Wow.. It’s been over a month now, and how much have I seen already. God has been doing some amazing stuff here. How dare me to think so pessimistically about evangelism, the short amount of time that I’ve been here, and the power of friendship. God can use anything, any time, any one, and any place whenever He wants. Forgive me God for thinking that there is a limit to what You can do…You are limitless! Hallelujah!
So many things have happened, but I will give you just the highlights of my week
- Tuesday Bowling with Gaidai and non-Gaidai students. We were honestly expecting maybe 2 students to come out, but we ended up with 6! By the end of the day, they were saying how they wanted to keep hanging out with J-House people. (5/6 students are non-Christian)
- Friday, I led a worship/prayer night for people who just wanted to come worship and pray without having to do the typical loud/charismatic worship/prayer that J-House normally does (nothing wrong with that, but it’s always nice to just be still and know that God is God in our lives) and at first it was going ok, I was kind of worried that it would be too different for everyone, so I ended the whole thing after just an hour, but I said if anyone wants to stay longer and continue praying, to feel free to stay, but not feel obligated to stay either. Expecting maybe 60% of them to leave, I open my eyes to find that no one has left, so I kept playing the guitar and gave them the space to pray for different people, for themselves and wow what a beautiful sight it was! The night started at 8 pm and I finished it (officially) at 9 pm, but the last bit of people left around 10:30 pm!! Praise God. J I was definitely encouraged.
- Sunday after the 2nd service, we had a ministry meeting and I was glad to see so many people there wanting to be a part of some kind of ministry! It is good to see that those who believe are really excited and know the urgency to spread the Good News to people! Also, a girl that my team met last Summer, Saki, texted me to say that she wanted to come visit J-House, unfortunately she couldn’t make it to service, but she came after to hang out! So it was a good time of just catching up and reconnecting with J-House again! I took her and her friend, Kanoko who is a J-House member, to dinner and I am desperately hoping that I will continue to have chances like that with her to become a believer! She is very open and it is good to see both those people very happy and enjoying themselves. They both seem to have been going through a lot, and it was just nice to see them enjoying themselves. Another guy named Shotaro, lately he has been coming a lot to J-House and finally we were to explain the “Bridge” diagram to him and he seems very open to it. He actually emailed his friend after that and asked him why he was a Christian (not in a bad way, but more of a curious way).
- Today I was able to just go out with Justin (one of the main staff/Jesus Soldier) and not worry about the things I had to do today. As soon as I woke up I was just thinking about what I needed to do and get done, but Justin told me to go out and chill. I hesitated at first, but felt like I needed to get out of my room and J-House for a couple of hours. I even brought my laptop to work on this update and a paper I had to do, but didn't end up touching it. I just had a time where I could enjoy the sun (that was out for a couple of hours :D) and reflect, think, and take pictures! :) So I am grateful for that!
I know that in 2 weeks (how long I normally stay on missions) God can do MANY things, but I really see how that staying longer that relationships truly start to open up and there are a lot of opportunities to go deeper!
Please continue to pray that I will have more opportunities to share about God! Also, that my body, soul, and mind can be ready for the upcoming craziness that will come faster than I expect! Arigatou!!
P.S. There are times when I get super lonely, but please just pray that I can find peace in God and constantly remind myself that I am never alone!
(Yay for macro shots!)
I read abuot 6 Japanese kids getting acquainted with church during my lunch break in random ol' Colorado. The power of the internet is cuhrayze.
ReplyDeleteI found your story/stories and especially your commentary inspiring. it's so glad to read about somebody being so optimistic!