Taking small bites

South America is a huge place.  In fact, my first day of travel will require 29 hours to get to my destination in Asunción, Paraguay!  

That's why this ministry has to be approached in bite-sized portions.  If I think about the fact that I will be on the field for almost three months, it can be a little overwhelming for someone who is not a career, on-field guy.  I hope that you will pray with me that the ministries, the meetings, the preaching, the new contacts, the long hours of travel, can be addressed with grace and with the reminder that it is God who strengthens me.  

Pray that I approach my schedule in small chunks.  That I may see each day as a blessing and an adventure.  Pray that I don't get overwhelmed looking too far down the road.  

Missionaries who live and serve long-term on the field, have the privilege of pacing their ministries over years.  Cultivating relationships, developing ministry plans, relishing the warmth of partnerships built over months, years and decades.  In my case, many of these same projects must be completed in the two to three months I am on the field.  There is pressure to work hard, to bring projects to completion quickly and little time to rest.  This isn't healthy.  

Pray that this ministry will be balanced by times of work and laughter.  By long-term vision casting and an appreciation for the moment.  By hard work and by restful sleep.  Pray that I am not overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead. 

My schedule: (for team information and photos, please scroll down)

July 31 - Departure LAX

August 1 - 29 - Asunción, Paraguay.

August 29 - September 1 - Buenos Aires;

September 1 - Arrive in São Paulo

September 5 - 7 - Denominational meeting, Camp Panorama

September 7-14 - Visit churches in the interior of São Paulo state

September 16 - 22 - Travel to Belém

September 22 - Return to São Paulo

September 25-28 - Visit JEMS worker at the Sorocaba Free Methodist Church

September 29 - October 4 - Visit churches in the city of São Paulo.

October 6 - 13 - Lima, Peru

October 13 - Return to LAX

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

For the more visual among you, here are the JEMS' Team travel schedule and team photos (click on calendars to enlarge):

August - Summer teams serving South America  (all photos can be clicked to enlarge)

Team 1 (above) from August 3 to 21 in the cities of Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay and Sorocaba, Brazil.  (L-R:  Julia Ip, Chris Wong, Julie Khou and team leader, Katie Edwards)

Team 2 (solo worker, above): August at the Itaquera Holiness Church and September at the Sorocaba Free Methodist Church (Alyssa Gozun, who is serving her third time with JEMS South America)

Servindo na América do Sul: 31 de julho até 13 de outubro

América do Sul é um lugar enorme. Na verdade, meu primeiro dia de viagem vai exigir 29 horas de Los Angeles para chegar ao meu destino, em Assunção, no Paraguai! 

É por isso que este ministério tem de ser abordado em porções de tamanho mordida. Se eu pensar sobre o fato de que eu vou estar fora de casa por quase três meses, ele pode ser um pouco esmagadora para alguém que não é acostumado para servir por tanto tempo no campo missionário. Eu espero que vocês orem comigo que os ministérios, as reuniões, as pregações, os novos contatos, as longas horas de viagem, podem ser tratadas com graça e com a lembrança de que é Deus que me fortalece. Ore para que me aproximo do meu horário em pequenos pedaços. Que eu possa ver cada dia como uma bênção e uma aventura. Ore para que eu não fique sobrecarregado em olhar muito longe no caminho. 

Os missionários que vivem e servem de longo prazo no campo, têm o privilégio de passar os seus ministérios ao longo dos anos. Cultivar relacionamentos, desenvolvimento de planos de ministério, saboreando o calor de parcerias construídas ao longo de meses, anos e décadas. No meu caso, muitos desses mesmos projetos devem ser concluídos nos dois ou três meses eu estou no campo. Há uma pressão para trabalhar constantamente, para trazer projetos para a conclusão rápida e pouco tempo para descansar. Isto não é saudável. 

Ore para que este ministério será equilibrado por tempos de trabalho e de riso. Por visão de longo prazo e uma valorização para o momento. Por trabalho duro e por um sono reparador. Ore para que eu não estou oprimido pela enormidade da tarefa à frente.

