (with all you can eat parfait!) then an afternoon of prayer and reflection before starting ministry on AGU on Monday. AGU currently has no Christian ministry, so we really wanted to commit it to prayer before we started a ministry there. So we climbed up a hill overlooking the whole area where AGU and Gaidai are to get a bird's eye view - it was pretty cool. Definitely prepared us well. We looked at some Scripture, and I was challenged by the story of Jesus in Mark 3, where He chooses the 12 disciples by going up a hill and calling them, giving them authority. So too, we are called and have been given authority to preach and teach - by the Creator. So we have no need to fear if we're following His calling.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
New Life
So we thought we'd be starting on campus this week, but sadly we've have some set-backs that have put us back a week. At one of the campuses (Nagoya University of Foreign Studies - Gaidai for short) the admin are making us go through a whole lot of administrative mumbo jumbo before we're allowed on campus. We have to sign in with a student and a professor/staff every day we want to come on campus, as well as give them a week's notice before we do so. So we're still trying to figure out the logistics of that, and want to ensure we've got that figured out soon, before we head on campus.
Had a meeting this morning with my supervisor and one of the key student leaders at Gaidai though. The student's name is Kaji and he is such an encouragement! His passion is contagious and I love how willing he is to serve. And he always seems so happy and relaxed. I'm sure he has his share of problems and stresses, but he seems to deal with them pretty well which is encouraging. I really enjoy our times together.
On Monday, we each took the day off to do things on our own - to reflect on our time so far, to pray, read and just spend time with God. It was a very refreshing day for me. I went down to a local park and just took in the beauty of God's creation.
God really spoke to me on a few things while I was there, mostly about the Resurrection due to it being the day after Easter. The central message of the Gospel is that God came to us in human form, in Jesus, was crucified for our sins and was raised back to life again on the third day. It sounds so simple in my mind and is something I've heard time and time again, but the more I thought about it the more absurd it seemed. That God Himself could become a man is offensive to many faiths, because God is too holy to possibly interact with such a fallen earth in their mindset. Then to think that God could be killed - that is ridiculous. How could God die? That goes against everything that our mind conceives of in the concept of God. Then to top it all off, this Jesus who was killed, came back to life days after he was killed? People don't just come back to life. The claims of the Gospel are insane at best - "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23). Yet in this we see the beauty of the Gospel - that it is not something that will make perfect sense in our human minds, and so we know that when we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour it is truly the work of God, not something that is done by human persuasion. So in terms of application for ministry here in Japan, it means I have to be praying that God would work, because without that, we won't make the slightest impact - it will be like drilling through concrete.
Had a meeting this morning with my supervisor and one of the key student leaders at Gaidai though. The student's name is Kaji and he is such an encouragement! His passion is contagious and I love how willing he is to serve. And he always seems so happy and relaxed. I'm sure he has his share of problems and stresses, but he seems to deal with them pretty well which is encouraging. I really enjoy our times together.
On Monday, we each took the day off to do things on our own - to reflect on our time so far, to pray, read and just spend time with God. It was a very refreshing day for me. I went down to a local park and just took in the beauty of God's creation.
God really spoke to me on a few things while I was there, mostly about the Resurrection due to it being the day after Easter. The central message of the Gospel is that God came to us in human form, in Jesus, was crucified for our sins and was raised back to life again on the third day. It sounds so simple in my mind and is something I've heard time and time again, but the more I thought about it the more absurd it seemed. That God Himself could become a man is offensive to many faiths, because God is too holy to possibly interact with such a fallen earth in their mindset. Then to think that God could be killed - that is ridiculous. How could God die? That goes against everything that our mind conceives of in the concept of God. Then to top it all off, this Jesus who was killed, came back to life days after he was killed? People don't just come back to life. The claims of the Gospel are insane at best - "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23). Yet in this we see the beauty of the Gospel - that it is not something that will make perfect sense in our human minds, and so we know that when we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour it is truly the work of God, not something that is done by human persuasion. So in terms of application for ministry here in Japan, it means I have to be praying that God would work, because without that, we won't make the slightest impact - it will be like drilling through concrete.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Welcome!
This is a welcome on a few levels. Firstly, its my first post on this blog, so welcome! Its also a welcome on my journey, because you'll be coming along for the ride through what I write.
On top of that, its also about my welcome to Japan. I've been here 2 weeks now, so its not exactly a new anymore, but its still quite exciting.
There's plenty to write about but I'm not about to give you an essay to read, so I'll keep it brief. We arrived in Nagoya to a very cold reception weather-wise, but a very warm reception from our fellow staff here. They all came to meet us at the airport which was awesome. The weather was a little chilly though - it barely got above 10C (50F) for our first few days there, which was a bit of a shock coming from Sydney summerlike weather of 27C (80F). But we survived and its now back up the mid 20s (70-80F). We've set up our apartment with pretty much everything we need for now which is positive, and its starting to really feel like home. We've figured out where to buy things for grocery shopping, where the post office is and a few good places to eat around the place.
We've had a week or so of meetings and training in preparation for us going on campus this coming week. Its been a lot to take in, but really valuable stuff and a bit of fun at times too. We also met up with some of the student leaders of the Christian ministry I'm working with one Saturday for a prayer walk, which was a very encouraging day. The students have such a passion that is contagious and uplifting.
On top of all that, we've had a chance to spend a bit of time out and about while the cherry blossoms have been in bloom. They're quite amazing! Its a shame they don't last longer, as they'll be gone pretty soon. The photos just don't do it justice though, however enjoy this one I took anyway. There are more photos on my facebook for those who are that way inclined.
On top of that, its also about my welcome to Japan. I've been here 2 weeks now, so its not exactly a new anymore, but its still quite exciting.
There's plenty to write about but I'm not about to give you an essay to read, so I'll keep it brief. We arrived in Nagoya to a very cold reception weather-wise, but a very warm reception from our fellow staff here. They all came to meet us at the airport which was awesome. The weather was a little chilly though - it barely got above 10C (50F) for our first few days there, which was a bit of a shock coming from Sydney summerlike weather of 27C (80F). But we survived and its now back up the mid 20s (70-80F). We've set up our apartment with pretty much everything we need for now which is positive, and its starting to really feel like home. We've figured out where to buy things for grocery shopping, where the post office is and a few good places to eat around the place.
We've had a week or so of meetings and training in preparation for us going on campus this coming week. Its been a lot to take in, but really valuable stuff and a bit of fun at times too. We also met up with some of the student leaders of the Christian ministry I'm working with one Saturday for a prayer walk, which was a very encouraging day. The students have such a passion that is contagious and uplifting.
On top of all that, we've had a chance to spend a bit of time out and about while the cherry blossoms have been in bloom. They're quite amazing! Its a shame they don't last longer, as they'll be gone pretty soon. The photos just don't do it justice though, however enjoy this one I took anyway. There are more photos on my facebook for those who are that way inclined.
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