Well, an unusual day. We were supposed to start in the morning with a visit to a Buddhist kindergarten, and they were to pick us up in these special buses, but at the last minute they could not get a driver for the buses, so that had to be canceled. We then just decided to leave early for the train station and hang out there until it was time to leave for Tokuyama. The train ride to Tokuyama was about an hour and then the Tokuyama University bus picked us up for a 15 minute ride to the school. We played two 25-min halves, did our cheer, Leo did a testimony, we passed out the team brochure, and Paul passed out his life story and how it relates to Japan (printed in Japanese). We saw a lot of them reading these immediately. After the game there was some general mixing and fellowship time. We had a quick shower and then finally had lunch at 3:30--the lunch we were supposed to have on the train didn't work out, so Paul had bought some energy food at the station and then we ate lunch late (3:45pm) That's ministry--flexibility. After "lunch", we went to a new location. It was a high school where we were to have a "meet & greet", just generally a time to get to know them, play some icebreaker games and such. However, this too didn't happen (they do say things come in threes). They were so excited to play an American team, that our "meet & greet" became two 15 min halves. They had U.S. and Japan flags to hold for our group picture and wanted us to sing our national anthem and then they sang theirs. After the game, we did our cheer, Leo gave his testimony again, and we passed out the team brochure and Paul passed out his life story. Then there was some general mixing and lots of picture taking. After this, we took the train back home, ate dinner near the train station, walked to the sento and then back to the church.
Continue to pray for these encounters that the words they heard, many for the first time we're sure, would prompt something in their hearts, and that could be the beginning of many more visits.
Pictures (8/16)
Pictures (Complete)
Video Montage (8/16), 6:08
Singing the National Anthem, 1:22
Japanese High School Boys Singing their anthem, 0:48
Bo-te-le-li, 8-16, (one of their guys came out and joined us the first time)
Bo-te-le-li, Both teams, 8-16 (they love the opportunity to get crazy)
Game Highlights, Tokuyama, 8-16, 2:58
Post-game fun, Tokuyama, 8-16, 2:43 (the first thing we did, "Pen, Pineapple, Apple, Pen" is apparently a YouTube viral sensation (over 278 million views). We did not plan on doing this, it was just kind of spontaneous)
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