Here's Addison's followup letter... I'll just be lazy and copy my real letter here:
Dear supporters,
I want to thank you for participating in the short-term missions trip with me through supporting me with prayers and financial support. I’m glad to have this chance to share with you what God has done during the time I was in Japan. My team of 8 people, who are mostly UCLA students, went to Osaka, Japan for two weeks. Our main purpose there was to help a local church invite college students from different universities to come. The name of the church is Hamadera Bible Church, and the pastors at this church are missionaries from Grace Community Church, the church I go to in LA, so that is why we were sent to help them.
Dear supporters,
I want to thank you for participating in the short-term missions trip with me through supporting me with prayers and financial support. I’m glad to have this chance to share with you what God has done during the time I was in Japan. My team of 8 people, who are mostly UCLA students, went to Osaka, Japan for two weeks. Our main purpose there was to help a local church invite college students from different universities to come. The name of the church is Hamadera Bible Church, and the pastors at this church are missionaries from Grace Community Church, the church I go to in LA, so that is why we were sent to help them.
We visited three universities in Osaka, where we were invited to speak English with the students in their English clubs. We were able to befriend them and invite them to come to church and our parties and outings. Through these events, we were able to share the gospel with many students. Even though many of them showed interest in Christianity, they were mostly interested in knowing about Christianity instead of wanting to believe the gospel. Statistics show that less than 1% of the Japanese population is Christian. That may seem surprising, because Japan is such a developed country with rich culture and a long history. But the Japanese people’s hearts are very hard. So please pray that God will soften their hearts and send more people to spread the gospel in Japan.
Other than college evangelism, our team also helped encourage the believers at the church by spending time with and talking to them. I came to know many youth group members well, and we have been keeping in touch since the trip. We also helped with painting the church, doing yard work, and helping with English classes at church. Our two weeks there had been very busy.
During our time there, I have been very encouraged by the passion that the Japanese believers have for Christ. They also loved their fellow believers through serving the needs of others wholeheartedly. The host families would spend every morning preparing breakfast for us, and ladies from the area would come cook lunch for us at the church. They were willing to sacrifice everything for our needs, even in our time of sickness.
As you may know, many people in our team became sick near the beginning of the trip. But everyone got better during the trip. I thank God for giving us this sickness to remind us that we are weak. One little illness can disrupt our plans. God humbled us so that we will remember to trust in him instead of ourselves. That’s a lesson we should always be reminded of.
I thank God for giving me the privilege to participate in spreading the gospel in Japan. I also want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for my trip. Not only did the trip encourage the believers at the church and give us a chance to evangelize the college students, but it also helped me grow in my trust of God and mature in my faith. God has done much in these two weeks.
Once again, thank you for your support, and please continue to pray for the Japanese people. Our team has a journal on the Internet that has records of what we did. Please visit it to find out more details about our trip. The website is http://www.xanga.com/JapanSTM. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anytime. Thank you!
His servant,
Addison Luh
Other than college evangelism, our team also helped encourage the believers at the church by spending time with and talking to them. I came to know many youth group members well, and we have been keeping in touch since the trip. We also helped with painting the church, doing yard work, and helping with English classes at church. Our two weeks there had been very busy.
During our time there, I have been very encouraged by the passion that the Japanese believers have for Christ. They also loved their fellow believers through serving the needs of others wholeheartedly. The host families would spend every morning preparing breakfast for us, and ladies from the area would come cook lunch for us at the church. They were willing to sacrifice everything for our needs, even in our time of sickness.
As you may know, many people in our team became sick near the beginning of the trip. But everyone got better during the trip. I thank God for giving us this sickness to remind us that we are weak. One little illness can disrupt our plans. God humbled us so that we will remember to trust in him instead of ourselves. That’s a lesson we should always be reminded of.
I thank God for giving me the privilege to participate in spreading the gospel in Japan. I also want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for my trip. Not only did the trip encourage the believers at the church and give us a chance to evangelize the college students, but it also helped me grow in my trust of God and mature in my faith. God has done much in these two weeks.
Once again, thank you for your support, and please continue to pray for the Japanese people. Our team has a journal on the Internet that has records of what we did. Please visit it to find out more details about our trip. The website is http://www.xanga.com/JapanSTM. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anytime. Thank you!
His servant,
Addison Luh