Week 1 in Japan 2023
As part of our (Wes & Jesse) time in Japan, we have developed a structure to our days. In the mornings we have personal time with God & then time together with God. During this time we pray & worship. In the evenings we have time to summarize stuff from the day. In this time we look at 3 points. The 1st point are highlights from the day, 2nd are lessons learned, and 3rd are cultural points. For our week summary we will focus on the highlights from the day. This weekly summary contains only some highlights from each day. We include the other items as we feel it would be good to do so.
Oct 1:
Our itinerary for the day was flying from Toronto to Vancouver then hopping on the flight from Vancouver to Tokyo.
While at the Toronto Airport, we had a conversation with a lady from out east. Jesse got to share the gospel & testimony with her. She used to go to church.
As you may have seen in the September update, we wore our “Jesus is coming soon” t-shirts. While at the Vancouver airport, these shirts provided multiple points of connection with people based on Jesus. In one case Wes had a fuller conversation with a couple about Jesus.
Oct 2:
Our itinerary for the day was flying from Vancouver to Tokyo and then going to our capsule hotel 9hr suidobashi.
We had a really good connection with an airline stewardess. We before getting off the flight we had shared about Jesus & gave her a new testament in Japanese. While we were waiting for our train to go to our capsule hotel we saw her again! We gave her a business card.
Once we arrived in Tokyo we both felt that the atmosphere was very different and cool. The city style is much different from Canadian cities, very bright & lots of signs.
Here is a photo of a tower we took shortly after arriving
Oct 3:
There was no itinerary for today. We toured a local park and went to the imperial palace. Later we went to the Shibuya crossing (world renown busy pedestrian intersection). Throughout the day we had multiple interactions in which we were able to share the gospel & give out business cards.
One notable connection which we believed was a divine appointment was with a man from China who was working in Japan. We shared the gospel with him and he was visibly interested and stated he hopes to know God. During our convo a heron flew in close to us.
In the evening close to Shibuya crossing, we practiced a dance routine we were developing which displays the gospel story. A few people saw and were inspired.
Oct 4:
Our itinerary for the day was to go to the Tokyo government building & pray over it. Then go to Mt Fuji and spend 2 nights there.
During breakfast at a Cafe we connected with a man from Sendai. We shared the gospel with him & he shared some history on Christianity in Japan.
We prayed over the government building. In particular we prayed for the people to experience Jesus and that Christians would be placed there. We also prayed that any bad spiritual strongholds would be brought down. The building is massive.
Here is an image that only captures some of the building’s size
Oct 5:
Our itinerary for the day was go to Mt Fuji 5th station & pray over the area.
We had a lot of grace getting to & from Mt Fuji. A tourist information clerk drove us to catch a bus after we ended up in the wrong location. Mt Fuji was very beautiful.
Here is a photo of us standing on a bridge with Mt Fuji in the background.
There was a shrine at the 5th station. We walked around it 7 times prayerfully. This was inspired from the story of the Israelites & Jericho from the Bible. We want people there to experience God's kingdom. The 6th time around we had the idea of it be a calm quiet time before God moved. The 7th time we walked around making a joyful noise to the Lord and clapping. This brought smiles to people's faces and one couple was copying us partially. We then went into the shrine to share the gospel with people. We handed out business cards as well. After, we saw a pathway in the clouds directly toward the shrine and ending above it. We thought it was sign of confirmation. We did our best to capture a photo of it below.
Pathway in the clouds
Oct 6:
Itinerary for the day was to go back to Tokyo and find a place to stay.
When back in Tokyo (Shinjuku) we were having trouble picking a suitable spot for lunch. We ended up connecting with a group of men on a corner. We shared about Jesus with them. One of them was a b-boy & they pointed us to a place for lunch.
In the evening we practiced our dance routine some more in a plaza in a less busy area near where we were staying. We then decided go the busier part of the plaza to do our dance for people. Before we started we connected with some young adults. We then did our dance. People enjoyed it and we attempted to share about God with the young adults and gave them a card.
Oct 7:
The itinerary for the day was to connect with Jesse's cousin who lives in Japan, go for sushi, and go to the Tokyo sky tree.
While touring around with Jesse's cousin we met a professional sumo wrestler. We also met a man who was basically a human encyclopedia wanting to practice english and we shared about God and gave him a card.
Later after saying goodbye to Jesse's cousin we went up the sky tree and prayed for the people and city. We prayed in the North, East, West, and South directions. It was a very special time of praying for the people & experiencing God's heart for them.
Picture of the city from the top of the tower
We believe that the prayers we have been and are receiving have really made an impact in our days. Thank you!
