Dear Friends,
Maybe you are thinking summer is almost gone, and to some degree it is. So I hope you are going to make the most of the remaining week of August! Summer finally came to Norikura about three weeks ago when the rainy season lifted, the skies cleared, and we could wear shorts all day long. What a change! I realized only after packing two pairs of shorts too many that I wasn’t really going to be needing them.
ALTIDUDE Camp
A lot has happened in a little time, so I am only going to hit the highlights of our summer adventures. My favorite week came during the ALTITUDE [Adventure Leadership Training and Discipleship ] Camp. I lead this four day backpacking trip with the summer staff Andrew and Takeshi-sensei from our home church, Azumino Family Chapel, in the Northern Japanese Alps not far from NORTHSTAR. Five people joined the trip which was designed to learn about leadership in the wilderness setting, much like Moses did while leading God’s people to the Promised Land. We began by learning about teamwork and sacrifice through fun initiative games before setting out on our own journey through the mountains.
The day that impacted me most was after hiking an eight hour day to the top of a mountain where we were able to talk about new perspectives. When we usually look at the world around us, we have a routine view of all that we see. We walk out the same door every day, to the see the same things, to go to the same places. But when we reached the top of that mountain, we had a new perspective. A perspective from above that makes everything look completely different. We see the world in a different light. It is much like how God sees us when we become His children or when we seek forgiveness. Psalms 103:11-12 says this:
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Not only did we watch the sun set that evening, see fireworks from above in distant valleys, but almost everyone got up to see the sun rise as well. What an experience to compare God’s perspective of our lives with. How majestic!
We also talked about choosing the wrong paths as leaders, following faithfully, and some practical applications of what a leader does. I was surprised by some of the things which members of the trip said about their experience. They all in their own different ways realized how important it was to share their life and faith with the people that mattered most to them. I know that God really showed them something about their lives. Wow.
This Summer
We also hosted an English based camp for our home church’s youth in the beginning of August. It was so good to see more of our own church youth be challenged in big and small ways as well as their friends who came along to the camp! It was really great to serve our own local church right here at NORTHSTAR.
I have met so many new [and some return] guests this summer. I am already hoping and planning to visit or keep in contact with many of them. Pray that God would really use these relationships for His purposes.
Last week, I was able to take another trip into the mountains with a friend from my adult English class. Ichiro, not the same one who plays for the Seattle Mariners baseball team, was my “tour guide” to the top of Japan’s third highest peak, Mt. Hodaka. Last year, we climbed Mt. Fuji together, and we decided to keep the tradition alive this summer. This time, I introduced him to using a tent instead of one of Japan’s myriad of mountain huts for which you can pay hotel prices to stay in overnight. The second morning of our trip after packing up to leave, Ichiro surprised me by asking if he could take some time to play the Alpen Horn. “Only for fifteen minutes -” he said.
Ichiro walked to the neighboring lodge we were camping by, borrowed their Alpen Horn, and we set off to a large boulder. Ichiro put the horn together, as it is rather large, and began playing some morning tunes for everyone in the valley to enjoy. I could see many heads [or bodies from a distance] turn from many hikers above us en-route to the tops of the peaks that were surrounding us. Ichiro asked if I’d like to try…
We had a great trip together, and the one thing I thought about most was how do I share about my faith with someone who has no understanding of Christianity. Ichiro had some interesting questions for me on the trip which were good friendship builders. We are already talking about making another trip next summer.
A quartet of Christian musicians from the Columbus, OH symphony spent several days at NORTHSTAR playing music for our guests and outside at the visitor center in the village. One of the musicians was Japanese, and talked about the music they were playing. It was very different to have classical music being played at NORTHSTAR, especially live! But the musicians were amazing, and I was able to ask all about learning to play a stringed instrument like the violin and the Suzuki Method. The Suzuki Method for learning to play stringed instruments was invented by a man of the same name from the city at the base of our mountain – Matsumoto. Matsumoto is famous for its skill and appreciation of music, and several of the quartet members had actually lived in Matsumoto when they came to learn to teach the Suzuki Method. Not only do the musicians play for the symphony, but most of them teach as well. What a beautiful sound!
What’s Next
Here is what is left of the remaining two weeks of the summer for NORTHSTAR. Tonight, we will be doing a social event for our local friends here at the lodge. We have started trying some different things to be able to spend more time with our local friends when we don’t have any specific ministry related activities like our winter English class at NORTHSTAR. I have started doing an evening climbing time here on our climbing wall for neighbors, friends, and anyone else interested to get to know them better, spend time together, and Lord-willing begin to share our lives and our faith with them as well. We have to work around our own camp/group schedule, so we are really just testing it out. We had our first climbing night about a month ago, and tonight we will be doing an adventure movie night. We will be watching a climbing movie called King Lines. It should be a fun time!
This weekend is the annual Mountain Cycling in Norikura road bike hill climb event. 4,400 competitors will ride from the visitor center just up the street from NORTHSTAR’s lodge to the top of the mountain – 21 kilometers all up hill! Many of our very own staff will be competing this weekend, while the rest of us cheer them on. The race begins on Sunday morning. We will of course have a full house with guests coming from all over Japan to ride the most famous road bike hill climb in all of Japan.
The week after, we will have a little vacation time before our fall season starts the second week of September. I will be visiting some people in Tokyo who I have met at NORTHSTAR in the past year. Please pray that I can spend some good time with these new friends. We will also have new staff arriving for our fall season. One new intern, Seiya – a Japanese Christian snowboarder, will be preparing for an even bigger winter season this year. Three to four new staff will be coming from America and possibly New Zealand. They have already had a busy summer serving in camping ministries, so please pray for them as they pack up from their own summer adventures to continue the adventure of serving God in Japan this fall!
How you can help:
• Please pray for rejuvenation from a beautiful summer and the transition into a crazy fall.
• Please pray for the witness potential of the upcoming road bike hill climb next weekend.
• Please pray for my “vacation” time as I go to spend time with those I have since met at NORTHSTAR.
• Please pray for a difficult financial situation at NORTHSTAR and a lot of major and minor facility repairs including our main circuit breaker, the water pump for our boiler, updating most of our electrical outlets, getting new rental bikes for our fall season, and the potential need for a new vehicle or two once our current vans are beyond repair!
• Please pray for our new intern, Seiya, as he transitions to full life here and for the support he will need to raise.
• Please pray for the outgoing summer staff, Andrew, as he returns to start his fall college classes the day after he returns from Japan. He has been diligently keeping up with his Greek studies while he has been here, so I am already anticipating an A+ for him in Greek classes this fall. Good work Andrew.
• Please pray for the incoming fall staff as they are in different transitions, raising support, and packing up to catch a jet plain to Japan in less than two weeks!
Much thanks for your support of this ministry. While it may physically be far off, your gifts of time, prayer, support, and love allow God’s hands to reach farther than we can imagine. Arigatou.
Brad
Japan Address:
4306 Azumi
Matsumoto-Shi, Nagano-Ken 390-1513 Japan
U.S. Address:
29964 286th Street
Carter, SD 57580 U.S.A.
Financial support may be sent to:
Grace Brethren International Missions
PO Box 80065
City of Industry, CA 91716-8065
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