The Importance and Difficulty of Community in Japan

I spent three weeks this summer visiting my home, my country, America. While I was home I visited Arkansas, Valparaiso, Chicago and Milwaukee; meeting up with different friends, family members, and different communities I belonged/belong to back home. I was able to catch up with old friends, make new friends, have relationships and have great conversations about a variety of topics. Some things were trivial, some things were super important such as the Packers fall schedule; we all know that is important. I also had several conversations with people about the programs and initiatives that are being implemented over here in the Japanese churches, and then they asked my opinion of how those programs were going, and what the biggest problem tends to be. Now that is a tricky question. I have only been here a short two years but within those two years I feel I have made many many observations. One of the most important and probably also the biggest hindrance to the Christian church would be community.

Community is a rather important component to ones survival, especially here in Japan. It gives us a group to belong to, giving us our identity. It gives us work and relationships to tend to, giving us a sense of being needed. Our families tend to be there to support and encourage us, giving us a full time cheerleading squad. The communities we belong to play a very important role in our everyday lives. For Americans, these groups or communities may not play as strong of a role. We tend to move around the country, leaving friends and family behind and an occasional email tends to suffice, as we hold ourselves up by our own strength. Or so we think. Japanese people on the other hand know better, they know and value the sense of that community, probably more than anything else in their life. Friendships take a long time to form and cultivate in this culture.

Another important part of the community structure here in Japan is the need to blend in. No one should stand out. In America we all try to stand out, be different and be noticed. In Japan the saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. This can be attributed to a cultural dimension known as individualism. I book I read in college; Cultures and Organizations by Hofstede discusses many different characteristics/dimensions of culture; things that define different cultures around the world. One of these dimensions is individualism.

Individualism pertains to societies which the ties between individuals are loose; everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onward are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. (76).

Individualism
American = Score 91 Rank 1
Japan = Score 46 Rank 33-35

These scores reflect how strong one is on the individualism scale, thus showing that Japan tends to fall more into the collectivist society. Those groups they are born into are something that need to remain unwavering, and leaving such a group to join another one…is rather taboo. Be the same, stay loyal to the group you were born into and life will be easy.

In college I had a course on international relations, which is where I read this book, and in this class we discussed many of these topics. One thing we discussed was the ease to make friendships, to join these communities. Japanese people tend to be like coconuts, hard on the outside, layer upon layer of hard exterior, taking forever to crack into. And I have cracked a coconut before…trust me, its hard.

But once you finally get through all the exterior hardness there is a soft fruit and milk on the inside where a friendship can form. Americans on the other hand tend to be like peaches. Soft and easy to penetrate on the outside, but once you get into the core…we get harder to crack. Americans are easy to open up their group and accept you in, instant friends. I have met people on airplanes and heard their lives stories before take off. But Japanese people on the other hand…it takes years to really get to know someone. I knew a student for over a year before she said ANYTHING about her husband…they are guarded and careful with what they share. This sort of self preservation, if you will, is extremely difficult when trying to integrate people into new groups ie: bringing people into the church.

Now, many of you that are reading this, I’m assuming have been Christians your whole life. Your family is Christian. Most of your friends are Christian. Somewhere down the line I’m willing to bet some of you even went to Christian schools. We’ve been surrounded by Christianity our whole life, so for us being a Christian is easy, I didn’t lose anything by being a Christian. My family didn’t disown me, my friends didn’t leave me, I didn’t bring shame upon my ancestors. But for a Japanese person who converts…these are some of the issues that they face. Turning your back on hundreds of years of tradition to become a Christian isn’t an easy thing to do. Leaving the community of your old friends and family to join a new community of Christians is not something that happens over night here. It can take years, even decades before someone feels their ties are strong enough to a new group to commit themselves. This is where the challenges arise.

I will continue to write a few entries about this topic because I feel it is rather important in understanding the Japanese church.

It must be summer....

because my blog entries have been slacking. My apologies. I have been thinking about a new blog to write though and I'm still tossing around some ideas but until I get that one up and going I shall leave you with a picture entry. These are pictures from our last day of kids class at Hongo. It was a great time and the kids all really enjoyed themselves. We played some games...and it turns out they are learning! Pleasant surprise!

