Boys' Club

This was a project we did with the boys in our monthly Boys' Club. Design your own cabinet/shelf/box, we'll buy the materials together, and then we'll build the projects. Well, we wrapped that up, and some of the projects looked like the boys had designed them on their own.
In the picture above, one boy is carefully following the drawing he drafted.

Don is helping one boy make a straight cut on the wood, but not his thumb. No injuries, other than a few slivers, from this project.

We've also been reading about some heroes. Daniel was one, unafraid in the face of intimidation and certain death. Joseph is another, and we're still working through his story right now. The study of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" biblical heroes.

English or Italian?

The words you can read are all Italian, because we're at Segafredo, the Italian coffee shop chain. But, the words we're speaking, or some of us are trying to speak, are English. This is where I spend most Saturday mornings.

Taxis for Martians?

These two vehicles are at the end of our island. Most of the time they stay parked in the fenced off area, but every so often they are used. For what? They pull in front of a striking building that rises about 6 stories tall and has an impressive, but usually completely empty, second floor hall.



Well, Harumi is not quite the Caribbean, or Vancouver, but every so often we do get a cruise ship or two, and that's what the vehicles are used for. They rise to the occasion, so to speak, and extend a warm welcome, or at least the platforms on either end, and form a covered walkway joining the cruise ship to the port building. You can see one of the vehicles at work in the picture below.


In the terminal building there is a vast area for customs and immigration offices to inspect people coming and going, as well as the lounge in the picture above, but most of the time the building and the vehicles sit empty.

We're using our apartment for our Sunday Praise Time meetings and some Bible studies, and we have regular access to the meeting room on the third floor for other events. We're thankful that unlike other places where we've worked to see believers and congregations established, we don't have an expensive building we rent that sits empty most of the time. Our goal is to see small groups of believers like our Harumi group and the Toyosu group spring up in the area like dandelions. We want to serve as mentors and coaches, training local leaders.

Sunday Lunch

After our Sunday morning worship known as Praise Time, some people stay for lunch. It's a good opportunity to get to know people informally, and with so little free time, Sunday is the best day to do that.



With this many small children (and another on the way, we found out on Sunday!) our Praise Time worship needs to be concise! Most Sundays the children do very well, but there's a limit to how long they can occupy their time.

Is This a Great Place or What?

Where else are you going to see one of these? This is a real zeppelin, made in Friedrichschaffen Germany, just like the originals 70 years ago. They updated the design, and of course use helium this time. It's more oblong in shape because it has a rigid frame inside. That's what distinguishes it from blimps.

On weekends with good (VFR: Visual Flight Rules) weather, it lands at the end of our island to pick up sightseeing passengers. 12 seats, at about $400 for a cruise around Tokyo.



No, as a matter of fact, we haven't gotten around to taking the tour yet. But what other neighbourhood can boast of having its own zeppelin landing pad?

Research with a Harpoon Gun

This ship docked at the end of our island a few weeks ago. You'll see it's a research ship, from the Institute of Cetacean Research in Japan. You'll also notice the harpoon gun on the bow. In 2007 just under 1,000 whales were taken for research purposes. The meat went on sale in Tsukiji, just a few blocks north of where we live. The ship does this whaling in the southern Pacific as well as near Antarctica.

I recall a conversation with Mr. Hiraoka in Hiroshima many years ago. He said the world had no business telling Japan not to hunt whales, because Japanese eat whales, while Westerners eat beef. It's just a cultural difference, he said. I tried to point out that there was something bigger than culture here, because whales are close to extinction and cattle are not.

In a similar manner, people look at the world's religions as all being similar, and merely cultural. We have no business insisting Jesus is God's way, they tell us. Yet, there's something bigger than culture here. Religion supposedly gives the means for me to earn, merit, or somehow obtain spiritual benefits. Jesus came to provide them for us for free. He is the only One who could do that. Quit trying to reach up for these things, when God through Jesus has already reached down to us. That's the Gospel.

You Saw It Here First!

The Empty Tomb Cake was the masterpiece of our colleague Carol Love, while Miwako brought the Easter Bunny. The fur is made of shredded egg white, and the ears of sliced ham and cheese.

We combined the Toyosu and Harumi Praise Time congregations for a joint Easter Celebration on Sunday. Easter hymns, a power point presentation, communion and a portrayal of the resurrection from "The Hope" CD (google it, and click on Chapter 11 and you can watch it for yourself, but with English narration) were all a part of the morning. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch together, over Empty Tomb Cake and Easter Bunny casserole.




This is the room that sets us back a whole $3 an hour to rent.