What can this short-termer do?

I didn’t have high expectations for Tim. At 39, he was older than all of our previous interns. He did not know any Japanese and this was his first trip to a foreign country. His worldview was very American. And yet, God used him in remarkable ways while he was here.

For six years, my wife and I have been running an internship program. It provides a realistic experience of missionary life to English speakers interested in becoming involved in missionary work in Japan. However, how much can you expect from young people who speak little or no Japanese?

One day, Tim said to me, “John, I love how you run by the schools and greet the children. I’m going to do that with you.” But after one morning jog with me, he hurt his knee and could not continue. Another day, he told me, “John, I really like how you engage with people and begin conversations with people wherever you go. That’s what I want to do.” But when I asked about whom he had initiated conversation with in the places he frequented every day, he usually hadn’t talked to anyone unless they approached him. He sat in Starbucks with earphones in and a screen or book in front of him. He went to the gym and went through his exercise regimen without interacting with others.

I saw only his weaknesses.

When we volunteered at a jidōkan (a child center run by the local council) each week, a few of the children latched onto him. When he walked through the door they would call out “It’s Tim!” Young and strong, Tim had great capacity to play hard with these children. As time went on, he asked if he could write a letter to these children’s parents. He wanted to let the parents know how wonderful their children are. He wanted to talk about how he came to know them. He wanted to talk about the love of Jesus. We received permission from the jidōkan staff, and Tim worked on a letter and prepared some small gifts including a Gospel of John.

On Tuesday nights, Tim went to an English conversation meetup at a café in Sendai. He showed up earlier and earlier and grabbed a seat right by the window nearest the door. Some came early to see him. Tim’s questions went beyond self-introduction facts. He would ask questions like “How would you define love?” Several of the Japanese people enjoyed these new kinds of questions, and they liked Tim.

Over time, he learned about a new English meetup group on Saturday nights. When he went, several others were also there for the first time. Talking to them, Tim realized that several of them had come, not primarily to practice their English, but rather because they were lonely. Then he had an idea. With permission from my wife and me, he organized a game night at our house and invited several of these lonely people over. A few came and brought friends (one of them helped Tim translate his letter for the jidōkan children’s parents).

At the next Saturday English meetup, Tim announced he was going to go eat at a local restaurant afterwards and he would love to eat with anyone who wanted to come. Around eight joined him that first time. This became a routine during his final few weeks in Japan before COVID-19 forced him to leave Japan a week early. Since his departure, he has kept in touch with the group via LINE.

By involving myself and a couple other church-planting missionaries in Sendai in these relationships, Tim laid the groundwork to begin a Bible study with some members of the English conversation group. God chose to take a short-term missionary, with all of his weaknesses, to lay the groundwork for a new church plant in Sendai.