Easter Activities: Photo Blog

Hello everyone! My last blog was a bit on the down side of things, but rest assure as many down times as there are, there are up times as well. Its a crazy roller coaster life living over here, and although the down seem quick and dramatic, the ups take us much higher that we thought we could go. But in the blink of the eye the roller coaster is over, and we're left thinking...really? That was it? So today I am going to post pictures instead of another long ranting blog. These pictures were from our Easter Activities in our kid's classes at Hongo. I have to give a shout out to my best friend Emily who sent me the egg dye and the Easter eggs, the kids had a great day and everyone enjoyed learning about Easter. These smiling faces always brighten my days, when no one else can. Our communication is so limited...but I love them all so much, and adore teaching kids' classes!

Changes

It’s the second week of May now, which means our classes have been in full swing for about a month. We have added 2 more children’s classes, and the kids couldn’t be cuter! So now I currently have 4 adult classes and 5 kid’s classes at Hongo, and 14 girls at Katerina. Teaching is in full swing. I changed from teaching two beginner and two intermediate to one beginner, two intermediate and one advanced class this year, partially because I wanted to teach an advanced class and partially because I believe the new Hongo J3 is more suited to teach the beginner classes. (He is an accredited ESL teacher, and is fluent in Japanese so it made more sense). I could not be happier with my classes and my students. These changes are welcomed as far as I’m concerned.

This spring many changes have happened and I have not welcomed all of them with such open arms. For many many many years the LCMS Lutheran Church has also had a missionary presence in Tokyo (VYM). Their job positions and our job positions ran right along side each other, 6 months language training, 2 years teaching. These people were close co-workers, friends, support systems and overall a social network. Due to unfortunate circumstances their program has officially ended their presence in Japan. Its sad to see a missionary community pack up and leave, but they have been working hard in Japan for years, and have planted so many seeds that will continue to grow and blossom here in Japan, so although they may be physically gone now, their work continues on in the students that they taught. This was not a change I welcomed. These missionaries were my peers. As some of you may know, the missionary group I came with….was an unusual group. Two married couples, one in their 40’s and one in their early 60’s, and myself; usually J3’s are straight out of college, so my group was a bit strange. We got along great and had an amazing orientation together, the entire while I had my peer group with the other Tokyo J3 missionaries (Charity and Matthew) and the numerous VYM missionaries to socialize with.

We would meet for lunches, have bible studies together, monthly worship meetings to re-gather and recharge, izakaiya nights and our lovely trips to Cost-Co. These were my friends in Tokyo, a group of fellow missionaries who I could share my daily struggles with, and they actually understood because they were in the same boat. We were all about the same age, single (well okay there were two newly wed couples, but they were single before) and we were all fresh in the field. We didn’t have obligations back home, or big families yet to call our own so our jobs basically became our lives, and that’s what being a missionary is all about. When these people were pulled from Japan as their contracts ended, it was during the time of the earthquake when so many things were happening and going on. The company pulled them out faster than anyone was expecting so proper good-byes and farewell parties were missed. Thus leaving many things unresolved. A change not welcomed.

The missionary positions in Tokyo are also a semi touchy subject with me, so lets just say I am currently working with someone I did not expect to be working with. My co-worker is awesome, and a FABULOUS teacher, which takes a huge burden off of me. I can relax and enjoy the bible study 4 times a week as he leads it flawlessly as far as I’m concerned. He is a great co-worker…just not who I thought I’d be working with. I was expecting a 20 something female to join me in Tokyo and to become my new bestest friend ever (which of course you ladies still are, even in the Mote) but due to back door meetings, this opportunity was short lived. My former co-worker, the glorious Matthew Linden, was a joy to work with. Everyday he made me smile at work and laugh even when I didn’t want to. He was always chattering and kept the atmosphere light and friendly. We had late night conversations over beers, shared our depressing moments, and moments of excitements as well as many hilarious youtube videos. We enjoyed working together and our lunch dates every Wednesday and Thursday (come on, we don’t cook). It was a time to teach and then to hang out with a friend. And although sometimes I didn’t enjoy the constant rambling… I look back at it now, and highly miss it. My work place atmosphere changed the moment Matthew left, and it’s not better or worse…it’s different. A change not welcomed.

