Journey to Hiroshima

 


(1. At the Thanksgiving outreach, Asaminame community center.)

(2. Read on to find out more about the bathtub. :D)

(3. Photo with the Murrays - Susan, Scott, and twins Taylor & Sydney.)

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We’re going to Hiroshima!!! It was confirmed via Skype during our nearly 2-hour long FREE call with the Murrays in Japan on Mon, Feb. 16th. We’re very excited, happy, and honored to be joining them and the two local church pastors in reaching out to the people of Hiroshima.

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Friday, Nov 21, was the beginning of a long-weekend in Japan and the shinkansen was absolutely packed! We boarded and there were absolutely NO seats. As we were getting settled to stand for the next nearly 3 hours, the family in the seats right in front of us got up and asked us to sit in their spot! Thank You God!!! =)

Thankfully, Juhee fell asleep so we were able to get some much needed rest too. We were greeted at the massive Hiroshima train station by Scott who drove us home, through lots of tolls. Juhee started crying when we were nearly there and then threw up just as we arrived. Poor thing… =(

After a quick and very delicious dinner of tacos (including shredded cheese and chips, both special treats as they're hard to buy and expensive too) with the whole Murray clan, we had a good time of fellowship with the pastors of Koyo and Kabe chapel who came to share their testimonies and vision with us. The Murrays had shared with the two pastors that they were interested in working with us and a bit about us so they wanted to meet us. We were really excited about meeting them too, even more so after Scott Murray told us about the head pastors vision of God's hand on Hiroshima, and five churches in five areas of Hiroshima spread out but all connected like a hand...

This is where the picture of the bathtub, but more importantly, its cover comes in. Prior to us departing for our vision trip, a close friend of ours had had a vision while praying for us of God’s handprint on something that looked like tarp covering a swimming pool/water. Rather than paraphrase, I’m going to copy and paste directly from an email I received shortly after the prayer meeting:

You need to look for God's hand..... if you see a direction that isn't clear and may even look unsafe, if you see God's hand then you need to take a step in faith even if it is to step out onto the water or tarp or whatever.....

Sometimes the path seems blocked or even impossible, but it will be opened when you take that step. You may get your foot wet. But, God parted the red sea. And they first needed to step into the river Jordan before it parted. Peter needed just to hear Jesus tell him to come and keeping his eyes on him stepped out of the boat..... Not sure that he'll part a swimming pool.... but that may be where the tarp comes in.... you will have God's support even if it seems like God is asking you to walk on the water...

I remembered.... this was our interpretation as a group..... B had the vision while M prayed. After praying, we pondered the meaning... M had several revelations for you regarding taking steps in faith and this was confirmation to her that this message was for you.

The next morning, after a quick shopping trip for ministry supplies at the biggest store we’d seen during our time in Japan and a sushi meal which can only be described as beautifully scrumptiously delicious (refer to blog post of Dec 21st), we went to Asaminame chapel, their new church plant which is a rented room inside a community center one Saturday every other month, and participated in sharing about Thanksgiving. Attendees included church members, their friends, people who dropped by because of the church newsletter & fliers sent out with the local newspaper and because Susan and the twins were standing outside the door (curious to see what the big tall white American woman and her cute twin girls were going to do :D).

This is an extract from their email regarding the outreach:

The community center has 42 chairs in the room that we rented. So we planned for 40 people, and Susan baked 5 pumpkin pies for refreshments. The event was advertised as "An American Thanksgiving." Soon the room was overflowing. Sixty people attended-some stood in the back and kids sat on laps or the floor. The afternoon was full of laughter and excitement as the participants created Indian headdresses and acted out the New Testament story of the 1 thankful leper. To fully illustrate the story, Scott had ten "lepers" who covered their faces and hands with green sticky dots!!! After Jesus healed them (dots were removed), only one of them had a thankful heart. We praise God that we were able to share the Good News to 21 unbelievers that day.

The pumpkin pie was yummy. =)

After the outreach at the community center, Scott dropped us girls off at home and then he and Peter went to Kabe chapel together for a Youth event. They both had fun and Peter was asked to come back again by the Youth kids! We had to catch the shinkansen back to Osaka that evening so after a quick chat and meeting Mak, Scott whisked us back to the station. We arrived back at our small apartment in Osaka around 1:30am physically exhausted but spiritually very excited.

There was a special moment when we were all sitting around the Murray’s dining table together and Scott asked us to “consider us [the Murrays]” as part of our future in Japan. The wording, as he mentioned, was very deliberate, referring to how Peter proposed to me by asking me to “consider me [Peter]” as part of my future. We were very surprised and extremely touched that they remembered that small detail which we shared with them during our first trip to Hiroshima (while enjoying lunch in a yummy Okonomi-yaki restaurant :D). Not only were they honoring us by asking us to join their team, they personalized it using the words that Peter used to bind us in marriage. This played a very important part in later confirming to us that we were to join the Murrays.

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Wow, I think this is my longest blog posting so far and I’m not done yet! Sorry, bear with me… I don’t ever want to forget how God brought all this together and lead us to Hiroshima…

Fast forward to our return home and New Year’s Day. We were at a prayer meeting and our friend B had a few more visions for us. One was a vision of three doors leading to a forest-like area, the other was one of three bridges leading to what looked like fireworks. My first comment when I saw his drawing of the one with the forest was that it looked like the mountains of Hiroshima. The other one also reminded me of Hiroshima, or rather, the atomic bomb. B was amazed at my comments and I was very excited! Peter, of course, had to calm me down and tell me that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I’m very easily excited and he’s definitely more even keeled. We make a good match. =)

And now… We have a team and a team leader who is supporting us in so many ways! We feel so much better equipped and so encouraged. Makes us want to be there even more!!!

This is the story of how we knew that God is leading us to Hiroshima, Japan. We’re so excited and can’t wait to be there, serving God in whatever way He’ll use us, working together with the Murrays and the local pastors.

Thank you for taking the time to read this super long blog. =)