Lighthouse, we are back!! We safely made it back to LAX this morning at 5:50 am. The weather in Torrance today makes it feel like we’re still in Japan because it’s so warm and muggy!
Anyways, wanted to recap the last day that we spent in Nagoya. On Sunday, we had a special Sunday service where we invited the attendees from KSE to attend church and then stay for an “American Party” lunch celebration afterward. There were around about 70 people who attended! Toshi preached on the prodigal son and shared the Gospel with everyone in a very simple, easy-to-understand way. We pray that seeds were planted and that these families will keep coming back to Logos. After the sermon, the kids and their parents watched a slideshow that recapped the week and then the kids got to come up to the front and sing 2 of the songs that they had learned at VBS all week to show their parents.
After service, we had our Safari-themed American party that consisted of pizza, chicken nuggets, fries, and chikfila sauce. We introduced them to the wonders of chikfila sauce. We’re not sure how some of them feel about it though. Lunchtime today was really sweet and really sad because we knew that this was all coming to an end. We each said our closing remarks, and said all of our goodbyes, lots of tears were shed!
After everyone had left and it was just the Kawai’s, Saito’s, and Burn’s, we asked if it was a cultural thing where Japanese people just like to loiter and hang out for many hours every day and they said no! It was so uncharacteristic of them to hang out and chat with us for 4-5 hours every day after VBS, but the entire time that we would just hang out and chat it felt like time was flying by. They were all so sweet in how they took the time to want to get to know us, to talk to us despite knowing that most of us could barely speak or understand Japanese. We are so touched by their hospitability, kindness, and love towards us. We went on this trip knowing we were there as short-term missionaries to serve, but instead, we have been served and loved so well. It made it so hard to leave because it felt like we now left a piece of our heart in Japan.
As we were saying goodbye, the moms and their kids kept telling us they love us, to never forget them, and to promise to return next year so they can see us again. We told them that as much as we love them, we pray that they will know that God loves them so much more. He is with them when we are not, and to trust in Him because He is good. We pray that this week the families who attended don’t just come away saying, “wow, what a great KSE”, or “wow, Lighthouse is amazing(Lighthouse was brought up a lot to these families this week), but as what Pastor Kim frequently says, “that people would come away saying what a great God”. We hope those who attended this past Sunday will continue to come out next week and the weeks following.
After many tearful goodbyes, it was time for us to go to the airport! On our flight from Nagoya to Tokyo, we passed Fuji-san in the sky!!
What a trip, thank you Lighthouse for praying for us. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to be here, to serve alongside Logos Community Church, and to proclaim Christ to these precious souls!
