Apple of His Eyes II
I just wonder where to start but I have to start somewhere. So I will start. In proper sense, it never made sense for me to go back to Japan for a second time to do relief work. Ming Siew's reaction, as she mentioned to me, summed up aptly. She couldn't believe that I was returning for a second time and there I returned.
The trip this time was a different type from the last one I went. This time was a two-week trip and I ended up with CRASH Japan Tono Base during the first week and back at Watanoha during the second week with OM Japan and Samaritan's Purse. I won't share much on the first week, since it was all mobile cafe and really, the time with CRASH was more of a warm up for me rather than proper work. I joined CRASH to want to grab a glimpse on the work they are doing. It is not to say that their work is not important in the grander scheme of things in the Kingdom of God but after my stint with CRASH, I just felt that the ministry in CRASH may not suit my personality in the end.
Overall, it was a blessing to be back in Watanoha this time round, helping out in the last house that OM Japan will be cleaning up for Samaritan's Purse. Below is a picture of the house. It turned out to be the most difficult house that we will ever clean up, due to the different structure that the house is built upon. The owner of the house also worked nearby, thus allowing us to frequently interact with him.
We also had a chance to do different things from the previous times. Some of the stuff includes wood cutting as shown in the pictures below:
Along with that, we also visited a house dedication service:
Best part of the trip was to be able to bless people through songs and music. Songs we sang to the locals during the lunches and dinners include Amazing Grace, What a Friend we have in Jesus, 祷告 and Sentuh Hatiku. The house owner, Abe san, even offered to bbq lunch for us on Friday afternoon:
Thinking back on this journey, I would say that I was blessed much by the amount of time we spent blessing the people with songs and music. It was very strange that songs of different languages can reach the hearts of different people and the songs we sing don't necessarily need to be Japanese at all. We chose 祷告 and Sentuh Hatiku due to their simple tunes and meaningful lyrics. For those who don't know the songs or have not been following my blog:
These are two songs that have touched my hearts over the past two years and I was glad that I was able to use my guitaring skills to play these songs to touch the hearts of the Japanese. Abe san actually came to me after that and told me that he enjoyed the music a lot. We felt that over the few days we worked in his house, his heart was being softened a lot towards God to the point that he was agreeing to our prayer when we start the day and end the day.
But there is always a limit to how much we can do over there. As foreigners, we are not locals and we don't understand their pain and what they had been through even though we can still listen. Physically there's only so much. Spiritually, we can still pray. But 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us that if only God's people, who are called by His name, will humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, He will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. The secret to the advancement of the Kingdom of God is perhaps not missionaries. In fact, this applies everywhere. The key is that the people humble themselves and seek God to heal their own land. In this context, it applies to the Japanese Christ disciples to raise up to seek God so that God will heal Japan and let His light shine through. This is something that only Japanese can do. I can't do, and just because some of you are learning Japanese doesn't mean you are the one as well (this statement is being proclaimed frivolously).
If you are wondering why I am not sharing any stuff on what we exactly did and how I exactly feel, I think I would like to encourage you to go out there and see for yourselves the things that God is doing in the world and the things that God can do through you. No amount of sharing can beat just one experience out there doing the work.
To be exact, I felt like a missionary for the past two weeks and in some sense, entered 'mission mode'. The experience overall helped to further confirm my calling into the mission field. I am not saying that one must go for a short term mission trip to have a taste of mission, but the world is big. I realised that the world is big (small in God's eyes) and God is doing so much things out there that we don't get to see in Singapore. But yet, I begin to see everywhere as a mission ground as well. And this taught me to stop thinking about multiple independent trips but strategic trips that will eventually bring fruits in different countries.
This is getting a bit disorganised as my thoughts are still rather disorganised. The writing reflects the state of mind. But one last point before I end off. From observing the work in Watanoha, I have gradually gained an appreciation on how local community work can help to advance the Kingdom of God and allow the church to come in and minister to the people. The bible is not wrong when it exhorts us to love other people as Christ has loved us, which allows people to know that we are indeed His disciples. I have been hearing this verse quite regularly in Japan in different forms. This love, however, can only be fully demonstrated through a regular selfless presence. It is not something that we can do with just a once-off thing. My point here is for all people who are planning to go for short term trips. Even if I have said to go for one, go for one that aims at the long term instead of the here and now. We, as the goers, may be impacted but the lives of the recipients are for the long haul. It is simply just not about us.
