When first praying about starting a new YWAM Operating Location in the Tohoku region, we felt that God wanted us to pray for His heart for all of the largest cities in the 6 prefectures. Last year we went on our first vision trip to the lower three prefectures: Miyagi, Yamagata and Fukushima. So this time, the main focus for the trip would be to pray over the largest cities in Aomori, Iwate and Akita. As a secondary focus, we wanted to make some connections in Kamaishi, Iwate. This city will be a host for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and we are interested in partnering with local churches for outreach during the games.
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| The team consisted of Mosese from Fiji, Tom from England, myself, Ryan from the US and John from England. |
Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
7 May
During the planning of this trip, we were originally going to travel straight to the northern three prefectures, while driving around the edge of Sendai, but not going in. While praying, I felt that God was saying we should go there. So I emailed a church that I had found on a previous Google search for churches in the city, FCBC. The pastor, Caleb, got back to me straight away saying that their mother church in Singapore has a good relationship with YWAM and that Loren (the founder of YWAM) has spoken there multiple times in the past! This was a huge encouragement as not many churches in Japan know of YWAM.
As we were praying for accommodation, we were led to contact the Sendai Baptist Seminary (where we had stayed during a DTS outreach) and they instantly got back to us saying we were welcome to stay there.
When we arrived in Sendai, we proceeded to pray at the station as has
become our tradition to see what God had to say about the city. While
praying, the word Sendai came to my mind. The word
Send was highlighted
in English, then the
ai was highlighted as being the Japanese word for
love. I don't usually have these things come to my mind, so I shared it
with the group. We all felt that God wanted to send His love to the
city.
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| Praying at Sendai station |
After this, we travelled to the old castle grounds where we could see the whole city from above. This is a great place to pray for the city. Again, it seemed to be that God was highlighting love, and Mosese even got the exact same thing that I got at the station! Send-Ai! Surely God was speaking.
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| Statue of Date Masamune at the castle grounds |
We then travelled to FCBC. We got there a bit early, but this turned out to be a blessing as Caleb took us to a meeting room and shared with us about the history of the church and how God provided the building for them. He asked us about what our vision is and I also asked him what his vision is moving forward. He said that he really wanted to reach out to young people, but they had no young people to pioneer this ministry. This was interesting as on the previous two visits to Sendai, God had been speaking to us about young people specifically and that God wants to bring many young people into His church, with joy and passion! The pastor also mentioned a ministry called
Praystation which aims to bring young Christians together. This is something to be aware of if we wanted to pursue student ministry. As a side, he also mentioned that there is a gospel event in November, and their church has a gospel choir. Apparently a popular way to sow the seeds of the gospel, as people are attracted to the music.
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| Pastor Caleb sharing abut his church and vision |
We then worshipped with the church, which had a special focus on honouring our mothers as it was Mother's Day in Japan. This was followed by a delicious Chinese meal with members of the church. When we finally got to bed, it was after 11pm. We were very tired! The thought of driving in the morning at 6am the next day did not sound appealing at that time!
Kamaishi & Otsuchi Cities, Iwate Prefecture
8 May
We met up with Mark and Wendy, Baptist missionaries, and they took us to a church in Otsuchi where we worshipped together. The pastor was from Peru and married to a Japanese woman. He preached in Spanish, which was translated into Japanese by his wife. We also stayed to eat lunch with them so it was a fun time to get to know them and their vision for the future. They would love to open a Christian cafe in the area and reach out to young people. We spent some time praying with them before we travelled to the new stadium grounds in order to pray.
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| With the church |
We did not realise the stadium had not yet been built, but we prayed their anyway, specifically that Jesus will be the foundation of the stadium and that there will even be prayer and worship events held there!
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| Praying at the stadium grounds |
After this, we visited a Japanese lady, Sasaki-san, who let us sleep in her house when we visited the city after the tsunami in 2011. Naoko and I have visited her since then, and it was good to see her again! We pray for her salvation. She likes Jesus, but says she cannot become a Christian because her late husband wouldn't approve, who she speaks with on a regular basis at her household shrine. This is very common in Japan, especially in more rural areas like Tohoku.
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| With Sasaki-san |
Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture
9 May
Morioka is the largest city, and prefectural capital, of Iwate prefecture. Once we arrived, we went to the station to pray. As Iwate is a large prefecture, we prayed that God would empower His people to spread the Good News, and that He would also bring more workers to the field.
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| Praying at Morioka station |
During the days leading up to the trip, John was put into contact with a
pastor in Morioka that did sport's ministry. We felt it would be great
to meet up with him and talk about how we can partner in the Rugby
games, but we were only in Morioka for such a small time frame so we
prayed that God will open up the opportunity to meet with him. The
pastor got back to John saying that they would have a pastor's lunch at
the specific time we were in Morioka and they would love to have us
join! Praise God! You can't really plan things like that!