Minha programação: 

31 de julho - Partida do LAX

01 - 29 de agosto - Assunção, no Paraguai. 

29 de agosto - 01 de setembro - Buenos Aires; 

01 de setembro - São Paulo

05-07 setembro - Concílio: Acampamento Panorama 

7-14 setembro - Visita igrejas no interior do estado de São Paulo

16 de setembro - 22 de setembro - Belem

22 de setembro - São Paulo

25-28 setembro - Igreja Metodista Livre Sorocaba 

29 setembro - 4 outubro - Visite as igrejas mais próximas à cidade de São Paulo. 

06 - 13 de outubro - Lima, Peru

13 de outubro - LAX

****************

Agosto - equipes que servem a América do Sul (todas as fotos podem ser clicados para ampliar) 

Equipe 1 (acima) a partir de agosto 03-21, nas cidades de Pedro Juan Caballero, no Paraguai e Sorocaba, Brasil. (E-D: Julia Ip, Chris Wong, Julie Khou e líder da equipe, Katie Edwards) 

Equipe 2 (Obreira trabalhando sozinha, acima): agosto na Igreja Holiness Itaquera e setembro, na IML Sorocaba (Alyssa Gozun, que está servindo seu terceiro tempo com JEMS América do Sul)

Mixed up

Three words are making my memory struggle.  They are the Spanish words, Adelante  Andale  Dale.  

I have heard the words in three countries.  Adelante in Paraguay seems to be a polite way of saying, "Go ahead."

Andale in Mexican Spanish means "Go on!"  Or "Hurry up!"  It doesn't seem to carry the same feeling of politeness.  Maybe because I hear the words in Speedy Gonzalez's voice.  

Update August 5:  After speaking with my teacher, I discovered that this word "andale" is used only in Mexico and Central America. It's meaning is as defined above. It is not used at all in South America.

In describing the meaning of  "Dale," landingpadba.com says, 
"Don’t bother looking it up in the dictionary, this one is confusing."

1.   In Buenos Aires, most of the times you hear “dale,” it will be used much in the same manner as English speakers use, “ok” or "Let's do it."

2.   Sometimes, "dale" can also be used to hurry another person along. “Bueno. Dale, dale!” (Come on. Hurry, hurry!)

3.  Google Translator translates the word as "Bring it on.'

While I don't expect this summer's Spanish intensive to clear up all the uncertainty and confusion, I'm hopeful that I'll finish the intensive with a few tools to better enable me to communicate to our Spanish speaking audience.  Dale.

Humanity. Not sainthood.

You’ve heard it. Usually at funerals.  Friends are asked to share some thoughts or remembrances of the dearly departed.  And I know how hard that can be to get up in front of a crowd of people, with emotions stirred and unstable.  Nerves also kick in.  A little note page is unfolded and away we go.

Invariably, on all but very rare occasions, you will hear comments like, “She was always smiling.”  “She never complained.”  “He had nothing but good things to say about people.”  “She was always so sweet.”

I think to myself. Wow, this person is a saint.  She ALWAYS smiled?  She NEVER complained?  What? She never got upset when the toilet backed up all over the hallway carpet and down the stairs?  She was smiling even through that root canal?  She didn’t complain when she had to work those eleven hour days? Really???

In my occasional role conducting funerals, I’ve coached folks who are encumbered with the responsibility of delivering the eulogy.  “Please,” I say to them, “don’t use the words ‘always’ or ‘never’ in your description of them.  Because it’s rarely, if ever, true.  And it also carries the sense that you’re trying to single-handedly get them into heaven.”

This was brought home to me early in my ministry when I pastored in San Diego.  A young woman had passed away of a particularly painful disease, and her good friend brought the eulogy.  I distinctly remember the words, “Despite the daily battle with pain, she never cried. She never complained.”  Wow, I thought.  That’s a strong woman.

But after the service, as we were having lunch together and all the funerary pretense was dropped, this same friend, talking to her friends laughed as she talked about how the deceased woman monku’d (complained) all the time.  It was in direct contrast to her comments during the eulogy.  And to be fair, this was another example of an extreme.  As unlikely as it was that she NEVER complained.  It was also unlikely that she complained ALL the time.

