Sakae, Church, and New Class Challenges

Hey everyone! It's been a few days but I'm back today with a lot of things that I would like to share with you. This past weekend was very interesting and there have been many new challenges at the beginning of this week. Let us commence!

January 26, 2013
Today was the day that a bunch of my friends and I decided that we wanted to go to another one of Nagoya's large shopping districts, Sakae. This area was of particular interest to us because it has a lot of stores that are very endearing to nerds such as myself. For example, Sakae has a Pokémon Center store outlet, which was the store that I most wanted to go to. If you know me even a little bit, you would know that I have been a big fan of Pokémon since I was in 4th grade. It was one of the few bright spots that I can remember well in a childhood that wasn't horrible by any means, but wasn't the best either. It is a part of me that helps me relate positively to the past, however; it doesn't prevent me from being the responsible adult and follower of Christ that I need to be. Anyway, there were other stores that were of interest to me as well such as the Jump store, which carries products from various animation and comic series that I enjoy. There was also a Studio Ghibli merchandise store, which, for those of you that know about Hayao Miyazaki and his movies, would be of great interest. There were also various clothing stores, both Western and Japanese, as well as restaurants from different cultures. We decided to eat at the McDonald's that was their for convenience and price sake. I would like to point out something that this McDonald's and many locations do as a common practice. When you place your order you are given an hour glass timer while you wait. Their goal is that the customer needs to have their food in 60 seconds or less and if they are unable to do that, the customer receives a coupon for a free Big Mac or another qualifying burger. I think this is something that American fast food restaurants should consider, although quality issues should be focused on first. I'm happy to say that my order took over 60 seconds before it was ready, so I received one of those coupons. 

Now I forgot to mention that this mega shopping center is located in the subway station we arrived in. With that being said, this subway station had about 10-12 points of entry/exit, so it would have been very easy to get lost. When we got to the main area it was a very breathtaking sight. Above us there was a huge water fountain that was made of glass so we could see the water rippling from below. We later went up to the roof where the fountain was and took some pictures. It really was beautiful to see, albeit absolutely freezing. There was also a stage set up where a group of teenage pop singers were performing for a multitude of screaming fans, while children and their parents were having fun ice skating in the rink right next to the stage, surrounded by various sculptures. Needless to say, there was a lot to take in visually. I think that I will definitely go back again to explore more of the mall than just the small part we were in.

The first store that we went into was the Pokémon Center store and boy was that an experience. I have never seen so much and so many varieties of Pokémon paraphernalia in my entire life. I felt like I was back in 4th grade again when I was first introduced to Pokémon, and I remembered all of the feelings of excitement that I had. As silly as this sounds, it brought out the kid in me again and I felt many accompanying emotions with it. However, I will say that as I was walking around there was one point where I felt a little embarrassed of myself for liking this stuff because the target audience really is for people who are younger than I am, although the series has recently been moving towards slightly older audiences. Then I realized that it is okay to like this kind of thing, provided that it doesn't interfere with real life or become an idol. As I said earlier, this has been a huge part of my life for almost 15 years and it is also a huge part of nerdy, quirky personality. At any rate, it was a great time and I'm hoping to be able to go to a larger store if I'm able to visit Tokyo before I come home.

We visited a few more stores within the mall area and then decided to go seek the real prize that we came for. In Japan, there is this chain of stores called Book Off. Book Off sells used products for dirt cheap prices so, in other words, it's a college student's gold mine. They sell clothes, video games, books, etc. that are in great condition even though they are used, because Japanese people tend to take better care of their things than many Americans do. I purchased two video games, both of which cost around $20 used in the US, for about $5 and $9.50 respectively; a great deal if I've ever seen one. I also bought two volumes of some manga that I have never read before that I believe will be excellent reading practice for me. The only issue that I had with this place was something that I have talked about in a previous post. When I was in one aisle looking at the $1.50 manga I turned around and was blasted in the face with a full aisle of explicit, adult material. It was even worse than the previous experience I had in Japan with this because not only was their animated explicit material, but also real life inappropriate material. This is not helpful for any man that is trying to protect his eyes and mind from this kind of thing so it was a bit of struggle for me. I just cannot quite understand why that kind of thing is right out in the open where children could find it and look at it. I think that Japan should treat this as America does and either put it a tucked away section so everyone knows that it's bad or eliminate it from stores that it shouldn't be in and put it in stores that are associated with that kind of thing. I would prefer if all of that kind of material was eliminated in every country. My overwhelming point, I love my God, I love my wife, and I do not want to see women in a way that I'm not meant to see them. Alright, I'll get off of my soapbox now. Anyway, this was a fun experience as well and I would definitely like to go back and visit again to see what other games or cool mange that I can find.

As you can see, this was a very eventful Saturday, but also a very fun one. Let's now take a look at what happened the next day.

