Hallelujah

Well the blog at the beginning of the week did not quite happen but better late than never. How good it was to celebrate Easter in Hiragishi with our first-ever Easter Festival. With a forecast that had been predicting rain for the weekend, and a pretty awful day on Saturday with rain through the night, we looked forward to the weather God would send on Sunday. We awoke to no rain, then a bright start to the morning to dry up the soaked ground, and a beautiful warm, wind-free afternoon - perfect for our Easter Festival. Preparations were made. But would people come? Some started to arrive 40 minutes before it was due to start. And people kept coming and coming. Children of all ages, mums, dads, grannies. In all we had around 110 there, though it was hard to keep count. Everyone had fun with the outside football and strike out, enjoyed the various activities inside, indulged in sausages and chocolate bananas, and there were some yummy cakes for the adults. All left with a self-decorated egg, some chocolate eggs and a short Bible verse. In the middle of our Festival we had the exuberant JP helping us all join in some hip hop dancing to a praise song and then David gave a short and simple message about Easter. It was a blessed day. We look forward to doing it again next year. Meanwhile we are thinking how best to follow up all who came and what to do next - some larger events, some smaller gatherings so we can have more time to chat more leisurely to people. It will be great to see some wanting to take the next step, maybe open to some basic Bible study, or coming along to a service. We meet many of these people as we are out and about in the community, or at the local school; some are neighbours (two sets of JP and Nora's neighbours came and one commented that it was great to be able to meet her neighbours at a church event!) We are excited to see what God is doing and look forward to all that will lie ahead. We had a great Easter worship service too in the same building, with the sun streaming in. A blessed Easter indeed.

In the battle

In our last blog we shared about plans for the Easter Festival this Sunday. There is lots still to be done, not least with Lorna only having returned from India on Monday. However, as always with these kind of events here, there is something of a battle. There are always walls you hit up against us and hurdles to overcome when you seek to bring the good news of Jesus in this land. The spiritual battle is very real. And as we proclaim the message of new life, the message of a Risen Saviour to the people in Hiragishi, we know we have an enemy who is more than keen that the message is not heard. It's not unusual in our experience for things to go wrong or difficulties to get in the way as we hold special events. Calum is part of a local football team and has lots of friends there he could invite. They have just arranged an event for the very time of our Easter Festival! The local school is a place where we know lots of people and where can invite many children and their parents. Just this week there has been an outbreak of flu in some classes (unusual for this time of year)! The weather is due to be nice all week until the weekend when it is forecast to be cloudy and rainy! Some our activities are planned for outside. No doubt there will be other things we 'battle' against as the week goes on. Do join us in prayer that the Lord's hand would be on all the preparations and and against anything that would seek to hinder or interfere with people coming on Sunday. For many, if not all, it could be the first opportunity ever to hear what Easter all is about. We look forward to sharing about all that happened in a blog at the beginning of next week.

Easter is coming

Easter is not big in Japan. Just like Christmas, it is not a public holiday here. However, whereas Christmas is in some way celebrated (albeit in presents, cake and bright lights fashion), Easter just passes by unnoticed. For the churches, Christmas is a big opporutnity for outreach and many events are held, usually very well attended. But Easter is often simply marked with a special service for the church folks on Easter Sunday and that's it. There is little observance of Lent and nothing to mark Holy Week (of course there will be churches which do so but generally that does not happen, at least that has been so in our experience). But how we want to celebrate Easter and take the opportunity to proclaim the message of the cross and a risen Saviour! This Easter we are doing something a bit different in Hiragishi. We got the idea from visiting church at this time last year. That church has for the past 20 years or so held an Easter Festival for the community on a Sunday afternoon at the end of April having held their worship service in the morning. Japanese people love festivals - food, games, fun things to do (and they are often associated with the Shinto shrines). The church we visited has built up many contacts over the years and had well over 250 people coming that Sunday afternoon. We are planning something much more modest and who knows how many will come. Like we did at Christmas we are renting a building very near us which has lots of space both inside and outdoors. We are palnning food, games, crafts and a section in the middle where one of our OMF colleagues who does hip hop dancing will do his stuff and everyone can join in. We'll have a simple Easter message then too. Just now we are busy with all the preparations - always a challenge for our small church. Later that day we will hold the Hiragishi Easter worship in the same building and it would be great to see some folks coming to that too. Easter is not known here - but through this Festival we want to make the message of Easter known. Jesus is alive - may people in Hiragishi hear that and come to know him!

Half term

This being April, it means a trip to India for one of us. And this time it's Lorna'a turn. Remarkably this time we found a route which got her there in 24 hours. Usually there needs to be some stopover somewhere. One bus ride, four flights and a 3 hour taxi ride up the mountain and Lorna was at the Guest Home in Ooty last Friday evening (Indian time) having left here on an 8.30 flight Thursday evening. The first week at Hebron (Parents' Week) is always a bsuy time with parent/teacher interviews, music performances, sports events (the swimming gala this time in which Daniel excelled in all his races) and an Easter play/musical in which both Daniel and Matthew have main roles. As well as being a time to catch up with the boys, it gives time to meet the teaching staff and dorm parents informally and also meet up with many other parents who work in a whole variety of roles in many different places. Hebron really is a multi-cultural experience and every time we go there we appreciate the family-like atmosphere around the school. After a busy half-term of study and many other extra-curricular activities, everyone is ready for a holiday in the second week. For us the destination is usually the same, whether it is April or October - Kovalam, a town on the beach right at the south west tip of India which is lined with little hotels and restaurants and with a warm sea (for surfing in rather than swimming). After the week away, it's the long overnight train and then taxi journey back to the school for the final weekend and boys settling in to life in the dorm again - and for exams which lie ahead. In many ways we lead an odd lifestyle. But the blessings are rich and varied. We are so thankful for Hebron school and the many opportunities it has given our boys in ways that go well beyond mere education.

Continuing to Care

As we enter the month of April, this is a time of change in Japan. It is the start of the new business year and the new school year. Many people move home at this time due to a change in job. Of course for thousands of people last month brought about such cataclysmic changes that they will barely notice that we have moved into April. The changes for these people who have lost so much will continue to impact them for many months and years. Just as the business and school years start this month, so does the new year for most churches. Many choose a theme and Bible verse to guide them over the coming twelve months. It is now just over six weeks since the tragic death of the pastor at Otaru Church. We have been involved much there over these past weeks helping with preaching and the children's work on some Sundays and also being with the people, visiting them and listening to them as they process all that has happened. One of our colleagues who is trained in counselling went one Sunday and shared with the church folks about dealing with loss and their grief and that was a very helpful time. She will go twice more over the coming two months. The question for us is how far and in what ways we can or should be available to help. People have not only faced the death of their pastor but now also the sense of sadness and loss that is affecting the whole nation in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. For Otaru, this Sunday is the start of the new church year and David will be preaching then. The pastor had already decided on the theme and guiding verse for the coming year so David will use that on Sunday as a basis for his message from God's word. It is the start of a new church year but a new start unlike any other as it is so connected to all that has happened over these past weeks. May we continue to know how best we can help care for and serve the people in Otaru as they move forward but continue to face many challenges in their walk as God's people in that part of Otaru.