Shin & Ai...
Written soon after ariving in Japan, one can sense his love for his team and his excitement to be with them. (they had
arrived in Japan a week earlier than John due to his having to finish his teaching school back in Southern Cal.)
He praises the team's lack of complaining, but really what team member can complain when their team leader,
who is 18 years older, chooses to sleep in the least attractive place in the crowded apartment, on the floor next to the trash can in the Kitchen.
John was that kind of leader, not barking commands at the front, but setting the pace and leading by example.
Here also in this letter we meet Shinichi and Ai Ueno, perhaps John's greatest contribution to Japan. Shinichi (called Shin by John)
came to a 'farewell'
party for John shortly after his drowning and shared with all the non-Christian students how living together with John had been
the means for him to come to Christ. He mentioned how John's private live and public face were the same, and they both pointed
to the truth of the gospel. John helped to follow up Shin after his spiritual birth, teaching the ways of following Christ.
07/03/2006
Seven. That's the number of
people who slept in our small apt last night (five Americans and two
Japanese). As I type this update I am sitting on the only piece of space,
outside of our hallway, that is literally not covered with futons or
clothing. As you may have guessed space is about as rare as blond
Americans in Japans. But the Japanese have learned to cope with the lack
of space over the generations. We too are learning fast. What's
encouraging is that not one person on our team has complained once about the
tight living arrangement, at least not verbally.
It's easy to come
to a foreign country as missionaries and try to promote a certain way of living
and not the pure Gospel, even unintentionally. Is it our hope to preach
Americanism or the liberating grace of Jesus Christ? I'm thankful for a
team who have tried to live like "Romans when in Rome" and not spend our time
talking about how much better things are back home.
During our time
in Japan we will be studying 1 Thessalonians in depth. One of the things
that came to mind was that the church in Thessalonica was THE group of
Christians living among the lost pagan worshippers there. They could've
been a small group, who helped to influence a large number of people toward
eternity. Then the thought occurred, "Why couldn't we be like the
Thessalonians, but in Japan?" What if the LORD chooses us, our team, to
start a massive chain reaction that would permanently change Japan? It
could happen. Do I believe that it could, or do I simply believe that if
it would happen it would happen sometime in the future and not now? But
why not now? Did Jonah know that 120,000 would come to believe after one
missionary journey? Bad attitude and everything? I want to believe
that the LORD is always ready to do the amazing, the unpredictable, the unfair,
the un-understandable. You know what I mean. Through us. Even
this summer.
This past week I had dinner with my old roommate,
Shinichi and his wife and son. Jane, from our team, happened to live with
Shin's wife, Ai, when she lived in America, and joined us as well. Shin
came to California to study English after he graduated college never expecting
to become a Christian during his short stay. He had been approached by
another roommate at a language lab and started coming to an international
students Bible study that met at our home. After he became a Christian,
Ai, his girlfriend at the time, came to visit. We didn't know what to
expect since there is so much hostility towards Christianity in Japan.
Within the first week of her stay she was shared the Gospel by one of the gals
in our group. She wept upon hearing it for the first time and became a
believer soon after. This would be an amazing story in and of itself
considering how long it takes for a Japanese person to even become warm to
reading the Bible. But there's more. Eventually Shin decided to
return to Japan, though he wanted to continue living in America. He
married Ai and together bore a son, Taira, and are expecting another. He
landed a great job and became active in a local church. But this week when
I had dinner with him he told me that he had some news for me. He had
decided to give up his current job and become a pastor. But here is the
amazing part. Not only has he decided to give up a good job and change
careers, but he has also decided to go to an American seminary that has a campus
in Korea. For three years he will uproot himself and his family and move
to a foreign land and learn a foreign language while studying to be a pastor in
yet another foreign language. He admits that his son will probably return
to Japan speaking Korean better than Japanese at the end of their term.
All this is even more amazing when you consider the fact that Koreans and
Japanese have had a bitter rivalry for generations, largely as a result of
Japanese imperialism during World War II. And yet Shin and Ai have none of
the hatred and prejudice that they were once socially expected to have.
Why? The liberating Gospel of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. He
is the One who frees us to pursue Him without the enslaving chains of culture
and human expectations. He is the One Who sees the heart and not the
surname. And because of Him, I, a Korean by birth, can call Shin, a
Japanese, my brother and work together with him to help increase the number of
our Family. Amazing.
So who knows what can happen when we
share our lives with unbelievers in our midst? One thing for certain is
that the Gospel is not boring and the LORD is not predictable. Let us
unleash the Gospel and watch it devour the unbelieving heart and transform it to
something worthy of eternity.
With you for
Him,
John
PS Here are the names of the rest of
our team in case you feel led to pray for us by name:
Crinkly
Ranjo, U of Alms
Jane Sugiura, staff, UCI
Joni Poon, staff, UCI
Ojen Aslanian, UCI
Priscilla Ling, UCI
Cole Robinson, UCI
Georgy Welcomii, U of J
Mike Cain, U of A
Ryan Mullarkey, U of A