Anna Sherod in Kessenuma – May 17, 2012
I didn’t really know what to expect when the ladies from Tokyo said they were going to set up a café in Kessenuma.
I thought, “What good does serving people cookies and coffee do when they’ve lost their house and their loved ones?”
As you can see, my sinful criticism was quick to the draw. Thankfully, I respect the ladies from Tokyo enough (they’ve been my spiritual mentors since childhood), so I just quietly helped them set out cookies, tea, and crafts on Tuesday morning as rain started to pour in Kessenuma.
Because of the rain, no one came. I felt like my worst suspicions were confirmed, that the café was useless. How quickly I forgot the lesson I’d learned about pride on Monday night while listening to a woman tell us how a simple quilt from Wisconsin had changed her life! How quickly I doubted God, because of something like the weather, which he is in complete control of!
I went down the street to where another woman, the proprietor of a rice shop, was hosting a secondary LECC (Lutheran Evangelical Christian Church) event for her friends. This was pre-pre-pre-evangalism – we made cards, drank tea, and ate bean paste flavored jello (which was not as bad as it sounds). The ladies were loud and boisterous in a way that only a group of women in their 70s who have known each other from childhood can be. After making a craft, I decided to see what was going on back at the center.
I got soaked as I ran through the rain down the alleys of Kessenuma and back to the four Tokyo ladies waiting for me there. This was about two hours later, and still, no visitors. I borrowed Miyazaki-san’s floral umbrella and headed back to the crafting party with some fliers for them about the services that the center offers.
At this point I felt like I was the only one at the center who noticed that no one had shown up…that two pastors and five lay people had traveled for an entire day to sit around by themselves and eat cookies. Of course, what they were really doing was praying.
I was about to be put to shame by God’s mighty kindness.
By the time I got back to the center after running an errand to go get lunch for the group, there was such a lively discussion going on in the center that we had to eat lunch in shifts. At the sound of a hymn, one woman bawled, smiling with tears streaming down her face.
“My friend from college had this hymn played at her baptism…”
She had just stopped by, hearing that we had some fun English classes going on, never expecting that she would hear a hymn or have the chance to talk to pastors eager to listen. As she shared her story and cried, she was being changed, a burden was being lifted, and she sang “Joy to the World” with us.
We had an almost 80-year-old, very traditional Japanese woman come and sing hymns with us. We had the wife of one of our English students stop by and say that she “Had to see what we were like, because he always goes to English class with a big stupid grin on his face.”
I already knew that we (Ruth and I) were being blessed just by the presence of other believers in Kessenuma (the chance to take communion in fellowship with others!). But… I was shocked to see how the people in this neighborhood responded with hearts wide open, to such a simple thing as a café.
Today, the second day of the café, the sun was shining and it was beautiful, yet again.
