Greg Hatanaka

我今年选择参加YSMP，是因为我从妻子Jill那里听说，宣教士们一起生活并互相服事彼此代祷是她最美好的回忆之一！去年，我参加了Masterlife课程，该课程强调了传福音和向你遇到的人分享福音的重要性。尽管我知道分享福音的重要性，但实际在向邻居和同事们分享我的信仰却不容易。我可以为他们祷告也盼望他们得救，但要真正谈论我作为基督徒的信仰却很难。我也知道我们教会异象的三个异象之一就是我们成为一个有使命感的教会。今年年初带着这些想法，我报名参加今年的YSMP，想服务当地教会、社区并分享耶稣的爱。也许这样做我会看到自己在见证方面的不足并尝试突破。

初遇挑战

我想尽我所能提供帮助短宣队。到达凤凰城后，我的首要任务之一就是订晚餐。这是在短宣队第一次开会时就决定的。我知道我可以做研究并找到一家不错的餐厅。这应该不会太难吧？然而，接下来发生的事情着实让我大吃一惊。首先，出发当天我被通知到阿卡迪亚浸信会也需要一块吃饭。因此不是订购15人份，却是订购30人份！其次，我被要求将这顿饭每人的预算控制在10美元以下。当我得知新的订单数量和每顿饭的费用时，我们已经到达亚利桑那州，而没有选择地点或订购任何食物。感谢神，我能够在预算之内找到一家足够近的餐厅。当我们带回食物时，每个人都饿了，刚刚完成了破冰活动！在我们到达白河之前，第一个任务就感觉很复杂，但感谢DC、何杰和Jonathan的帮助，我们完成了这任务。

我们一早启程长途驾驶到达凤凰城后稍作休息。凤凰城的第一华人浸信会教堂（又名FCBC）慷慨地为我们安排有空调的体育馆和淋浴设备可住宿。令我惊讶的是，那天晚上的温度比LA更低。因为很冷，我的第一个晚上睡得不好。带着睡袋在硬地板上躺了大约一个小时后，我意识到我的身体还没有为这些艰苦的环境做好准备。我事先就知道我只能睡在睡袋上。但直到到达那里我才意识到睡在地板上有多难。我试想着去白河镇将遇到所有美好的事情。让我的注意力集中在期待去白河镇。隔天早上，几位FCBC的会员很慷慨地为我们准备早餐。在健身房地板一晚疲累醒来有早餐吃的感觉真好。凤凰城的教会热情接待了我们。感谢主有凤凰城的这家教会！

渐入佳境

我们开车到白河镇大约五个小时。当我们到达白河镇时，长长的旅途终于结束。现在是时候卸货并开始打扫教堂。我专注于清洁和整理厨房和储藏室。当我在厨房帮忙时，我注意到烹饪团队已经开始准备晚餐了！我们很幸运有Lisa和何杰作为我们的烹饪团队。我们在白河的每一天，他们都尽全力地不怕疲累地预备美味的饭菜！有时他们可能会因为要准备饭食而无法加入上午或下午的小组会议。我看到厨房团队在YSMP中扮演着多么重要的角色。

有一些活动是在我们到达白河并安排好住宿和服事安排后临时决定的。我们其中一些人虽不是负责上午活动的领导，但可以帮忙篮球营、手工艺或烹饪课。篮球训练营的第一天，负责篮球训练营的乔治邀请我担任小队长。鉴于我之前有打过篮球经验，我很愿意这样做。作为小队长，我必须防止团队中的孩子走散并为他们加油。我看到我的团队在比赛中赢得了几个奖项！尽管比赛不那么严肃或激烈，但当地孩子们都享受篮球营。第二天，DC利用休息时间向年幼的孩子们分享福音。他把所有的孩子围成一个大圈，与所有的孩子坐在一起分享福音并大声祈祷。第三天Brian也这样做了。在祈祷期间，我看到圣灵是如何感动年幼孩子有敬畏神之心。赞美神，有些孩子可能是第一次听到福音！篮球营对于孩子们来说很有趣，可以练习和学习一些基本的篮球训练，同时也可以了解耶稣。我体会到这些年轻的灵魂和他们的命运其实比我们教授的训练和篮球课程更加重要。

随着日子一天天过去，我对我们的日程安排越来越熟悉。每天起床、穿好衣服后，我们都会进行晨祷。在这些灵修过程中，我有时间反思我们来这里的目的，我想与白河的阿帕奇人分享耶稣基督。每天结束时，Jonathan牧师都会召开一次团队会议，让我们有时间在日记、敬拜和祈祷中写下我们学到的东西。这也让我们有时间在一天结束时进行反思，并向小组分享我们所经历神作工和赞美神。我看到我们的团队每天都更加合一。

