G.R.I.T.: 05/01/2009

A fun group

Musashi

Art museum tour with new friends

Cafe report

We met John and Anya, a couple here teaching English. There were also two exchange students from Montana. The cafe owner's husband and Norman had an interesting talk about the value of following rules.

Cafe owner

Eating basashi -look it up!

Dinner at camp

Barbara and her wounded knee

Summary of Week 1 by Norman

Well, the first week was not at all what I hoped it would be in some ways and way more than I expected in other ways. We had lots of last minute "necessary" things to do that took up too much time. However, in our outreach, we had opportunities to share the gospel with at least a few people in every group and with the whole group a few times. In addition, two people have expressed an interest in starting a Bible study. All in all I am pretty happy with the first crazy, hectic week.

Our outreach for the summer is a little different than what we have done in the past. We are trying to join existing groups as much as possible, and when we do invite people to get together are keeping it much more informal than in the past. We very little outside of the Sunday night service that requires much in the way of preparation , other than our hearts which is most important.

The guys are meeting with a local airsoft club once a week (if it doesn't rain) playing a few games and getting to know them. Jacob has connected with several of them who are also into cars while Andrew has learned that he has a lot in common with the hardcore airsofters.

Everyone is part of the Tues night and Friday night get togethers. Tuesday is a group of parents and kids interested in English, they are all friends who asked us to join them once a week while the GRITers are here. Friday night is at a local cafe and everyone is invited to talk and laugh with us as we struggle to speak to people interested in English or foreign cultures.

We also have scheduled several field trips in conjunction with the local YMCA. They are cultural activities for the GRITers as well as outreach opportunities.

Almost everyone has given a devotional this week, so far they are doing a great job. Jacob will be preaching on Sunday with Andrew to follow the next week. In between the outreach activities we are thinking and talking about what it means to be a disciple and how we can become a better disciple of Christ. We studied a little about out spiritual gifts and all took a spiritual gifts inventory.

Every morning has started with excercise and is egarly anticipated by the GRITers!!!

And if you believe that you don't know them very well. They do tolerate it fairly well though. We have had a minor accident while biking around Kumamoto. Barbara fell off her bike, skinned her knee and sprained her wrist (no broken bones, we took her in for an Xray and all is well). We have biked around 70 km in downtown traffic so I am happy that nothing worse has happened so far. they are adjusting to the environment and should be able to get around easier in the coming weeks.

If you have a request for a photo (like a picture of your son/daughter; photo of something here in Japan) you can send a SHORT message to my cell phone and I will try to oblige you by posting a photo here. I am sure others would be interested as well. The email is norman.1970-1120(at)ezweb.ne.jp (replace (at) with @)

Until next time, I am off to torture the GRITers some more...

A note on the GRIT blog

Norman Speaking: I am attempting to add short notes as close to daily as possible from my cell phone with longer posts as I have access to a computer and time to sit in front of it. The GRITers are writing posts on their laptops and we are posting them here as well. We will try to do a better job of saying who is writing but no guarantees. It is pretty safe to say that a 3-4 sentence summary for the day is from me. Anything else could be by anyone!

Visiting a kindergarden

Prayer and Fasting

By Jacob:

Fasting is something I never consider easy to do, but when your attitude needs working on it's especially hard to do. Things around here have been a whirlwind- from not knowing what to do next in GRIT to not knowing what is next after GRIT, it's a struggle to focus on the "here and now."

I will say that things are getting better. Even though my attitude is slow to come around (honest confession here) that I am slowly picking up where I left off after last year's GRIT. I'm working on ten thousand things at once when all God is saying to me is, "Can you just sit at my feet for a while? Can you slow down and even stop and have some coffee?"

God is constantly chipping away at me and perfecting every little piece that isn't in alignment with His will. The idea of getting past myself and getting on with more of Jesus. It's so so hard. All that I am I just want to do what He wants. I'd like to just be done with growing... not fasting, exercising and everything else.

But the fact of the matter is that isn't that way. It isn't what we want. It's different. WAYY different. Exercising today wasn't too bad since we're doing fasting only breakfast and lunch on Mondays instead of Sunday nights this year. It has definitely helped my attitude in both exercise and all day prayer. God is asking me not to do everything. Rather, He is asking me to do only what I can do. The phrase in Japanese is "?????." Norman says it at exercise when he is explaining something to Keiko, Mr. Ohashi or one of his 3 children who have exercised with us.

