Japan Team Report - 선교보고와 간증

Hey everyone, my name is Anne, and I am a part of the KCPC Japan team from the Korean Congregation. I would like to share my experiences in Japan and firstly, I pray that only God, who is the subject of the mission and accomplishes the work Himself, will receive all the glory. God has opened the way for us to do more than all the ministries planned and prayed for.

Here are some of the ministries we have done.

1. The day after we arrived, we visited the Children's English Café Ministry of Tokorozawa Grace Church, which is held once a month, and sang together and fellowship with parents

2. After the Children's English Café ministry was over, our team and Pastor Jim went door-to-door in the Tokorozawa area and handed out leaflets about VBS on 7/24-28, and prayed for the salvation of souls in the area and for many children to come to VBS.

3. On Sunday, we attended Tokorozawa Grace Church and had time to worship, eat, and fellowship with other Japanese believers. We picked up bento from a nearby grocery store and ate together. One notable thing that happened was the guest speaker who preached on that day was a young Japanese pastor who was in a Juvenile detention center when he was a teenager. But Hi B.A. rescued him and shared the Gospel to him. And he is serving Hi B.A. and raising the next generation of believers in Japan.

4. On Sunday evening, Missionary Christina invited Yuko and her friends, Sachiko, Mika, and their family members, whom she had met for the first time since arriving in Japan, and served them the food we had prepared; bulgogi, japchae, kimchi, cucumber, and buchimgae. It was a very friendly time of fellowship, and we even sang the Japanese hymns and "Amazing Grace" together.

5. On Monday, we left for the MKs VBS ministry at the Okutama Family Conference held at the Okutama Bible Chalet. There was an accident on the way, so it took us 5 hours to get to the camp. And there was God’s divine appointment to meet some people. I will tell you more about it. And I will talk more about MKs VBS ministry in the later part of this post.

6. On Saturday, we joined Pilipino ladies at the International Women's Ministry in Tokorozawa Grace Church. I shared God’s word and testimonies, and we ate together and prayed together with the Filipino women before parting.

7. That afternoon as soon as the International Women's Ministry ended, we took trains to Shibuya and did a two-hour busking ministry at the busiest crossroad right in front of the train station. There we tread the ground in prayer and circulate tracts.

8. On Sunday, Christina and we attended a worship service at Kaihin Makuhari Grace Church, where Missionary David Kim serves. There, we also met with missionary Grace Ko, had a fellowship with them, and brought them food and gifts that we had prepared. Kaihin Makuhari Church is a two-hour train ride from our accommodation, so it took us a whole day to attend it.

9. On Monday, 7/10th, God was gracious enough to open a way for us to go to Mt. Fuji for a cultural experience. We had no idea how to get there. But Angela and Ana stepped up and booked bus tickets for us in advance. At 6 a.m. the next morning, they drove their own car to take us to the train station. And we took trains to Shinjuku and took a bus to Fuji Mountain. Missionary Ana graciously volunteered to be a chaperone for us for a day at Mt. Fuji.

If I had more time, I would like to share more details about these ministries, but for the sake of time, I will share just a few testimonies today.

On Monday morning, we left for Okutama Bible Chalet, where the SEND Missionary conference was being held. We had to change and change trains four times to the destination. But the train coming to our station on one of the stations had an accident, and the train station was closed on both ways. So, we ended up spending several hours at the train station. We decided to eat lunch to fill that time, but we still had so much time left even after lunch.

While we were hanging out in the station, one of us, we were able to share gospel to four or five high school students. That evening, we prayed together that these students would really believe and be saved. When we arrived in Japan and looked at our busy schedules, we were worried about how we would be able to share the Gospel with anyone and how it would fit into our busy schedules. But God already prepared it for us to meet these students in a train station. And after many twists and turns, we finally arrived at OBC in five hours which was a distance that would take us one and a half hours.

There were about 60 SEND international missionaries joined this conference.

When we were asked to take charge of VBS, we were given a list of students' names. So, we called each child by name, from 3-year-old Jude to 5-year-old Ada and other children. One of the children, Ada, had a special disability syndrome and is five years old, but she has the cognitive and language of a one year old. She couldn't speak, and she mostly lay down or sometimes crawl. When we met them, we called them by name. One teenager was surprised and asked how we knew his brother's name. So, we told him that we called you by name and prayed for you before we came. It was so cute that the children were by the door an hour before the VBS kept asking when VBS would begin.

During the mealtime, many missionaries came to our table and wanted to have fellowship with us and talk with us. And they told us many times that they were very grateful to us for coming to Japan to bless them and teach and run VBS for their children.

On Friday morning, all children performed what they had learned in front of their parents and all the missionaries. Children recited 3 Bible verses that they learned, sang three praise songs with Bible memory verses, and they even performed a short skit, and the missionaries applauded enthusiastically and loved it very much.

During the conference, while the children were with us, Ada never had a severe epileptic seizure. We were so grateful. His father told us that in the last four months when we started to pray children by name, Ada who usually has 7-8 major seizures had her seizures down to one or none. She still had small seizures throughout the day, but those major seizures weary Ada and her parents.

The churches and missionaries we met were closely intertwined with missionary Christina Choi who had been assigned to HI B.A ministry (Highschool in Born Againer). Christina helped Pastor Jim and Angela, and Anna helped with church planting at Tokorozawa Grace Church.

We went to Japan to serve Christina, Pastor David Kim, and Grace Ko who were sent by KCPC. However, God wanted us to meet more missionaries and opened our eyes to see their ministries. These missionaries very faithfully served the Japanese people. Pastor Jim was in Japan since 1988 for 35 years. One other missionary we met was third generation missionary who had been living in Japan since her grandfather first came to serve.

Many of the missionaries we met at the camp confessed that they experienced loneliness in Japan. A single female missionary from Germany said that she couldn't sing hymns in her apartment because the wall was so thin and the apartment, she lived in is too quiet. And another missionary who had been in Japan for 10 years said that she is very lonely because there was a language and culture barrier. Many missionaries also confessed the dilemma of difficulty in bearing the fruits of ministry.

We've experienced it little bit of that while we were there in Japan: Japanese people are very friendly. They hardly lose their temper. No one makes a loud noise on the street. The reason why it was difficult for us to praise on any street was that the street is so quiet. If anyone sings praise on the street, it would become noise pollution to them. Also, it is considered not polite to preach or evangelize or even pass out tracks in Japan. These things make it very difficult for long-time missionaries who knew the culture of Japan.

When we approached Japanese people, we didn’t know any of that. But God's passion in us to save souls made us possible to approach them without fear. While the adults were very polite in refusing, we saw that the students and young people were open to our approach.

The night before we left, Mrs. Angela May (wife of Pastor Jim May of Tokorozawa Grace Church) stopped by to deliver cards and gifts to us. The last thing she said was, "Please remember us!" touched my heart. Ever since we returned home from Japan, we could not stop praying for them when we remembered the earnest request of the missionaries who asked, "Please remember us." I conclude my testimony with my earnest hope that this testimony raises many prayer warriors to pray together to strengthen and support the missionaries in Japan.

Anne Cho

서석란