Day 43: Disciple (弟子)

Hello again—It’s been a pretty busy, but pretty good past ten days or so. The mad dash for Kathy and I alone to teach every English class at Agape is over. Murray finally returned a couple days ago, so hopefully things will be going back to a more normal pace. Some good crunch time is okay once in a while, but I’m glad to hopefully get back into some sort of groove. 

Last weekend, I got the opportunity to travel eight hours north to Karuizawa—A breezy city in the high mountains of Japan, which is a popular hotspot for those in the lower regions to escape from brutal Japanese summers. It’s not really that time of year yet, but TEAM was holding a men’s conference here that I was required to go to—So I went. As beautiful as it was, I spent most of the time in the forest-like retreat area, so forgive my lack of pictures. I did take of videos of the trip, though, so I hope you will enjoy those.  

The Karuizawa/Nagano area.

Karuizawa Station

Beautiful footage I got of Osaka on the way back.

An eight hour bus like that is called a “yakoubasu (夜行バス)”  — It literally means, “night bus” and travels during sleeping hours. They’re fairly comfortable and cheap, but I wouldn’t expect to get a Holiday Inn-quality sleep on one. It was fairly interesting traveling so far, alone, but my low-level Japanese got me what directions I needed as I hopped trains and transferred lines. I actually paid about $5 to put my luggage up in a locker so I could explore the area, but soon after realized I was at the wrong station. So out came the luggage I had just paid to store, and back through the station I went to pay for another ticket to go one station over. When I finally did get to the right destination, I wasted another $5 because I didn’t follow the instructions on the locker properly and ended up having to pay again. It was stupid and embarrassing on my part, but hey—Live and learn.

The conference I attended was on the subject of “discipleship.” It was less of a preaching/teaching sort of event, and more of a counsel—A sharing of ideas. What are the best discipleship methods? Specifically the ones that “work best” in Japan. Around twenty or so good, Christian men attended, and I was glad to be a part of the group. I found it interesting that the focus of discussion was on methodology. Not that that’s a bad topic—I suppose I just found there to be a disheartening lack of scripture. I feel that perhaps sometimes we get far too caught up in trying to “sell” or “market” Christianity to certain demographics, when in reality, all we can really do is preach the scriptures and pray that God will water the seed. After all: God saves souls—Not us! We were each to give a ten minute speech on our view of discipleship. I actually recorded mine, and you can listen to it by clicking here.

But don’t get me wrong—It was a profitable time, and I got to meet all sorts of missionaries with a heart for Japan—Young and old. I was the youngest and least experienced of the group, even still, so it felt a little overwhelming at times, but everyone was kind and gracious, so I’m thankful for that. As stated previously, I didn’t get to see much of what Karuizawa had to offer, but my first day, while I was waiting for registration, I got to look around an absolutely massive outlet mall near the station. Ladies, mark that place down on your bucket list. Holy man. 

After the conference, I had to spend about 12 hours in a city called Nagano, because my bus which left from there didn’t leave till late at night. So, being me, I did some googling and found that there was a large arcade about 45 minutes away by foot. I tried to find a bus to at least near to where I wanted to go, but couldn’t really accomplish that. So I basically said, “Whatever. I’m here for 12 hours,” and walked the distance. It was well worth the trip. Got to play a lot of fantastic Japanese arcade games you’d never see in the States, and I won an adorable “Relakuma (Relaxing Bear)” for Kathy, who loves the character. Fun fact: You can actually win crane games here in Japan. Crazy, huh?

I came back to Kobe and got immediately hit with a whirlwind of activity. The first full day I was back, I went to help teach at an English class taught in extremely large building in the middle of Sannomiya called “Mint Kobe.” The teacher, Mr. Hatakeyama, is an extremely kind, older man who knows Murray and Kathy. He had invited me to do this a few weeks ago, so I gladly accepted. I was asked to speak about my life in America and then foster conversation from it. I had a lot of fun, and I think it was a great opportunity. It was all women I got to speak for, and they were all very enthusiastic and engaging, though sometimes too unconfident! I always enjoy showing pictures of my family too. Whenever I show my mother’s picture, the room always lights up with cries of, “She looks so young!” and “So beautiful!” — One women even said she looked like a “movie star” from “Hollywood.” Well, it’s all true. I love bragging on my mom.  

Neglected to take a picture of Mint Kobe. Thanks Google Maps.

I actually helped with two classes—An afternoon and an evening. Mr. Hatakeyama very graciously took me out to lunch after the first. It was for very, very high quality Kobe beef. Let me tell you—They aren’t lying when they say it’s the best. Melt. In. Your. Mouth. It’s unreal, and I hope some of you get the chance to try it someday. Just be warned—You certainly do pay out the nose for quality. Thankfully, I didn’t, because I had an extremely generous host. After the evening class, he suggested we go to a bar. I’m 20—But that’s the earliest legal drinking age in Japan. I told him I’d be glad to go with him, but that I really didn’t have a taste for alcohol. I really would have been fine going, but I suppose he thought he may have offended me (which he didn’t) and took me to a coffee shop instead!

The next day was equally busy, if not more so. In the morning, I went with Kathy to a culture festival at the junior-high all-girls school where she teaches English frequently. Those girls were very talented and did some really, really cool stuff. I don’t have any pictures or videos to show you, so I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel like it would be very kosher of me to start snapping pictures of underage girls, regardless of intentions.

After that, I went to Myodani to do a similar song and dance to Mr. Hatakeyama’s class. Some of you might remember Mrs. Miyoshi, the woman from Agape who I played ping-pong with recently. Her husband heads an English-speaking club in Myodani, and I was asked to do essentially the same sort of thing once again. This group was a bit different—It was a longer time of conversation, and the English level of the group was more advanced, so there was more detail involved in the whole gig—Which certainly wasn’t a bad thing! When I talked about my church back home, one of the men asked me why I choose to be a Christian—Well, now. I’m glad you asked.  

So that’s a good recap. I realized I really haven’t talked about my ear in while, and I assure you that’s a good thing. I’ve made a full recovery by God’s grace—The infection has abated and my hearing has returned. Sorry for the late update on that one, but I heartily thank everyone who prayed for me during that time. It certainly wasn't fun!

You can also continue to pray for the people in my own personal circle. I’m still currently doing a Bible study through Ephesians with the young believer and friend, Kei, on Fridays. My friend, Akihiro, has been coming to church almost every Sunday as well. It’s encouraging because he really does seem devoted to seriously learning more about the word. Kathy recently gave him a bilingual Bible as a gift, and during a Bible study at the church this evening I saw notes already scribbled on the pages. Cool stuff. There’s also a new girl our age, Tomoka, who’s recently been coming regularly and participating in this same Bible study. I don’t think I’ve mentioned her before. She sort of came out of nowhere, but it’s certainly been awesome to add another person to the group! I suggested today, at tea, that we should all four of us go to Sannomiya soon, to which everyone wholeheartedly agreed. So, yeah. Things are good at the moment. Thanks for reading. And thanks for the prayers. 

つづく。見ていますか？　この偽光。