I'm back in Tokyo now...and back to internet access. I did have internet access for the last few days on my phone, but it is difficult to post a decent message. Also, blogger.com thinks it is smart and can see that I'm behind a proxy in Japan, so the whole site is in Japanese...which makes it fun to figure out the buttons since I'm not familiar with it. I don't see a button to switch to English either.
I'm here for at least a week: http://www.princehotelsjapan.com/shinagawaprincehotel/
This is where Kerri, Christopher, and I stayed when we came a few years ago. Fairly inexpensive (< $100 a night), but I have to pay 1050 yen (about $9) per day for internet access. :( I forgot about that part.
More about my last few days adventures later.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Sunday
On Sunday, I took the shinkansen (bullet train) up to Sendai to visit some Christians there. It was amazing. Quite an eye opener. They truly understand that Christ wants none to perish, but have eternal life.
This is not a western church. There are no buildings with steeples or crosses on them. This is a church made up of like minded people who are working every day to get the gospel message out. I can't give you an address of the church...it doesn't exist. It is a group of families that own businesses. The businesses support the evangelism. There is a kindergarten/english school, a computer software company and a sound/film/animation studio...maybe more. Each country/area they go to, once the group of Christians there grows big enough, they start a business to help fund their evangelism. They have teams in just about every south east Asia country except for North Korea. For the last 20 years, they have given out the gospel message to every student in the Thailand school system...they are very open there. To keep Christians in China, they have started an exporting company there. When the government catches someone preaching the gospel there, they can say that they work at the company and after a few hours interrogation, they are let go.
Three brothers from America came to Japan after the war and are what you might call elders of the group. There are other patriarchs as well from various places. Their families are amazing. Most folks in the group know at least 3 languages. Most of the children were taught Japanese, English, and Chinese. They travel all over Japan and Asia sharing the gospel. Some will travel, others will work to support them. It is a very fluid group and they go where God leads. In the meeting Sunday, a brother from Brazil said they were having problems there, so the group was going to send a family there for a few years to help out. One of the guys at the church was my interpreter for the whole meeting, which went from 9:30 to 12:30ish. There was singing (old hymns...it was interesting to hear the singing in many languages at one time), speaking, communion, and then lunch...followed by fellowshipping.
There's no formal training these folks go through, but then again neither did Paul or Peter or any other apostles. There's no earthly organization that ordains them. They are simply living out the great commission...going and sharing the good news. They don't plant churches per se, they believe that God will gather the believers together in each area they visit and that God will provide. That is something I heard back in the US from a respected teacher recently...the church should be helping Christians rely on God more and more...Christians shouldn't be relying on the church more and more.
I will be leaving Tokyo today and heading back up toward Sendai to an area where some of the Christians are working and preparing to go back out. I don't know what I'll be doing yet, but that keeps it interesting. :)
--David
This is not a western church. There are no buildings with steeples or crosses on them. This is a church made up of like minded people who are working every day to get the gospel message out. I can't give you an address of the church...it doesn't exist. It is a group of families that own businesses. The businesses support the evangelism. There is a kindergarten/english school, a computer software company and a sound/film/animation studio...maybe more. Each country/area they go to, once the group of Christians there grows big enough, they start a business to help fund their evangelism. They have teams in just about every south east Asia country except for North Korea. For the last 20 years, they have given out the gospel message to every student in the Thailand school system...they are very open there. To keep Christians in China, they have started an exporting company there. When the government catches someone preaching the gospel there, they can say that they work at the company and after a few hours interrogation, they are let go.
Three brothers from America came to Japan after the war and are what you might call elders of the group. There are other patriarchs as well from various places. Their families are amazing. Most folks in the group know at least 3 languages. Most of the children were taught Japanese, English, and Chinese. They travel all over Japan and Asia sharing the gospel. Some will travel, others will work to support them. It is a very fluid group and they go where God leads. In the meeting Sunday, a brother from Brazil said they were having problems there, so the group was going to send a family there for a few years to help out. One of the guys at the church was my interpreter for the whole meeting, which went from 9:30 to 12:30ish. There was singing (old hymns...it was interesting to hear the singing in many languages at one time), speaking, communion, and then lunch...followed by fellowshipping.
There's no formal training these folks go through, but then again neither did Paul or Peter or any other apostles. There's no earthly organization that ordains them. They are simply living out the great commission...going and sharing the good news. They don't plant churches per se, they believe that God will gather the believers together in each area they visit and that God will provide. That is something I heard back in the US from a respected teacher recently...the church should be helping Christians rely on God more and more...Christians shouldn't be relying on the church more and more.