I don’t know what it is about death.  It may give us a momentary glimpse of a person’s value and importance in our lives.  As you watch television interviews and hear people talk about someone who was taken abruptly by death, you will invariably hear those words:  always and never.  

I will bet you money!

As author Wendell Johnson says, “'Always' and 'never' are two words you should always remember never to use.”

Um relatório: projeto missionário para Argentina (Hora H)

The following article was published this weekend in the Brazil Holiness denominational newsletter about the Argentina project in which Pastor John led a team of Brazilian young adults to serve in cities near Buenos Aires.  The link to the complete newsletter is HERE (in Portuguese, slow loading).     The article is on page 5.  

One correction:  the writer of the article identifies me as the President of JEMS.  I am, of course, the director of South America missions.

O artigo em baixo foi publicado no final de semana passada pela Igreja Evangélica Holiness do Brasil.  O jornal, chamado HORA H, falou sobre a viagem missionária para Argentina em janeiro.  Pastor John Katagi mobilizou e liderou uma equipe de jovens brasileiros para servir por 2 semanas em cidades em redor de Buenos Aires.  O link para o jornal completo da HORA H está AQUI.

Apenas uma pequena correção: o artigo me identifica como o presidente da JEMS. Sou atualmente o diretor de missões da América do Sul. 

Click here to link to an enlargeable version of  the page above.  

Clique aqui para conectar com tamanho atual.

Does JEMS only work with Japanese people?

People often ask me, "Does JEMS only work with Japanese people?"  

While it's true that our organizational mission statement is, "Jesus to every Japanese.  Jesus everyday," I would answer by saying "No.  We don't only work with Japanese people."  The evidence is in the practice of ministry in South America since the 1990s . . .

PJ in 1995, working with disadvantaged children in Brazil

This photo and below:  Serving the community in Argentina in 2013

 

It's not a strategy of exclusion, but a strategy of priority.  The Apostle Paul, who self-identifies as the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13), would often make the local Jewish synagogue his first stop when coming into a new city.  "To the Jew first," may have been a practical strategy as well as a deeper theological conviction (Romans 1:16).  

The good news of the gospel is not for only one group.  2 Peter 3:9 tells us that "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."  

That all should come to repentance is clear, yet at the same time as an organization, JEMS has a passion to reach the 98% of Japanese and Nikkei (Japanese descendants) worldwide who do not yet know Christ.  

There are groups that focus on the 10/40 window, on child trafficking, on prison ministries.  We would hardly call them exclusive.  We understand that the calling of those mission agencies is to reach a particular segment of the population that they somehow sense an affinity towards and a calling to reach.  So too with JEMS.  Our calling is to share Jesus Christ with an historically resistant, unreached people group. 

At the same time, we understand that the Japanese, and especially the Nikkei community outside of Japan, does not live in a vacuum.  We exist in communities, in relationships, as parts of networks, socially, academically and occupationally.  Our families and our churches are becoming more multi-cultural.  We desire that all might know the joy of a relationship with Jesus Christ.  And the invitation is extended to all.  

Like the Apostle Paul, JEMS exercises a specific intention to reach a people group loved by God, but a group, nonetheless, that is struggling and unaware for the most part of their lostness.  Please pray with us that in our efforts to reach people for Christ, that we would also find grace to reach our own community.  

As I read the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:1-4, I wonder if I possess that same depth of conviction.

"I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel."

Paul was intensely passionate about reaching his community for Christ.  May we be as passionate.

Missions Presentation at Mount Hermon

Typically, Tuesday night is Missions Night at Mount Hermon. This video was put together to highlight JEMS' ministry in South America. Even if you are not at Mt Hermon this week, you can see how faithful God has been to open doors in South America! 



Please support PJ's ministry at: http://www.jems.org/onlinegiving

Brazilian sashimi and killer fruit! (Discover Nikkei)

A repost of my most recent Discover Nikkei article on food challenges in Brazil.

The complete article can be found HERE.

