Service for Peace in Niigata

1st Service for Peace initiatives in NIIGATA
June 1, 2008 Niigata Prefecture

NIIGATA Family in ACTION....
Thanks for your hearts and service of promoting Peace in Niigata prefecture.

Reported by: Ethel, Roselle & Maricon
After the success of the Global Peace Festival led by Pres. Hyun Jin Nim held in the Philippines last year, the Filipino-Japanese Movement for Global Peace (FJMGP) was organized here in Japan to unite the Japanese -Filipino blessedfamilies. This is also to encourage everyone to help and support in the preparation for the 2008 Global Peace Festivalhere in Japan, the Phils & around the world. Different chapters of FJMGP around the country were formed and right now different events and activities are being carried out by each chapter.

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In Niigata we held our first Service for Peace Project last June 1, 2008. Inspired and encouraged by the message of MrTakanori Todate, the YFWP Director - Department of International Affairs during the 2008 National Reunion of the FJMGP last April 13,2008 in Shinjuku, Tokyo where he personally asked the Filipino community to help Japanese people understand the true meaning of "OneFamily Under God", our blessed families here in Niigata could come up with this very simple and humble Service forPeace Project.

Our project: Once a month we will visit one house of a senior citizen.

First, we will clean his/her house. Then we will cook and havelunch together. We will cook what is in their refrigerator. We think it is not so much or heavy for them. Also this is to avoid spending money from our own pockets. After lunch, we will have some entertainment: singing, dancing, games,whatever... In short, our goal is to make the person happy. After the event we will ask this person to recommend us to one of his/her friends where we could do our next event. And from this next person we will ask him/her again to introduce us to another friend and so on.At the moment, only our Japanese-Filipino blessed families could participate but we are planning to include other Filipinos who are living here in our city. And later on probably we could also include other foreign nationals who are willing to join the group.

So anyway, last June 1, 2008 Roselle, Maricon (with her 2 month old baby, she has to bring him because she wasbreastfeeding) and I with the support of our two eldest Japanese-Filipino blessed children, Saki and Kanna went to the home of Masuko san (a church member) at around 10:45 am. It was our first event so we wanted to try it out first with a church member & Masuko san was a very good candidate since we know her well too. After a short greetings,introductions and short prayer, we carry on with our one day activity. We cleaned the house for over two hours including washing the curtains. Around 1 pm while Maricon & Roselle were cooking our lunch, Saki, Kanna and I continued with the cleaning. We had lunch at 2:30 pm and at around 3 we started our entertainment where we did a funny action song that brought usall to laugh. Then we sang some Japanese songs like Furusato, Believe, Ue O Muite, Tsubasa O Kudasai and last butnot the least we sang the GPF theme song entitled "Where Peace Begins".

The last part was a card game led by Maricon, again we all had a great time.Saki and Kanna did not only help with the cleaning, they were also our camera men. Also they babysit Maricon's babywhen she was cleaning and cooking. My husband served as our driver while Roselle and Maricon's husbands were babysitting the other small kids at their respective homes. We are very thankful to our families especially to our husbands because without their support we could not move and do something as most of us still have small children and it's hard tofind babysitters here. Maybe when our group gets bigger we can assign some members to take care of the kids.There were only very few of us but our unity and having the heart of just wanting to give and serve made the whole event worthwhile and memorable. It has brought us more close to each other. We hope & pray that through this simple project,we are moving and opening the hearts of the Japanese people so that Heavenly Father can claim & dominate this nation with True Love.

Several days before launching the project, I thought we couldn't make it. Japanese are not the kind of people who would easily open their homes to strangers even to their friends. They are so private. Here they entertain visitors at their entrance door, not in the living room, it was really strange for me at first, but this is Japanese culture. Anyway, even Masuko san was a little hesitant at first but we were able to convince her that it was alright.

The obstabcle came out again after the event when Masuko san said that it was very difficult to introduce us to her friends because of their nature. We humbly asked her to just try. Few days ago, she called and said that one of her friends is willing to welcome us at her home for our next service for peace. I hope that this report can encourage many to also do something in your respective area. It doesn't have to be something big or grand, if we can do big thingsthat would be great too, but just think of how we can liberate God's heart in our own little ways. I think what's important is we are doing it.

Niigata family members and Nagano famuily members