One of the things we are learning about the Japanese is that they seem to enjoy making things cute.  We have often noticed signs and food packages “made cute” with various pictures of cartoon animals, hearts, stars, etc.  Hello Kitty, one of Japan’s largest “cute” industries, is still quite popular even years after it was first created.  Probably many of you have heard of manga, a type of comic book here in Japan in which the characters are often featured with large, round eyes.  Even each of the 47 prefectures has its own cute mascot – Yamaguchi Prefecture’s happens to be a puffer fish.

One of the effects of this cuteness is that it helps to make difficult or unpleasant things a bit more tolerable.  For example, a couple of weeks ago when we were at the English camp, the camp instructor had to explain to the kids how they needed to put their beds away at the end of their stay.  Because kids don’t normally enjoy being told rules and regulations, the instructor made it more fun (aka – cute) by demonstrating bed-making with a stuffed animal and a tiny futon.  And yes, it actually was rather cute!

Another unpleasant thing is having bugs in your house.  Since we found a cockroach downstairs in the church, Colby and I wanted to set some traps in our kitchen as a preventative measure.  Well, come to find out, the Japanese don’t just have traps for cockroaches – they have hotels for them!  Of course it is still a trap and will still kill the cockroach, but the outside of the cardboard box is decorated like a hotel.  As I was setting ours up, I could imagine the fun that Japanese families probably have as parent and child work together to “build” a hotel for the little critters.  And thus, an unpleasant project is turned into fun all because of cute!

The Cockroach Hotel - come once and never leave!

Please continue to pray for Colby and Theresa as they adjust to Japan and its “cute”-ness.  Pray that they would be careful to interact with the Japanese in culturally sensitive ways.

This past week we had our yearly Friendship English Camp at a camp located a couple of hours away.  Every year the Christar cross-cultural workers put on a junior high and high school English camp for the kids in the local Christar churches to attend.  This year our attendance was the most ever as we had 32 students (5 boys, 27 girls).  Also, due to various furloughs, this year we had the lowest number of staff ever, which, as you can imagine, made for an interesting time.

As you can see, no one likes to sit in the front row.

FEC is usually held at a camp that is located at the top of a mountain, which provides a very pleasant breeze in midst of the heat.  All of the girls sleep in one cabin (which was quite crowded this year) and all of the boys sleep in another.  The meals are served by the camp staff and we adults get to enjoy the buffets without having to worry about cooking and cleaning.  Each year there are a variety of activities, some of which are English classes, games, praise and worship, crafts, and the Bible times.  The theme this year was how we are God’s masterpiece, taken from Ephesians 2:10 which the kids had memorized by the end of their stay.  Colby and I were in charge of teaching the 11 junior high kids English and then of the water games in the afternoon.

Theresa and a few of the junior high boys.

Many of the kids that came have been coming to FEC for a number of years and have heard about God many times.  Most of these students do not know the Lord as their Savior, and it is uncertain how open they are to Him.  However, I did hear that after one of the Bible times, five of the girls indicated that they would like to learn more about God.  What a blessing!

This was everyone!

Please pray for these five girls that God would be at work in their hearts to help them understand the gospel and receive Him as their Savior.  Pray for the other kids also that God would grow in them an interest in Himself.