Week 6 in Japan 2023

This week we started learning Kanji! There are about 2000 Kanji to memorize for obtaining the highest level of Japanese fluency. This week we continued to support the lady we connected with last week at the park on a daily basis. We went to Osaka for the weekend to meet up with friends & family.

Nov 5:

Today we went to church with the lady from the park. After, we went to a local parade that was part of the Shurijo Castle Restoration Festival with some classmates. There was a lot of traditional dance, clothing, and music. We spent the rest of the day with our classmates getting to know them better.

Women getting ready for a dance (left), and some men doing a traditional pole balancing routine (right).

Nov 6:

This night we interacted with a women from Taiwan and shared the gospel with her. We encouraged her to pursue God.

Nov 7:

This morning while eating breakfast we had a Japanese lady come and ask to pray for us from a non-christian religion. We prayed for her. 

Nov 8: 

Today while we were at the community centre we were introduced to a lady who owned a toast cafe in Osaka. It was a nice connection and we were hoping to go there. 

Nov 9:

This evening we went to an event were you meet people and practice Japanese. We had a great time and were able to share why we came to Japan. Before the event we had dinner in a park and were joined by some neko (Japanese for cats) as seen below.

Neko (cats) who joined us at the park.

Nov 10: 

In the morning we connected with an American at the airport and got to share about our mission. We flew to Osaka in the afternoon. We met up with one of Jesse's brothers and Japanese friends which he has not seen in over 15 years. We had a great time eating food together and chatting.

Nov 11:

Today we went to Nara Park with Jesse's brother and one of his friends. Along the journey there we connected briefly with a lady at a 711 and gave a card. We also connected with a man from France and shared the gospel. 

While at the park we got to feed some shika (Japanese for deer)! These are sika deer, also known as Japanese deer. You can see Jesse making some friends in the photos below.

Jesse and shika.

On the way back from the park Wes connected with some highschool students in a talk about God, which went well. He also gave them a card.

… and we did in fact go to the toast cafe while in Osaka! Stay tuned for our next blog!