I will be leaving Tokyo today and heading back up toward Sendai to an area where some of the Christians are working and preparing to go back out. I don't know what I'll be doing yet, but that keeps it interesting. :)
--David
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Second Harvest
First, thanks to everyone who has posted comments and/or sent emails. I read them all, but haven't had time to respond. It is good to hear from everyone.
Now...to my day. I'm cutting and pasting from an email to my wife...we'll see how the formatting looks when I post it.
I got to SecondHarvest around 10am and worked until about 3pm...it is very hot and
humid and I was sweating about the whole time. I opened around 60 big cans of campbell's soup as
my first job. Next I did some cleaning/organizing of the pantry and spent some time taking
labels off donated water bottles (not sure why, but they remove the labels from things they give away).
Then I helped load a truck with supplies and we headed down to the river for food distribution.
Most folks gave out the soup and other food at Ueno park, while I went with one of the full time
guys (Yusuke) to hand out other foodstuffs to homeless down by the river near Asakusa. I helped
hand out the bread, the other guy organized the line of folks, and about 6 homeless guys helped
hand out the rest. Afterwards, we took the leftovers to Ueno park and then went back to the warehouse
where we started and did some cleaning and sorting the garbage for recycling.
One of the guys helping was an American who has lived here for over 10 years. His name is Huntley.
He's a Buddhist and quite a character. Another guy I met is a guy by the name of Conrad. He works in
Tokyo but does evangelizing in his spare time. He has a heart for just preaching the gospel. He said I should hook up with some guys up in
Sendai (about 1.5 hours north of here via the shinkansen (bullet train). I called a guy and I'm
heading out bright and early in the morning. The guy's name is Nathan Broman and he is the son of
Paul Broman:
http://www.grapecity.com/About/ExecutiveManagement/MessageFromTheChairman.aspx
Paul came to Japan with no money and a desire to preach the gospel. I'll find out more about the
ministry tomorrow. Tomorrow's meeting is some sort of big meeting with folks from all over Asia
who are out preaching the gospel. It should be interesting. A one way ticket is about $95...and
he offered to pay half for me...which I thought was interesting.
And so, my adventure continues. Please keep me in your prayers...and especially pray for Kerri while she is at home.
Now...to my day. I'm cutting and pasting from an email to my wife...we'll see how the formatting looks when I post it.
I got to SecondHarvest around 10am and worked until about 3pm...it is very hot and
humid and I was sweating about the whole time. I opened around 60 big cans of campbell's soup as
my first job. Next I did some cleaning/organizing of the pantry and spent some time taking
labels off donated water bottles (not sure why, but they remove the labels from things they give away).
Then I helped load a truck with supplies and we headed down to the river for food distribution.
Most folks gave out the soup and other food at Ueno park, while I went with one of the full time
guys (Yusuke) to hand out other foodstuffs to homeless down by the river near Asakusa. I helped
hand out the bread, the other guy organized the line of folks, and about 6 homeless guys helped
hand out the rest. Afterwards, we took the leftovers to Ueno park and then went back to the warehouse
where we started and did some cleaning and sorting the garbage for recycling.
One of the guys helping was an American who has lived here for over 10 years. His name is Huntley.
He's a Buddhist and quite a character. Another guy I met is a guy by the name of Conrad. He works in
Tokyo but does evangelizing in his spare time. He has a heart for just preaching the gospel. He said I should hook up with some guys up in
Sendai (about 1.5 hours north of here via the shinkansen (bullet train). I called a guy and I'm
heading out bright and early in the morning. The guy's name is Nathan Broman and he is the son of
Paul Broman:
http://www.grapecity.com/About/ExecutiveManagement/MessageFromTheChairman.aspx
Paul came to Japan with no money and a desire to preach the gospel. I'll find out more about the
ministry tomorrow. Tomorrow's meeting is some sort of big meeting with folks from all over Asia
who are out preaching the gospel. It should be interesting. A one way ticket is about $95...and
he offered to pay half for me...which I thought was interesting.
And so, my adventure continues. Please keep me in your prayers...and especially pray for Kerri while she is at home.
Friday, August 24, 2007
I made it!
After a 13 hour flight, I made it and I'm in the hotel. Fairly uneventful, except for sitting beside a lady on the airplane who had some *serious* mental issues...she keeps hearing voices that speak to her and tell her weird things. I gave her some scripture and prayed with her. I told her that God would show her the truth if she looked for it and He would quiet the voices in her head. I gave her my email address in hopes she'll send an email. Her name is Myint...a Burmese woman who live in Singapore.
Of course, I forgot my travel adapter for my laptop, so I had to go to Akihabara (luckily only one stop away) and buy a new one. I think this is the 3rd one I've bought over the years. I even remember the store to go to. :) If you go to the small shops near the train station, they try to rip off the tourists, so you have to go back a block or two. I saved 5 bucks.
