K and M, the two girls I wrote about last week, took me and Emily and Katie to Karaoke twice this past week. It was so much fun. Karaoke in Japan is way different than Karaoke in America. In Japan you sing in a private room. I think it's a lot better than American Karaoke because if you can't sing very well, the only people in the room are you and your friends. We didn't get to talk much during these times just but we've already made plans to meet with the girls again next week. M invited us to her friends apartment to cook. I hoping the atmosphere will allow for deeper conversations and being able to at least share my testimony. M also usually brings a friend whenever we meet. This is good because it means if I get to share my testimony or the gospel then more people can hear it! Please pray that the next time we meet with K and M there would be an opening for us to share our testimonies or the gospel. Please pray that we would be bold in sharing and that their hearts and ears would be open to listening.
Katie has started a small group with some of the women at Crossroads Church ( one of the international churches we attend). Two of the women are Christians but one of them is not. KK is a med. student and has just started coming to church. She says that when she listens to the sermons on Sunday she feels a peace inside of her. I hope this is a sign that she is close to believing. Please pray that God would continue to pursue her and that she would open her heart to the one that gives eternal peace.
At the beginning of the week we went away for two and a half days for our intern retreat. We traveled about three hours outside of the Kobe area into the mountains. It's hard to describe but the Japanese countryside is some of the most beautiful countrysides I've ever seen. Everything is so green. I think when God made Japan he seriously color boosted the green. First we went to a small village in the mountains that is famous for making soba, a Japanese buckwheat noodle. We went to a restaurant where we got to make our own noodles. It was so much fun. We did everything from kneading the dough, to rolling it out and then cutting our own noodles. I know for sure now that I do not have a future in the soba world because I am the worst noodle cutter ever. Soba noodles are supposed to be really thin - almost like angel hair pasta - and mine were definitely not. According to the teacher, my noodles look more like udon - which is a thick noodle. After that we got to eat our own noodles. It was so good. The way you eat this style of soba is with a raw egg, mixed with daikon radish paste and onions and a special soba sauce. As strange as it sounds it was actually quite tasty. : )
I just realized that the summer is almost halfway gone. For me it seem that the last half of a summer mission is always the hardest. I remember last summer in Chicago for aXis the last month was the most difficult because I was really homesick. Please pray that I won't get homesick and that my focus will be on Japan and the work I am doing here.
Sometimes, it gets really hard here because you can really be overwhelmed with the lostness. Everyday we sit on the train and the reality is that most likely we are the only ones who are saved on the entire train. I think Emily gave the best example when she talked about the thousands of apartment building we see everyday on our commute. She said that for every single door on the apartment there is probably one to three people behind that door who aren't saved and have never heard the gospel. Sometimes I get overwhelmed just thinking about the masses who are unsaved. The thing is that Japan will never be totally reached even if we had hundreds more workers over here. Japan will only be reached if national believers start reaching their own people. The problem is that they really aren't doing that. The Japanese church actually reminds me a lot of some American churches. People are saved but never discipled and never taught that they are to share the good news with their lost friends and family. Many of the sermons and teachings focus on personal growth and their is little said about evangelism. Please pray for the Japanese church. Pray that they would start evangelizing their own people. Please also pray for us interns. Pray that we wouldn't get overwhelmed with the overwhelming lostness. Please pray that we would focus on the relationships we are building right now.
We've got some crazy weeks coming up here. There are about 4 different volunteer teams coming in this month. Please pray for our whole team and that we would have strength and endurance during this month.
Well, I think I've rambled enough. Love you guys and thanks for the prayers!
No comments:
Post a Comment