Love Without Language

Language is necessary to express love, right?  Wrong.  This past week, I served up in the Tohoku area, where the tsunami hit almost three and a half years ago.  There, I learned that language can be utilized to express love, but it does not need to be used.

This realization hit me as I was messing around with my flute in the middle of a coffee shop.  To give a back story, for most of the week, Steve Kotlarczyk, Zach, and I worked at Ippo-ippo, a coffee shop that provided free coffee as well as a healing place for tsunami victims living in temporary housing.  Business was regularly slow at one point during the day, so I would pull out my flute and play hymns while a missionary's kid who was serving there for a month would accompany me.  Often, Zach would give us a beat on the cajon, which is basically a box that makes different drum sounds depending on where it's hit.  Every now and then, a Japanese guy who was Zach's age and was working there for the summer would join in on guitar.

So, there we were, messing around with different pieces, jazzing them up, slowing them down, adding syncopation, and playing our hearts out.  Nothing different from any of the past days.  Then, came the moment of my epiphany.  Raphael, the missionary's kid, turned to the hymn "As the Deer" and started playing on piano.  Motoi, the Japanese guy, Zach, and I joined in immediately.  During the last verse of the song, Motoi and Rafi started singing in Japanese, a worker at the shop started singing in her native language of Cantonese, and I put down my flute and started singing in English.  It was such a beautiful moment: five different people were contributing to the music, four different countries were represented (Rafi is from New Zealand), three different languages were being sung, but everyone had one sole purpose: to glorify God and express their love to Him.

This realization completely changed how I approached my tasks for the remaining part of the week.  While we were at the coffee shop, our tasks were to play music and then talk to those who came in.  Although I couldn't speak the language, I learned I could show my love by just listening.  Many of the customers were old and just needed a listening ear.  

Another major part of our day consisted in playing with children living in temporary housing.  Because the space in temporary housing districts is limited, children are often cooped up and need a place to get rid of their built up energy.  We would visit a different housing tract each day and play with the children and help them finish their homework.  Although I did not speak Japanese, and many of the children were too young to grasp that I couldn't, I was able to show them love by playing games with them.

All in all, this "mission trip within a mission trip" served as a great learning experience, and may have changed me more than I changed the many people I came in contact with.  Please continue to pray for the work that is going on up in the Tohoku region.  Pray especially for strength for the missionaries up there, and for permanent housing to be built quickly.

Other prayer requests:

Well, this is more of a praise: I was able to visit Moto-san, a man who lived with and took care of his mother, and whose house was hit by the tsunami.  Last year, I did a lot of work "mudding out" that house (stripping it down to its framing).  This year, we returned to find the house knocked down.  Moto-san was extremely embarrassed about the fact that his mother decided finally to rebuild a new house after all of the work we, as well as other volunteers, put into it.  However, we let him know that we were happy to be a part of the tearing down process (even if that wasn't the intention at the time), and told him that we want what is best for him and his mother.  The missionary who connected us with Moto-san told us that he got a call from him after we left, and that he hadn't seen Moto-san that happy since the decision was made to tear down the old house.  We were thankful to see him again and to lift his spirits.

Please pray for strength as these next few weeks are extremely busy.  Okutama Bible Chalet is putting on an English camp, and I will be serving as grounds crew, a counselor, and possibly and English teacher, too.  This will take a lot of time management, so please pray I can do every job to the best of my ability.

Also, pray that I will cherish every moment I have left here in Japan and that I won't take anything for granted.  Along with that, please pray that God will be preparing my heart to leave so that I can still be effective when I go back to the States.

Thank you for all of your support!

Motoi, Zach, me, and Rafi practicing before the customers arrive

Filling bags of cookies to deliver to those staying in temporary housing

Me, Steve, and Urabe-san talking at Ippo-ippo

Playing with two girls living in temporary housing

One little girl really took a liking to me, and we played together the entire day.

This is a typical temporary housing area... there are rows of houses lined up right next to each other... the white box is the front, and the little porch area on the left is the back of another temporary housing row. 

Moto-san, Zach, and me

We can't take work seriously at the coffee shop.

Why Japan?

A young boy observes his older brother worshipping at the Meiji shrine.  Attempting to emulate his brother's meticulous rituals, he claps his hands...but claps once too many times.  He is behind and cannot keep up with his brother's movements.  One can see the frustration building as he attempts to do the ritual perfectly, but instead makes countless mistakes.

I witnessed this scene last summer while visiting Tokyo for a day, and the image has vividly remained in my head ever since.  Upon further contemplation, I realized that this serves as a metaphor for the country of Japan.  For, the Japanese try so hard to be perfect.  This is by far the most respectful culture I have ever encountered, and the people are always concerned about another's needs rather than their own.  However, their efforts are in vain, for they are missing the mark.  Just as the little boy was trying so hard to do everything perfectly, yet still could not perform the tasks, the Japanese are trying so hard to work toward salvation, yet are missing the mark completely.

Sadly, because of their riches, Japan is overlooked as a mission field.  Many falsely assume that prosperity is directly related to percentage of Christianity in any given country.  Yet, a mere 0.02% of Japanese are Christian.  Few have even heard of Christianity.  Because of these unique circumstances, God has given me a heart for this beautiful country of Japan.

I, along with my younger brother Zach, am serving at a camp outside of Tokyo called Okutama Bible Chalet.  We work on grounds crew, and our daily tasks include cleaning the bathrooms, doing dishes, and general maintenance of the camp.  Although this job is not glorious, I have come to recognize its importance in spreading the Gospel to Japan.  Okutama Bible Chalet (OBC) hosts camps for various ages throughout the year.  During the month of July, they host English camps for two weeks.  Hundreds of children are sent to these camps in order to improve their English speaking skills.  OBC is known throughout Japan for their English camps, so many families, although non-Christian, send their children to learn English.  However, in both the morning and the evening, the children attend chapel and hear the Gospel spoken in Japanese.  Thus, those who may have never been acquainted with Christianity can hear from God's Word and learn about Christ. 

Where does my role come into play?  How can I aid in delivering the Gospel when I merely clean camp?  Yasushi-san, the Japanese camp director, sat us down on our first day at OBC and explained, "Your job may not seem important in bringing the Gospel.  But, what if the bathrooms are not cleaned and a child needs to use it and becomes sick from the smell?  He would miss chapel, and have to go home, and may never hear of Christ again, all because of a dirty toilet.  Just like the Body of Christ, your role is vital to allow the Gospel to be delivered."  

My prayer is to do my best in even the simplest of tasks so that the physical condition of the camp will not hinder the campers from meeting Christ.  It would be a blessing if you could pray for strength for both Zach and me, since for this next week, we are the only two members on grounds crew, which is quite an undertaking.  Also, pray for the preparation of the hearts of those who will be attending camps, and for their cultural presuppositions to not be a hinderance.  Lastly, please pray for counselors to be provided for the English camps, because currently the camp has reached its limits on the number of children able to attend, but is short on staff.

Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu! (Translates loosely to "think well of me")

-Brittany