Anyway, my day tomorrow is helping these folks: http://www.secondharvestjapan.org/index.php/eng_home
They help feed the homeless in the area. It should be interesting.
Thanks for all the prayers.
--David
Of course, I forgot my travel adapter for my laptop, so I had to go to Akihabara (luckily only one stop away) and buy a new one. I think this is the 3rd one I've bought over the years. I even remember the store to go to. :) If you go to the small shops near the train station, they try to rip off the tourists, so you have to go back a block or two. I saved 5 bucks.
Anyway, my day tomorrow is helping these folks: http://www.secondharvestjapan.org/index.php/eng_home
They help feed the homeless in the area. It should be interesting.
Thanks for all the prayers.
--David
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Story So Far
God has continually been steering me to Japan. It all started when I was working at Ziff-Davis. A Japanese company, SoftBank, bought Ziff-Davis and I was fascinated by the stories of the Japanese owner. I actually at that time bought a Japanese dictionary so I could try and translate some Japanese on some web sites. (This was before the modern translation services.)
I was unhappy at Ziff-Davis (mainly due to immaturity, and seeing all the big raises everyone was getting my switching jobs in the dot com boom) and started interviewing. I interviewed at Juki (a Japanese company) and Alphatronix, a former employer. I accepted a job offer from Alphatronix and soon after received an offer from Juki. At that time, I felt like I should have taken the Juki offer, but it was too late. 3 weeks later, I was laid off from Alphatronix. :) I then started to work at Juki.
I worked at Juki for a couple of years, but I was traveling to Japan way too much and my son Christopher was very young at the time and it was hard on the family. So a friend of mine had me interview at LongBoard. I asked if there was any travel involved, and they said maybe domestically, but not internationally. Durning the time I worked there, they sent me to Belgium and of course Japan. :) Later, I was laid off from LongBoard.
At that time, I did a short contract with Juki, and also tried to start my own business. This was a good time learning more about myself. It was also good in that I controlled my schedule and this was a time my mom was going through her final battle with cancer, so I got to be with her for the last few weeks of her life here on this earth.
After that, I started looking and God sent me to WingSwept. It was all in His timing. While at WingSwept, I went on a mission trip to Japan with my wife and Christopher. While there, we met with a couple of missionaries and I remember one (Mr. Williams) asking if we had considered being missionaries. I said maybe in the future. I thought in the back of my mind, "maybe when you retire years down the road we would be ready."
Anyway, I worked at WingSwept for a while and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grow up, and I thought that I wanted to do more software engineering than consulting work. So I found Trident Systems. It was hard leaving WingSwept, and I question my decision, but life goes on.
At Trident, God was trying to teach me patience, trying to teach me to be a positive influence to those around me, and submitting to authority, even when it was difficult. I didn't do to well learning that. I was fired due to mainly my questioning management about the legality of some of the things they were doing. But the final straw was when I disrespected my boss in front of my coworkers. I was right in standing up for what I thought was right, but I was wrong in disrespecting the authority I had submitted myself to. All authorities on this earth are established by God. We should obey that authority, as long as it isn't in direct opposition to God.
So, the week after I lost my job, I found out that Mr. Williams was returning to the states permanently from Japan. Hmmmmm. Over the next few weeks, God continually shut doors and was saying that it wasn't time for me to find a job yet. He wanted me to go to Japan. One of the things He used was that one day, I received in the mail 3 free tickets to the USA vs. Japan baseball game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. I have no idea why we got them. When we were there, on the big display board, one of the silly graphics they showed to get the crowd cheering was a centurion looking guy who was pointing and saying "Go!" and the whole crowd was saying "Go!". I had just read in Matthew about the centurion who told Jesus that he too was a man under authority and when he told his servent go he would go.
So, here I am with a plane ticket to Japan. I just recently found a hotel to stay in for the first three nights. It is the Hilltop Hotel in Tokyo and is supposedly on the highest hill in Tokyo. I think there's a spiritual significance to that. Anyway, I plan on being in Tokyo for 4 weeks, but all I know is that the first 3 days I'll be at the hotel, and on that Saturday I'll be helping with a homeless ministry. Other than that, I don't know. I know God's heart is with the poor, needy, and defenseless, so that's what led me to the homeless ministry. I also feel like I am to visit various ministries while I am there.
My wife is a great support for me...always giving me a word of encouragement, and agreeing that this is what God has for me right now. God uses her to complete some things he only shows me part of. Please pray for her strength while I'm away.
In the world's view, being out of a job and deciding to leave my family (when there is much craziness going on) and go to Japan for 4 weeks doesn't make much sense. But I'm being faithful for what I think God wants me to do. I'm sure God will provide for me, and I'm sure He has something big planned for me, but I don't know what it is. Could it be short term ministry there? Could it be long term ministry? Could it be a software job? Could it be to only water a seed he desperately needs watering there? Please pray for me to be open to whatever He has for me there and that I will be faithful to Him.