As other missionary friends fulfill their contracts and look forward to moving home in the coming months, my military friends are also ending their tour of duty and returning to America. I’m still here. I'm not going to say out right that I don’t want to be here…but things have changed and it is much harder now than it was two months ago.

I feel I have lost my community, my social outlet, my place away from home to kick back with a friend while we lesson plan for the week. The recharging services and bible studies are trying to take place over skype, but with time differences…they don’t always happen. I still have a few amazing friends here in Tokyo and an amazing missionary family down in Kawasaki that are my saving grace, but things are different. My immediate peer group is gone, and I’m not sure they will ever be able to be replaced. I feel more alone here than I have in a long time, and the constant aftershocks from the earthquake are also beginning to play on my nerves a little bit and then I get the, ‘ugh, I can’t wait to go home!” feeling.

I don’t’ say all this to complain or to make people feel sorry for me, but merely to share that this is part of the reality of being a missionary, having an international life style means friends are constantly coming and going, and things are always changing. I realize I can’t count on people to always be there, because when a contract or a visa is expired…they have to leave and that’s just the reality of this job. So instead of depending on others I have joined a gym and am now focusing on me for the next year until I too hang it up and come home (in less than a year). So hopefully this will keep me occupied and give me something to do when I have no one to call and hang out with. So I am trying to be proactive and positive about the current situation, as its reality and I cannot change it. I just wanted to shed light on some of the struggles that I do face here, because all too often I think I might sugar coat my blog entries and only paint the happy picture, today’s picture…not so happy. Changes are not always welcome.

March Madness

I realize I have not posted a blog entry in some time, and for that I apologize. My last blog was entered on March 10th… if only I had waited one day later to write it, that blog would have been a totally different story. As everyone is well aware by now, Japan suffered a horrible 9.0 earthquake on Friday March 11th, at 2:46pm. The school year runs a little differently than back in the States, and due to this the month of March is all vacation for me, so this particular Friday I had no work, and was at home. I was planning on heading down to the ministry site in Yokosuka to spend the night, and my bags were packed and ready to go. I wanted to finish watching an episode of House, so I was procrastinating a little longer than planned, in retrospect; I’m SO GLAD I procrastinated.

I was at home when the earthquake hit, and at first shrugged it off because we have plenty of earthquakes and I was sure this one was no different. However this one was different, it lasted a much longer time and was getting stronger with every shake. Things were being thrown around in my house, and at this point I realized, this was no regular earthquake, this was a big one. I ran upstairs and immediately started taking down anything that was glass and moving it to the floor, because things were falling off of shelves and for a minute I thought my entire bookcase was going to fall over. After I had moved everything to the ground that I felt might break, I ran back downstairs and braced myself as the earthquake continued to shake my house. It was quite possibly the scariest few minutes of my life. Realizing for the first time, I live alone, and have NO idea what to do in case of an earthquake…I had no preparedness kit, not even bottled water and no evacuation plan. Oops. Compared to how I could have reacted, I think I remained quite calm doing the whole ordeal. After the ground finally stopped shaking, I could hear lots of people outside talking, so I headed out the door, to be around people. I might not understand what they were saying, and everyone was just as shaken as I was, but being in the mere company of other people, made me feel a lot better.