So that's what I did today. I didn't try to do "everything expected of me" through outside sources. I just did what I could do. I did the necessary things and got what I needed to get done. It was a good day and I let go of any hesitation to do only the things I can do. After the discipline of silence, prayer, a trip to several places around town with prayer and praise throughout, it was a satisfying day indeed.

Now Norman and I are about to contact ABWE about my VISA. We'll see how it goes, but the truth of the matter is I still have no clue. We hope they can get me the documents I need by the end of the day so that on Tuesday we can go and send my application off Tuesday afternoon after going by the Kumamoto VISA office. After that, it's truly in God's hands.

For now, all I can do is "trust and obey."

Airsoft BBQ

We studied in the park and then joined a local airsoft team for a BBQ. The guys will be getting together with them once a week throughout the summer.

Cafe report

There were only 4 people but we had a great time laughing together. Norman had a chance to share gospel with everyone, but not to talk in great detail. Everyone had fun and is eager to get together again!

Fri update

Tonight we have our Fri Night Cafe. A time when we invite friends and people we meet during the week to join us in a local cafe. We are praying for a good turnout and opportunities to point people to Christ.

Today the GRIT team headed into town to do a bit of volunteer work at the local YMCA. The roof needed to be cleaned up so that it could be used for a project where kids would be planting a small garden on the roof. I wasn't quite expecting for the YMCA to be inside of (and towering above) an outdoor mall. The project itself was pretty straightforward, and we got done quicker than we expected, leaving everyone with a bit of free time. My experience so far has been a pretty interesting one, between the early morning workouts and the various projects teaching English and working with kids. The city itself looks a lot like East Tennessee, Kumamoto is a smallish city nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. What makes it feel strange is a number of near infinite tiny differences that add up to make everything feel exceedingly alien. There's also the small matter of the omnipresent language barrier. Serving in this country is going to be a huge challenge, I can see that already.

midweek update

Tues night we spent 3 hours with about 10 kids and there parents. Norman was able to talk to the parents about spiritual things as the GRIT team worked with the kids. Today we had our first leadership lesson. So far we seem to have a great team.

Day of Prayer

The girls prayed with Susan while the guys joined several pastors and missionaries for a time of prayer.

A Grand Day Out

Yay! Off to Japan! Pack uｐ all the stuff and toss it in the car. Then off to the airport and through security. Except that we had some trouble there...　I have many airsoft guns, I plan on playing airsift here in Japan, I brought my airsoft guns with me, the TSA guys had never heard of airsoft... Yeah, so we waited for them to figure out what to do with these "guns" that weren't marked. They discussed it with at least 10 people and had me explain what they were at least that many times untill finally a guy showed up who knew what I was talking about and I was cleared to go in under 30 seconds. And thus began our journey. The flight to Chicago and connection to Tokyo were uneventful. However, once we got to Tokyo we had to wait for the plane to be checked over with a heat scanning camera so that they could be sure we didn't have the dreaded swine flu (or pig plague as my new friend Daniel likes to call it.) Then through customs. But another problem. They weren't happy with Natalie's paperwork claiming that she would be teaching english. They wanted her to produce a visa for that even though she was entering as a tourist and essentially volunteering as a temporary assistants helper... yeah. So that held us up for a while and by the time we made it to Haneda (the other Tokyo airport that isn't near Tokyo) we had missed our flight by almost a half an hour. By this time we were both exausted and sick of the stress and problems of our trip. Fortunately, there were a few people at the airport who spoke a little English. Before long thay had us on a several hour process of contacting the States and getting our flight changed to the next day. And all it took was time and money... and more money. (Like 3 hours and a total of $800 kind of time and money.) In the end we were stuck for the night but able to get on the first flight the next morning. With jetlag acting up we were able to get our tickets and turn in our baggage hours before we needed to and had plenty of time to wander around trying to find and open Starbucks (which we never did.) So we sat and waited for our flight which ended up being delayed about 20 minutes. The flight went well and finally, finally, finally, we made it off and to Norman's minivan headed to our apartments. So the moral of the story is, when you travel take plenty of cash, have access to plenty of cash in other countries, plan for the worst, and hope for dear life that you somehow get the best... but good luck on that.
Andrew Murray
Short termer/GRITer

Jacob`s Trip

I know this is long, but it will definitely summarize my trip over...

