Hi, this is Addison. Since the postings are a little behind, I'll fill you in on what happened.
On Tuesday, Hyo's throat was not feeling well, and she couldn't really talk, so she stayed at Takenaka-san's house for today. This morning we helped with Aaron's class in the morning. Then lunch time rolled around, and we ate at church. Those lunch ladies are so faithful in preparing the food for us. We are so blessed to be served by people who love the Lord. During lunch, I had the chance to talk to some church members who didn't speak much English, so I tried really hard to converse with them. It was a fun and encouraging experience.
In the afternoon, everyone did painting and yardwork. The guys helped paint the ceiling of the sanctuary, and the girls did yardwork such as trimming the hedges and bushes and raking leaves. It was a day full of hardwork. We had an ice cream break in the middle... it was good...
We cleaned ourselves up and got ready to go to Kinki University at 4:30pm. Kinki university is the largest university in Osaka, and since this is the first time we are meeting the college students there, we were all very excited. We also brought gifts for them. It was a long car ride, but we made it to a restaurant near the school called Gusto to eat dinner. It was like a Mexican place or something, not really sure. Then the president of the English Speaking Society (ESS), Naoko, came to meet us at Gusto. So after introducing ourselves, we followed her to the place of our meeting.
Upon entering the room, we were surprised to see that they had made serious preparations for our coming with bowls of snacks and name tags and other things. This room was sort of like a kitchen with many tables and a small Japanese-styled dining room. There were about 20 people in the room. We all got seated, and the president gave an opening address. It sounded pretty formal... then we split up into tables by drawing numbers from a bag. They also prepared topics of discussion in bags for us. That's a very good idea, cuz it provided a way to continue conversations. I got to know some students and greatly enjoyed our conversations. They enjoyed speaking with us as well. Some of the topics that we discussed were: anime, love, weather, guns, discrimination, the "aging society", global warming, and many others... It was a very fun experience. I'm glad that God has provided opportunities for this new ministry at this college. I'm sure He will use this and future meetings to strengthen the relationship between the students and the teams, thereby allowing the gospel to reach more people! That was the highlight of the day. Everyone was tired from the day's work and got good rest. Praise the Lord!
On Wednesday, the guys went to Takenaka-san's place for breakfast. It was a treat that we have longed for... oishii! We had a fun time at her place and we're so thankful for her hospitality and generosity as she faithfully serves the needs of the people in the church.
Today didn't have much events planned, just the prayer meeting in the evening, so today was our designated work day. We stained fences, painted walls and ceilings, did yardwork, raked leaves, trimmed hedges and bushes, and some other things... it was tiring, but we got some ice-cream breaks in between. It took us the whole afternoon all the way until dinner, where we had some really good potato soup.
At 7:30pm, the prayer meeting started. We sang hymns and got into groups to pray. I was in a group with Doi-sensei and Soga-san. I was very refreshed and encouraged by their prayers and the time that I got to pray. It's pretty hard to find a stretch of time to dedicate to prayer, because our days are so jam packed. Being able to have time to pray is a blessing, because prayer is a previledge that God has blessed us with at the cost of His son's sacrifice. It is the way that we can communicate directly with God. I enjoyed this prayer meeting.
After the prayer meeting, the guys, namely me, Beland, Aaron, Jun, Okada-sensei, and Soga-san, and some girls, namely Christi, Amanda #2, Etsuko, and Yukari, went to an onsen called Refre. The girls from our team didn't go because of various reason, mostly tiredness. Ray and Adler are still adamant about not going to the onsen. They are missing out on a great time to relax. *sigh*... maybe some day they will understand... =-P
This onsen was pretty interesting. It had many types of baths and steam rooms. Ask one of us for details, cuz the description would be quite long and possibly boring for some people. After onsen, we all went to have some ramen. It was so good. I think I'm gonna be fat... Anyway, that's our Wednesday for ya! Thanks again for your continued prayer for us. We really appreciate your prayer support, because in ministry, we can only rely on strength from God, and that's a lesson we are all constantly learning. Alright, it's late, so I will stop here...
- Addison
In the afternoon, everyone did painting and yardwork. The guys helped paint the ceiling of the sanctuary, and the girls did yardwork such as trimming the hedges and bushes and raking leaves. It was a day full of hardwork. We had an ice cream break in the middle... it was good...
We cleaned ourselves up and got ready to go to Kinki University at 4:30pm. Kinki university is the largest university in Osaka, and since this is the first time we are meeting the college students there, we were all very excited. We also brought gifts for them. It was a long car ride, but we made it to a restaurant near the school called Gusto to eat dinner. It was like a Mexican place or something, not really sure. Then the president of the English Speaking Society (ESS), Naoko, came to meet us at Gusto. So after introducing ourselves, we followed her to the place of our meeting.
Upon entering the room, we were surprised to see that they had made serious preparations for our coming with bowls of snacks and name tags and other things. This room was sort of like a kitchen with many tables and a small Japanese-styled dining room. There were about 20 people in the room. We all got seated, and the president gave an opening address. It sounded pretty formal... then we split up into tables by drawing numbers from a bag. They also prepared topics of discussion in bags for us. That's a very good idea, cuz it provided a way to continue conversations. I got to know some students and greatly enjoyed our conversations. They enjoyed speaking with us as well. Some of the topics that we discussed were: anime, love, weather, guns, discrimination, the "aging society", global warming, and many others... It was a very fun experience. I'm glad that God has provided opportunities for this new ministry at this college. I'm sure He will use this and future meetings to strengthen the relationship between the students and the teams, thereby allowing the gospel to reach more people! That was the highlight of the day. Everyone was tired from the day's work and got good rest. Praise the Lord!
On Wednesday, the guys went to Takenaka-san's place for breakfast. It was a treat that we have longed for... oishii! We had a fun time at her place and we're so thankful for her hospitality and generosity as she faithfully serves the needs of the people in the church.
Today didn't have much events planned, just the prayer meeting in the evening, so today was our designated work day. We stained fences, painted walls and ceilings, did yardwork, raked leaves, trimmed hedges and bushes, and some other things... it was tiring, but we got some ice-cream breaks in between. It took us the whole afternoon all the way until dinner, where we had some really good potato soup.
At 7:30pm, the prayer meeting started. We sang hymns and got into groups to pray. I was in a group with Doi-sensei and Soga-san. I was very refreshed and encouraged by their prayers and the time that I got to pray. It's pretty hard to find a stretch of time to dedicate to prayer, because our days are so jam packed. Being able to have time to pray is a blessing, because prayer is a previledge that God has blessed us with at the cost of His son's sacrifice. It is the way that we can communicate directly with God. I enjoyed this prayer meeting.
After the prayer meeting, the guys, namely me, Beland, Aaron, Jun, Okada-sensei, and Soga-san, and some girls, namely Christi, Amanda #2, Etsuko, and Yukari, went to an onsen called Refre. The girls from our team didn't go because of various reason, mostly tiredness. Ray and Adler are still adamant about not going to the onsen. They are missing out on a great time to relax. *sigh*... maybe some day they will understand... =-P
This onsen was pretty interesting. It had many types of baths and steam rooms. Ask one of us for details, cuz the description would be quite long and possibly boring for some people. After onsen, we all went to have some ramen. It was so good. I think I'm gonna be fat... Anyway, that's our Wednesday for ya! Thanks again for your continued prayer for us. We really appreciate your prayer support, because in ministry, we can only rely on strength from God, and that's a lesson we are all constantly learning. Alright, it's late, so I will stop here...
- Addison