I walked by the train station in my neighborhood and that’s when the first big aftershock hit. Let me tell you, some of these aftershocks are like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Buildings in Tokyo and in all of Japan for that matter are built to sway. I’m use to sturdy brick homes in America, that don’t budge. In Japan buildings rock, sway and move to prevent damage when earthquakes hit, and they do quite an effective job too I might add. However, being in a building that sways (to a foreigner who is not used to that) feels like the building is going to fall over on top of you. The swaying aftershocks are also a quite impressive feeling. Imagine being on a boat on a windy day on the water. The boat rocks back and forth and many people get sea sick. Now, imagine your house is doing that…crazy huh? The ground literally is swaying beneath you and everything is rocking from side to side….not a comforting thought to think that ground is swaying underneath you. I walked around my neighborhood for awhile to see what most people were doing, to get a feel for what I should be doing. All the time I was trying to call my friends in Tokyo to see where everyone was, and make sure everyone was ok. But that plan did not work as EVERYONE in Tokyo was trying to do the same thing, so the cell phone lines were jammed, my phone quit working for close to 10 hours.

I decided to head home and came to the conclusion I wouldn’t be going to Yokosuka that night, since all the trains had shut down. I had a Japanese friend come over that night, to watch the news with me, and just to keep me company since I was still pretty shaken up. The internet was still working, so I began to get in touch with people by good ole facebook, and learned that everyone was okay and trying to find their ways home. The entire city took to the streets that night as millions (literally millions) of people had to walk home from work, school, shopping wherever they were when the earthquake hit, because the trains were down for the night. I had students tell me they walked hours to get home only to find all of their valuables broken.

To be quite honest, everything was kind of a blur and I still didn’t know the damage caused everywhere by this earthquake, nor did I know at that time where it had originated from. As the days continued on I realized the extent of the damage and learned of the travesty in the Tohoku region. Things in Tokyo remained to be a bit chaotic for the next few weeks. Everyone panicked like people do everywhere (although much less here than other places), and the food quickly disappeared from the grocery stores, the trains remained shut down, and flights in and out of Tokyo were suspended briefly. This had me worried… As I stated before this happened on Friday and my younger brother Daniel, was suppose to be flying in on Monday. So I was playing the waiting game to see what would happen. We had aftershocks about every 15 minutes so the trains were running slow, sporadically or not at all. I had talked with Daniel and he assured me he was still coming out here, so a friend from church graciously offered to drive me out there to pick him up, when she realized the trains to the airport that day were not running. I am so thankful people here are looking out for me!

About the time of Daniel’s arrival into Tokyo is when all the foreigners were fleeing Japan, so it was really nice to have him with me during this time. His trip to Japan was a lot of fun, with a few modifications due to the earthquake. But overall it was a great time. We even had my birthday dinner with our two Japanese friends from Milwaukee, which was really cool; Mariko, Ken, Daniel and I enjoyed a nice dinner in Shinjuku and had a good time catching up. I’d say his trip to Japan was quite a success, we had enough food and never lost power so I’d call that a success.





After Daniel left I spent the next two days in Tokyo just hanging out and taking a break, still having aftershocks quite frequently. I had learned most of the Lutheran missionaries (LCMS and ELCA) were no longer in Tokyo. The ELCA missionaries had planned trips out of the city prior to the earthquake, and then I learned the LCMS missionaries had all been evacuated. I started to get a bit worried, but I had a trip previously planned to go to Hong Kong to visit my friend Laura. Despite what the American news was telling everyone, things in Tokyo remained rather calm and unaffected by everything that was going on. People in America telling me things and reporting what they heard was freaking me out much more than what the American Embassy or my bosses were telling me, so to be quite honest everyone at home was making me much more frightened and nervous than I needed to be. So it was also nice to escape that by calming everyone’s nerves and telling them I was in Hong Kong.

This trip came at a great time, I was able to get out of Tokyo for a week and truly relax with a friend from college. I slept and the ground never shook to wake me up, and I got to enjoy normal life again without the worry of radiation. My trip to HK was a huge success. While I was visiting Laura, I also had time to meet up with another missionary friend Rebecca as well, and the three of us had high tea at the Penninsula Hotel, great experience I encourage everyone to try it! I also happened to be there on Sevens weekend. Sevens is the biggest sports event in Hong Kong, its a weekend long Rubgy tournament where teams from all over the world compete to be rugby champion. It was a LOT of fun! Laura and I got tickets to go on Friday to watch the opening matches, so granted the teams weren't matched well, but it was still a blast to watch and hang out with my new friends!

