Day 9, Church, Kintai, Game (Japanese Navy), C-130 Tour

    Well, it is kind of sad today to think that this is already our last full day here in Japan.  We had a late breakfast at the mess hall at 9am, and then walked off base to church (Calvary Chapel).  This is the church attended by Roy & Nancy Toma, who so kindly housed Matthew & Christian (see video, "A God Story").  It was really good to have a time of worship, and a sermon on Acts 7 and the defense of Stephen.  After the service, I had a chance to personally thank Roy.  In the course of the conversation, I found out that he was formerly with Campus Crusade and so he know Jody Kubo, the Campus Crusade missionary the Seahorses worked with when they first start coming to Japan in 1996!  What a small world.  On a personal note, Roy is now part of JEMS (Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society).  I personally attend a family camp called Mount Hermon, near Santa Cruz, CA every summer for the last 30 years.  The JEMS organization always comes and spends a week there too.  When I mentioned this to Roy, he said that he was there this summer, and it was the week immediately following our week, so we very possibly could have been there the same day on the overlap day.  What are the odds!  Not huge, but just God showing up in a fun little way.  Also, Spencer was joined at church by the Marine soccer player he met yesterday from the Cameroon.  They deepened their new friendship and plan and continuing to connect after the tour.  The Marine had not yet connected to a church, but since he attended this church to be with Spencer, he said that he was going to start going there on a regular basis!  More fruit!
     After church, it was back to the base, change, go to Crossroads (the food court on base) for lunch and then back to Kintai for a chance to see it in the daytime.  We took a taxi this time instead of walking!  It was a great time of relaxing, enjoying the scenery, playing in the park fountains (see video & pictures), and visiting the place where Paul grew up.  Unfortunately due to timing, we were not able to go up to see the castle, but it was great to get to see the area in the daytime, and it was very interesting to see the place minus the vendors and 10-15 thousand people from last night.
     We took taxi's back to the base, and then prepared for the game with the Japanese Navy.  We did not play this game at Penny Lake, where we played the Marines and had our camp.  We played on the field of the Matthew C. Perry field (see video montage), the on-base school that Paul himself attended when he lived here.  It was special for him.  The current soccer coach presented him with a scarf in the school colors and logo.  Very nice.  The Japanese Navy had really good ball control skills, but our guys must have really been warmed up as we won 8-1 (their goal came on a PK).  After the game, we sang our Japanese song, Paul gave a few words of testimony (no video as it was in Japanese) and then we presented them with some gifts.
     After the game, Paul presented the team with his surprise.  It is always nice, but not always possible, when you are on a base with so many aircraft, to be able to get a tour of one of them.  We have had tours in the past of the F-18 fighters, and the helicopters.  This year, Paul tried hard to get a tour, asking several pilots, but since this was a Sunday, it just wasn't working out.  Then he randomly ran into the soldier and was just discussing what we were doing here (as he always does) and it turns out that this soldier was able to connect us with a Sargent Busby, who is connected with the C-130 transport aircraft, and was happy to arrange a tour.  It was a lot of fun.  The aircraft is really huge.  We had the aircraft explained (ask your tour member about it) and were able to go inside to see the huge cargo bay.  The best part I think, was that we got to climb up into the cockpit, sit in the pilot & copilot's seats and look at and touch some of the controls.  We all really enjoyed this part (see pictures and video montage).
      When the tour was done, we went back to the rooms as Crossroads was closed.  Paul had some fruit and snacks, but then surprised the guys again by ordering hamburgers and tacos and brought them to the rooms!  A great meal for our final full meal here.
      As I sit here on Monday morning finishing this, I reflect on what a short, but great time we had.  There were a lot of fun experiences, but we saw God working in a lot of small ways.  We had numerous opportunities to plant seeds in the hearts of those who do not yet believe, and we were able to encourage those believers here who do not have the support that we in the U.S. have with a the significant amount of fellow believers that we are blessed with.
     This will be the last blog post (probably).  Today is just travel home.  It something significant happens today, then I will post that.  Thank you all so much for following this trip and praying for us!


Pictures (8/9 only)
Video Montage
A God Story, Matthew & Christian
Japanese Song
Game Highlights (Japanese Navy)