The OMF UK Blog

After Effects Animation

ccwatts:

I am no After Effects expert, but I do dabble from time to time and have learnt much from friends like Stef Roberts and Priya Mistry, as well as online tutorials from the likes of Andrew Kramer at Video copilot. Recently however I have been interested in the abstract and organic style of animation present in videos like this

Geometrical Animation Tests from Clint Studio on Vimeo.

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Light of the World

Every year in Hokkaido at this time of year, in various venues around the island, there is an event called the Yo no Hikari rally.  Yo no Hikari means Light of the World.  There is a Christian broadcasting group in Japan which uses the name Yo no Hikari and puts out short programmes on both televison and radio early Sunday mornings.  They contain a simple Bible message and people have the opportunity to write in or call with questions, comments or to request literature, including a Bible.  Although in recent times struggling with finances, this means of sharing the gospel has over many years been used and blessed to reach people in communities where there is no church, or simply to reach people who may be seeking something but would never thought of going to a church in a country where so few do go.  The rallies are held each June and have a simple format - some music, a testimony and a Bible message.  When we lived in Otaru, the church ladies often attended the morning rally and the hope was always to be able to invite others along.  This time in Sapporo David attended the evening rally along with Richard and two of our young believers.  It is good to see pastors and members of different churches in the city working together to make this kind of thing happen.  The radio and television broadcasting still has a part to play, even in this Internet/iPhone age - many elderly people would still happily tune in (and are up early enough to do so) and be able to hear a gospel message.  May this means continue to be used to reach many for the gospel in Hokkaido.

One step at a time

As we have seen this new church plant here in Hiragishi start from nothing and gradually begin to take shape, it has very much been a case of one step at a time.  Recently, that phrase (‘step by step’ or ‘ippo ippo’ in Japanese) has taken on a new significance for those of us working with OMF in Japan.  Around a year ago OMF took the decision to start a relief work in an area of Iwate Prefecture which had been devastated by the tsunami.  Amazingly, part of a building was available for rent.  An experienced missionary couple were appointed to the work, moving to the area last September.  Japanese staff workers were also provided - a couple moving to Iwate to serve full-time for a couple of years.  Much has happened since that time but this blog is about a recent development.  A site was identified in a town called Yamada which suffered extensive damage by the tsunami and by fires afterwards.  Over the last few weeks a temporary structure (called a ‘super house’) has been put in place which will serve as a cafe and meeting place for local people.  The building is topped off with the new logo - ‘ippo ippo’ with accompanying feet!  Just last week a simple opening ceremony was held attended by the previous owner of the land, a representative from the town hall and others who had helped in different ways with the building project.  Customers have already been in to the cafe - to enjoy what is on offer but also just to meet with others, chat and be listened to.  The present phase of this relief work will last for another year or so yet and we trust that this cafe will be well used over coming months.  This week Kaori (who normally works in the OMF office in Sapporo) is in Yamada helping in these early days of the cafe.  Next month an OMF team from Hokkaido (led by David and with Daniel and Matthew too) will go to Iwate to help in whatever ways we can for the time we will be there.  We don’t know yet quite what that will involve but look forward to seeing and being part of (even for a short time) all that God is doing in these days among the people of the coastal communities in Iwate.

Learning and Growing

Last week we held our third OMF Japan IBCM Training Week.  Some of you may not know what IBCM stands for - it means Indigenous Biblical Church Movement, and is part of OMF International’s Vision to see IBCMs come about in different people groups of East Asia.  It is well known that the growth of the church in Japan is slow, many churches are small and struggling, pastors get discouraged, believers find the Christian walk a tough one in this culture where being different is not valued and where the pressures to conform in so many ways are very strong.  Yet, the desire of those in OMF Japan is to play our part, even though seemingly small and insignificant, to see the people of Japan come to know Jesus and to see believers strengthened in their faith, bearing fruit in their witness in word and deed.  We long to see churches which are growing, equipping their members for life and ministry, and reaching out with the gospel. 

