Day 2 Field Service

Field service was scheduled for 7:50 a.m. the day after arrival.  We didn't think we were going to be able to handle it - but surprisingly we all slept and got up just fine.  The Suzuki family, Akiharu and Keyoko (spelled phonetically, not correctly) drove an hour to pick us up at the hotel.  Then we drove an hour back to their territory with the Hakkei congregation.

While this is still Yokohama, understand that Yokohama is the 2nd largest city in Japan; the first is Tokyo.  Yokohama has about 3.5 million people.  It is a bit like driving in New York, but not quite as crazy.

When we arrived, we met other friends who were waiting to help us.  A brother assigned a person to each one of us.  We first did street work.  They hold up signs and allow people to approach them.  Sometimes we approached others if we could make eye contact.  The Japanese people are very kind and hospitable, but shy.  So they are cautious at first, therefore you don't make immediate friends; it takes them a while.  It seems this is why they don't approach people in street work as readily as we would.

Some things that we observed are that many ride bikes.  Many mothers ride with infant and toddler seats either attached to the front or back of the bike.  We saw groups of young children, some looked to be around 6 or 7, walking to school themselves.  While school was out for the summer, many still go to additional classes.  It is considered a safe area, as is Tokyo, so many children are walking to their school alone.  This was very surprising. 

There are vending machines everywhere.  They are filled with really cool stuff!  Many teas, fancy coffee drinks comparable to Starbucks, water, and maybe one Coke bottle.  They don't seem to be big soda (pop) drinkers.  There are also little takeout restaurants around with fresh food.  The streets are clean.  You don't see trash anywhere as people take care of their own litter and toss it out at home - what a novel idea!

After 30 minutes in street work, we were taken to another location.  This was a local neighborhood of homes that were very close to each other with small yards.  There was a small play park where we met others.  They have many cicada, and we could not believe how loud they were!  The friends again took us door to door.  We all had a simple introduction to offer the tract for the convention.  The friends kindly pushed us to talk - which we did!  We really enjoyed it.