Group Go-Round

Even now, being in Japan again as part of a long-awaited missionary assignment, everything feels slightly surreal. The cries of shopkeepers inviting customers inside, the otherwise quiet streets where no one looks you in the eye, the octopus and natto [fermented soybeans] and way-too-expensive cereal available in supermarkets...all familiar voices and vistas. This time, however, I am not alone.

No, I'm not subtly referring to Jesus, though His presence and love is the ultimate reason for my presence here. I came with 16 American brothers and sisters in Christ--from Arizona, Michigan, South Carolina and (boo, hiss) Trojan country [University of Southern California]. We have bonded over prayerful trust that our Creator and Savior would provide, as when we arrived at briefing we had about $20K of team expenses left to raise and one passport left at home in Arizona. Yet He faithfully provided for both of these and I'm glad to actually be here!

I am living with my team in Koenji, more centrally located than last time. We are in apartments that have tatami [woven bamboo matting] rooms, a wonderful feature that is unfortunately less forgiving as a mattress than I'd remembered. Despite prices, we as an apartment are still hooked on cereal, as well as juice, squishier bread, dango [rice balls covered with sweetened sauce] or doughnuts for breakfast.

Our team is visiting four major universities, so we divided in half. My half has been assigned to Hitotsubashi--back again--and Gakugei University, an college focused on training future educators. There have been several neat stories already, but in the interest of time I'll just share one.

As most of our team doesn't speak Japanese, we generally strike up student conversations by asking if they speak English. Andrew and I approached someone sitting by himself at Hitotsubashi, asked if he was able & willing to chat and sat down with him. Right away--probably clued in by my necklace--he asked if we were Christians, the obvious subtext being that he thought we were out to hunt him down and convert him. I said yes, but also explained that I had been a foreign exchange student there just a year before and pretty soon we figured out that we both knew one of my seminar professors. That put him at ease and allowed us to ask him why he was concerned about religion (most people regard non-ritualistic spiritual things with suspicion). Prior connections can really help!