The chino - cochino question

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/motoperu

My first official visit to Lima, Peru left me impressed with the many Chinese restaurants that were in the city. Known as "Chifa," many were quite humble while a few looked pretty extravagant.  

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/motoperu

Photo Credit:  http://middleofmydreams.wordpress.com/

Photo Credit:  http://newworldreview.com/

I wanted to give Peruvian Chinese food a try.  I live in Monterey Park, after all.  It was sort of a cultural and culinary experiment.  

My hosts and driver in Lima were Peruvian.  On my next-to-last evening they asked where I wanted to have dinner. Commenting on the number of Chinese restaurants I had seen in the city, I mentioned my interest in trying one of the "chifa."  It was at this point that I ran into something of a culture clash.  

The driver, who spoke no English, shared a story with me related to this request.  The two words I picked out of the conversation were the words, "chino" and "cochino."  Chino was clear to me.  Most Asians in South America are misrepresented as being "Chino" (meaning someone of Chinese descent).  The other word I didn't understand was the word, "cochino."  Somehow it seemed to be the heart of his observation, comparing "Chino" and "cochino," like some play on words.  I would later find out the meaning of the word, and this could possibly explain my experience that evening.  

We ended up driving for close to an hour, many times passing some promising looking Chifa restaurants.  "Oh, that's a nice one," I would think.  And then we would pass it.  The driver and the hosts were talking to each other, evidently trying to decide what to do.  

After a long drive around the city, we ended up in an upscale shopping mall.  We parked the car and walked to what was essentially a Peruvian version of Panda Express for our dinner.  I thought, "What??"

It is my guess that my hosts had never eaten at an authentic Chinese restaurant.  They were unfamiliar with what restaurant would be a good choice.  But perhaps most telling was their perception that Chinese restaurants were unhygienic, and that the cooking style was unsanitary.  

And here it clicked.  The word, cochino in Spanish means "pig" and is descriptive of something that is filthy or dirty.  Unless I totally failed to piece together the conversation of the entire evening, the sense I got was that there are Peruvians who consider Chinese food as something dirty.  And that they being good hosts, did not want to expose me to anything that might create a health problem.

I would like to imagine that it wasn't a racist thing, but a socio-economic thing.  The church I had the most contact with was a native Peruvian, lower income group.  It was not likely that they would have much opportunity to interact with the Chinese Peruvian community nor to spend their money on restaurant food.  Especially food that would be considered "foreign."  That notwithstanding, a quick perusal of the internet reveals that this combination of words is considered extremely rude and not something spoken aloud in polite company.  

I'm going back to Lima in October.  I write this simply as a bookmarker, an opportunity to remember.  I may have been completely incorrect in my perception, but I want to go back and to give another try at understanding the Peruvian perspective as it relates to Chinese culture and cuisine.  

Mapping history: São Paulo state

I've had this map for some time.  If you are a cartophile (lover of maps), you should click HERE for a super huge image!!  (Once at the link, you can find the enlarge icon on the lower right corner. You'll have to click two times).  The limitations of this blog template don't allow me to enlarge it very much within the post.

Every now and then I pull it out to reflect on the patterns of immigration and settlement undertaken by Nikkei pioneers in Brazil.  Dated from the early 1900's (though I need some confirmation of the exact date of this document), the map shows the locations and populations of the various pre-war Japanese colonies in the state of São Paulo.  

It's also an interesting map strategically.  Though a number of the smaller colonies have disappeared with the movement away from the coffee and agricultural crops that were once the state's powerhouse, many Nikkei remain in interior cities and communities.  It was this map that influenced in great part my travels in Brazil in 2012 and 2013.  

JEMS' theme "Jesus to every Japanese.  Jesus every day" underscores the importance of sharing the message of the gospel to the historically resistant and under-reached Nikkei community.  Twenty-four years ago, the 10/40 window came into prominence as a missions strategy and vision.  And yet with less than 2% of the Japanese and Nikkei peoples reached worldwide, there is a need to redefine our ministry and redouble our efforts.  

Please pray with me as I outline my ministry plans for September in Brazil.

Thank you!