A relatively slow morning today which was nice. This was to be a day of sightseeing and ministry. We got on the bus a little after 10, started the trip with prayer, and then started off on our 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Kyoto. We visited one of the temples in Kyoto, the Kiyomizu Temple. It was a beastly hot day. We had the afternoon from 1-5 free to visit the temple and to shop. The temple was nice, but also said to see purchased prayers hanging in various forms, bowing before stone gods, and a long line to reach out to drink holy water for a blessing. It brought home even closer the darkness that people like BJ/Mary and Masa/Chie have to face as they pursue their ministries. A large part of the temple was under construction, so took away a little from the impact.
Being a guys tour, the 1-5 to view and shop was pretty much done by 2:30pm. Besides, there really wasn't a place to eat there anyway, so we left for a mall/food court that was near to where we were playing tonight. At the mall, we were met by missionaries Matt & Jessica Whelchel (Jessica's dad was in the same church fellowship group with Paul Gizzi) who share their hearts and part of their story. It was good to be able to encourage/pray for them.
The game was against a club team that Joe Adams is a part of. Joe is the former Seahorse player (see prior blogs) who is now living in Japan with his wife, and teaching soccer. This team is one Joe plays for, but since he hasn't been with the team since May, he just refereed this game instead of playing. The owner of the team was very excited about the game. He felt a special connection as part of his team name meant orange, and the Seahorse colors are orange. He was also very interested in playing the girl's team next year with his girls team, and would like to start a relationship. All told, a very positive night. The game was played on a dirt field (see video). It was well-played and ended 0-0.
After the game, we experienced the flexibility that is so common in tours. We had gotten a late start, so the game ended just before 9pm. We had to leave immediately as the lights got turned off exactly at 9. So, it was out to a place in the parking lot to do the post-game activities. We were surprised that this move didn't cause us to lose anyone from the other team who could use this as a chance to just disappear. After singing our song, we started the testimony, but now we were told that the parking lot was being closed, so we moved again to the parking lot of a local convenience store, still not losing anyone from the other team, and John did his testimony behind the store with three of the other team members putting their car headlights on so we could see. John did a great job, and we had a good time mixing with them.
We then headed to a local sento, then McDonalds for dinner, then the bus ride back home, finally arriving home about 12:45am. Loooonnnngg day, but God is good and we saw a good start to some new relationships, and some continuing ones grow.
Pictures
Video Montage
Testimony-John Hanscom
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