I immediately fell in love with Hong Kong, it was the perfect blend of Chinese and Western c/2ultures, island and city living, relaxation and business savvy, its a great place. Most, if not all, people speak English! I was able to communicate and make friends faster there than I have here in Japan for the past 1 1/2 yrs. The way of living is much different there, and its definitly a place I could see myself living...more on that in the future ;)










I returned to Tokyo as planned, with a slight delay of flight, and started work that same evening. Everything now has calmed down a bit, some schools had delayed starts due to the earthquake and some stores are still running shorter hours, but other than that, its life as usually here in Japan. In my next blog I’ll try to catch everyone up on how this new school year has been going!

Relational Ministries

Building a strong faith in Christ requires you to be surrounded by others who also share a strong faith. Finding such a community in America is relatively easy, in Arkansas for example there is a church on every corner, literally; finding Christians is no problem in the good ole Bible belt. In Japan however, finding a strong Christian community or a Christian mentor can be a bit more difficult. Due to this fact, a lot of the missionary work we do here in Tokyo is relational based. Spending time with our students outside the classroom is strongly encouraged, and personally I think that’s where a lot of the faith sharing comes from.

I have been blessed to have two amazing work sites, Hongo Student Center attached to Hongo Lutheran Church and Bunkyo Katerina Dormitory attached to Koishikawa Lutheran Church. I teach at both, and have amazing students at both of these sites. My placements, my co-workers, and my students have been amazing and for that I am so thankful. My youngest student was 3 when she started and my oldest student just turned 87, so needless to say I teach the spectrum. Teaching students with such a varied age has been remarkably amazing. I’ll begin with the youngest and work my way to the oldest.

This year at Hongo we started a new children’s program. We have classes for kids from ages 3-6 years old. My youngest student Kaede is probably one of the cutest and smartest students in her class. She learns so quickly and is a very tactile learner, which means she loves to touch you, hold your hand, give high fives, and dance around the classroom. It’s hard to rein her back in because she’s so cute you don’t want to stop her from doing whatever it is she is doing. (I thank Charity’s dance class for her love of dancing!) Because of her prior attendance in Charity’s dance class, she was fairly comfortable with being around foreigners.

Her younger brother, Yuki…was another story. He must have been just a few months old when they started coming to Hongo, if he so much as looked at one of us he would burst into tears. He was a momma’s boy, and no one could look at him or hold him. His mother explained that only she, her husband and her mother, could hold him without him crying. Watching him grow up has been amazing! I love kids, which should come to no surprise to any of my friends in the States. I love them and always want to hold them. Yuki was no exception; we slowly worked our comfort up with one another so I was no longer scary. That was a huge milestone, to gain his trust. Our last week of classes, I had walked out of the classroom for a minute to grab some candy and Yuki saw me, smiled and ran over to me with his arms up in the air. I immediately swept down picked him up, and carried on with what I was doing. His mom commented on how much he loved me, and that single action done by a one year old, made my week. To have these kids grow up with us at Hongo, and to have become so comfortable around us is an amazing feeling. The relationships are being formed from a young age.
I have so many stories about the young children I get to teach, I could write an entire blog on kids, but instead I’ll just put in a few pictures.




The next age bracket would be my college students at Katerina. These girls have been absolutely amazing to teach, talk with, hang out with, and get to know over this past year. It deeply saddens me to watch some of them graduate, and move out because that means they will no longer be my students. When I first started teaching at Katerina the friendships were slow to form and the conversations in English class were a little dull. As the semesters progressed the conversations got quite serious; the decentralization of power of the former Soviet Union, the corruption of foreign governments, woman’s rights, gender equality and lack thereof in Japan, and WWII and the misleading information students are taught in Japan about their countries involvement. I mean…wow. Talk about some serious topics. These girls have matured in their thinking capacity, their willingness to bring up things that impassion them; their willingness to open up and talk freely with me, watching their progress has been amazing. I have hung out with several of these girls outside of class and they are a joy to be around (not to mention close to my age). The relationships formed in these classes have been deep; we have talked about deaths in our families, relationship break-ups, moving to new places, and the ups and downs that come with being in college. We can bond on a real level, because we have real things in common. Working at Katerina has allowed me to have complete freedom in what I teach in class which has been instrumental for helping me learn to teach. The classes have been so easy to teach and there is never a dull moment. I am so thankful to have this as an assignment, I truly love working at Katerina and having wonderful conversations with the girls.



