Jesus to Japan

I morgen reiser Nathan og jeg til Norge. Vi kommer rett til Visjon, og der håper vi å treffe noen av dere som leser Jesus to Japan. I høst skal vi også besøke flere menigheter i Norge, så vi får et lengre opphold i Norge denne gangen, og forhåpentligvis sjanse til å prate i ro med flere av dere rundt om i Norges land! I mellomtiden kommer våre kjære venner her i Takarazuka til å ta seg av det daglige her i menigheten. I det siste er det flere som har sagt de ønsker å bli døpt, og dette vil også medlemmene her ta seg av….det skal bli spennende å se hvor mye hver enkelt har vokst åndelig i denne tiden vi er borte fra Takarazuka. En annen god nyhet er at den mannen som i over ett år har kastet brannslukkningapparat inn i 72 protestantiske kirker her i området er tatt. Det er en lettelse for oss å vite. Vi må bare be om at han kan møte Jesus og bli en god venn av Han som kan ta seg av all vår frustrasjon. Da setter vi oss på flyet i morgen! Sees!

Ready for the funeral

Right after Christmas, one night at midnight,

we got a call from one of our members that

Grandpa had died quietly in his sleep.  This

was quite unexpected, but right away we had to

start preparing the funeral. First of all,  it is

the wake, and then the actual funeral.  Many

people who never would dream of going to a

church come then, because funerals are very

important in Japanese society.  So at the wake,

all the colleagues of the son showed up, and they all got a copy of Power For Living, a booklet

used to introduce the Christian faith to new

people.  Since it is a funeral, everyone listens

very carefully, and it is great chance to present

the Message of Hope and Salvation. Some of the

family members also got to sit and hear, may-

be for the first time.  Most people who attend a

Christian funeral for the first time are quite sur-

prized and moved because of the love and care

they feel from the church people.

We pray that this man’s life and death will be a seed that will eventually sprout and bear fruit so the rest of his family can be harvested into the Kingdom of God.     Later on, in February, we went to the church grave to put his ashes into the grave.

This might all seem really strange to a westerner, but to a Japanese with buddhist thinking, taking care of the dead, and knowing where your ashes will be laid to rest, is of real concern.  Some people will even come to the church and ask; “Where will I put my bones?”   Here in Takarazuka, we not only have a church grave, but we also strive and pray that many more will find true hope for their lives here and hereafter by getting to know Jesus as their Saviour.

Well, here we are, an intersting group of people getting together at Takarazuka church for a countdown party for 2008.  We were supposed to start at 8 pm, but noone had shown up.  Then 20 minutes later, a man and his 82-year old mother arrives!  And then a 16-year old high school boy arrives!  Wow!  How was this going to end up? All we could do was to pray hard, and ask God to REALLY take over!  So, we started to play a board game (kurong, in Norwegian), and that went really well.  And then some more wonderful people arrived on the scene, and we sat around a big table and started playing Mexican Train with the domino blocks.     Things were going real well, in spite of a VERY mixed group.  Before we had a snack, we sat around and shared testimonies and experiences from our Christian faith.  God was really glorified, and we were all encouraged.  Thank you, Jesus!

And then it was almost midnight, and we went upstairs to our apartment to do the countdown, in synch. with a TV program, and the party was over!  We were so relieved, and felt that God had really taken over and shown us that He could make some very good things out of something we thought was almost impossible.

Høres ikke det flott ut. Dåp på 1. pinsedag gjør pinsedagen ekstra stor. I Kawage ble Yokou-san døpt og vi er svært glade som brødre og søstre i troen. Det er godt å se hvordan Jesus synliggjøres i mennesker, spesielt når de tar store valg i livet. I dag ble hun døpt og er også blitt medlem i Kawage kirke. Hennes store gave er klassisk piano, og vi er svært glade for å kunne høre henne. Selv sier hun at det er fantastisk å få lov til å prise Herren med sin pianomusikk. Vær med å be for hennes tro at den skal fortsette å vokse.

Japanere er flinke med å velge ut blomster for de ulike årstidene. I dag var det blomster som så ut som ild, slik som på pinsedagen. Be om at iden skal også bli synlig for flere japanere.