Present and loving in Japan How was Japan? What did you do? I’ve been asked those questions many times by friends and
family since returning from PCPC’s annual mission trip to Chiba. And I’ve struggled to give clear answers. Japan was beautiful! Japan was impeccably clean! Japan was humid! I’ve found it difficult to describe our team’s experience there and explain the services we hoped to provide. I believe this is because our mission trip was not centered on meeting physical needs. Japan is a wealthy country. We didn’t construct churches, repair homes, or provide medical relief. But we did provide love.
We provided love by listening to women as they gathered in a small church and discussed the challenges of motherhood. By rising early and taking the first train of the day to attend a men’s Bible study. By sharing a testimony to a crowded room of preschoolers and their curious parents. By sitting quietly with a church member as she sadly disclosed her husband’s unbelief. We provided love by being present. The Christians in Chiba do not need physical support. But they, just like you and I, are hungry for love and encouragement. And our small mission team of six sought to love them as Christ does by being present and active in their lives.
Most of our trip was spent in Chiba, but on a few occasions we traveled into Tokyo. On one of those days, we helped with a church’s homeless meal service. In all honesty, the church did not need our assistance. Our presence was more of an encouragement to the ministry than anything else. But the experience is one I treasure.
About 150 homeless men sat silently
in perfect rows under a large highway overpass. The sky was gray, and a typhoon was expected to hit that night. Despite the impending storm and their immense hunger, the men sat patiently and waited to receive a meal. They listened to our host pastor as he shared a message from the Bible. They sang along humbly, honestly, and beautifully as a volunteer played “Amazing Grace.” And they continued to sit patiently as we served them bowls of food. They passed the bowls down their rows, and only after their neighbor had received food did they allow themselves to eat. It was a small gesture
to observe, but I believe those men understand the importance of loving their neighbors more than I ever will. In those moments, all I could think about was Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. We certainly did not perform a miracle that day, but I believe our actions under that bridge reflected the love of Christ. We loved that ministry and those homeless men in the simplest but sincerest of ways—with our presence. And as God always seems to do, He blessed me in return with an image of love that I will never forget.
The beauty of missions is that God allows us to partake in His work. He can accomplish all that He desires on His own. Yet He calls us to be His hands and feet, and He blesses us in the process.
So what is my answer to that second question? What did we do in Japan? We loved. —Lauren Rozanski
Top left, Savanah Stewart holds a friend Top right, Aaron Iwema (r) finds a Ranger-loving student
Middle, the gathering of homeless men under the bridge Below, Lauren Rozanski and Deborah Green with their charges
PCPC WITNESS • AUGUST 2013
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