Today, all the men of the group piled into the back of a mini van with Josiah and Ryan to drive to the 1,300 year old Haruna-jinja Shrine. It was around a 40 minute drive, so on the way we discussed and watched a video about idol worship and how easily that culture can be created and how it can become so important to a culture. We hiked about 30 minutes to the shrine and the path ran by a river and around super old massive trees. It was so beautiful being surrounded by forest and cutting around huge boulders on our way up the mountain. The shrine and statues along the path had incredible craftsmanship and were so visually impressive as well, but many people came there just hoping for good luck or fortune and to be blessed by the "gods".

We prayed for Japan and for those coming to the shrine looking for something more as we drove back. We stopped to get Japanese fast food bowls. And, while it was a little slower than American fast food, it could be ordered with a fresh egg along side to crack open and eat raw on your meal of beef and rice.

Abby and Shari spent the morning with a church member, Tomoka, who lives about an hour from the church near Mt. Myiago. She shared some of her art which included hand painted silk kimonos.

We arrived back at the church all together just an hour before VBS was to start and had to rush to get everything together, but thankfully as it was the third day, we were more prepared to jump in. I taught my group of 4-6 year olds how to play duck duck goose for the first time and they really seemed to enjoy it. The kids had pop-tarts and Pringles for a snack and painted little notebooks with crosses on them as their craft.

The message of Jesus's death and resurrection was the focus of the lesson. My group got in front at the close to sing Jesus Loves Me with the motions and did a great job. I have been so impressed with how fast these kids pick up the songs, motions, and even the Bible verses. Many parents had very good feedback for the day again. One of the workers at the community center we are using even said he was so glad to hear children laughing and that our group had brought the community together.

When everything was done, our group was all pretty exhausted, but a lady from the church wanted to treat us to pizza delivered from Dominos. Pizza is a lot more expensive here than it is in America, so it was a special treat. Many of us got to try potato pizza for the first time and it was surprisingly good.

At 7:00 we had the English Cafe and I was sat with two younger students who were looking at universities overseas and wanted to learn English to prepare for that. I was able to share how Christianity changed my life and how important it was to me while they talked about what was most important to them and their personalities. I really enjoyed getting to hear their perspectives and was very encouraged by some of the questions they asked about how I became a Christian. I invited both of them to church Sunday to see our VBS closing ceremony and am hopeful they could attend.

I really love the English Cafe ministry and was so glad to have the opportunity to share my faith and learn about the culture here as well. It lasted about 2 hours long and I left very encouraged. Tomorrow we will be teaching the last day of VBS before the closing ceremony on Sunday. Pray that the children would be receptive and listen well as we try to share the gospel clearly. That we would have the energy to finish well and that God would be glorified in everything.

~ Caleb Dingus on behalf of the Japan Team

Day 9 - Third Day of Camp

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