5th Day of VBS

So Friday was the last day of VBS. We had lots of fun with the kids and enjoyed spending time with them as our week long program came to an end. We actually had the biggest turn out of the whole week! We had 21 kids in all with probably at least 10 moms. Sensei and Yoshie told us this year was probably the best year they've had for VBS. Many families continued to invite more friends and each day we grew in numbers. Lots of non-christians came to our VBS program which was really great. Probably 80% of the kiddos that came were from unsaved families. Yoshie and Senei both said it was a great opportunity for the people to see what a Christian church was like. Most people (unsaved) in Japan are intimidated by churches or tend to shy away from them because of bad experiences so the first step (walking into a church) was taken by many mothers this week. It was really great interacting with the moms while we spent time with their children.

Friday started with songs as usual followed by English lessons. My English lesson mainly consisted of review for the little ones. I spent time going over numbers, letters and colors all week so I figured Friday would be a good day to review. So I started the lesson out by dumping two buckets of colored balls out all over the sanctuary and then distributed cards with numbers and English letters on them all over the room. Then I had all the kids sit in the middle of the room where I took out my puppet ("G-san") who would then call out for them to go find a particular letter(s), colored ball or number. (check out the video)The kids had LOTS of fun and the mothers loved it! It seemed like my class continued to grow all week! Albert's class grew as well. He spent time going through pictures and having the kids identify in English what animal/thing they were looking at. Isaiah's kids played Guess Who and Tony spent time baking, prepping snacks and also setting up the craft.

After English lessons we had snack (animal crackers) which we finished off with a song and a story by Sensei. He went over the story of Jesus walking on water and when Peter tried to walk out and fell into the water because of a lack in his faith. It was a great time and Sensei was very animated so the kids loved it. Plus all the moms stayed too and enjoyed the time. Then after the story we went up stairs for craft time where the kids decorated cloth backpacks to take home with them. While we were working on the crafts Tony worked on the American Lunch we put together for them (hot dogs, coleslaw and Doritos), the kids LOVED it!

Then after the long day with kids Tony, Isaiah, Albert, Sensei and I all went to Akihabura (Electric City) where many foreigners along with Japanese go to buy electronics at resonable priced rates. We really couldn't find anything that we wanted so we mainly spent the time walking and talking with Sensei. However he did take us to the Government building in Shinjuku (sp) where we took an express elevator to the 45th floor in 55 secs! It was fast and we could feel our ears popping but it was an awesome view, check out the photos. After all this Tony and I along with Isaiah rushed home on the trains because Isaiah had a 7:30 English lesson at the church and Tony and I needed to get to Yuki and Mika's (our homestays) because we promised to make them dinner! However we still had to get back to Tachikawa, go grocery shopping, hop on another train to Musashi-Sakai and then walk to their house. So we didn't get to their house til 8:30 or so and then made dinner for them. We made Hawaiian burgers, sweet potatoe fries, had maui chips and then peaches and tea for dessert.

All in all Friday was a great day but very tiring. We really enjoyed the time this week at VBS and know that God is sovereign and will have touched the lives of those who visited the church. Thank you all for praying.
Frank