So it's been an adventure so far. I'm currently in Seoul, but the way I got here, well, it's a testimony that God wants me in Japan this summer at the very least...

I am always trying to do more and more than I should but things are just out of control at times in my life. It's something acknowledge before God and know I am making constant strides in that direction, but for some reason I'm just really stubborn. And I'm amazed at how He still works in my life in spite of me.

Knoxville to Atlanta
The crazy thing about how it all started is that I went out to dinner after Swing Dancing to Steak and Shake Wednesday night in Knoxville. I didn't pack but I "knew" I'd have time to get everything done before going to the airport the next day. That night on the way home I remembered I had told my dad I would take an Optometrist appointment at 8:30 Thursday morning. I was tired, and I didn't worry about things. I simply went to bed.

Thursday morning arrived faster than I was anticipating or wanting it to- not because I didn't want to go but because I was so tired and worn out from the day before that going to Dr. Shields & Shields to have my eyes check was about the last thing I wanted to do. However, I went and got there right on time anyway because I knew I needed to do it before I left, so I did.

After a great and encouraging 20-minute conversation about what I was doing in Japan, I returned home to start on the madness and chaos that was packing. I washed one load of clothes and packed rigorously. I realized I hadn't bought a new pair of running shoes that I thought I'd need for GRIT 2009 &/or 2010 in Japan. By the time I thought I was done packing, I went to the mall, bought a pair of shoes and came back home. Long story short, my family and I finally left the house at 3:15- WAYYY later than I should have even thought about.

On the way to the airport, because I'd measured one of the bags I had to be 60 lbs and the other 35, I could rearrange the weight- so that's what I did. It wasn't pretty or easy while in our van, but I moved all of the weight around and got my two bags situated. Upon arrival at the airport, things were hectic as my confirmation number wouldn't work even though the Delta employee could pull it up on the computer. After a short check, she got my items printed off and my bags checked... then came the line.

After realizing I wouldn't make it in time if I didn't ask people if I could cut in front of them (and also seeing Steven Johnson and Brad Zockoll at the airport too), I began the process of moving in line. Finally, I just went to the front and came to realize that the employee at the counter had only given me my boarding passes for the Atlanta to LA flight and my LA to Korea flight. Again, after a hop, skip and jump back to the ticket counter, I got my correct boarding pass, ran off after saying good-bye to my family (quickly this time as in running by compared with the first time when I realized I needed to cut line it was slower) and got through security.

I ran toward the gate after checking the board that shows the flight times and departure gates. As I ran, the gentleman said to me, "You going to Incheon?" (the name of Seoul's airport), and I exclaimed "Yes!" even though I was out of breath. After taking a few more running strides toward him and the gate he radioed, "Nevermind, he's here."

I just barely made it. Now, it's arguable that I would have been able to drive down to Atlanta with one of my parents, but that would have meant missing Jonathan's graduation for them as well as for me unless I rented a taxi. Neither option was desirable or likable, so it was a great blessing to get things off with a bang even in spite of me (as I have said earlier).

On the flight I met a man named Brad. We discussed his business and how my dad might be able to use him one day. I told him about what I was doing and continue our brief conversation as the flight took off and in 27 minutes (I think) landed in Atlanta. It was a good conversation and we discussed briefly our beliefs but not too much in depth. I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit to want and desire more but also a peace in just wanting not to start something... it was strange but a relief.

When we landed in Atlanta, he had a connecting flight at 6 and it was 5:23 so I walked with him as far as the food court but by that time I was starving so I wished him well on his way to Orlando for his business meeting and found some food.

Atlanta to LA
After eating some Panda Express, I logged on-line just to check a few things and just kind of thought about what would be next. I decided to find my gate even though it was 4 hours early because of what had happened earlier with things in Knoxville. I randomly struck up a conversation with a newlywed couple on their way to Mobile, Alabama coming back from Disney World. I think their names were Julie and Brad but either way it's just a name. The thing that was crazy is for the first time in a long time some people asked more questions about me than I asked about them. It's not bad, but it just doesn't happen very often if ever. They asked pretty much all the basics within 15 minutes about my journey to Japan. How it started, why I am going and what I see next that God has for me plus all of the details in between. It was refreshing, and I congratulated them multiple times on their recent commitment before God and that His will would be done through their marriage.

