We had a late start today, but none of us certainly minded. The original plan was to join with members of the Ryu’s mother church to canvas the area with short tracks written on a monthly basis by their local pastor. Unfortunately, the company who does the folding of the tracks wasn’t able to complete the order in time. What is interesting to note about said company is that they employ Japanese with handicaps and disabilities. The company specializes in women’s shoes, but they also do small runs of manual folding, and the church enjoys using them, to support their social ministry as well.
So instead, we had a meet and greet time with the folks we would’ve been working with. And then we made lunch in three batches. I’ve never seen so much yaki-udon at one time. It was rather fun, after eating we broke up into small conversations before we headed to our 1:30 PM English class.
Bobby work volunteers at two local colleges, both of which are within a five minute walk from their home. With their church facilities and a grocery store across the street, this must be the most convenient apartment I’ve ever seen. Except trying to share a single bathroom with two guys and three women. But that’s irrelevant.
The first college is the second smallest in Japan, Kobe International University. There Bobby is in charge of two open ended “English Chats” with students of all ages. I’ve never been around Japanese students that were so open for conversation! Everyone in both classes jumped right in after our introductions and the time flew by. Raye was able to make a few new Mixi friends (the Japanese equivalent of Facebook). Even after two “chats” we made a few extra friends in the halls, as Bobby worked with Rosette to attempt to negotiate a homestay contact for one of his students. We also discovered that Misa is a Christian, and Bobby invited her to fellowship at their church in Kobe. Another student came back after class to announce she just received acceptance into an internship with Nestle. It was awesome to see how many relationships stood wide open for friendship evangelism. Even during our first “chat”, students asked Raye questions that led directly to sharing her testimony. However, when it came to sharing her testimony, the idea of a singular Creator God was incredibly foreign to them.
From there we had a little free time, that we filled with arguing over “Men’s Bikkle” drinks and visiting the local famous bridge, which was somewhat lackluster during the day. Apparently the night-time view is immensely more impressive as the lighting varies in color along the bridge.
For our evening session, we went to the local business college and met a jolly group of fellows who’ve been meeting in one form or another for nearly forty-five years. The leader of the group, Professor Umeda was very very impressive. Every member of “English Space” spoke with a distinctly British accent and mannerisms. Though a little hard to follow, we enjoyed just listening. Unfortunately, Mr. Anpo was very strict on the timing of the discussion, and most of the topics were limited to political and social commentary. But, yet again, Raye was able to share her testimony, this time with a little better understanding.
Now, even though it was past nine at this point, we gave Tatsu a call, and he met us by the campus. He lives a mere two minutes away, and was eager to see us again. So we milled about again in fellowship until we were simply too tired. But he told me he found that one of his company’s catalogs had an interview with Marty Friedman, a guitarist that both he and I like. So he promised to run home and bring the catalog back to the Ryu’s for me to have. At 11 PM, he came by to drop them off, along with some business cards so that we could keep in contact.
Happily to say, we didn’t finish until past midnight. We ended up spending about two hours deep in conversation about the Will of the Lord and His ministry among the Japanese. Face down, we prayed together for the fruitfulness of the Ryu’s ministry, for the Lord’s leading in Raye and my own life, and for blessings and spiritual growth in Tatsu‘s own life. It was phenomenal, and I’d do it again.
If only we weren’t going to hang out with kids for five hours today at the Thompson’s home. I’m beat.
