My Gospel Team experience, although different from many others, was great!

I know that I’ve grown both spiritually and intellectually. However, what’s most important: I have a sense of love and understanding for the lost people of Japan.

Overview

Day 1-3

GT training camp at hi-b.a.’s campgrounds focused mainly on how to communicate with Japanese high-schoolers and practicing games and songs. However, it wasn’t structured as an “educational camp;” rather, it was centered around having fun and sometimes competition between groups. On day 3, we travelled to Tohoku.

Day 4 & 5

We worked with Samaritan’s Purse to remove debris from the home of the Takahashis to be later rebuilt by a professional organization.

Day 6-11

During this period, we reached out to high-schoolers and pre-school/kindergarteners through music and food, then reaching out to others through service like cutting the grass that grew on the foundation of a home swept away by the tsunami and making other Christian facilities available for more volunteers to reach out.

Day 12 & 13

Travel days. We headed back south to Shibuya to make it in time for the GT Final.

Passing out tracts for the GT Final was a little depressing. I couldn’t get any students to take tracts (and it was my first time tracting in Tokyo, where people are so used to advertisements that you get the cold shoulder) but had a good discussion time with those interested in following Christ after the rally, then reporting to all interested parties how our team did in Tohoku. We later travelled home.

Conclusion

As part of the only GT team that went to Tohoku, our mission was fundamentally different from other GT teams; minister through service to mainly non-high-schoolers in the area. I believe it was the best team I could have been in because I was so numb to the tragic effects of the tsunami and hearing stories of lack of hope and loss in person impacted me hard. God gave me a love for the Japanese people that I still can’t explain 3 months later. GT has given me an even stronger feeling for wanting to live my life in ministry.