Our 4th full day here has been an interesting one to say the least. Oh and in case you were wondering, Irene is feeling much better. I`m going to back track to yesterday and you`ll hear about the interesting stuff in a bit.
Ed already mentioned that we passed out fliers to jr. high students yesterday. Our team split up into 3 groups. One group went to the train station, one to a jr. high close by and another to a jr. high further away. I was in a different group than Ed. We were able to hand out a lot of fliers to the jr. high students coming out from this one school, but we didn`t talk to them much because most did not know much more than "hello" and "goodbye" in English. We`re not allowed to go into the school to pass out fliers, but Beland went in to chat with some kids while the rest of us stood outside the school grounds. A group of 4 girls were, I guess "attracted" to Beland and they followed him off the grounds and started asking us questions and giggling. Anyhow, the point of this is to Praise the Lord for His sovereignty, because after a while they went in to get their English teacher who happened to be British and part of the Jet program - so we were able to easily communicate with her. We told her about the program that the church is offering for the kids and gave her the flier and she said that she would encourage them to go and that she will try to make it out as well. I think that her encouragement will be very effective, especially since she can remind them closer to the time when the program will start (in about a month). Please pray for the program and also for this teacher that if she comes to visit the church that she would hear the gospel and be saved.
This morning, I came down for breakfast and a funny thing happened. My host family decided to make a special breakfast for me. We each had a contraption in front of us. The best way to describe it is like a fondue thing...a small flame underneath a plate that cooked eggs and ham. Mr. Matsui`s fire went out under his, so he lit a match to reignite the kerosene. As he was doing so, Mrs. Matsui started pouring more kerosene into the little container and POOF!!! (it made that sound) a huge fireball came straight at me and singed the hair on my arms and lit the placemats on fire. After dousing the fire with water, Mrs. Matsui tended to my arms because they stung and I was burnt just a little. I really wanted to laugh out loud because it was just so funny to me, but they were very concerned about my arms and very sorry, so I felt bad that they were so concerned and had to hold my laughter in until I could tell my team about it later in the afternoon. Anyhow, I hope that you all are getting a kick out of my story and are not worried. I am only slightly burned, but picture this huge, blue fireball coming at you...yeah, it was pretty funny.
This afternoon we had our 2nd visit to OPU. I am so encouraged by the visits we have had there so far. I met this girl, her name is Hiromi. She is actually going to be going to LA in September for 1 month to learn English in Westwood!!!! Again...Praise God for his sovereignty! I exchanged phone numbers with her (too bad she doesn`t have e-mail) and told her to give me a call and I will show her around LA. She doesn`t know anyone else in LA and is not coming with friends, so hopefully she will take me up on my offer. Please pray for her. Hopefully she`ll come out to one of our events at the church this weekend.
Tonight was also pretty funny. As we had dinner with the students, Ed started teaching them English slang, like "yeah" (the way its said in that new Usher song...prounounced yee-ah) and "for sure" pronounced foe-showah and "off the heezy".....it was pretty hilarious, if you can just imagine kids with a thick japanese accent trying to say these things. But it was also really great, because I think that they thought we were cool and I hope are planning to come hang out with us at the church on Sat. Also, I think we`re really starting to connect with the President of the ESS club. His name is Mike (Mike is his nickname, because his real name sounds like Mike), and after dinner tonight, he invited us back to see his dorm room. Its an all guys dorm, so the girls had to wait in the lobby and I`m not really sure about what the guys were talking about with him,@but I think that he really likes us and is also planning to come out to the church this weekend, so please pray for him as well.
Ok well I think my post is super long now, so I`ll go. Thanks so much for praying for us. I hope that you are encouraged by the evidence that God is working through your prayers. Please continue to pray and especially pray for the 2 events we`re hosting this weekend for the college students. One is on Sat night (Sat 2 am CA time) and the other is on Sun. night (Sun 2 am CA time). The gospel will be presented in Japanese at these events, so please pray for the students that the Lord would soften their hearts and that they would understand and believe. Thanks again!
p.s. Even in America, sometimes people don`t understand my name or at least many don`t know how to spell it, so I often introduce myself as, "Georgia, like the state". Here in Japan I figured they would have a hard time with my name since to they don`t really have an "r" sound, but its funny because they have this coffee drink brand called "Georgia," so here I can introduce myself as, "Georgia, like the coffee."
posted by Georgia Drainer
This morning, I came down for breakfast and a funny thing happened. My host family decided to make a special breakfast for me. We each had a contraption in front of us. The best way to describe it is like a fondue thing...a small flame underneath a plate that cooked eggs and ham. Mr. Matsui`s fire went out under his, so he lit a match to reignite the kerosene. As he was doing so, Mrs. Matsui started pouring more kerosene into the little container and POOF!!! (it made that sound) a huge fireball came straight at me and singed the hair on my arms and lit the placemats on fire. After dousing the fire with water, Mrs. Matsui tended to my arms because they stung and I was burnt just a little. I really wanted to laugh out loud because it was just so funny to me, but they were very concerned about my arms and very sorry, so I felt bad that they were so concerned and had to hold my laughter in until I could tell my team about it later in the afternoon. Anyhow, I hope that you all are getting a kick out of my story and are not worried. I am only slightly burned, but picture this huge, blue fireball coming at you...yeah, it was pretty funny.
This afternoon we had our 2nd visit to OPU. I am so encouraged by the visits we have had there so far. I met this girl, her name is Hiromi. She is actually going to be going to LA in September for 1 month to learn English in Westwood!!!! Again...Praise God for his sovereignty! I exchanged phone numbers with her (too bad she doesn`t have e-mail) and told her to give me a call and I will show her around LA. She doesn`t know anyone else in LA and is not coming with friends, so hopefully she will take me up on my offer. Please pray for her. Hopefully she`ll come out to one of our events at the church this weekend.
Tonight was also pretty funny. As we had dinner with the students, Ed started teaching them English slang, like "yeah" (the way its said in that new Usher song...prounounced yee-ah) and "for sure" pronounced foe-showah and "off the heezy".....it was pretty hilarious, if you can just imagine kids with a thick japanese accent trying to say these things. But it was also really great, because I think that they thought we were cool and I hope are planning to come hang out with us at the church on Sat. Also, I think we`re really starting to connect with the President of the ESS club. His name is Mike (Mike is his nickname, because his real name sounds like Mike), and after dinner tonight, he invited us back to see his dorm room. Its an all guys dorm, so the girls had to wait in the lobby and I`m not really sure about what the guys were talking about with him,@but I think that he really likes us and is also planning to come out to the church this weekend, so please pray for him as well.
Ok well I think my post is super long now, so I`ll go. Thanks so much for praying for us. I hope that you are encouraged by the evidence that God is working through your prayers. Please continue to pray and especially pray for the 2 events we`re hosting this weekend for the college students. One is on Sat night (Sat 2 am CA time) and the other is on Sun. night (Sun 2 am CA time). The gospel will be presented in Japanese at these events, so please pray for the students that the Lord would soften their hearts and that they would understand and believe. Thanks again!
p.s. Even in America, sometimes people don`t understand my name or at least many don`t know how to spell it, so I often introduce myself as, "Georgia, like the state". Here in Japan I figured they would have a hard time with my name since to they don`t really have an "r" sound, but its funny because they have this coffee drink brand called "Georgia," so here I can introduce myself as, "Georgia, like the coffee."
posted by Georgia Drainer