"Knowing God Through Suffering"

Today we had our last CS class and last High School class for the team. Mike and I didn't have to do anything for "Worker Time", which was nice because we were at a loss for children's activities. Isaiah and Jon did a review of The Shawshank Redemption for High school. Don't ask me why they've been using movies to illustrate Biblical truths, it's not like there's new kids every week because of it. Isaiah told me he'd much rather just use Scripture. Mike did a short testimony on behalf of the team this morning. He reviewed our trip than thanked the church for opening their homes to us. This and Brandon's departure before church ended really made it sink it. We're leaving soon, and we don't know if we'll ever come back. It's hard to think that, but this chapter of our lives may close. The message was from 1 Samuel 2:1-10 and was about knowing God through suffering. Sensei drew out the aspect of Hannah's thankfulness in the midst of being childless. It was rather hard to follow. Most of us were really tired, and kept thinking about the end of it all rather than focusing on the message. Our lunch today was our Sayonara lunch, so some of our friends shared their testimonies of our trip and we shared some, too. Kazuya shared about our English ministry. Mrs. Sonada talked about Mike and I in CS and Joy English Club. Mrs. Inagaki shared concerning fujin-kai and Akiko for seinen-kai. Mrs. Yuki, Jon's homestay mom for three days, shared about, well, her experience with homestays. And lastly, a lady who's name I can't remember, shared about prayer meeting. We did our short testimonies, and the awesome thing was, they all had the same theme: unity. Jon talked the most about it, and when he sat down, I informed him that the church's verses this year were about unity in the body.

"Cool," he replied.

Afterwards, we spent time talking with friends. We took pictures. We exchanged emails. We said our goodbyes. Isaiah did a slideshow, which the yakuin-kai had requested, with some of his pictures. It was fun to reminisce over all the happenings this summer. When the evening started wrapping up, Isaiah and I went out with Ai and Piro (who were at this morning's service) to shop for a little while. They bought the both of us "traditional Japanese cloths" as they called them. Pretty much it's like a handkerchief for sweat. We went and took pictures in a photo booth before we had to part for dinner. I hope that they'll continue to ask Maki questions. Isaiah has encouraged them both to seriously think about what faith they have in whatever it is they believe. Maybe he'll be able to return next year and find things changed in a positive direction.