good works in Japan

So I don't know if we have really talked about Global Mission Center and explained what life is like here. For those of you who are curious, allow me to give you the run down. And if you would like to do some research on your own, here is their website: http://www.globalmissioncenter.com/
Our days begin with breakfast and a morning meeting at 8:30AM. (For us girls, this was a much later wake up call than at Jiyu Gakuen. Ironically it's almost more difficult here.) To begin every meeting, someone will lead us in a worship time and prayer. Steven happens to be volunteered/asked to do it quite often. What a lucky guy. Then all the volunteer opportunities for the day are announced and people raised their hands for what they would like to do. GMC is a plays a part in several different ministries on top of running their church that meets in the newly rennovated sanctuary downstairs as well as a Christian bookstore.  Thus, there are a number of things that we can participate in. They send people to various temporary housing (kasetsu) to do individual visits, tai chi lessons, and join in with arts & crafts.  We were told that there are a lot of people living in kasetsu here in Iwaki, especially those who had to evacuate from Fukushima and the nuclear power plant. Apparently a lot of people from Iwaki left the city but a lot of people outside of Iwaki were relocated here.

Kasetsu

Apart from the kasetsu, sometimes there is physical labor things to do. This past week a group has gone to Usuiso Beach every day to clean it up--that means all the wood, kelp, and rubbish. That area of Usuiso was clearly devastated by the tsunami, but plans to rebuild the city are in the making and something that is on GMC's prayer list. There has also been consistent work in the mountains 2 hours away this past week (Urabandai, I think), which involved moving the debris of several cabins. Probably the most intense physical labor that we`ve seen in our time here (Not that I got to participate. But you can ask Steven and Cynthia).

Can you tell which area was cleaned???

Then every Tuesday and Friday is Delivery Church at Iwaki Station. This, as explained by the first Westmont team, is like street evangelism at the nearby train station. They play music for the people passing by (at that time of the day there are a lot of students getting back from school) as well as have people talk to those who curiously stop to listen. Right now they are passing out flyers for Love Revolution Revive Iwaki 2, which is like a Christian conference featuring popular Japanese Christian musicians. Anyways, so the volunteers are welcome to participate in Delivery Church too, whether that means playing music, passing out flyers, or just praying. Below is a video of Eliya enthusiastically sharing his testimony with illustrations that he made.

One consistent volunteer opportunity throughout the week is cleaning the center and cooking dinner for everyone. So far our team has cooked twice and both times turned out to be a success according to the reviews. Phew.

Our spaghetti dinner with salmon tempura, garlic toast, and salad.

After dinner we have a mandatory evening meeting that begins with worship and prayer. Then we have a time of sharing about the day. These evening meetings have been really cool to hear each others' experiences and hear about what God is revealing to different people. Then the rest of the night is our time. We usually hang out, go on dessert runs to the Mini Mart across the street, or do English/Japanese lessons until sleep time. Or some of us just go to sleep after a long day. 

All this to say that GMC is working hard for the Lord here in Iwaki.  Keep praying for Japan! Greater things have yet to come :)