My next age bracket jumps a few decades as I teach my “old lady” classes. These women range in age from 50 to 87 years old, so while 50 isn’t that old…87 is, lol. These women have also taught me a lot. We have discussed the stereotypes that their generation grew up with, their perceptions of the war and how that still affects their daily lives, we have rejoiced in new grandchildren being born, and mourned family members passing away. I have come to think of them all as grandmothers. These classes for me at Hongo have been very rewarding also because we do a lot of activities together outside of class. It can be as simple as going to lunch together, going to someone’s house for tea, shoe shopping, or taking a day trip to Nikko. We have gotten to know one another a lot better by being outside of the classroom, and I am thankful we are encouraged to have those types of relationships.





I have been blessed to work with a wide range of students with a very large age range. Each group of students has taught me different things, and I hope in return I have taught them something as well. Friendships and relationships are so important in the Japanese culture in order to trust one another. By working diligently and being honest with my students and taking a true interest in their activities, and spending time we them we have laid down a real stable foundation for relational ministries. By these students getting to know me, I hope they have a better understanding of what it means to be a Christian, not only by what I teach them in class but by my actions inside and outside of the classroom. It’s not something I turn on when I walk into Hongo or Katerina, but rather something that is an ever pervasive guiding force in my life, and that is something I hope they can see. I have been blessed with my work placements, and I think these past few weeks I have realized that more than ever. I am truly grateful this spring to be living and working in Tokyo with the amazing people God has put into my life, and for that I am thankful. Heres to another successful and fulfilling year of teaching!

Am I making a difference? Is that a good thing, or a bad thing…?

My thought process has been working in overdrive lately due to new revelations in the job program here in Japan, new knowledge of other organizations, and a deeper look into worldwide relations and volunteerism. Please bear with me as I try to explain my new revelations. Happy reading.

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a life time. This is a rather popular quote among many Christians and teachers. Maybe no other organization takes it to heart as much as Heifer International. This organization is an amazing non-profit organization that strives to eliminate world hunger by giving live stock to poor families across the world, and teaching them how to properly take care, use, and share the gift of life with these animals. Heifer’s strategy is to

“Pass on the Gift.” As people share their animals’ offspring with others – along with their knowledge, resources, and skills – an expanding network of hope, dignity, and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe.

– www.heiferinternational.org

This particular organization is located in southern Arkansas, and therefore I have visited several times, leading high school students to understand sustainability of farming and food. This is an amazingly selfless organization that has great drive and ambition for the world. To end world hunger, and hopefully one day they will achieve their goal.

If Heifer ever achieves their goal, they will successfully put themselves out of a job, and I am sure they will be quite pleased with that. I, on the other hand, would not like to be out of a job anytime soon. But yet another missionary recently told me that our job here is to just that, to put ourselves out of a job. I came to Japan with the intention of making a difference, to change something about the way this country viewed religion and to make my impact while sharing God’s word. As the school year comes to a close and I reflect on my past year teaching, I begin to wonder if I’m making a difference. The current church the JELC has placed me at does not really use me for anything. I do not lead bible studies, I do not have ministries, I’m not mandated to attend their meetings, churches here do not actively engage in out reach or many events in general. This began to bother me, I felt as though I wasn’t making a difference.

But is that a problem? The church is composed of mostly older people (as almost everything here in Japan is), there are 2 children and 1 new infant, the majority of our congregation is deaf. There is a strong deaf ministry going on there…which unfortunately for my lack of understanding sign language, let alone Japanese sign language, has left me out of that loop. Most of the ministries from other churches I’ve been involved in have revolved around either music or children…which leaves me at a loss at this church. But is that a problem?