January 27, 2013
For the past two weeks Nick and I had been discussing the fact that we needed to find a church to attend while we are here, in order to help us continue to grow in the faith and find a solid Christian community in a very spiritually dark country. I can tell you that I have been feeling a lot of heaviness on my spirit since I've been here and I definitely needed some good community. With that said, Nick and I decided to try out the Nagoya International Christian Assembly. We had looked on their website and found that their doctrine was sound and that they were pretty easy to find. So, I got up early on Sunday morning and took the subway to Gokiso and walked the rest of the way to the church. The first person I met was the pastor's wife Carol and she was very kind. She brought me inside and introduced me to various people and also asked about my home church, LiveLIVE Church for those of you who didn't know. ;-) This church was an international church so I met people from various countries such as the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, the US, and of course Japan. Everyone was very nice, like I said, and the community was great. I even had a nice conversation with the senior pastor Gary about my church and also the fact that their church had been around in Japan for 20 years. This was encouraging to hear, knowing how little success Christianity has had in Japan. Unfortunately, there was not a whole lot that I enjoyed about the service after that point. It felt a lot like a big family meeting rather than a church service. For the record, a church should be like a family gathering in a sense. It was a blended service, meaning it was traditional and contemporary at the same time. I had a difficult time with this because I have never really been to a blended service and I really do not care for traditional services. The worship was pretty good in the sense that people were really worship God with all of their heart, but I had a tough time being able to do that because the songs were traditional hymns with a more contemporary twist that I didn't know at all and it didn't come across so well. The actual message had a very solid point that we need to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus and that attending church is vitally important. However, due to time constraints the sermon wasn't as deep as it could've been and I found myself wanting more "meat" when it was over. I found myself not really knowing how I felt as I made my way back to the dorm. I decided that I would do a search and see if there were any other churches in the area that might be better for me. I found one called GraceCity Church that Nick and I are going to this coming Sunday. I will have a report for you all on that as well. Now please don't misunderstand me, I didn't hate the other church at all. They are committed to Christ and I know that no church is perfect, but this church just isn't for me. I pray that they will continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively until He returns.

Last on the agenda for this post is some challenges that have surfaced in regards to school that have arisen just in the last few days. Prepare yourselves!

Last week we had our first tests in our Japanese Conversation and Japanese Reading and Writing classes, which would serve as our final language level placement barometer. I have not been in any danger of moving down a level at all throughout this process but I came to find out that it was still going to have an effect on me. Ide Sensee told us to check the class bulletin board before class on Monday and then come to class. I found out later that this meant the teachers were going to move some students around into classes of the same level with different teachers. I was not happy about that idea because I liked Ide Sensee and was used to her style of teaching. Come Monday morning, however, I went to the bulletin board to see that I had been moved to a different teacher and that I was one of the last ones to be moved. Initially, when I saw this I was very upset. I do not react well to change in certain situations, especially ones where I do not have a say in the matter. But, I realized that my reaction was wrong, so I stopped and prayed for God to help me to have grace and patience regardless of how I felt. Of course, God was right and I had the best day of class that I have had all semester so far. I now have Yasui Sensee for Communication and Hasuike Sensee for Reading and Writing. You know the truth that God takes any situation that is either bad or seems bad and turns it for your good and His glory? That is exactly what happened with this teacher switch. I like the two new teachers I have now better than the ones I originally had. All I can say is, God is so good all the time!

This next larger challenge happened just this morning. Yesterday, I had been asked to become a TA (Teaching Assistant) for students who are struggling a little bit, because of my high level of performance up to that point. This was very unexpected and a huge blessing to me, as it will further give me valuable teaching experience, however; I felt extremely unqualified after today. I received my two graded tests from last week and saw that I had scored a 78% and 71% respectively. All of a sudden my world started crashing down on me and I felt my confidence shatter. I NEVER get Cs on Japanese tests, it just doesn't happen. I felt like I went back in time to when I had Yukiko Sensee, where if you had even one character wrong the whole sentence was wrong. That is how they graded these tests. If there was one thing wrong I lost 2 or 3 points on some questions. I felt totally incompetent and didn't feel like I would be able to pass the semester, but then, God got a hold of me again. He brought into my remembrance that class that I had with Yukiko Sensee where I worked harder than I ever hard to earn the 3.8 that I received. He made me realize that I would have to work as hard as I did then to get the grade that I wanted, but that I could do it. I was filled with a new resolve and determination to study harder and do the best that I could possibly do. I cannot expect things to come easy all of the time and I need to work hard because that is what God wants me to do all the time. To work hard and glorify Him in all that I do. This grading system will be a challenge but it is not one that I cannot overcome with Jesus' help.

As you can see, there has been a lot going on in the last 4 days that has stirred my thoughts. From this point on I will be mentioning God more and more because He is beginning to change me in a profound and powerful way. I look forward to what the rest of this trip will bring and I cannot wait to share it all with you! Until next time, God bless everyone!