Hallelujah!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! God has been pouring his blessings over here and to me so much I can't even begin to thank him! I will start with this though...

It has been a crazy week but hallelujah for what God has done!! I guess the two main events of this week was the Premium Christmas we had on the 23^rd and the 25^th! It was a lot of work, tiring, but all for the glory of God, right? I’m not here to serve myself, but God and for those who don’t know Him. Once I changed my attitude towards doing all these things, God rewarded me with so many blessings.

I saw so many beautiful things happening within J-House and to the people that came to J-House. Things such as people helping out with cooking, decorating, performances, etc., to people bringing their family members or friends to the events.  It was really cool to see some of the church members families come and join our Premium Christmas! Most people seemed to have enjoyed their time during the whole thing, so praise God! It was a lot~ of work, but everyone did their best and with such a serving heart that it went pretty smoothly. The true meaning of Christmas has been revealed, seeds planted, and hopefully their curiosity increases and they would want to know more about Jesus and about Christianity.

I would have taken more photos, but my camera has this annoying black dot on the top right corner… plus, other people took many nice pictures so I will take it from them sooner or later :P

I am looking forward to this new week and hope that I can just do what I can before I leave Japan. This will be the last post of 2010! I can’t believe how fast a year has gone already….

A World Of Difference

This past week has been really good! It felt so long, but I guess that just shows how much stuff we had to do. Though we did a lot, I honestly felt like God had lightened to load and made it a bit easier for us to do. Also, I think that doing things with a joyful heart makes a world of a difference.

It started off on Tuesday when we were worried that not many people will come to our RUSH club at Kandai, but ended up being the most we ever had this semester! They just kept coming in one by one, and we were all so surprised to see them but very very happy! Campus ministry in general has been really good lately, and we even had 2 of them come to Sunday service!! Hallelujah! Gaidai also has been awesome, but I am really sad that most of the foreign exchange students are leaving this week, so we shared our last moments with them this past Saturday and Sunday. I pray that they will continue to grow in the LORD and learn more and more about his unfailing love! They really made our time at Gaidai so much easier! I will miss them, but I know that they will do well wherever they go! Eiji, Joyce, Abby, Jo, Eve, Tim, if you are reading this we miss you already!!~ T__T

During Big Wave, we had about 10 students from a different university (Kinki University…yeah, what a name, huh? Let’s call it Kindai for short) brought by a former J-House member! Not too many people were there because a lot of them are on vacation and went abroad or somewhere. We had a good time talking with them and I believe that their image of Church in general has changed a bit too. It’s not some quiet place with a bunch of old people and in a huge cathedral, but it can be fun, exciting and have lots of fun things to do too :D

Saturday, I went to the dentist with Cana-san, her cousin is a dentist and she took me there to see him. I don’t have insurance here either so I was a little worried about the cost, but he ended up doing it for free! I felt so bad…and I want to give him something at the end of my treatment, but I seriously have nothing…just so grateful for a lot of things happening to me recently. Later this day, we went to see more Christmas lights near Osaka this time! Not as flashy as the Kobe one, but a lot more stuff to see and a LOT less people. We got to spend our last time together with the whole Gaidai gang and some other church members as well as some Kangaku students. I love just hanging out with the students and church members; they really are a fun group to be around with. Another blessing on this day was after the night was pretty much over, Sarah, Kyle, and I went to the sanctuary and just worshipped together! Oh, how I missed doing that with people just because.

Sunday was also a blessing. We had 5 people baptized!!! Praise God! People don’t understand that despite what the statistics say, God is still very much alive in this country. The harvest is indeed plentiful…we just need more workers! Another praise report is that two students from Kandai came to J-House!! First time this semester! Things are moving; I can’t be lagging behind just because my year is almost up. Keep praying!! It makes a world of difference!

Blessings!

This week has been a week filled with many good things. Campuses were really good because of the many new opportunities God has opened up for us to really go and create not only a friendship but a deeper relationship with not only us, but with God. Pretty recently, we met two people from Kandai (Ayaka and Yuichi) from an English Speaking club that has no foreigners in their club to teach them or even talk with, so when they met us, they were really excited. What surprised me was that they kept meeting with us after and keep texting me about how they are looking forward to meeting us. They actually came to J-House for a Thanksgiving event we had, and before that, we only met them once. They didn’t know J-House was a church, but they still came and enjoyed themselves. As much of a blessing that is, here is what I am so blown away by: they tell their friends from their club to come and meet us every week at Kandai. They brought 2 friends, but one of their friends (Toku) brought a total of 7 friends to meet us the past two weeks or so. It’s been such a blessing! I am really praying that before I go, they will come to know Christ!!!

This past week, J-House had around 5-6 birthdays, and this past Saturday, we went to Outback Steakhouse (yes, there is one in Japan too) celebrating Justin (the Jesus Soldier leader), Hee-sung (Korean foreign exchange student that has been here for a couple years now), and Tadashi-san (J-House member and part of the Gospel choir). It was so good, it really made me miss American food back home, but I noticed that all that greasiness and fatty goodness really is so bad. Haha… you might be thinking, “well, yeah Kevin,” but for me who has lots of “problems” physically, I realize after coming here how unhealthy I was and how important it is to take care of my body. (I guess I should listen to my own advice, huh?)

Things with the Jesus Soldiers have been really good for me; I really enjoy hanging out with them. Just having good company makes things so nice. I’m trying to enjoy the rest of my time I have left here. I’m already sad that I have to go…I have received so many blessings, thank you God!

Kobe Luminarie

神戸のルミナリエ