Day 2

Day 2 has been wonderful.  We started off with an amazing breakfast sandwich...see Mike's blog.  We then made our way to one of my favorite places in Osaka.  They call it a sky garden, a huge garden over 40 stories in the air with a 360 degree view of beautiful Osaka.  I'd been waiting to bring Jessica here.  I'll post some video on Facebook, blogger won't let me for some reason.  We did a lot of praying today, a lot of eating, and spent some great time with the local missionaries being blessed by their hospitality.  I got to end the evening by going to a Bible study with Jay and some of his guys in Osaka station.  It was so refreshing to see Japanese guys excited about the Word of God and living it out in their lives.  Pray for these guys.  They are making a social stand in their culture and it's not an easy thing.

First day!

Jay was good enough to give us a tutorial on the train system

We are back in Japan after a nice long flight.  We will be in Osaka until next Tuesday.  We're excited to hit the ground running, explore the city and really pray that God is going to do something dynamic!  A couple of us will be blogging throughout the trip with some different perspectives, make sure that you follow along.  We're so thankful for your support and prayers, we look forward to sharing the things that God is doing.

Japan Finale!

What a crazy whirl-wind this has been.  Mike and I have had such a fantastic time.  The people that we have met we will not forget.  Thank you guys at home and around the world for your prayers and support.  I will continue to update my blog with more video from the trip after I spend some much needed time with my lovely wife Jessica.  For our final day we started off the morning with the powerful church planting team in Osaka.  For lunch we had some great Chinese food with some of the team and one of my all time ministry heroes Kevin Greer.  I had lunch with Kevin Greer in Japan!  

Mike and I took a beautiful bullet train ride back to Nagoya.  The bullet train is really a crazy machine.  I'll have video of that soon.  After the hour-long ride we met up with some new friends for a Karaoke extravaganza.  It was really a great time.  Great music, great friends, and all I could drink Japanese ginger ale.  For those of you that know me, you’ll know that’s a recipe for success.

After the extravaganza we made our way to a sushi to have my first Japanese sushi experience.  It was of course wonderful.

I’m really going to miss Japan.  I’m hoping to come back soon.  In the meantime I’m going to dream big dreams, pray big prayers, and expect God to do a major work in restoring hope to a lot of hopeless people.  

A note on hopelessness in Japan:

            We heard a lot about the devastation in Japan after the recent tsunami and earthquake.  Over 29,000 people died in the tragic incident.  It breaks my heart to know that the people in this beautiful country had to endure such trauma.  It breaks my heart even further that, in America, we never hear that every year even more people than that are committing suicide.  The suicide rate in Japan is among the highest in the world.  Over 30,000 people on average commit suicide every year.  They say that there is a suicide every 15 minutes. This is indicative, to me, of a lack of hope.  I’m not sure why that is, there are varying theories.  It means to me that hope needs to somehow be restored.  I will pray for hope for the Japanese people, knowledge of the truth, and a peace that passes all understanding.

Church In Nagoya

The church service was so awesome! It was really fun to be back in church planting mode again, transporting all the equipment, getting it set up in a hurry, hoping everything works.  I miss the sense of team that happens when a small group of people are working hard to make things happen.  The team did a fantastic job.  The worship was great, the preaching was great, and the people were amazing.  We met people from all over the world.  I really felt lucky to be a part of watching it happen.  I’ll be putting together some video so you guys can get a taste.  Miss you all and look forward to seeing you soon.

The Garden

Today Mike and I started the day off in a beautiful garden with Andy and Jared of www.msgf.com.  I wish I could have captured the beauty with my Iphone.  I tried to take a couple so you guys could get a glimpse of what we were seeing.  We spent an hour and half or so praying for Japan with the incredible background making some friends along the way.

After the garden we took the train to Osu an outdoor Arcade type of place with a large Buddhist temple at the very end of it.  I’ve never seen anything like the temple before so it was pretty eye opening.  Andy helped to translate so we could hear from the clerk working at the temple what was going on.  There were all kinds of trinkets and candles for sale to offer to the temple statues.  People would buy the trinkets and leave them on the front gates.  They would throw money into baskets and put candles into paid candleholders, then pray to the statue in the temple.  The incense filled the temple and people seemed to cleanse themselves in it as they left.  

Outside of the temple were pigeons that seemed to be used to being fed and handled.  I couldn’t really get into the pigeon thing, but it seemed popular with everyone else who was visiting. 

 We had some amazing food while we were in Osu including some Taiwanese Chicken and Pizza that had won the margherita pizza championships in Sicily last year.  Both were amazing!  I also had some milk tea to finish it all off properly. 

After walking through Oso we hopped back on the train and headed to Nagoya station.  It was huuuuuuge.  Attached to the station was a Marriot and on the 52 floor we camped out for an amazing view with amazing coffee.  Mike from www.msgf.com met us up there for some good conversation and coffee.  I’m continually impressed with their love for the Japanese people.  They really seem like they are interested in being of service to the people, genuinely trying to give hope for those that are looking.  I seem to keep coming back to the prayer that God would bless their ministry in order to increase their patience, love, grace, and peace.  

The Nagoya Castle

What a day we've had.  We had a great time exploring Nagoya and talking church planting strategy with Mike Ackerman.  We started the morning having some great McDonalds, you can see the video on Mike's blog www.whereinthworldmikec.blogspot.com.  From there we went and explored the beautiful Nagoya Castle.  We were able to explore through entire castle and even get up to the top level to look out of the observation deck with a stunning view of Nagoya.

After the castle we went to the tea house on the Castle grounds and experienced a traditional match tea ceremony.

After the tea ceremony Mike and I braved the subway!!!!!!

Once we made it out of the subway alive, we met with lead pastor Mike Ackerman of www.msgf.com to discuss church planting strategy and Japanese culture.  We had some great discussion.  The more I learn about Japan the more I am enamored of the culture and the people.  It really is a great place.  After we met, we made our way to a super cool studio where we watched their band practice and get set for the weekend.

I can't wait to see what we will get to see and experience tomorrow.