We spent much time last week learning, reflecting, interacting, dialoguing.  We looked at Japanese church history, issues of how to contextualize the message of the Bible where we are, Japanese religious beliefs, issues of ancestral veneration.  We heard from Japanese OMF colleagues and had a fascinating panel discussion with some Japanese pastors.  Finally we looked at what one OMF church is doing in an attempt to be an indigenous, biblical church.  We are all learning and growing.  In some ways, it seems that we can only skim the surface of all that makes up our context here in this complex and rich culture.  The title of the Training Week was Missionaries Under Cultivation.  We all want to grow and develop and mature, in our understanding of the Japanese language, culture, people and thought processes, but more than that, to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus.  We can be thoroughly well versed in many aspects of culture and reach a high level of fluency in the language, but if we have no love….We need to be people who are growing to be more like Jesus, people who are nurtured by God’s Word, and people who have a passion to share that word, aiming to be culturally relevant and trusting the Lord to do the work of opening people’s hearts so they can receive and believe the message of the gospel.   

Report 51-52

Report 51 - Monday 6th February

I’m on board a flight bound for Hawaii. I will fly to Seattle from Honolulu and come back on the 24th. It’s a long trip of 18 days. Before I left I went to the Okutama town office to say farewell and thankyou for the past year here.

As always I was in a rush to pack and get to the airport in time for my flight. I am afraid this habit of mine might never change. I visited the town office, packed for my journey in 30 minutes, and then started driving to the airport. I foolishly used my Sat Nav and was very worried when I got stuck on the congested Tokyo roads. Then the light that indicated that the petrol level was low started flickering. I quickly applied for travel insurance on my PC when I was in the airport lobby.

After the Sunday service I did a final check of the draft of the serial of the Wandering Church.

6th Feb, 7:30 am, above Honolulu
Thanks to your prayers, my flight was not busy. I slept for about 3 hours and could use 3 seats. It’s 2am Japan time. Many of the passengers are surfers and they have been talking about sightseeing and where to eat and shop. It’s a bit strange travelling to Hawaii on my own like this but I should make the most of it. The sunrise I saw from the plane was beautiful. I think of the journeys many people have been taking since 11 March 2011. Everyone is doing their best including those of us in Tokyo. I would like to send words of encouragement to everyone especially my assistant pastor and his family, also my wife and my pet dog Papi who has lost weight and lives away from us.

I want to say “Well done” to us all. It’s been costly but we have survived. However life is given to us so that we can all live for a purpose. Jesus told us that a grain of wheat has to die in order to bear fruit. After losing everything we have come this far through hardship and with broken hearts, supporting each other and overcoming conflicts along the way. We haven’t given up.

“Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Ps. 30:5) May we know this reality in our walk.

Tuesday 14 Feb. 11.30pm (On board the flight from Honolulu to Seattle)
I was given an upgrade at the gate - a spacious seat and a welcome drink. Two days ago someone who came to a meeting handed me a gift and said that she worked for an airline. She must be the one who has done this and has also got me more baggage allowance. Everyone I met for the first time on this trip in Hawaii has been good to me.

Today someone took me to Lanikai beach, which means ‘Heaven’s sea’. It looked like Utopia and was good enough to be chosen as the most beautiful beach in the US one year. I saw a dog walking on the beach with its owner and wondered whether a day like this would sometime come for me. I wished I could savour moments like this a little longer and felt bad for my beloved ones in Japan.

Big thanks to all those who were good to me in Hawaii.

Friday 17 Feb
It’s midnight Seattle time and it feels very cold coming from Hawaii. I seem to have left behind my winter polo neck shirt. Most of the clothes I packed were not used in Hawaii. I bought a jacket in a recycle shop in Honolulu. Perhaps because I lived on second hand clothes when opening boxes of relief goods, I have come to appreciate them.

I have been kept busy with work for the serial of the Wandering Church which is due to be published on 11 March 2012, commemorating the first anniversary of the disaster. It will be published in Korea too. I include here the Preface I wrote for the Korean version. Please do give words to those whom you know.

Preface to the Korean version of The Wandering Church
It’s been almost a year since the enormous earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and surprised the world. The earthquake, which was on a scale that only happens once in a thousand years, tore up many roads, caused landslides and crushed houses. Then the 15m high tsunami waves swept over the north east shores of Japan. Explosions at the nuclear power plant followed. Our church was thrown into the middle of all this as the church building is only 5km from the Fukushima First Nuclear Power Plant.

Overnight 70.000 residents had to evacuate as sirens echoed all through the area. Families were scattered and our church was closed. It was as if we were in a science fiction movie as we all made our desperate escape. The story in this book is a record of what actually happened to us, although it may seem unbelievable.

