Today was an early start as our first game was at 8:30. I forgot to add about the weather conditions. At 7:45 this morning when we arrived it was 84 degrees with 96% humidity! We went through so much water. The team (Hyogo All-Stars) are a traveling all-star team from a neighboring city/county. They were in the area for a tournament and heard about us through the Sangyo girls (who they played in the tournament) and so a game was arranged for them. What a creative way for the Lord to arrange to get the gospel heard for those who probably never have heard it and "just happened" to be in town the same time we were. We played two 30-minute halves and lost 3-0. After the game, Paul did some introductions about who we are on why we are here, and introduced Pastor Hasui to them and then let him talk so as to build a connection that could continue when we leave. Then we did our usual songs (again Paul Bostrum explained the "Peach of a Savior" song), and then we asked them to do some songs for us. They were kind of shy about doing it (more on this later), but eventually they did some songs. For their first one, they even mocked us by trying to copy the Bo-te-le-li cheer. After all the songs, Madyson did her testimony and then we passed out team brochures and spent some time mixing and taking group selfies. They then had to leave, so we ate lunch in the cafeteria, but 3 of the Sangyo girls that we would be playing against in the evening game joined us for lunch (2 of them the same that came to Pastor Hasui's our first night).
After lunch we went back to the church and had about 3 hours to rest before the afternoon game. Both games were played at Sangyo U but on different fields. The field for our night game is the one we have played on several times before. We also lost this game, I think by the same score of 3-0. After the game we did the same routine as in the morning game, but this time the testimony was given by Danielle S. When we asked them to do their songs, again there was that initial reluctance but they eventually did it and actually got into in the same spirit that our ladies did. You can also see from the video that they were having a great time getting to know our ladies. As is tradition for this team, they were invited to join us for dinner at the Gusto restaurant and as you can see, they took us up on it (about 17 joined us). Two years ago they were all having such a good time that the manager really wanted us to leave. No such trouble this year but it was so loud that at our table we couldn't really even hear each other talk. Just for fun, I downloaded a decibel meter app and noted that decibel rate hovered between 85-90 with gusts up to 100 (hey, what else does an former auditor do to amuse himself?)
While it was difficult to talk, probably the most impactful part of the evening came from a conversation I had with missionary Paul Bostrum (who was sitting at my table, 40 years in Japan). While I was (and am) happy to see the way the ladies were relating, I asked Paul that realistically this was a one-shot deal, and what impact could it really have when it was barely a half of a day. He indicated that it was an incredible effect. He said that the Japanese are notoriously shy (as I mentioned earlier (and as you saw/will see in the video) and very self-conscious of what others will think of how they act and what they say. To see our ladies acting crazy with no self-consciousness allows them to do the same, and to see that we continue to relate to them afterward with no sense of judgment whatsoever is incredibly huge to them as they don't ever experience openness like this. He said that the nearest they come is when they party and are drunk, but then they are not responsible for what they say. Paul Bostrum said that it actually opens up a whole new world for them that people can actually be open and non-judgmental and that they would remember this experience for the rest of their lives. This blew me away as I had always figured we had an impact, but didn't understand how really big it was. Thank you Mr. Bostrum for allowing us to more deeply understand the impact of our ministry.
Another insight came later when the other Paul (Gizzi) mentioned how important it was that 3 leaders (including the two that came to Hasui's and lunch) came to the dinner and brought the whole team including the freshmen. He said that that builds into them the culture that this is an OK thing to do which bodes very well for future ministry.
All in all it was a wonderful end to the day to bring into focus more clearly from those who know the culture so well, one having been a missionary for 40 years (or more) and before that, grew up in Japan as his parents were missionaries, and the other whose parents were missionaries and he grew up here. Thank you Paul 1 and Paul 2!
Tomorrow a group of 10 goes to a special game that will be filmed and show about 2 weeks from now. The rest have a slow morning until 11:30.
Pictures, Day 11
Pictures, All
Video Montage, Day 11
Bo-te-le-li Cheer (led by Danielle V.)
Bo-te-le-li Cheer (led by Emily)
Bo-te-le-li Cheer (led by Sam, with the Sangyo team captain)
Hyogo Team Songs
Sangyo Team Songs
Testimony-Madyson
No comments:
Post a Comment