Japan Missions Trip 2016: Day 18 - April 12 - Nara Park & Supper with the McKenna's

Since I'm returning to Canada on Friday, we spent the day as a family, and headed back to Nara Park and the surrounding area.

We explored the shopping streets (shotengai) and even had the opportunity of speaking to a couple from Tokyo who were visiting for the day and giving them some Gospel literature in Japanese (the Yorokobi no Izumi produced by Japan Mission).

While Tokyo is the nation's capital, Nara is often known as the cultural capital, and is home to the 'Daibutsu' (giant Buddha) which is housed in one of Japan's oldest wooden buildings.

Japan's two main religious traditions are Shintoism and Buddhism. Shintoism is the worship of the ancestors which is the ethnic religion of Japan and Buddhism was imported to Japan from China via India.

Although religion appears on the outside to play a very central part of Japanese life and culture, if you were to ask the average Japanese person if they were religious or not, they'd probably say, no, although at the same time, they would also likely say that Japanese are 'Buddhist'. From a Western viewpoint, this seems like a contradiction, and yet to a Japanese person, it isn't. Herein lies a possible reason why many foreigners struggle to adapt to Japanese life and culture, because there are many seeming contradictions that make living here interesting to say the least.

After getting back, it was a blessing to have supper with Alistair and Wendy McKenna, who have been pastoring at Osaka International Church for around a year. Although approaching retirement, they both felt the Lord's call on their lives to return to Japan, where they had served around 30 years previously, and are willing to be here for as long as the Lord would have them.

They shared their story of how the Lord called them back after all these years, to the land of the rising sun, and of how He provided accommodation for them in Ikoma, right next to Japan Mission, all as they waited upon the Lord for guidance and direction about where to live when the came to Japan.

The story was an incredible story of faith and trust and of God's provision in answer to prayer and in accordance with His Word. This was certainly a challenge to my own life and how I go about my daily life and trust God for guidance.