Summer Festival

The Shin-Urayasu summer festival is always a much anticipated event in our town.  The people that plan the festival each year are committed to creating a small town festival feel.  This means that instead of having professional venders come in with all the typical festival type foods, all of the festival booths are local businesses and local people selling home cooked meals.  It is a lot of fun and really gives you a sense of what the summer festivals in small rural towns are like.

I remember when I first came to Japan and I was living in Chiharadai, which is a small town in the country, that the festival was very similar.  Both create such a friendly atmosphere and a wonderful place to meet all of your neighbors on a cool summer evening.

In the center of the park is a small stage where performances are held throughout the evening.  Local dance clubs, musicians, and traditional singers all perform for the community as they enjoy an alfresco dinner on the lawn.  The highlight this year was a performance by the teachers from the local kindergarten.  The teachers, dressed in glittery outfits, preformed a Jazz inspired dance.  It was wonderful and so many of the kids in our community have been taught by these ladies.  (Our Isabel included.)

Our church was able to have a booth again this year.  We made 2500 cookies and were able to sell them all.  It is such a wonderful opportunity for us to be a part of the community.  We have a banner with the church name and one with the name of our children's program.  It is great way to make others aware that we exist and that we want to be involved in community life.  It was a lot of fun to work the booth and to have the chance to meet so many of our friends and to make some new ones.

We are so grateful for our friends, support team and churches who pray for this community and the work of the church here.  We continue to see God work through our church and pray that many in this community would come to know Jesus.