OTM Spotlight: Jondy Natividad

Jondy Natividad (Left) & Mike Acuna (Right) in Yokohama, Japan (2017).

1. How many years have you been involved in OTM and what were your responsibilities?

Since the beginning, 2017, when Mike decided to follow God and started OTM, he invited me. Been part of the OTM family since then. I started off as one of Mike’s basketball coaches, then leading and becoming a head coach, and then later led my own team as OTM grew and expanded to various basketball camps. 

As a leader on OTM, I had more responsibilities than just being a coach running the drills. I made sure each team member was taken care of during the camp, making sure they know what they are doing, but also outside of the camp, I made sure everyone is getting enough rest, made sure everyone’s needs are taken care of, fed, everyone’s laundry is getting done, taking showers on the clock, making sure everyone is doing well. Basically I made sure everyone is doing well and prepared for each day’s camps. Making sure everyone is ok and the team is cohesive and unified. I delegated tasks to team members to take care of the trip finances, transportation routes, lodging details, etc. it was a big responsibility dealing with our Japanese hosts, making sure we are meeting the needs of our host, and achieve our goals which are to spread hope and joy in Japan. 

2. What are you currently doing in Japan?

Teaching in English at a Japanese school and am an assistant basketball coach for a jr high school team. This coach has been to the regional championships, and the highest level he achieved was 3rd in nationals. His Shizuoka Junior High team placed 3rd in the entire nation. I’m learning so much from him and we practice 5 times a week plus weekend. We practice 3-4 hours. Coaching takes up a lot of time, in addition to the teaching portion, but I do it because that’s what I came here to do -- to connect with students, and it’s all voluntary. Even for the coach is voluntary because it’s a club activity. This coach also has 2 other teams - a high school and his own club team. This coach lives out the verse, “basketball is life.”  He doesn’t even take a vacation because he’s coaching during vacation. His practice is American style, focus on defense and communication. His practice and drills are similar to what we do in OTM, too. 

3. How has OTM prepared you for your current position as a teacher and a basketball coach in Japan?

Teaching and coaching are essentially imparting knowledge to youth. I got a taste of how to teach and communicate with Japanese youth through my experience at summer camps OTM the past several years. Also, not only the teaching aspect but I gained experience during OTM missions trips on how to interact with Japanese teachers, coaches, to deal with different personalities and different ways of doing things. Here in Japan, they do things very differently in America. There’s a lot of subtlety in Japan because they don’t communicate directly. Japanese people know how to read between the lines, but as Westerners, we don’t know how to do that. If someone says something, Westerners take it as is, but a Japanese person could be saying the opposite. So, being a team member and a leader of OTM, I gained the tools on how to deal with situations like this and how to communicate with my fellow teacher colleagues, and coaches in a Japanese way. In the basketball aspect, the drills we do are similar to those we did in OTM so I was prepared to assist my head coach. There’s no denying that OTM prepared me to live in Japan, to work in a Japanese school, and to coach basketball in Japan. My experience has been very vital. For some of my coworkers who’ve never had any experience in Japan, are having a tough time dealing with the culture, the way they do things here, and it’s very hard for them. In fact, one of my coworkers wants to quit because it’s not what he expected. Living and working in Japan is totally different from taking a leisure trip. Dealing with Japanese culture and Japanese people on a daily basis. 

Originally, my company offered an older apartment. But because of my OTM experience, I knew exactly what type of apartment I wanted to live in. so with a little bit of research, I found my current place. We lived in all sorts of living accommodations through OTM, which helped to define and know exactly what type of apartment I wanted to live in. 

4. Have there been any struggles that you have or had while living in Japan? And how have you dealt with these struggles?

I didn’t think i would miss my family and friends as much as I miss them. I thought it was going to be a new adventure and I’ve lived in different cities away from my family before. But this time I’m living in a foreign country by myself and there’s a lot of things to deal with, different stress, different culture, and there’s not someone who speaks my language who I can vent to and talk to in person. It’s really difficult. No one really speaks English in the city. I’ve been blessed to meet some great people at the local church who introduced me to different people and who helped me get on my feet, they’ve given me a lot of advice. However, they’re not in the same season of life as I am, so it’s hard for me to connect with them. It’s hard for me to connect with other Christians here too because they don’t speak English. So I don’t have the community of brothers and sisters, a person to rely on. So I’ve had to go online, to connect with my family, my church family in SF, OTM, and others. Everyone continues to reach out to me, and make sure I’m okay and praying for me. It’s what I need here. I really appreciate everyone who’s praying for me, messaging me, asking me if how I’m doing because it’s tough. I tell myself every day that it’s not through my own strength, but God’s.  I need God to make it every day. I can’t do it alone. 

If I didn’t have God in my life, I could understand how people think about committing suicide. The loneliness is so… I can’t even describe it. I’m able to live through the loneliness and live on my own because of God. God works through my brothers and sisters to support me. Without God and my community, it’s tough. It’s really difficult. 

5. How have you been able to bring hope and joy to Japan during your stay?

I think it’s just talking to my kids. Part of my job is teaching English vocabulary words, practice pronunciation, and singing songs. So, I bring my “Jondy” spirit when we sing songs and do the dances. The kids get really into it. There’s a really great atmosphere when the kids get really into it. There’s definitely JOY in those classrooms. 

With my basketball team, since they’re a bit older, they want to try to speak to me in English. So yeah, I talk to them. Even though they may not understand me fully, they can feel the HOPE & JOY through my attitude. Even when I’m teaching English to the younger kids, I do feel that they can feel that JOY in me. I’m pretty sure they haven’t met someone like me before. I do my best to bring fun & energy to every single class. I may not be the best educator out there, but I hope they’re really having fun in my class. 

On the flip side, with my coach, I got connected with him through a local church member because his mom sings in the gospel choir at the local church. Even though she’s not a Christian and their family is not a Christian, he knows I’m a believer. On the first day, I let him know that I cannot practice Sunday mornings because I have church. I made a note to him that God is a priority in my life; bigger than basketball. It was a statement saying God is important. I love basketball, and being part of your team, but there’s something more important than that. So, the coach knows that I have church on Sundays. Hopefully, one of the prayers is to continue to be the hope and joy to the team and the coach. 

6. Is there anything that you have learned from your experience and would like to add to OTM?

Definitely. From a basketball stance, I’m learning a lot from my coach. I can definitely be more conscious and aware of when we have our OTM camps again.  For example, some of our Japanese hosts, especially those who’ve hosted us before, are looking for something new, something different. So now I feel like there’s a whole new arsenal that I’ve learned that if we need, we can do it. If it fits the OTM program, I could use it. On the practical side, I’m learning more Japanese. More Japanese basketball terms that the coach uses. So, I’m always listening and trying to pick up on what he’s saying. Next time we do our OTM basketball camp, my goal is that I won’t need a translator anymore!! Haha, I’m definitely picking up more words. 

Being able to explain why we do this is necessary and therefore, knowing the language is important. Why a player needs to be positioned here, it’s because of this and this. I’ve become really great at gestures in the classroom and in basketball. When the coach explains things, I could see it’s resonating with the kids and their brains are working.  

As bad as this pandemic has been, how everyone’s lives have been totally changed, in many ways, as a society and individually, it’s forced us to better ourselves. That’s definitely something I’m trying to work on. 

OTM has been a special part of my life. It really has been integral in my move here. My move here to Japan would not have possible without my experience with OTM because of the years leading up to the decision to move here, to feel like God is calling me here to Japan. A lot of that happened with OTM. Thank you so much.