Every Tuesday, the pastor and I get together to pray. Prior to praying, we talk about news we have, as well as any kind of questions we might have for each other. It's kind of an update each other kind of thing... and then pray.
Today was kinda weird. Not this passed Saturday, but the Saturday before, my supervisor, came by to the English coffee house we hold on Saturday nights. My supervisor said that he wanted to see me in my ministry setting, and so, I suggested that he come Saturday because then, he'd be able to participate with everyone in speaking English (he's American by the way). So, Tim (my supervisor) came, and as he walked in, he said that he wanted to say hi to the pastor. They talked for a little bit until the coffee house began.
So where's this all going? Today, the pastor asked a lot of questions about Tim coming on that Saturday. Although last Saturday was the first time Tim came by, I could tell that the reason for all the questions wasn't curiosity. Me, being me, I didn't think all that much of it at the time. And it wasn't until I came back to my apartment after teaching a class, that I put all the pieces together.
Given the nature of the questions and their context, I'm guessing that the pastor might have thought that I was unsatisfied with the ministry situation, and asked Tim (with his supervisor title) to come by and talk to the pastor to straighten it all out. Why would I be unsatisfied? Well, of the three churches here in Hokkaido that LIFE Ministries is working with, ours, the Date church is probably the one furthest behind in terms of actual church planting. Amazingly, however, this hasn't been a point of discouragement for me... mainly because the pastor's talked to me about it, and his hopes/plans for church planting. I'm actually quite satisfied with the ministry that I'm involved in, seeing this time as an opportunity to really build a repoire with the church members and the people of this city, and to build the groundwork so that in the near future we would be at a place to be able to plant a church.
Looking at today's conversation in hindsight, I smile thinking about all the things that the pastor probably wanted to ask me... but couldn't because of Japanese manners/customs.