Relationships are everything
September 30, 2019
KYLE
KYLE
Japan is a "high-context" culture, meaning that the rules for communication are dictated by the context without needing to be explicitly stated. That context could be body language, tone of voice, a person's status, your relationship with that person, etc. These high-context cultures tend to emphasize relationships because in them you know how you are supposed to behave and speak. You can discern each others' thoughts more easily without needing to express them outright. So in Japan, relationships are everything.
Our time has been trying to find people to build these relationships, to build trust to have a foundation on which to stand and from which present the gospel. This is why in our pictures and in our 1 Second Everyday videos you will see us out and about a lot. We are joining outreach ministries, we are making friends, we are going to bouldering gyms, we are doing our Japanese study at the same coffee shop. We are entering into this culture where it is important to be able to read the room to know what somebody is truly thinking. With the Apostle Paul we say, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings" (1 Cor. 9:22-23). We are learning to communicate this way to reach the hearts of our Japanese friends.
One friendship that has started to develop is with the young family in the pictures above. We met them through the Baby English ministry that we serve in every other week. It is rare for a father to come along to this event, so naturally Kyle gravitated toward them. They were super fun to talk with. Yui, the mother, speaks pretty good English and Yuto, the father, is only just learning, so our conversations are usually a fun mix of English and Japanese. The first day we met them, we invited them to a picnic the next week and now we have plans to view the autumn leaves next month, but we want to get together before then. We are excited to see this friendship grow throughout our time here.