Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet up with Yoshito Noguchi and his family. He is a church planter in Fuchu, a beautiful part of Tokyo Metro. He is a native Japanese man. However, he spent time in the U.S. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He also has been trained by the Soma guys up in Tacoma. For that reason, I think there is some great overlap in terms of philosophy and methodology with Karis Church. They are planting utilizing a missional community model. The Lord is already blessing them with baptisms already. However, he reemphasized to us just how slow things go in Japan. The Lord has really been teaching him patience lately. I really enjoyed my time with Yoshi.

He gave us a tour of Fuchu. It is beautiful. It’s a part of the city where many young families try to live, making it far easier to build relationships. The “broadway” of Fuchu is stunning, with massive trees and modern, clean shops and restaurants. If I were ever going to live in Japan, that’s where I would want to live. We visited the temple there, as well. It’s huge. It is a reminder of the spiritual desolation of the city. People actually pay money to buy a ticket to get a number that may result in getting a prayer answered. So tragic.

That evening we had some sushi. Everything I had was cooked, although I did try it in years past. I ate plenty of fried shrimp. I even had some french fries. These restaurants are a blast, though. Trays of sushi on conveyor belts cycle past your table. When you see something you want, you grab it. You then pay by the number of small plates in your stack, which is often quite tall.

After sushi, Yoshi took us home. Evy didn’t sleep well last night, so the Groves are dragging a bit today. Please pray for them. We are headed out to the beach and then to see the city of Kamakura, one of the earlier capitals of Japan. I’m blogging from the train. Did I mention I LOVE the trains? Night, night, y’all.