精诚团结

我在本次YSMP中的任务之一是为青少年圣经学习做准备并授课。我在家时以为我的课程已经完成，并打印了我的讲义以供分享。然而，到达白河后，我意识到我的课程需要调整让青少年能理解。另一个老师谢瑜利用他空闲时间鼓励帮助我做好准备。总的来说，我很担心且我的课程还遇到了其他挫折。当时我们在户外上课，正值雷暴雨，我们一看到闪电就立马进会堂。进去后我们不得不分成两个房间，所以我们按性别分开。女教师Frances和Marie把女孩们带到一间房间。在另一个房间里，我和谢瑜带着男孩们。我感觉到我房间里的学生注意力分散了，所以我决定与他们分享我的见证。后来我自己忘记了课程讲到哪中断。我很感激谢瑜在我分享我的见证后一起帮忙完成了课程。

当我通过一起分享、服事和祈祷与我的团队更亲近时，我注意到我们越来越紧密，并且变得更像一个整体！为我们经验丰富且忠诚的领队赞美神：Jonathan牧师和DC，他们让我们的团队充满活力并致力于我们的使命。我还感谢亚凯迪亚教会的领队，他们是虔诚的青年领袖，他们让自己的青春专注于服事和热爱当地的白河社区。在我的分享的开头，我提到我想知道如何向白河镇的人们分享福音和我的信仰。我真的有机会这样做，特别是在青少年圣经学习课程和家庭欢乐之夜（我们的最后一晚活动）。我从今年的YSMP中学到了一些。首先，我看到我们团队的团结是如何一天天而变得更加坚强。

到最后一晚，在小组会议期间，尽管这将是我们在白河的最后一晚，但我感觉到我们的团结达到了最高水平。其次，我了解到YSMP是与当地教会合作。我们在那里时，有当地人（年轻人和老年人）支持我们。他们不仅准备了印地安油炸包，也帮助处理我们在教堂周围砍下的灌木碎片，帮助设置篮球网，每天晚上之后清洁和打扫教堂等等！Hoyt牧师夫妇还参与了教会VBS周的筹备和各种活动。最后，我原以为我可以靠自己努力不太需要其他人帮助，但当我在白河时，我必须非常依赖我的队友，如果没有他们，我就无法完成我所做的事情。如果没有白河浸信会，即使有机会分享我的信仰，这一切也是不可能的。白河的教堂看起来我们在西洛杉矶的会堂不同。但他们和我们有共同的信仰。他们给了我机会分享我的信仰。

感谢CBCWLA给我机会参与今年的YSMP。

I chose to go to YSMP this year because I had heard from my wife Jill that it was one of the best memories of serving one another, praying with one another and just living together as missionaries! Last year I went through the Masterlife class that emphasized the importance of evangelism and sharing the gospel to people you would encounter. Despite me learning of the importance of sharing the gospel, I struggled with actually sharing my faith to people including my neighbors and coworkers. I could pray for them to be saved but to actually speak about my faith as a christian was difficult to do. I also know that one of the three visions of our church vision is that we be a mission-minded church. Early this year with these thoughts in mind, I thought of going to this year’s YSMP and help serve the church, community and share the love of Jesus. Perhaps while doing this I may see my weaknesses in witnessing and try to break out of it. 

I had set my attention on doing whatever I could to help. One of the first tasks given to me was to order dinner once we arrived in Phoenix. I took this task as it was offered early in our preparation phase at our mandatory meeting. I knew I could do research and find a nice restaurant to get food. This shouldn’t be too difficult, right? However, what happened next really took me by surprise. First, I learned that Arcadia Baptist Church would also need to eat. So instead of ordering for 15 it would be 30! Second, I was asked to keep each meal under $10. By the time I learned of the new order count and cost per meal we had already arrived in Arizona without having selected a location or ordered any food. Praise God, that I was able to find a restaurant close enough and within budget. By the time we arrived everyone was hungry and just finished the ice breakers! This first task even before we got to Whiteriver felt complicated, but I got it done thankfully with help from David, He Jie and Jonathan. 

Once in Phoenix, we got a chance to rest from the long drive and early morning start. The church in Phoenix, First Chinese Baptist Church (aka FCBC) graciously arranged for us showers and sleeping quarters inside their air-conditioned gymnasium. To my surprise, the temperature that night was actually chilly compared to my apartment in Los Angeles. Even though it was cool, my first night sleeping was rough. After lying on the hard floor with my sleeping bag for about an hour I realized my body was not prepared for sleeping on hard floors. I knew beforehand that all I would be using to sleep on was a sleeping bag. But I didn’t realize until getting there how hard it was to sleep on the floor. I tried to overcome my discomfort with thinking of all the good things that would come from going to White River. This kept my mind focused on looking forward to getting to White River. In the morning, a couple members from FCBC graciously came to serve us breakfast. It was a nice feeling to have breakfast after waking up in the gymnasium and after having an uncomfortable rest that night. The church in Phoenix provided warm hospitality to us. Thank you Lord for these churches in Phoenix! 

