Right now it's the end of day 5.  We had a very full day.  I apologize for the lack of updates, but we are always on the go and time is very short.  Today was our fourth day of camp. We eat breakfast in the cafeteria hostel which serves a traditional Japanese breakfast which is miso soup, rice, and other side dishes.  Most of us eat Japanese-style and some have opted out and pick up their own breakfast food while we're out during the day.

VBS camp ran smoothly today.  We had a good prayer session last night, and many of us felt like it was the prayer that brought good results.  Today's Bible message centered around the consequences that Adam and Eve faced as a result of the fall.  We talked about the difficult topic of death (physical and spiritual) and it was well received.  I see kids nodding their heads, and a look in their eye that tells me connections are being made.

Next session will be our final day of camp and the message will center around "how to be saved".  Please continue to pray for that day, for the parents and the campers.

We met a Japanese girl (Miharu) in the ramen shop where we ate tonight. She's a waitress there, and we got to talking and we ended up inviting her to come have dessert with us.  We started talking about the things of God and we had good conversation.  We invited her to come to the last day of camp (final Bible message in Japanese), so please pray that she's able to come and that the Lord will minister to her heart.

After camp, we had an afternoon activity with the Japanese campers at the NHK TV Broadcasting station.  We took a subway there with all the kids--very stressful to keep track of all the Japanese campers on the subway!  The kids got to see how the news is broadcast--pretty interesting.  The campers are definitely warming up to our kids and vice-versa.

After that, we headed over to Seinan University to do some campus ministy.  We did our skits in the middle of campus and had some onlookers.  Some of our kids were shy, but we pushed through it and I think, in the end, it was fun and a growing experience for the performers.  We got a chance to meet the chaplain of the University and she gave us a tour (it's a Baptist University, but less that 3% of the student population is Christian).

We ate dinner afterwards and that's when we met Miharu and spent an hour or so talking and building relationship with her.

If your kids haven't emailed you yet, please know that I'm nagging and whining all the time, asking them, "have you emailed your parents yet?"

Hopefully, something will come soon?


It's definitely bedtime.
Thanks for your prayer support.

Mr. R

Japan Trip Day 5

Japan Trip Day 4

We went to the Disaster Training Center and learned how to react to different natural disasters.

An earthquake simulation

The windiest day we ever had. 

japan trip day 3

Objective of game: Get all the socks off the parachute

VBS campers follow the motions of the catchy VBS songs

Afternoon activity with the campers at the bowling center

A skit played by Arisa, Lucas, Taylor, Sam, Daniel, and Natalie. It is a story of a naive girl who gives her heart away to men, but in the end her heart is ripped to pieces. Her heart is eventually repaired by Jesus and she finds happiness once again.

Taylor performs a song in front of the children and parents

We visited a disabled children center and performed some songs and a skit.

Friends and Family,

We are just finishing day 3 in Japan.  We just had our team meeting after dinner and all of were saying that it feels like we've been in Japan for at least a week--and it's only been 3 days.  Let me give you a basic summary of what we've been up to.

Our flight went well.  We had a stopover in Seoul and we nearly missed our flight because our plane arrived late.  But we made it and arrived safely in Fukuoka.  Pastor Daniel met us at the airport and we took a subway to the hostel where we're staying.  We checked in and we were definitely ready for bed.  Some of us were up straight for 24+ hours without sleep.  We were so exhausted it was almost comical...almost.

Day two in Japan was the kick-off of our VBS camp.  We woke up early, had a quick breakfast at the hostel, and gathered at the International School.  We set up for camp, and before you know it, all the Japanese campers were arriving with their parents.  After introductions, our rotations started with 3 stations, Bible, English, and Games.  The Japanese campers were so excited (shy, but excited), to finally meet their camp counselors that they heard about.  Despite the language barrier, the kids did well to mix with the Japanese kids and I thought there was good rapport.  In the afternoon, we practiced our skits, and prepped for the next day of camp.

This morning we woke up to day three, 2nd day camp.  We moved to a different campus for day two so we had all new surroundings.  Japanese campers are responding well to the Bible.  Yesterday's theme in Bible class was "There is a God."  And we spent the session talking about the "three O's"--omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  Eye-opening for almost 100% of these kids since they have never heard the truth of the gospel.  Today's theme was "He created the world."  We talked about how God knit each of us together in our mother's womb (Ps 139), and how He created us out of love.

Mel was sick the first day.  She had a fever so she stayed in bed for the morning.  She felt better by mid-day, and we had lunch with her.  No problems of sickness since then.  We're all good now.

After VBS, we all ate in the University cafeteria.  It was good food and very inexpensive.  Afterwards, we went bowling for our afternoon activity with the kids.  After bowling, we took off by subway for the center for children with disabilities.  We spent almost 2 hours there, visiting with the children.  We performed one of our skits there and sang songs and played games with the kids.  A lot of fun and good laughs.  Hopefully, Lena and Natalie are posting pictures from today's event as I'm typing this.

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, so let's see how that goes.  Nobody's excited about that.  In Bible, we're covering the "sin problem", so pray for us there.  Many parents were present on day one in the Bible class and they expressed a desire to learn more.  We may set up a "Bible Teatime" with the parents, so please pray for opportunities to witness to the parents, even before the big finale on Easter Sunday.

I'll stop here, but I'll continue again tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayer support.

Mr. R

Japan Trip Day 2

Our hostel, Wings Muromi, we are currently residing

On our way to the VBS camp

Fukuoka river and city

Everyone work together to carry a white board up the stairs

Bible Station of VBS. Leader: Mr. Reinman

Fun with English Station of VBS. Leader: Natalie Ho

Games Station of VBS. Leader: Ms. Tang

Daniel partners with a camper in the trust game

Oink.

Delicious crepe at the plaza

Assembly line of workers to pack snacks into bags for the VBS campers

Dinner at Ichiran Ramen Restaurant

First Day of Japan Trip

Meeting our first Japanese friend, Kengo

On the way to our hostel in the subway

Dazzled by underground subway

Taylor and Sam have a friendly skirmish at the subway station

Friendly skirmish pt. 2

After a tiring first day, we finally made it to Fukuoka! Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers! Please continue to pray for us as we start our first day of VBS camp tomorrow.