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| Chatting with the pastor and missionaries |
So we met up with the pastors and missionaries at Morioka Conservative Baptist Church and we all had a really great time getting to know them and their heart. There was a lot of laughter and joy, and it was particularly good to meet with Japanese pastors in their 30s, as not many younger people seem to feel called to become pastors. They all had a heart to join local sports teams and make friends that way, with a hope to share the love of Jesus with them. One pastor and his wife also had a vision to start a church and café in the disaster areas on the coast. This was a really great connection for us to have in Tohoku.
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| A great bunch of people! |
Misawa City, Aomori Prefecture
9 - 10 May
After this, we travelled to Misawa city in Aomori prefecture. We stayed at a Christian guest-house for two nights as this would help us break up all the driving in Aomori prefecture. A YWAM missionary that has served in Okinawa for many years also lives in Misawa so it was a good opportunity to visit her and her family. On the night we arrived, we had the opportunity to pray with our friend and a friend of hers for Aomori prefecture, Tohoku and specifically for unity among the body of Christ. They were feeling that the church in Tohoku seemed to be stagnating due to a lack of being open to new things that God wants to do. We also had a good time praying that different denominations and traditions can work and pray together in unity to see revival come to the land, especially between more traditional, conservative churches and more charismatic churches.
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| Prayer with our friends in Misawa |
Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture
10 May
The next day, we travelled to Aomori city which is the largest city in Aomori prefecture, as well as the prefectural capital. After lots of driving through farmlands, we arrived in the coastal city. Again, we prayed at the train station for God to give us His heart for Aomori. Among other things, we felt that just as Aomori is known for the best apples in Japan, there will be a great spiritual harvest of good fruit. We prayed for church unity, renewal, grace, and that the church will never "graduate" from the simple gospel of Jesus.
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| Praying at Aomori station |
Shimokita Peninsula, Aomori Prefecture
10 May
After this, we drove up to the most northern point of Honshu (the main island of Japan). On a clear day, you would be able to see the northern island of Hokkaido from here, but sadly the weather was pouring with rain and rather windy and cold. But anyway, we wanted to travel to the most northern part of Tohoku (and Honshu) and pray for God's blessings over all the land south of us. We also prayed for a future work to pioneer a YWAM presence in Hokkaido. Before leaving, we also shared communion together as a team to remember that it is all because of Jesus, and all for Jesus.
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| At the northern point |
The previous night, while praying with our friends in Misawa, they told us of a place called Mount Fear (Osoresan) in Aomori where people believe departed spirits go to enter the afterlife, and also where people can visit blind spiritual mediums (Itako) in order to speak with the dead. We also found out that it is one of three places in Japan dedicated to Buddha- a very special spiritual place. We had no idea this place existed, so I asked them where it is located, and they said it's in the middle of the Shimokita Peninsula! Exactly where we would have to drive to get to the northern point! It seemed good to us that we would also take some time to pray on this mountain while we were already there.
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| Buddhist temple on top of mount Osore |
By the time we arrived on the mountain, it was dark and rainy and the mountain was covered in a thick fog. There was nobody else around for miles by the time we reached the top, so it did feel a bit spooky! On top of the mountain is a large sulfurous lake as well as a large temple. We prayed for the blind to see, for the mediums to come to know Jesus, that God would bring freedom to the many people who would come to the mountain to talk with the dead and that this mountain would be dedicated to the worship of the one true God instead of the evil it is well known for.
Akita City, Akita Prefecture
11 May
The next day, our goal was to drive to our third and final prefecture in order to pray. Akita city is the largest city of Akita prefecture, as well as being it's prefectural capital. After we started praying at the station, I noticed a lot of businessmen so I prayed that God would reveal Himself to them in a way that they would understand. We also prayed for blessings on the church in Akita, and that God would use the young people to bring revival. We felt that Akita is a place of love and joy, and that God would bring a great harvest to the people living there. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We felt that this is true for much of Tohoku- known for it's abundance of produce.
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| Praying at Akita station |
Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture
11 - 12 May
We chose to spend our last night in Yamagata city to break up the drive back to Tokyo. We have visited Zao Conservative Baptist Church on every visit we have made to Tohoku. This is Naoko's grandma's church and we really feel that God has blessed us with this relationship. The church is going through a transition as the pastor is stepping down. On our last visit, we were able to get to know the church's seminary student, who has now graduated and became staff at the church. He will take on a lot of responsibility when the pastor steps down this summer, so we were able to pray for him and encourage him. It was also his birthday, so we took him to Starbucks before having lunch and going to the hot springs with him and the pastor. It was a refreshing and fun time for us, and they also appreciated our short stay. We want to continue our friendship with this church as we move forward with our vision for Tohoku.
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| Outside hot springs with Kazuki and pastor Takauchi |
What's Next?
We have now prayed in the largest cities in all 6 of the prefectures in Tohoku! We feel that God has given us a very brief overview of each place and also a sense of what he is doing. He has also given us relationships with churches, pastors and missionaries in various locations. We now need to pray about where God wants us to focus as we take steps towards establishing the first long-term YWAM presence in the Tohoku region.
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