My church here has created ministries that work for them. They have sustained those ministries and are taking care of them on their own. I am a PART of those ministries but am by no means leading or creating them. There is no need for outside help, no need for a missionary. A successful, sustainable church has been created that does not depend on outside help to function. That was the goal, right? Although Japan does not have high numbers of Christians, the churches that are here, are self-sustaining. If I were to create a program, would it be one they took on and continued with after I left? Or would it be something else a missionary created in order to make them feel useful? Which is a better way to minister? To make people need you, or to sit back and watch a working church…work?

When missionaries first came into Japan our gimmick was to teach English. Currently, English schools have sprung up faster here than Walgreens or Starbucks in America, and we have lost our edge. Many mission schools remain, but teaching English is as common these days as manga, have we managed to put ourselves out of a job? The LCMS church has always had a strong force of missionaries here in Japan and especially in Tokyo. “Back in the day” there would be as many as 30 at a time teaching here…this year only 5. And with these sad numbers, I will be saying goodbye to the LCMS missionaries here in Japan next weekend. Their mission has come to close, they have done their work and put themselves out of a job. As I struggle to say goodbyes, I wonder if this is a mission accomplished…and should we rejoice? They have planted the seed of Christ in all the people they have met, and over the years they have taught thousands. Is that it? Is the job done? I realize I ask questions that have no answer, but as these people who I have come to rely on as a support system leave, I cannot help but wonder how long it will be before we pack up and leave too. Countries are beginning to ask for more specific workers, nurses, computer programmers, doctors, theological instructors, the missionaries needed are much more advanced in their skill levels than they used to be. The entry level jobs, much like my own, are beginning to be filled by local staff. Wasn’t that the goal? Have we accomplished what we set out to do?

As I unfortunately count down the days until my co-worker, my fellow missionaries, and other friends in Japan leave to return to America, I begin to think about what I will do upon my departure from Japan. And I’m still left with a longing to help others, to serve, to volunteer. The demographics of who I want to serve and in what capacity have been changing, evolving if you will, and that changes on a weekly basis.

Many of you know that last August I finally achieved a goal of mine; to go to Cambodia. I have wanted to go to this country since I was a junior in high school. I have learned about it, met a former child soldier, listened to lectures, learned to love the food, read books, done research projects and have had an ever evolving fascination with the country. To finally travel to Cambodia…was life changing, amazing. It left me wanting to do more, with a desire to return. I decided I wanted to travel back to Cambodia when I was done with my time here in Japan and volunteer, more than likely with children at an orphanage.

And then I saw this: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/101east/2011/02/2011210123057338995.html A news program on Aljazeera discussing the problem with Volunteer Tourism: Tourists traveling around the world and volunteering their services for free. At first glance that sounds like a good thing, people wanting to help, people with a desire to give back. What could possibly be wrong with that?! Well…many things. Volunteers tend to be unreliable because they are on vacation after all. Volunteers leave, leaving orphaned children with a feeling of abandonment all over again, free laborers taking jobs away from locals who desperately need jobs. Volunteers do not create a sustainable work environment, because what happens when they get bored and return to their homes? The orphanages and other non-profits are left short handed and often without the proper resources needed.

I’m not saying volunteering is a bad thing, but I am saying that there are negative side effects to volunteer tourism…something I was/am very interested in. That leaves me and some of my fellow peers at a loss. We have all but work ourselves out of jobs in our current context and have the desire to serve and to work for the needy, but what if that is doing more harm than good? I would highly encourage you all who have read this far to watch the Aljazeera report; it is very interesting and informative.

I do not want to leave people with the idea that missionaries are not needed here in Japan; because they definitely are and our mission will be around for years to come; and volunteering is always a good idea and helps millions of people every year. I write this more to show you where I’m at in my current thought process, where to go from here? I want to serve in a more destitute location, and have a strong urge to return to Cambodia…but when I do; I want to make sure I’m helping them and their cause more than I’m hurting their cause. How do you create a sustainable enterprise with an ever changing work force? How do I help those around me without leaving a void when my time is over?

Am I making a difference here? Am I suppose to? Guess I’ll teach them how to fish, and hope I can find a new trade to teach somewhere else…