E-TEAM Tokyo News Archive 2009 Going Back in Time...

June 29th, 2009

Well, it's our last night in Tokyo and we're busy packing and cleaning. We all got back from our home-stay families in one piece and everyone had a good time. Some of us had very traditional Japanese delicacies such as uncooked tuna, scallops, squid, a great variety of sushi, and even nattō. It was a great experience to spend time with a real, live Japanese family.

We are going to begin the 3-hour bus ride to the airport tomorrow morning at about 8:30. Our plane is scheduled to leave around 4:00pm Tuesday afternoon and arrive in Minneapolis about 2:00pm Tuesday afternoon. So... we're actually going back 2 hours after a 10+ hour plane ride! Very interesting :-)

We had a great dinner tonight that for most of us was our first real steak since before E-TEAM. It is good to note that Japanese serving sizes are not American serving sizes, which I actually enjoyed because I had room for a delicious dessert after the entrée. Unfortunately, the dessert was timed a little poorly and we had to hurry up and go shopping at the Daiso (100¥ store (Dollar Store)). We only had 35 minutes until it closed!!

We are entering what is probably the most difficult part of the trip, the winding down time when we all have to say goodbye to each other and to many people we’ve met in Japan. The painful goodbyes are proof of how close the E-TEAMS get with each other, the missionaries, and friends we have made in the few weeks we’ve had together. The Lord has blessed us tremendously during E-TEAM 2009. We have a new burden for the 34+ million unsaved in Tokyo and a deeper understanding of the cultural barriers the missionaries here face. I encourage everyone to keep up with the Bailey’s ministry at their FWB news site: http://www.fwbgo.com/missionaries/bailey. Please commit to praying for the Lord’s ministry around the world and specifically in Japan. The Holy Spirit can do miraculous things in this megacity. Remember that all the great revivals have been preceded by fervent prayer Thank you for following E-TEAM TOKYO 2009. We’ve had a great experience and can’t wait to tell everyone more about it when we get home!