Not the Saturday I Was Hoping For

This wasn't the Saturday I was hoping for. First it was a school day for Xavier. An open school day, which means parents are invited (expected) to come and watch. So we all got to go to school on Saturday. We also got a message that a friend needed to go to see a doctor. They are new to Japan and have not found a doctor near them. We offered to help them see a doctor in our area, but they had to drive over an hour to get to our area. I called our doctor and found out that she closes at 12:00 on Saturday and we didn't think they would be able to get here in time. We got them there at a couple minutes after 12:00, but our doctor was still able to take them in, which saved a lot of time. Our plan B was to take him to the hospital, which would have been more complicated. After Terence successfully helped them at the doctor and the pharmacy, we went back to tackling the list of things we needed to do today.

Then at about 4:30 Xavier called to tell us Tai fell at the neighbourhood park. He said his arm was weak. After we got him home and looked at his wrist we knew we were going to have to go to the hospital. Willem used his boy scout skills and did some first aid. He made a splint out of a sushi roller and a couple of boy scout neckerchiefs. We called the nearest hospital and were told we had to call the special phone number to find out which hospital ER to go to. (There is a system where different ER's see different patients after hours). We had to deal with this last August when we took Willem to get stitches on his birthday. Turns out the ER for us was the one we called first, the one closest to our apartment. It is about a 15 minute walk from our house, or a five minute bike ride. So we called the ER and found out that he had to be there by 5:00, which gave us about 10 minutes to get him there. This is a time where bicycles as our only form of transportation prove an extra challenge.  There was not enough time for a taxi to come, and our friend with a car was working. So bicycle was our best option. He couldn't ride his own bike* with an injured wrist so he went on the back of one of our bikes and we headed down the hill.  We made it right at 5:00 and finished right at 6:00.

We were pretty impressed with what they got done in that hour. The nurse came to look at him and they took him back to see the doctor.  Then he got x-rays, went back to the doctor to put his dislocated wrist back in place, and had a quick cast put on.  Then it was back for follow-up x-rays, along with a back x-ray to check his back which he decided then to tell us also hurt.  We then discovered the wrist was still not exactly right so they gave him a CT scan.  After that it was back to doctor for results, a referral and a prescription for pain meds. We then paid the full amount (most will be refunded on Monday) and got the prescription filled from hospital pharmacy.

The results were that he had a dislocated wrist and small bone that was shattered. We go on Monday for a surgery consult as they think he needs a pin put in. The surgery might be that day, too. We are a little worried about the overnight situation at the hospital. If one of us stay overnight with him we have to get him a private room which we would have to pay a lot extra for. The problem is, he will not be in the pediatric ward. If he was there he would be ok having him stay by himself but none of us are comfortable with him being in a room with three other male patients. Pray that we can work something out.


*When Willem cut his head he had to take about 45 minutes worth of train to get home because it would have taken much longer for us to go get him. We planned to take him to the nearest hospital but found out he had to go to one in a neighbouring town because he couldn't make it by 5:00. So he had to ride his bike with us for 15 minutes to another train line and then take another train to the right hospital.

Missionary Fail

I got this.

When your ministry is with a small congregation in a country that does not experience rapid church growth, you are always looking for ways to invite and attract people to your church. I had been toying with an idea for months, actually. It is something that I had seen done by some of our sister congregations in Japan.

You see, the Japanese have a holiday in November. It is called Shichi-go-san or 7-5-3. When girls turn 3 or 7 and boys turn 3 or 5 they are dressed in elaborate kimonos or fancy western clothes and taken to visit a shrine. This is usually one of the times that formal portraits are made of the children.

So we decided to have a special service/celebration. We would combine the idea of a fall festival with a service of blessing for children. Our church members thought this sounded like a good idea. Our plan was to have fall festival games for the kids during Sunday School time. Our service would be kid friendly with easier songs and a more interactive message. During the service the children would be called up, blessed by the pastor (me) and given a small gift. After the service, the kids would make commemorative hand prints in a traditional Japanese style. Then everyone would enjoy a potluck lunch. A big event for our church, but nothing I couldn't handle. I got this.

We prepared posters and flyers to hang at the preschool and to give to English classes. The preschool was very supportive about helping us advertise. The weeks before the event found some of our regular members absent. No problem, people were stepping-up. One member donated the special cards for the handprints. Another member took them home and beautifully wrote the church name and date. Our translator would be back for the big service. We found out our worship leader and piano player would not be there, but we adapted.

It was all coming together. The projector was arranged, the message was done (ahead of schedule even). The perfect gifts were found, small Bible story picture books. The cupcakes for the Sunday School party were baked. I was feeling good about the whole thing. I got this.

At nine o'clock pm the night before I got a call from a church member. “Are we starting an hour early,” she asked? “No,” I said. “Why would we?” That was when we discovered our error. Somehow we totally messed up the time on the posters and flyers. We had the event starting an hour early and, perhaps even worse, we had the worship scheduled for an hour and a half. Now for some of you an hour and a half of worship every Sunday morning might be a part of your normal routine, but keep in mind that these are people who have probably never attended a service before, and they are expected to sit through it with their children.

I was so frustrated. I felt like such a failure as a missionary and a pastor. I didn't have this at all. What would we do? We barely make it in time for Sunday School as it is. We were going to be gone all day for various events. Now we had to get there an hour earlier and plan to fill an extra hour in case someone came at 9:00. We couldn't just start the event earlier because our church families would not be there until the regular time. Then I was frustrated because I was sure all the extra work I did would see no results. The church would be frustrated and not willing to try something like this again. I so did not have this. I was frustrated with myself because I knew I hadn't put much prayer into my event planning.

After my moment of panic, peace set in. I remembered I serve a great and mighty God who can do great things in spite of my inadequacies. Yes, I was frustrated with myself, but now I was excited. I knew that whatever good came from that day would be all God. I didn't have it, because at that moment I gave it away. I should have given it to God from the beginning. How thankful I am for God's grace.

So what happened? No one came at 9:00am. A girl in our Sunday School came at 9:30 with a guest who had visited before. Then, close to ten another church family came with two friends who had never been to church before. Then, in walked a boy who has been a few times, and both of his parents were with him. Usually just one brings him. We had plenty of activities to keep the kids busy. We ended up with twelve kids, a good biblical number. The service was about 40 minutes and all the kids participated. All the church members helped in many ways. Lunch was delicious and there was plenty of it. The very best part was when I got to put my hands on the heads of twelve precious children of God and bless them. Especially the little boy, who giggled and giggled the whole time.