Cooking Class It started off as the family I was staying with wanted me to try a traditional Japanese soup with a bunch of different things in it. While we were eating it for lunch during school all the elementary kids I was sitting with kept looking at my food hoping I would share with them because they all love it so much. When the principal saw their reaction we decided to teach the students how to make this soup. Two weeks later all the kids brought their favorite item to put into the soup. We taught them how to cut each item and then we put them into a big pot. We talked about how this soup takes a long time cook which is why we made it first thing in the morning (the trick is to cook it for as long as possible). During lunchtime we served each student as they told us what they wanted and then we all eat with smiles on our faces because we made one amazing meal. Thanksgiving Thanksgiving in Japan is of course not the same as it is in America... not a shocker. You can't typically find the foods we eat, but thankfully for me the church that I am apart of is across from the US Air Force base. Which means all the american families brought their favorite dishes to the end of the month potluck and the Japanese families brought their favorite dishes and it was a big feast. Being able to share this holiday with non-Americans and being able to spend time with them and tell them all about Thanksgiving traditions. During the Thanksgiving service the pastor called up all the kids and the whole church prayed over all the kids and blessed them for all that is to come. Last Minute Surprises As my last day was approaching the students and teachers were planning something that I was oblivious to. Little did I know they were planning two different surprises for me! One happened at the end of the school day, we were playing with this sword were you have to be blindfolded. As I was blindfolded I thought I was fighting one of the students, but to my belief when they look my blindfold off they had set out cake and muffins and sang me a song. My heart was full and warm with happiness. In my mind I was thinking wow this is a great send off, but there was more to come. After school one of the teachers asked me to dye her hair; in the midst of this I noticed they would not let me out of the back room for hours. Than finally dinner time came around and they let me out. I knew something was going on but nothing to what they did. All my middle school boys stayed and brought something for dinner. It was far beyond a perfect day because of my students and teachers they made me feel loved and appreciated. When it was time to leave to catch my bus all the boys help me with my luggage and walked me to the train station. I could not of asked for a more perfect ending to my time at Shion. Prayer Points
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Typhoon Hagibis If you have been on Facebook or watching world news you probably heard about the typhoon that hit japan at the beginning of October. It turned out to be the most devastating typhoon since 1958; it had wind speed up to 260 kmph/160 mph and as of today killed 89 people and 7 are still missing. The country was still recovering from typhoon Faxai which is why the damages were so bad this time around. Hagibis triggered a tornado in Ichihara City and a 5.7 earthquake in Chiba Prefecture. Through all this craziness were preparing for the worst: filling up all jugs/bottles with water, making a big thing of soup so if the power went out would have food, we filled up the bathtub so when the water got shut off we could still go to the bathroom, and of course make sure all electronics were fully charged at tall time so we can keep up on the news. Praise God we didn't have to evacuate or the school didn't flood; Praise God our power and water stayed on!! We were part of the lucky ones. Not everyone was as fortunate as us. Lot of towns were flooded and destroyed. hundreds of families lost everything. Camp Amagi Since I have been at Shion the kids talk about how they are so excited for camp. The day finally came for us as a school to leave for camp. The energy was through the roof the whole three days! We rented a bus that was about to fit 16 students, 3 parents, and 3 teachers, 2 dogs, our sound system, games, and all of our luggage. In my mind I was kinda expecting it to be like the camp I've gone to for the past 5 or so years, but not to my surprise it was nothing like that. It was an old Japanese christian camp that is up in the mountains; kind of hidden from the community. You had to wear indoor slippers because you don't wear your outdoor shoes inside, they had traditional Japanese rooms and beds, they even had public baths. During the first night we had a huge bonfire; during the bonfire we threw papers in to it. On those papers were labels that others or ourselves had put on us and it was time to burn those labels, get rid of them, and give them to God. After we burned them the kids ran around like crazy animals playing tag and just being themselves with no worries. After a while we all came back together, sang some worship songs and prayed over each other and the spirit lead us. During day two we had two speakers from Montana . One of the men told us how he works at this place kind of like a group home; where parents send their daughters because they don't know how to help them anymore. He showed us this demonstration: one of our students were in the middle and there were four chair surrounding him. The speaking was telling us how this student didn't use to have these chairs around him (the chair represented the walls that