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!
2 Comments
|
AuthorTatum Van Horn Archives
November 2019
|