Taking the Gospel to the "Streets"

When I was in Japan on an LDS mission for two years I went a lot of places, met a lot of people and saw a lot of new things.  The main mode of transportation was on foot or bicycle.  Most of the places I lived were rural towns or out in the country.  Half of the time I spent in Japan was on the small island Okinawa.  It's a lively place with lots of American military living on base and it has an island culture similar to that of Hawaii.  In a way it's kind of like Japan's Hawaii.

In order to teach people about Jesus Christ my companions and I would knock on doors, talk to people on the streets or visit friends and family of local Church members.  It was a great time and I took in the scenery as much as I could.  Riding bicycle gives a better view of any neighborhood and I would often take notice of trees, parks, rivers, animals, cars, etc.  I would also see graffiti from time to time.

Note: Ever since I was little I have been fascinated by graffiti, not for it's destructive purposes, but for it's style and art form.  I feel the same way about tattoos.  I admire the creativity that goes into some of them by the artist, but think they make a better wall hanging than body art.  That being said, in Okinawa I repeatedly ran across some cool graffiti.

Graffiti has two purposes.  The first is to mark territory (like a cat or dog would) by gangs.  The second is to express one's talent and show off to the world what crazy art you were able to get away with spray painting in public.  There is likely an addictive adrenaline rush craved by the second type of graffiti.  For those who may not be familiar, one who is expressing their artistic versatility is called a "Tagger."

Main Entry: Tagger

(one that tags; especially: a person who marks surfaces with graffiti _Merriam-Webster online dictionary).  

When tagging, the artist will almost always include their tagger name.  The taggers that were hard at work in Okinawa go by Kirin and Shoei.  They would leave their mark at bus stops, on overpasses, in tunnels, on walls, phone booths, etc.  They were even clever enough to use sharpie markers and draw on stickers and then stick them on lamp posts, etc.

(Kirin is Japanese for Giraffe.  Can you see the resemblance with the figure on the left in the photo?)

Okay you are probably thinking that I have a new hobby now, since I know so much about tagging.  Well you could be right... maybe I go Kirin.  Who really knows?  But for real I think it's fascinating what someone with expressive talent can draw, spray or stick to a wall, window and phone booth in under 30 seconds.  Here's a link to my favorite tagger if you're interested in checking out world famous creativity.  www.banksy.co.uk

Just the other day I was looking for good Google Images of places around Utah.  One that I venture to often to go climbing is Rock Canyon.  Scenic, yes.  Good spot to rock climb? Definitely! Photogenic?  Not at all!  Just a pile of rocks and cliffs.  While scoring through a grip of pictures I ran across this beaut...(THE MAIN IDEA FOR THIS BLOG POSTING).

(This picture was taken in Rock Canyon Provo, Utah)

Thinking back to my time as a missionary, there were effective and ineffective ways to share the teachings of Christ and to bear testimony of his role in our lives.  I guess the missionaries in Provo found a new way to tell people about their "love for Jesus."  Yeah, most people living here are LDS and those that aren't run to the hills... to climb rocks, hike, etc.  But they couldn't out run the message of our local missionaries?