were up in his life), but with events that had happened in his life he started to put wall up one at a time. As each wall were up he felt more isolated and alone; he felt that because I am distancing myself no one can hurt me however when you are alone no one can help you get back up. The speaker was telling how his teams job was to care for these girls by figuring out why they put these walls up not just at the surface level up down at the roots and to pulls those roots up and ever let them back in the ground again. His talk turned out to be a pretty heavy and luckily we have a fun day planned. We had a japanese style BBQ and then we had p.e./games. To be truthful the games were my favorite part because I got to teach them a bunch of games that my youth group play at winter camp. It felt good to be able to see the smiles on their faces and laughter in the air because I know I won't be able to see that at camp this February but these kids made it more than worth it!! Prayer Requests
Worship Songs At Shion
God Paving the Way As a christian we hear God has gone before and prepared the way for you' quite a lot; or at least I have as people talk to me about to leaving for Japan. I know it true but experiencing it is another thing. During my travels to Japan that is what happened! This was the first trip that I traveled by myself that I would have to sit by complete strangers so what did God do? He put two christians next to me that were siblings and we were able to swag story about our travels and I got to share some tips about Japan as this was their first time to Japan and even got to help them through customs. I had to take the train from the airport to the school which was no big deal but I had to switch trains before my last stop and I wasn't sure where to go and I know I looked like a confused tourist. Thankfully this kind old lady asked me if I was lost and I told her where I needed to go. By my surprise she walked me to the elevator and even told me which direction to go for the train. At this point I was blown away with all that God was already doing. When I got to the train station that was my stop my phone was not wanting to connect to any WiFi around which was very frustrating because I was not able to get directions to the school or to let my host family know I had arrived. Once again I looked like a confused tourist in panic mode and it happens that this guy that was on his way home asked if I needed help to the elevator so tired me said 'yes please'. While we were in the elevator he asked me what I will be doing in Tokyo and I was able to tell him that I will be teaching English at a local school. When we got out of the station I asked if he would look up the address for me so I could kinda get the feel out where I was suppose to go and he was blown away that I was going to walk 20 minutes with my hiking backpack, suitcase and two backpacks, so he offered to walk me to the school and help me with my bags. I know you are probably thinking Tatum run don't let him help you but I didn't run I let him help me. It was a great way to talk to a non christian and tell them about why I'm here and how much God loves us. Shion School Being back at Shion with all the students and the teachers just felt like home like I was suppose to be there. Some of the kids remembered me and some didn't, but it still warmed my heart the ones that did remember me since it has been two years. With in the last two years a lot of the high school kids have moved on to public school because they don't have any volunteer high school teachers. Now the school is pretty small in numbers but nevertheless it gives us more opportunities to give more one-on-one attention to the kids. I believe on total we are maybe 10 students from preschool to middle school. It's been a little over two weeks at the school and the middle school boys are slowly starting to open up to me(YAY!!!). Now on the other hand the two kids in elementary are giving me a real hard time with not talking to and pretended they don't understand what I'm saying. Exploring Tokyo & It's Churches Now the last time I was in Tokyo it was more about helping out at the school and doing work project at the church on the weekends. So this time I really want to see Tokyo and all that it has to offer. My first weekend here I went to the Southern Baptist church that the family I'm staying with pastors at. The church is about a 2 hours train ride from the school that we stay in. quite a way but it's very special because the church is right across from the American military base which gives us an opportunity to bond with family during their 1-3 year stay in Japan. My second weekend I went to a church called New Hope Tokyo. It was also a Bilingual church as well. I'm always in awh when there is more than one language worshiping our God together it's a beautiful sight almost makes me cry. One of the teachers at the school who I have gotten close to took me to a history museum so I can understand a little bit of Japan's history. I really enjoyed learning and seeing how they used to live. She also took me to the Emperor's palace. Even though we couldn't go in it was fun to see a little bit of the palace. We got to observe all the people hundreds that came to the palace just to take a picture at the gate. I was told that it is only going to get more crazy there as time gets closer to when the new Emperors will be 'enthrone' in. Once that happens he will be looked at as a god. Prayer Points!
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AuthorTatum Van Horn Archives
November 2019
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