Japan Day 4 - Megumi no Mori

Hello everyone this is David Paik and thank you all for taking the time to read through our blog and walking alongside us prayerfully. I hope that this blog gives you all glimpses of our testimonies and the ways God has been burdening, yet blessing our hearts.

Throughout this day, We had the opportunity to visit Megumi no Mori Church and Cafe Imori Bonjuk, led by Missionary Beyongseob Han and his wife. Within their church and cafe, they provide multiple different fronts and ministry focuses (cafe, educational classes, church) that provides access to the Gospel within their rural community. Through collaboration with the church, our team prepared performances and skits to create a night that expressed a mixture of Gospel worship and Korean culture. According to the missionary family, Korean culture piques the interest of many Japanese natives and provides them a means to invite natives to experience and learn Korean culture while also teaching them about the Gospel.

However, through health complications, Missionary Han was not able to join us throughout the day and his wife was going back and forth between the hospital and the cafe. Even though her husband was hospitalized, Mrs. Han still took time to explain the ministry, and their heart behind Japan, and take care of our team. Her heart for Japan was evident through her presentation and her desire for us to know and understand the gravity of Japan’s spiritual health, even in the midst of all the chaos that she and the rest of her family were going through.

The missionary family has expressed that they have so much planned out for their future ministry works and cafe ministry. Despite their surplus of resources and connections, the cafe and church are still struggling. Due to the lack of human resources, the cafe isn’t able to sustain itself throughout the work hours and has to close before hitting the optimal hours of business.

I was personally looking forward to this day. What I was specifically interested in was their cafe ministry and their desire to pursue cafe ministry. BAM, or Business as Missions, plays a large role in their ministry model and is something that I have been personally looking for opportunities in. Their cafe creates and facilitates conversations with their surrounding communities and allowed them to foster ongoing relationships with their customers. It also provides income and sustains their church through financial means.

David Paik

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Hey everyone, this is Brendon, and I also wanted to share a bit about today as well! Today we had a day where we stopped by Megumi no Mori church led by Missionary Han and his wife. A number of challenges and obstacles occurred while we were traveling. In the morning, Missionary Han collapsed and could not meet us all day. After getting off at the train station, we were supposed to be picked up by Missionary Han and Samonim but Missionary Han had to be rushed to the hospital. Regardless, Samonim was able to take care of us and we arrived at Megumi no Mori safe and sound.

Megumi no Mori mission model is more focused on vocational missions, where business is done as missions (B.A.M.). Missionary Han’s business and ministry revolves around Cafe Imori Bonjuk, where in the same building resides a church and a cafe! The main floor of the cafe is the church building, and the upstairs floor is a very cozy cafe to enjoy!

This day was a special day as we were doing a Korean-American Night and had an open invitation to those in the area. When the team arrived at Megumi no Mori around the afternoon, we prepared a number of worship songs and skits, specifically an improvised lifehouse skit that was done to visually show the Gospel without saying any words.

During the actual event, a couple of guests came and the team helped assist by making Kimbap! Pastor David Kim shared a bit of the Gospel, had a mini-sermon, and proceeded to perform a couple of rap songs. We also had Ayane, who is a Japanese native come out and danced to a couple of K-Pop songs. The night went well and Samonim shared a bit about her ministries and her needs.

The main struggle the Missionary Han family faces is the lack of people, specifically, the lack of employees, lack of church members, and volunteers. Megumi no Mori is located in a very rural area where only one recent employee (who joined a couple of weeks ago) runs the cafe alongside Samonim. The business has not been as profitable due to the lack of employees and closing hours in the afternoon. If Cafe Imori Bonjuk had one more person to take care of the cafe, the cafe can be more profitable and stay open during the evening when most Japanese workers will have time to stop by the cafe. Having one person to help out will also assist Missionary Han and Samonim to focus on various ministries at Megumi no Mori.

Samonim works very hard, even after taking her husband to the hospital, Samonim still made a strong effort to take care of the KCPC team and fed us throughout the day. It’s amazing to see how much the Han family loves the Lord and is willing to make so many sacrifices to serve the team, serve God, and serve the Japanese people. If you would like to hear more about the Han family and if you are willing to support her cafe or work for them please reach out to the KCPC Japan Team to learn more.

Brendon