OMF Blog
Midnight adventures with Mysti and other stort stories...
fmzero Hokkaido - Saturday 28 July 2007
At the end of another eventful week, our last full one in Sapporo, we are thankful to God for all the opportunities he has provided for us to meet with people and to speak with them of Christ. After last weeks hectic time at Hokudai University, we spent this week meeting up with many of our new friends, made during our time here. In addition to this we have had the weekly Wednesday Night meeting (again followed by Karaoke – regrettably without any improvement in the quality). Highlights of the week include a visit to a Sushi restaurant. One of the lads that Richard, Will and Mark play football with is a chef there. Will and Mark were guided through the Sushi by their host Richard with perhaps the most notable dishes being grilled eel, baby jellyfish (including tentacles) and octopus head (which was raw of course). Will was particularly proud of his not so grand achievement of eating Tuna, although he was heard to exclaim “Is Sushi raw?” His knowledge of Japanese culture continues to astound us.
Last night we had an event for the teenagers at the lighthouse. Although the turn out was poor, a good time was had visiting a large fireworks display in central Sapporo. Goody was particularly pleased to be able to have a first opportunity to wear his Ukata (a traditional Japanese gown, with bow around the waist) outside. He drew quite a lot of attention to himself owing to the fact that he was the only white person in Japanese dress, and that he was around a foot taller than everyone else at the display.
The Friday night English café that Alice and Rachael have been running also met for the last time last night. It had its largest turn out thus far, and as well as the usual English cakes, the girls turned their hand (with some help from a Japanese friend) to some Japanese sweets. The team was particularly grateful for this as there was sufficient food left for late night snacks.
The week was also notable for a new element of our work here in Japan. Since moving to live in the Lighthouse Church two weeks ago we have been ‘dog-sitting’. Prior to this week “Mysti” had only required the obligatory walking, feeding and ‘scooping’ (you get the point). However this week we discovered that Mysti has a fear of thunderstorms. Even when there are only flashes on the horizon she has taken to barking very loudly, perhaps in an attempt to frighten away the inclement weather. In order to prevent upsetting the neighbours, various members of the team have had to resort to sitting outside, sometimes till 4.30 in the morning, to keep her quiet. This has led to the team learning a very important lesson. Dogs make noisy pets.
We depart Sapporo on Wednesday, not without sadness, as we have all felt very privileged to partner with Richard in his work for Jesus Christ. Tomorrow night is our last major event, a leaving party held at the fmZERO centre. We have invited all of the people we have met over the past four weeks to come along, some of whom have never been to the fmZERO building before. Hopes to unveil a new illuminated sign, which our two team engineers have been working on, have been dashed due to “unforeseen construction delays” (not Alex and Goody’s fault I hasten to add), but aside from that we hope to have an exciting evening planned. Will is going to give a talk explaining the bible’s message that there is “one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. It is our hope that everyone who attends will be struck by this important message, and at the very least desire to assess for themselves its truthfulness.
Once again thank you for reading this far, our sympathies extend towards all those who are feeling a little damp in the UK, the prospect of returning to the giant puddle that is the British Isles is not all that appealing, it must be said.
fmZERO short term team
Thierry Richards
Monday 06 August 2007