Ministry In Tokyo, Japan

Monday morning:

After a fourteen hour nonstop flight, I arrived in Tokyo on Saturday afternoon. It is eleven hours later here than on the east coast in the States. By the time I got to bed I had been up for twenty six hours. I slept for ten hours, the longest I have slept in many years, and woke up completely refreshed. In Japanese tradition, I slept on a futon on the bamboo floor but slept like a baby.

Yesterday morning (Sunday) I spoke at Tokyo Bible Church, a large church in the heart of Tokyo. Seiji Oyama is the pastor of the church. I first met he, his wife Cathy and brother, Kenji six years ago when I spoke here. Gary Smalley introduced them to my books and ministry. Seiji (Japanese) and Cathy (American) lived in California for many years where he ran an export business before returning here to assume the pastorate at the church where his Dad served as pastor for fifty four years.

Last night I spoke at a cross-cultural ministry meeting in another location. I enjoyed it more than I’ve enjoyed anything in a long time. There were people there from many different countries, some believers and others seekers. A small group from Myanmar gave testimonies and sang. Have you seen people whose face seemed to radiate the love of the Father? That was them. We sang “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me” as well as traditional songs from their country and in their language, with the words projected phonetically on an overhead screen so that we all could sing. Having seen the violence going on in Myanmar on the news lately, it was moving to see this group.

One lady from the Ukraine sang. She is a professional singer with the voice of an opera singer. Her voice is absolutely angelic. She has sung for the emperor of Japan and even sang a thirty minute private concert for the Pope. I was totally mesmerized by her voice.

After the meeting, Kenji Oyama (who is my translator for much of the week) and I were asked to join our hosts for my favorite food – sushi. (I had a good lunch yesterday too – lotus root, an eggplant/spinach dish, a tofu patty, some sort of tofu soup, bean sprouts, and a cucumber/ginger salad type dish. I loved it, but my stomach can’t figure out what’s going on here.)

I eat sushi at home ever week, but I did eat one last night I’d never had before - sea urchin. Melanie gives me a hard time about eating raw fish (she hates fish), but I tell her that Jesus ate fish and that when she learns to let Him live through her she’ll eat it too. She insists that while he might have eaten fish, she feels quite sure that he didn’t eat it raw. She reminds me that when the disciples came ashore, he served them cooked fish. I hate it when my wife tries to show off her Bible knowledge to me in an attempt to disprove my wisdom. :)

Today begins the teaching marathon. I speak from ten this morning until nine thirty tonight. I know I’ll enjoy it, but it is tiring. I find it harder to speak with a translator in Asian languages than anyplace else in the world. The reason is that the translation often doesn’t seem to fit. I might say something that takes me three seconds and it will take ten seconds to translate it. Then I can say something else that takes ten seconds and they’ll translate it in three. It’s weird.

Please pray for my time here as I come to mind. I love the Japanese people, the country, culture and church. I pray that grace will continue to spread across this country where there are so few Christians.