After waiting and seeing a few flights come in before ours, I began talking with a woman named Jennifer. I'd gone to get a refill on my small water from Panda Express and noticed she was still there. She appeared to be the type who could be from LA, so I commented and asked where she was going. "Home to LA" was the gist of her response. After further conversation, she had been married for 19 years, had two kids, and was a Mechanical Engineer for a defense contractor with the US Government.

We talked about everything from Christianity to the Lakers-Rockets game that night. After a while, I went and got a smoothie and came back after finding a place she could probably watch the game. However, I texted Google and found out that the game she wanted to watch started at 9:30 Eastern Time- and our flight was scheduled to leave at 9;15. Needless to say, she was bummed but still wanted to go to the place that had the Magic-Celtics game on TV. I stayed at the gate because I didn't want to go eat again and definitely didn't want to take a chance on missing my flight. I think that just by talking to her and discussing things about life it opened the door to her being open to us talking about the things that really mattered- namely, Jesus. I was careful I didn't just shout His name at anyone that would then have deaf ears. I thought, "I don't want to have to worry about this, Lord. Is this you or me that's holding me back?" I don't have an answer for that question at point in time, but I know and trust His leading and His Spirit. After discussing deeper things, like I said before, she went to eat.

From there, about 30 minutes passed and then came an announcement: "All passengers on the Flight 2097 from Atlanta to LA should note that the gate has been changed from A01 to A12. Please go to Gate A12 to board the plane starting 30 minutes before scheduled take-off time." Since Jennifer wasn't in the area, I decided that I would immediately find her and then head to the gate. Luckily, she was eating close by and the chicken salad she had with her could be put in a take-out box and brought with her. She finished her food and I just stayed and talked with her some more. After boarding, I essentially said "good-bye" to her and sat in my seat.

After boarding with plenty of time to spare, I met a young lady (at least, she was younger than I am) named Rita and a woman sitting next to her whose name I forget. Rita had been to dental school in India and was doing her residence Rochester, NY. To make a long story short, Rita wasn't quite sure where she got her beliefs except "from her parents". She needed guidance and all I did was act like an arrow who pointed straight to Jesus. "Just search for truth, and even if you don't like what you get, you'll find it. Just be ready for the Truth. " We both slept for about 3 hours on the 5 hour flight so it was good to just rest a bit on my already long journey.

LA to Korea
When we arrived in LA, I was really hungry. I looked at the board that told all of the times for arrivals and departures, but I didn't understand "TBT" for my flight. I found a Korean young woman there too named Irene who also was looking for the same thing. I told her I thought it meant "To Be T----- (something)" but I didn't know what it was. Since I was so hungry, I asked her if she'd like to go grab some food and then find it together. So where did we go? McDonald's. It was the only thing open at 11:30 at night in LAX.

After eating, we found someone and asked them what "TBT" was- Tom Bradley Terminal, also known as the International (flight) Terminal. We asked where it was and headed toward it. The board still said "on time" at 12:50 so we knew we needed to rush a bit to get there on time. Hurrying into the terminal, we got through security fine and then power-walked to our gate- ironically, the farthest one from the security checkpoint. When we arrived, we had someone saying, "Korean Air Flight 62?" and we said yes. She responded in Korean and I said "yes." Long story short, we got on the plane at 12:35 by my cell phone's time. And again the God of the universe is still sovereign. I just guess He really wanted me in Korea for this past day I've been here.

On the plane, Irene and I didn't have seats near each other so I just went to my seat and was trying to relax. A young chinese guy started asking me questions about where I was going and I did the same with him. He was returning to China and explained how China was easier to go to through Korean Air than China's air carrier. Once we got off the ground, I just tried to relax. I played some games, listened to all kinds of music that was in the system, and enjoyed the Korean Meal they served us on the flight.

All in all, I slept 3 hours, probably played lots of games (Free Cell, Minesweeper and a host of others) and thought about what my True Purpose in going to Japan is. In all of my conversations, I at least attempted to turn the conversation spiritual and not just 'friendly and casual.' I want more. I want deep conversations. I want to talk to people who want to think about the meaning of life, not the shallow ones who only seek after the "fleeting pleasures of sin" that exist on this earth. Brad, Julie & Brad (yes, two Brad's), Rita & the former missionary, Irene and the chinese guy all had one thing in common- they all needed to hear something from me about Jesus. I hope at the very least I pointed them in the right direction.

