This is a photo of our team on the Waseda Campus. The statue is the center of campus. We are sharing on the main campus which has about 10-12 buildings. There are a lot of tree-lined walkways with benches that students hang out on during their breaks. These benches are where most of our conversations are taking place. Usually we approach people and ask if they are a student, what they're studying and if they have time to talk. Most have very good English skills and once they get past the first shyness of speaking to Americans they get quite comfortable talking. We were told by staff here that awkward transitions aren't as noticeable by the Japanese as they are for us. Knowing that has been really helpful to me because it makes it so much easier to take a normal conversation to a spiritual level without having to worry about smooth transitions. I've been amazed at how willing most people are to talk about religious things once you bring it up.
After our first day sharing at Waseda we went to Shinjuku. It is a lot like TIme Square with signs flashing advertisements everywhere and people wherever you look. There were a lot of department stores, high end stores like Gucci and even chains like Forever 21 and H&M. Two girls on my team and I explored and then had dinner at Freshness Burger, a burger chain. It was good but the burgers were about three bites each.
Thursday nights are family night for our team. We made spaghetti, salad, and garlic cheese bread seen above. We were a little short on utensils and dishes but it was a fun experience to eat spaghetti with chopsticks! It was really nice to just be together and share a meal and laugh. I've been surprised at how worn out I am at the end of the day and times to just relax and de-stress together are a blessing. We also have date night with Jesus on Wednesday nights. These are just a time for us to be alone with Jesus and rest in his presence. As I said before, I have been surprised at how worn out I really am after sharing on campus, both physically and spiritually. Being an introvert means it takes an extra effort for me to approach strangers and initiate conversations. Add the spiritual war that I'm fighting in and it makes it that much more wearing.
Saturdays are our free day to have a Sabbath or just explore the city. Yesterday seven of our team went to explore the Harajuku district. We didn't see too many people dressed up in their crazy costumes, but we did have fun window-shopping and people-watching. I'm normally not a huge fan of droves of people, which Harajuku definitely had, but it was fun to be there just because we're in Japan. When you can't read any of the signs it is automatically cooler for some reason.
Today after church we had lunch at Shibuya, famous for having the craziest intersection in all of Tokyo. It definitely lived up to its name when we crossed it today. People were crossing every which way, totally disregarding crosswalks. Once you started in one direction the current of moving people made it hard to change directions.
Our team is co-hosting an Independence Day Swing dancing party outreach with the Japanese CCC staff. We're going to teach students how to swing dance and one of our team is sharing her testimony. It should be fun!
Thanks for all of your faithful prayers. Even though I haven't maintained my blog daily, I have been writing down everything that has happened and God's faithfulness is definitely a major theme so far. Love you all.
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