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Glory Speaking: Missions in Japan

English camp

This is Tomo and I have some missions updates from Tokyo!

 

Last weekend, I worked at a Jr. & Sr. High English camp at a Christian retreat center in West Tokyo called Okutama Bible Chalet (OBC).  OBC was built in 1960 by SEND International and has been used as a Christian retreat center ever since. Every summer, OBC hosts many camp programs. This year, there were some 13 camps, most of which were for children.  I’ve been going to OBC every summer to work as a counselor and this was my fourth year. There were 27 kids, most of them Jr. High kids (13 to 15 years old) and a couple Sr. High kids (16 to 18). There were 8 boys and 19 girls. 

We had many fun programs such as English classes,

chapel time,

 

 

skit night,

 

and games.

 

We also had rafting, one of OBC’s most popular activities,

 

cooking class,

 

campfire,

 

smores,

 

pool, craft, and so on.  This year's Jr. & Sr. High English Camp was a rather challenging one, because we had one girl on a wheelchair, and her twin sister who also had some kind of disability. Then on the day before the camp started, the camp staff were told that one boy from Taiwan was coming. When all the campers arrived at OBC, we learned that the boy only understood Mandarin Chinese. However, as it turned out, God sent as counselors a pastor’s wife who used to be a nurse who was able to help the girl on the wheelchair, and a girl from Hong Kong who spoke both English and Mandarin, who was able to help the boy from Taiwan. It was pretty amazing to see how God provided for the needs of the campers, even ones that us staff didn’t really expected.  

What was really exciting was that there were many non-Christian kids as well as some Christian kids. On the questionnaire that the campers filled out on the last day, 8 kids checked on “I want to accept Jesus as my savior”. One boy was very open about it and said so during cabin time, and one of the counselors was able to pray with him and tell him a little bit about what it meant to be a Christian. Non-Christian kids in Japan know very little about Christianity or Christians, and a lot of follow-up is needed for them to know more about it and gradually find a church they can regularly attend.

 

Please pray that those kids who came to OBC this summer will continue to be interested in the Gospel, and will be able to come back next summer.

 

Jaane :) 

 

Published Aug 13 2008, 07:40 PM by Tomo

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