The Payoff
When I landed in Korea, I went through a temperature check (after filling out a health questionairre related to the swine flu), customs and baggage inspection. I was finally to the end of my destination... at least for now. Merilee showed up about 10-15 minutes after I sat down on the bench outside of Terminal B. It was so so very good to see someone who was not only a familar face from meeting her last year at GRIT but also to see a sister in Christ on the other side of the world.

Today was just an incredible day of meeting new and wonderful brothers and sisters here in Korea. I got to eat at "Super Yummy" aka "The Face Restaurant" for lunch, hang out with Holly (Merilee's roommate) for a bit before napping and then going to dinner with everyone at this Mexican Restaurant for Daniel's birthday. We attempted to play "Pump," the alternative version of DDR and just walked around this huge mall in Seoul.

After the mall, Jason (the guy with whom I'm staying) came back to Merilee's apartment and helped me take my stuff to his apartment before heading over to Linda's (and Jessica's, whom I hadn't met) apartment for some fun and games. We told jokes, played uno and other games until it was time to depart for the evening. All in all, just a great time of fellowship with believers. God isn't just moving in Japan or America... He's moving everywhere.

I hope that through the way God has worked in my life that it will encourage you to do one thing and one thing only: "Run as hard and as fast as you can after Jesus."

And so it begins again...

GRIT is always an exciting time, this time the start has had more excitement than usual as Barbara thought she would miss her international flight (but didn't) and Natalie and Andrew did miss there domestic flight in Japan. After a night in Tokyo, they should arrive this morning. I think all of us have probably gotten less sleep than we might have liked last night!

Monday we begin with a day of prayer, the guys will be joining several pastors and missionaries for a prayer time in the morning while the girls meet with Susan. We will be trying to finish up getting our housing ready for the summer in the afternoon. Even though we are only here for 8 weeks, it takes a lot of work to get housing ready and have a place to cook and eat!

I will try to get a group photo up here as soon as everyone is together on Monday night.

GRIT is beginning!

GRIT prep

The Smith family is moving to downtown Kumamoto for the summer. Susan and the kids will be holding down the fort at the main apartment, handling cooking duties and leading some of the girls activities.

We have an amazing summer of outreach planned, everything from airsoft to participating in a worship service at a church in the area. Somewhere in the middle we have English conversation nights at a cafe, Mom and Kids get togethers, day trips with people from the YMCA, volunteer cleanup at a camp, and an English worship service each Sunday night. We have a pretty decent schedule before we even get into the discipleship training and exercise that makes up the core of the GRIT program.

Everyone arrives the 15, 16, and 17th, we have a light day on the 18th and then on the 19th the real GRIT begins with Japanese class and our first lessons. The day will end with about 5 hours of people time as we get together with some people interested in English and/or foriegners at a friends house in Yatushiro (just south of Kumamoto city). I am sure everyone will be exhausted at the end of the first day!

Stay tuned for more updates and photos starting this weekend!
Norman

And so it begins....GRIT 2009

The first GRITers arrive May 15 so GRIT 2009 is about to get underway! In the next week we have a lot of preparation to do before we are ready for everyone. This year will be a very unGRITy year as we are staying in apartments in downtown Kumamoto. The bad - we are spread out over three apartments, we have no exercise yard out the back door, we have no meeting place where we are staying. The good - we are surrounded by people! We should have daily opportunities to meet new people and make contacts. We should have lots of opportunities to share Christ as we tell people why we are here.

I am looking forward to a good summer of personal growth and intentional discipleship with the 5 Americans and 1 Japanese who will be full-time participants this year. Stay tuned for updates and photos as they arrive.

G.R.I.T.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

A fun group

Musashi

Art museum tour with new friends

Cafe report

Friday, May 29, 2009

Cafe owner

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Eating basashi -look it up!

Dinner at camp

Barbara and her wounded knee

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Summary of Week 1 by Norman

A note on the GRIT blog

Visiting a kindergarden

Monday, May 25, 2009

Prayer and Fasting

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Airsoft BBQ

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Cafe report

Friday, May 22, 2009

Fri update

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

midweek update

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Monday, May 18, 2009

Day of Prayer

A Grand Day Out

Jacob`s Trip

Sunday, May 17, 2009

And so it begins again...

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Thursday, May 14, 2009

GRIT prep

Sunday, May 10, 2009

And so it begins....GRIT 2009

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