Hey guise,
It’s already been a week in Japan but it feels like everything is flying by so quickly here. On Sunday, we got to meet all the people here at the church, from the “Hosanna Kids” ministry to the “Oasis” young adult ministry to the two adult services. It was encouraging to worship with all the different services here; we’ve been making like infinity friends instantaneously because everyone is so open and passionate for the Lord.
Our schedule so far has been teaching English classes every morning (10-11:30) and evening (7:30-9) to children (Pre K-K/Grades 1-3/Grades 4-5/Grades 6-9/Grades 10-12) and adults (Beginner/Intermediate/Adult). During lunch times, we also talk to our students afterwards to try to reach out to them and connect with them on a more personal level. Although communicating has been difficult because of the language barrier, it has been encouraging just engaging with people and talking with them about their faith and how they came to know Christ if they were believers, and seeing the non-believers interested in getting to know us and ultimately why we’re here.
On Wednesday, we participated in a prayer meeting here with the church members. It was great to see that their prayer meetings had all members participating, young and old. What I found cool was that they prayed not only for issues of the church, but specifically for several members who were in need of prayer; it showed that the community here is tightly knit and people were really willing to carry and share each other’s burdens.
Tomorrow, we will be holding a “Robodendo”, which is worship outreach at a train station. We have prepared a 1-2 hour set for the worship there. We’re very excited for it, as we have been practicing and worshiping as a team in preparation for it. Pray that God would bless us with good weather and that we would be worshipful and energetic during the outreach (playing a long set for non-professional band members can be somewhat exhausting).
Also, continue to pray for our hearts, that our confidence in Christ would be shown when we converse with the people here. Pray that we would be able to gain the people’s trust here, especially the non-believers that we may be able to talk to them about their spiritual beliefs and about the Gospel. Something that has been on my heart when I was talking to someone here about Japan was just the amount of need the people have of hope and of a savior. Pray that we will be able to break through the various cultural barriers that prevent people here from knowing God, that God would give us the words and the discernment to touch the hearts of the people here.
Ok, I love ya (in Christ), buh buy,
Doug
