Youth With A Mission

As I mentioned in the last post, we are now staying in Tokyo with a team from YWAM.  We have been here for three days now, and I feel I should explain to you all what we've been doing and what YWAM is all about.  The YWAM team is made of about 14 amazing people of age 19-21.  They're in the outreach phase of a six month Discipleship Training School that first involved a teaching session in Toronto before traveling here to Tokyo and later to Thailand.  We have met up with them about three weeks into their outreach stay in Tokyo in the same week that their trip organizer is visiting to teach and check up on the group.  The organizer, Anderson, is currently working on his Master's degree in Philosophy.  As you can imagine, his teachings are very deep and difficult to process, but he is not afraid to approach parts of The Bible that others shy away from. It has been a great experience learning from him.

  During their travels in Tokyo and Thailand, the group is working on putting together a documentary on the realities human trafficking and also making evangelistic efforts in the area.  We will be with the team until January 2nd.  So far, we have helped them with their efforts to put on a demonstration in Yoyogi Park  to raise awareness of human trafficking.  This park is somewhat comparable to a Central Park or a Grant Park. We have been hard at work putting together songs and skits and making banners and leaflets to hand out.  We will unfortunately be heading back stateside when they make use of these preparations, but pray with me that their demonstration would be clear and effective.  Although it is very secretive these days, prostitution and other forms of human trafficking is still a very real issue in many parts of the world.

Tomorrow evening, on New Year's Eve, we will be traveling to Yoyogi Park near the biggest shrine in Tokyo.  Here it is customary to visit on New Year's Eve to pray for health and luck in the coming year.  Here in the park we plan on gathering with candles to sing some worship songs and pray for Japan until the New Year.  Our hope is that this might be able to plant another small seed in the thousands upon thousands that will be passing through the park to get to the shrine.  We decided against any larger outreach efforts this day because there will be other 'fire and brimstone' type demonstrators in the park as well.  This kind of unloving demonstration is how most Japanese view the Christian religion as a whole, so we don't want to give the wrong impression.  We have decided it will be best to go and experience this huge tradition in Japan and be able to pray with more understanding of the culture. 

We would appreciate continued prayers that our efforts here in Japan would not go unnoticed and that the Japanese would begin to understand that Christianity is about sharing love and not using scare tactics.   

I would like to thank you for all you support during the trip.  It has been a wonderful journey thus far, and I am excited to see how God uses us on our last few days. 

-Andrew