Truly, God alone is worthy of our praise. He grants us mercy (He's not in our lives to punish us for our sins) and grace (He likes doing cool things for us, even though we don't deserve them), and allows us to have a true relationship with Him. I cannot do anything but follow Him.
--David
I was unhappy at Ziff-Davis (mainly due to immaturity, and seeing all the big raises everyone was getting my switching jobs in the dot com boom) and started interviewing. I interviewed at Juki (a Japanese company) and Alphatronix, a former employer. I accepted a job offer from Alphatronix and soon after received an offer from Juki. At that time, I felt like I should have taken the Juki offer, but it was too late. 3 weeks later, I was laid off from Alphatronix. :) I then started to work at Juki.
I worked at Juki for a couple of years, but I was traveling to Japan way too much and my son Christopher was very young at the time and it was hard on the family. So a friend of mine had me interview at LongBoard. I asked if there was any travel involved, and they said maybe domestically, but not internationally. Durning the time I worked there, they sent me to Belgium and of course Japan. :) Later, I was laid off from LongBoard.
At that time, I did a short contract with Juki, and also tried to start my own business. This was a good time learning more about myself. It was also good in that I controlled my schedule and this was a time my mom was going through her final battle with cancer, so I got to be with her for the last few weeks of her life here on this earth.
After that, I started looking and God sent me to WingSwept. It was all in His timing. While at WingSwept, I went on a mission trip to Japan with my wife and Christopher. While there, we met with a couple of missionaries and I remember one (Mr. Williams) asking if we had considered being missionaries. I said maybe in the future. I thought in the back of my mind, "maybe when you retire years down the road we would be ready."
Anyway, I worked at WingSwept for a while and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grow up, and I thought that I wanted to do more software engineering than consulting work. So I found Trident Systems. It was hard leaving WingSwept, and I question my decision, but life goes on.
At Trident, God was trying to teach me patience, trying to teach me to be a positive influence to those around me, and submitting to authority, even when it was difficult. I didn't do to well learning that. I was fired due to mainly my questioning management about the legality of some of the things they were doing. But the final straw was when I disrespected my boss in front of my coworkers. I was right in standing up for what I thought was right, but I was wrong in disrespecting the authority I had submitted myself to. All authorities on this earth are established by God. We should obey that authority, as long as it isn't in direct opposition to God.
So, the week after I lost my job, I found out that Mr. Williams was returning to the states permanently from Japan. Hmmmmm. Over the next few weeks, God continually shut doors and was saying that it wasn't time for me to find a job yet. He wanted me to go to Japan. One of the things He used was that one day, I received in the mail 3 free tickets to the USA vs. Japan baseball game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. I have no idea why we got them. When we were there, on the big display board, one of the silly graphics they showed to get the crowd cheering was a centurion looking guy who was pointing and saying "Go!" and the whole crowd was saying "Go!". I had just read in Matthew about the centurion who told Jesus that he too was a man under authority and when he told his servent go he would go.
So, here I am with a plane ticket to Japan. I just recently found a hotel to stay in for the first three nights. It is the Hilltop Hotel in Tokyo and is supposedly on the highest hill in Tokyo. I think there's a spiritual significance to that. Anyway, I plan on being in Tokyo for 4 weeks, but all I know is that the first 3 days I'll be at the hotel, and on that Saturday I'll be helping with a homeless ministry. Other than that, I don't know. I know God's heart is with the poor, needy, and defenseless, so that's what led me to the homeless ministry. I also feel like I am to visit various ministries while I am there.
My wife is a great support for me...always giving me a word of encouragement, and agreeing that this is what God has for me right now. God uses her to complete some things he only shows me part of. Please pray for her strength while I'm away.
In the world's view, being out of a job and deciding to leave my family (when there is much craziness going on) and go to Japan for 4 weeks doesn't make much sense. But I'm being faithful for what I think God wants me to do. I'm sure God will provide for me, and I'm sure He has something big planned for me, but I don't know what it is. Could it be short term ministry there? Could it be long term ministry? Could it be a software job? Could it be to only water a seed he desperately needs watering there? Please pray for me to be open to whatever He has for me there and that I will be faithful to Him.
Truly, God alone is worthy of our praise. He grants us mercy (He's not in our lives to punish us for our sins) and grace (He likes doing cool things for us, even though we don't deserve them), and allows us to have a true relationship with Him. I cannot do anything but follow Him.
--David
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Japan
God is calling me to Japan for a few weeks. I'm not sure why. I've bought a plane ticket and I have a hotel for the first three nights, but other than that, I don't have a clue. I'm stepping out on faith. I'll post things here as I find out more.
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