Hongo Bible Camp

I feel like I’ve been doing so much this month already I barely have time to write about all of it! This past weekend we went on yet another retreat. I’m beginning to enjoy our weekends away from Tokyo, not because I don’t like Tokyo, but more so because I enjoy seeing different parts of Japan as well as meeting new people. This retreat/Bible Camp was Saturday and Sunday and was located in the Western part of the Tokyo prefecture in an area called Okutama. We headed there by train and it took about two hours to get across the entire Tokyo prefecture (turns out its rather large). Travel time was spent talking with old friends, and introducing ourselves to new friends. Some of my friends from Hongo were there, as well as a lot of the people I’ve met at English Coffee hour and Bible Study at Hongo. It was kinda nice going on a retreat and knowing friends that were there and being able to get to know them on a more personal basis. There were also a lot of new people there, Japanese Students as well as other Americans and some other people that attend Eric’s church, Tokyo Lutheran.


This Bible Camp was more structured than our last retreat, although the phrase of the weekend was “Loosey Goosey”. We bible study and small group time, which was both enjoyable and frustrating to me at the same time. I often struggle with our purpose here in Japan; some days I am patient and feel as though I’m being a good teacher, and other days I feel as though everything we do is on the surface level. Our small groups were a mix of people in language skill, Christianity, and age. Our conversation time was mostly spent on translating and making sure everyone understood what was going on. The first small group time really frustrated me because the conversation, bible passages, and questions were really interesting to me and I wanted to dive right into the conversation, but due to lack of language skills we weren’t able to dig as deep into the message as I wanted to. The next small group time (the next day) God had given me more patience in making sure the message was conveyed and understood by everyone. I often wonder if it would be better to divide the groups up based upon language ability so that everyone can dig into the material and get something out of it, or if the purpose is to walk side by side through the struggle together. The conversation may stay on the surface but maybe our presence on the surface is just as important as digging deep into the message.


Other activities we did on this retreat included fun mixers at the beginning of the retreat,


As well as having an hour of quiet time to just reflect and talk with God. For those of you who really know me, quiet time is not my strong suit. I enjoy talking and do not care so much for the silence, however I really enjoyed my quite time and may need to force myself into doing this more often, for it is in the silent moments that God speaks to us. I walked to an area by myself the over looked a river and had beautiful scenery. Just sat still for awhile and took it all in, and then reflected on Hebrews 13, this is becoming my favorite chapter. Prayed for awhile and them summed up my quiet time listening to some Gospel songs…not silent but at least I was with God in the moment.