Surprisingly our church did not die. Sixty or seventy church members drove several hundred kilometers in 15 cars, a bus and a truck, crossing a mountain in a blizzard. We were able to get food and shared with one another. Although we lost our church building and left without a change of clothes, or any money, we continued our journey with prayer and tears, our eyes looking towards heaven. Four church members died as a result of the disaster. As of March 2012, nine members have been added through baptism. We have walked this long path day by day not knowing whether we felt sad or glad. I never could have imagined that days like these would come to us.

There have been strange and wonderful experiences. I have come to feel very close to Moses when he went through the Exodus, and to the believers of the early church who journeyed, sharing their resources because of persecution.

11 March was my birthday. My wife and I were attending a Seminary graduation. We decided to hire a bus and drove to Fukushima. We planned to bring 17 members of our church including the elderly, the sick and babies, who were at a rescue centre on a mountain. We headed for Fukushima where smoke from the nuclear plant explosion was still rising, fearing that we might not be able to get out of there alive. It was the start of our survival journey.

I hope readers of this Korean version will be able to hear the voices of actual witnesses of the disaster that have not been picked up by the media; the story of how God has been mercifully guiding us in this unbelievable present-day Exodus.

Fifty of us live at a Christian retreat centre run by German missionaries and 150 members are scattered all over Japan just like the believers in the Diaspora of the early church. Our church survived even though we have been stripped of our building, its organization and its activities.

This March we are making a new start as we plan to build an apartment block for the elderly members of our church. Our church building which was built only three years ago was closed due to the effects of radiation, as well as four other chapels. So a new church building, the fifth one since the beginning of our church, will go up in September 60km south of the restricted zone.

I am made aware how strong the church is, surviving not only persecution but also earthquake. She rises again even though she was beaten and scattered.

It is my great joy that this testimony of our survival through the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear explosion is being published in Korea. It gives me great strength to know that we have been watched even from overseas and that we are not alone nor forsaken. This book is a record of how one church in a rural area of Japan faced a sudden disaster, how she was beaten, scattered and crumbled, and how she looked up to God, started to walk again and experienced God working in her. Readers can read this story through the pastor’s diary, testimonies of church members who escaped the disaster, and the plans for the future.

May our Lord touch the hearts of all our Korean brothers and sisters who take this book in their hands.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those in Korea who offered prayers and support to us. We have lost many things but must consider ourselves blessed to have been helped by the kindness of so many people around the world.

Tuesday 14 Feb, Seattle, USA.

Report 52 – Feb 23rd More Dramatic than any other dramas

I am on board my flight home from Seattle. It has been a journey of 18 days. The last meeting was at Portland yesterday. The missionary who saw me off at the airport gave me a sudden hug which brought tears to my eyes. Something in me responded to the unexpected hug. Various emotions that had been suppressed since the disaster may have come to the surface whether they were sorrow, regret, pain or anguish. There are times when uncontrollable emotions hit me and I should watch out for it.

Am I going to find myself losing control over my emotions? It can’t last forever but I should be prepared for it and know how to deal with it or how to avoid it.

In Seattle I heard the story of a young woman whose address in Japan is very similar to mine. She returned to Japan just before I arrived in Seattle. I was told that she was in tears whenever the disaster was mentioned. I wondered where she would return to as both our home towns are in the restricted zone. My heart echoed hers.

How do people navigate through life after losing their loved ones and feeling pain that no one else seems to understand? How do they keep on going, dealing with their pain and sorrow? Even though the sorrowful scenery could not be put back to what it was before I would like us to play the beautiful music which only those of us who have experienced pain can serenade.

I think of the song that almost all of Japan sings at this time of year. My wife says that she hasn’t been able to sing it since March 11. It is called Furusato (My Hometown), and was written by Tatsuhiro Takano, a Christian born in 1914 and professor of Japanese Literature at Tokyo University. It is said that he wrote about a pilgrim who walked on earth aiming heavenward. In Furusato, he depicts the scene of one’s hometown. In the third verse he writes “we all go Home, completing what we came to this earth for”. The music was composed by Teiichi Okano, a Christian and assistant professor at Tokyo University of the Arts who led the choir at Hongo Central Church for 40 years. I would like to sing all the verses with the sincere hope of returning to my home town in Fukushima.

I am in Seattle, whose baseball team is the Mariners with Ichiro as one of the players. I read in the local paper that he is doing well and will be third best player this year. Even though Ichiro may not be as good as American players he always does his best. I should follow his example, always taking up the challenge, giving my all, and crossing national borders.