Our drive to White River took approximately five hours. When we arrived at Whiteriver the wait was finally over. Now it was time to unload our vehicles and start cleaning the church. I focused on cleaning and organizing the kitchen and storage space. While I was helping in the kitchen I noticed the cooking team already starting to prepare for the dinner meal! We were blessed to have Lisa Yip and He Jie as our cooking team. They worked together tirelessly throughout each day we were at White River and made some amazing meals! Sometimes they may miss the group meetings in the morning or afternoon because of the attention to their task. I saw how big of a role the kitchen team plays at YSMP. 

Some of the planning came after we arrived and settled into our living and serving arrangements for the week. Some of us who were not leaders for the morning activities had the opportunity to support and help with basketball camp, crafts or cooking class. The first day of the basketball camp I had been asked by George Chui, who led the Basketball camp to be a team captain. I was happy to do so given that I had some prior basketball experience. As team captain, I had to keep the kids in my group from wandering off and to cheer them on. I saw my team win a couple prizes during the games! Even though the games were not that serious or competitive the kids all enjoyed participating in the games. On the second day, David Chang shared the gospel with the younger kids during a rest break. He huddled all the kids in one large circle, shared the gospel and prayed out loud with all the kids sitting together. Brian Pan also did this on the third day. I could see how the spirit was moving as the kids were respectful during the prayer. Praise God, that some kids may have heard the gospel for the first time! The basketball camp was a fun way for kids to practice and learn some fundamental basketball drills but also to learn about Jesus. I saw how these young souls and their destiny became more important than the drills and basketball lessons we were teaching. 

As the days went by, I got more acquainted with the schedule we had. The beginning of every day after getting up and dressed we would have morning devotions. During these devotions, I had time to reflect on our purpose of being there and to remember it for Jesus Christ who I want to represent and share with the Apache people in White River. At the end of each day, Pastor Jonathan held a team meeting which gave us time to write things we learned in our journals, worship and prayer. It also gave us time to reflect at the end of the day and share to the group any praises or things we saw about how God was working that week. I saw our team grow more in unity each day. 

One of my responsibilities at this YSMP was to prepare and give a lesson for the youth bible study. At home I assumed my lesson was done and printed out copies of my lesson to share. Yet upon getting to White River, I realized my lesson was not ready for youth to understand. It took Yu, the youth bible study leader, in his free time to help me get prepared. Yu (or Xie Yu as he is known by) stood by me in order to help me feel prepared. Overall, I felt my bible study had other setbacks despite my worry. There was a thunderstorm so we had to go inside once we saw lightning. After going inside we had to split into two rooms so we divided ourselves by gender. The women teachers, Francis and Marie, took the girls into one room. In another room, Xie Yu and I had the boys. I sensed the youth in my room were too distracted from the move so I decided to share with them my testimony. After doing so I had forgotten where I left off from the lesson. I am grateful that Xie Yu finished covering my lesson where I had left off before I shared my testimony. 

As I got closer to my team through sharing, serving and praying together I noticed we were bonding and becoming more of a single unit! Praise God for our experienced and devoted leaders: Pastor Jon and DC who kept our team energized and engaged with our mission to serve. Also I am thankful for the leaders at Arcadia church whose devoted youth leaders kept their youth focused on serving and loving the local White River community.

In the beginning of my message I mentioned how I wanted to see how I can share the gospel and my faith to those at White River. I had opportunities to do so especially around the youth at the bible study and during the Family Fun Night (which was the last event for us). There are a few things that I learned from this year’s YSMP. First, I saw how the unity of our group became stronger as the days progressed. By the last night of our stay, during the group meeting, I could see our unity and bond so well compared to the first night. So in my experience at YSMP the unity would grow unless there were bonds made before arriving. Second, I learned that for YSMP you are going with a partnership with the local church. There were local people (young and old) who supported us while we were there. They prepared Indian fry bread, helped dispose of the shrub clippings we cut around the church, helped set up the basketball nets, clean and swept the church after each night and so much more! The local pastor, his wife and children (the Hoyt’s) were also engaged with the setting up and various activities at the church’s VBS week. Lastly, I believe I was trying to do as much as I could without help from others. Yet when I was at White River, I had to rely on my teammates so much more that I couldn’t have done what I did without them. Even for the opportunities to share my faith. None of that would have been possible if it wasn’t for this church in White River. The church in White River may look different than our church here in West LA. But the people who go there have the same faith as we do. They gave me the opportunity to share my faith with those at White River.

Thank you CBCWLA for giving me the opportunity to go to YSMP this year.

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