With that, I will hope to post more organised thoughts but alas, still recovering.
The trip this time was a different type from the last one I went. This time was a two-week trip and I ended up with CRASH Japan Tono Base during the first week and back at Watanoha during the second week with OM Japan and Samaritan's Purse. I won't share much on the first week, since it was all mobile cafe and really, the time with CRASH was more of a warm up for me rather than proper work. I joined CRASH to want to grab a glimpse on the work they are doing. It is not to say that their work is not important in the grander scheme of things in the Kingdom of God but after my stint with CRASH, I just felt that the ministry in CRASH may not suit my personality in the end.
Overall, it was a blessing to be back in Watanoha this time round, helping out in the last house that OM Japan will be cleaning up for Samaritan's Purse. Below is a picture of the house. It turned out to be the most difficult house that we will ever clean up, due to the different structure that the house is built upon. The owner of the house also worked nearby, thus allowing us to frequently interact with him.
We also had a chance to do different things from the previous times. Some of the stuff includes wood cutting as shown in the pictures below:
Along with that, we also visited a house dedication service:
Best part of the trip was to be able to bless people through songs and music. Songs we sang to the locals during the lunches and dinners include Amazing Grace, What a Friend we have in Jesus, 祷告 and Sentuh Hatiku. The house owner, Abe san, even offered to bbq lunch for us on Friday afternoon:
Thinking back on this journey, I would say that I was blessed much by the amount of time we spent blessing the people with songs and music. It was very strange that songs of different languages can reach the hearts of different people and the songs we sing don't necessarily need to be Japanese at all. We chose 祷告 and Sentuh Hatiku due to their simple tunes and meaningful lyrics. For those who don't know the songs or have not been following my blog:
These are two songs that have touched my hearts over the past two years and I was glad that I was able to use my guitaring skills to play these songs to touch the hearts of the Japanese. Abe san actually came to me after that and told me that he enjoyed the music a lot. We felt that over the few days we worked in his house, his heart was being softened a lot towards God to the point that he was agreeing to our prayer when we start the day and end the day.
But there is always a limit to how much we can do over there. As foreigners, we are not locals and we don't understand their pain and what they had been through even though we can still listen. Physically there's only so much. Spiritually, we can still pray. But 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us that if only God's people, who are called by His name, will humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, He will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. The secret to the advancement of the Kingdom of God is perhaps not missionaries. In fact, this applies everywhere. The key is that the people humble themselves and seek God to heal their own land. In this context, it applies to the Japanese Christ disciples to raise up to seek God so that God will heal Japan and let His light shine through. This is something that only Japanese can do. I can't do, and just because some of you are learning Japanese doesn't mean you are the one as well (this statement is being proclaimed frivolously).
If you are wondering why I am not sharing any stuff on what we exactly did and how I exactly feel, I think I would like to encourage you to go out there and see for yourselves the things that God is doing in the world and the things that God can do through you. No amount of sharing can beat just one experience out there doing the work.
To be exact, I felt like a missionary for the past two weeks and in some sense, entered 'mission mode'. The experience overall helped to further confirm my calling into the mission field. I am not saying that one must go for a short term mission trip to have a taste of mission, but the world is big. I realised that the world is big (small in God's eyes) and God is doing so much things out there that we don't get to see in Singapore. But yet, I begin to see everywhere as a mission ground as well. And this taught me to stop thinking about multiple independent trips but strategic trips that will eventually bring fruits in different countries.
This is getting a bit disorganised as my thoughts are still rather disorganised. The writing reflects the state of mind. But one last point before I end off. From observing the work in Watanoha, I have gradually gained an appreciation on how local community work can help to advance the Kingdom of God and allow the church to come in and minister to the people. The bible is not wrong when it exhorts us to love other people as Christ has loved us, which allows people to know that we are indeed His disciples. I have been hearing this verse quite regularly in Japan in different forms. This love, however, can only be fully demonstrated through a regular selfless presence. It is not something that we can do with just a once-off thing. My point here is for all people who are planning to go for short term trips. Even if I have said to go for one, go for one that aims at the long term instead of the here and now. We, as the goers, may be impacted but the lives of the recipients are for the long haul. It is simply just not about us.
With that, I will hope to post more organised thoughts but alas, still recovering.
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