25th Feb, back at the retreat centre in Tokyo

Thanks to your prayers I am safely home. Soon after I arrived I went to visit a sister in hospital. She asked me in tears, “Why do we have to go our separate ways so soon?” It choked me up.

Next month we have to say good-bye. After arriving at Narita Airport I put “home” in my Sat Nav. My home town is in the restricted zone. Did I unconsciously want to go there so badly or was it just an automatic action? I was miserable when I noticed what I had done and made a U turn. I drove straight to the retreat centre in Tokyo imagining all the way how it was in my hometown.

Residents of Miyake Island were evacuated for a while, unable to go back home. How did they look after themselves? I would like to learn from them how they survived their prolonged days as evacuees.

We lived in a town together with our neighbours and never thought that would change. Why should we be scattered like this and have to continue living this abnormal life? Someone muttered that it had been an unbelievable year. Surely our lives have been more dramatic than any other dramas.

As we leave this retreat centre where there is scarcely any privacy I would like to have some kind of graduation ceremony. Both children and adults have done well here. Other church members have managed well, scattered in different parts of Japan. Yet others have prayed and waited for our church to be resurrected after she disappeared so suddenly.

5th March, above Taiwan

I will be in Taiwan for the next four days.

I apologize for not being able to update my blog until now.

Sapporo Winter Highlights

It’s finally spring. I know this because I can go outside without a coat, and there are crocuses blooming. I’ve woken up from hibernation… and realized that it’s been a very long time since my last blog post. So before we get to posting pictures of pretty flowers, here are some of the highlights from the winter.

If you’re interested in more winter-related pictures, visit our “winter” web album here.

We went cross country skiing in January with two of our colleagues.

Destination: frozen waterfall!

You can’t see them in the picture, but Keith is in fact on skis! I was excited…

Keith survived!

The roads on the way home were a little crazy.

My favorite of the snow candles were the owls.

This display was labeled 希望の丘 (hill of hope).

Mr. Walrus was my favorite part of Snow Festival. He was part of a sculpture of different sea animals.

Taj Mahal.

Tsugaru Castle

The green ones are tea flavored, and the others are salt caramel flavored.

Joy in Pain in Ministering to Needy People

Have you ever groaned inwardly when the phone rings yet again, and considered just ignoring it, or just sat down to enjoy some rest when the doorbell rings, and you consider pretending you are not at home. Some people are a joy to be with especially if you are an extrovert and are energised by being with people. However, not all missionaries are extroverts, and even for those that are, some of people that you minister to will eventually drain you of your mental energy. This is especially true when working among people who are marginalised within society.

As we seek to reach out with the love of Christ to working class people in Taiwan it is inevitable that we will meet those who are desperate for someone to pay attention to them. Whether it is single mothers, abused wives, men with alcohol problems or teenagers who are desperate for a sense of worth, our hope is that they will understand that behind our willingness to spend time with them is the reality that Jesus can fulfill that longing that they have to feel loved and valued. Many of the people we meet lack close support and friendships because they are unable to see the need for boundaries in relationships. Anyone who has shown interest in them in the past has quickly found themselves swamped by a constant demand for attention which has led to a breaking up of the relationship and more feelings of rejection. Now suddenly there is a missionary who is willing to listen, pray and help.

In the last year our Taiping team has been learning lessons about relationships. There is the joy of seeing a contact suddenly respond to prayer and show an interest in the gospel. There is also the pain of seeing someone that we have spent time with lose interest and drift back into their old lifestyle. There are feelings of guilt and frustration as we struggle with setting boundaries, not wishing to spend our entire evening on the phone dealing with someone’s minor crisis, but at the same time recognising that the credibility of our witness depends so often on our being willing to put the needs of others before our own comforts. Ajith Fernando in his book The Call to Joy and Pain says that the ability to live with the frustration of working with and identifying with people is “one of the most necessary qualifications for missionary service”.

As you pray for OMF missionaries in Taiwan, remember to ask God to give us the wisdom to know how to set appropriate boundaries in the relationships we develop with needy people. Ask God to give us the patience to deal with frustrations when contacts use us as an emotional crutch and yet fail to understand that they need to turn to God. Ask God to comfort us as we experience the pain of seeing those we have loved and cared for turning back to old ways. But above all, pray that we would experience the joy of seeing broken people restored and living in relationship with the God who called us into mission.

David Eastwood – Taiping Team