"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever."
- Psalm 136:1
for his steadfast love endures forever."
- Psalm 136:1
Certainly, God's love endures forever. He is faithful. This trip has been teaching me that over and over again. So I want to give praise to God, for showing me His faithfulness in so many different ways. It has come in both big and small things... one of the main ways He has been faithful is in the way He answers our prayers. Indeed, Ephesians 3:20-21 is so true: "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout al generations, forever and ever. Amen." And it's amazing to think that God chooses to glorify Himself through us -- US! Man, who is so weak and unable to do anything alone. But yeah, God uses such weak vessels for His glory. So amazing, and so beyond my comprehension.
I have a clarification before I start posting about the specific details of our trip. I might repeat some stuff that earlier members have posted... I haven't read all of the previous posts yet, so yea, sorry if some stuff is a repeat. At any rate, I hope you would be encouraged by our posts about this missions trip, and that it would exalt God above all things.
Saturday morning started off with an event at Hamadera Bible Church called "Sports Day." Lots of kids, in all age ranges, came out to participate in about 16 games. The Japanese people are so creative! They had so many funny games and they were all so fun. You must see some of the pictures. Adler's face got covered with flour once, because one of the Japanese girls shoved his face into a container full of flour! We laughed so hard... Adler did too. =) What else was really cool is that I got to hang out with the church members that day, especially a girl named Mie. So far we've prayed together a couple times, and it's so cool to see how the Lord totally works through all cultures and languages and tongues. I like hearing the Japanese pray in their own language! Although, I can only pick up a couple words... like "Kamisama" (God) and "kudasai" (please" and "arigatoo gozaimasu" (thank you very much). So yea, praise God who works through all nations.
After "Sports Day", all of us got ready for the party that night. Our team was in charge of all the preparations into this event. It was exciting for us, because it would be the first event at the church we could have to invite unbelievers out to. At first, we had games - the first one was the one GOCers played at Spring Retreat, the one where you get snacks on your forehead and try to eat it. Except this time, instead of circus animal crackers, we used Hershey's chocolate ("extra creamy") and it worked really well! The second name was the name game... which we thought might not turn out very good, but actually the students from Momoyama University liked it a lot! Ed, Beland, and Adler played guitar and sang "In the Light," and it was cool that Beland got to explain what the song meant before they sang it. And then, Ed's testimony was translated. (Oh yea, more gospel) During dinner, one of the seminary students, Soga, shared the gospel to everybody. Six unbelievers came that night: Mike, Yuto, and Ash came from OPU (Osaka Prefecture University), and Sonoka, Maiko, and Mariko came from Momoyama University. Praise God for His provisions! All six of them got to hear the gospel, I think some of them for the first time! Please pray for them, because we might get to hang out with them again, either at the universities or at different activities. As I walked around taking pictures for the team and just observing what was going on, I was just SOO thankful to witness the sharing of the gospel that night! God is so good. We have a lot of resources at HBC also, like the seminary students who hang out with us, who are much better in Japanese and can answer some of the tougher questions to them. Yea, God totally provides. Oh yeah.
Thanks for reading, and please keep praying for the unbelievers here, that they may be saved... that God would have mercy on their souls. Thank you so much for praying.
I have a clarification before I start posting about the specific details of our trip. I might repeat some stuff that earlier members have posted... I haven't read all of the previous posts yet, so yea, sorry if some stuff is a repeat. At any rate, I hope you would be encouraged by our posts about this missions trip, and that it would exalt God above all things.
Saturday morning started off with an event at Hamadera Bible Church called "Sports Day." Lots of kids, in all age ranges, came out to participate in about 16 games. The Japanese people are so creative! They had so many funny games and they were all so fun. You must see some of the pictures. Adler's face got covered with flour once, because one of the Japanese girls shoved his face into a container full of flour! We laughed so hard... Adler did too. =) What else was really cool is that I got to hang out with the church members that day, especially a girl named Mie. So far we've prayed together a couple times, and it's so cool to see how the Lord totally works through all cultures and languages and tongues. I like hearing the Japanese pray in their own language! Although, I can only pick up a couple words... like "Kamisama" (God) and "kudasai" (please" and "arigatoo gozaimasu" (thank you very much). So yea, praise God who works through all nations.
After "Sports Day", all of us got ready for the party that night. Our team was in charge of all the preparations into this event. It was exciting for us, because it would be the first event at the church we could have to invite unbelievers out to. At first, we had games - the first one was the one GOCers played at Spring Retreat, the one where you get snacks on your forehead and try to eat it. Except this time, instead of circus animal crackers, we used Hershey's chocolate ("extra creamy") and it worked really well! The second name was the name game... which we thought might not turn out very good, but actually the students from Momoyama University liked it a lot! Ed, Beland, and Adler played guitar and sang "In the Light," and it was cool that Beland got to explain what the song meant before they sang it. And then, Ed's testimony was translated. (Oh yea, more gospel) During dinner, one of the seminary students, Soga, shared the gospel to everybody. Six unbelievers came that night: Mike, Yuto, and Ash came from OPU (Osaka Prefecture University), and Sonoka, Maiko, and Mariko came from Momoyama University. Praise God for His provisions! All six of them got to hear the gospel, I think some of them for the first time! Please pray for them, because we might get to hang out with them again, either at the universities or at different activities. As I walked around taking pictures for the team and just observing what was going on, I was just SOO thankful to witness the sharing of the gospel that night! God is so good. We have a lot of resources at HBC also, like the seminary students who hang out with us, who are much better in Japanese and can answer some of the tougher questions to them. Yea, God totally provides. Oh yeah.
Thanks for reading, and please keep praying for the unbelievers here, that they may be saved... that God would have mercy on their souls. Thank you so much for praying.