Konbanwa! This is Priscilla again. I`ll be writing about our second Lord`s Day in Osaka. Sundays are one of my favorite times in Japan because it`s family time with our brothers and sisters in Japan!
It was good to come back from the girl`s camp last night so that we could make it to church this morning. The two church services were pretty identical to each other: announcements, sang a few songs, the choir sang as well, and Kondo sensei read and prayed through Psalm 47. The Sunday tradition is that when Kondo sensei starts the actual message, the team leaves the sanctuary because we wouldnt be able to understand whats going on in Japanese.
During the first service sermon, our team went into our little team room and spent time sharing and praying. It has been a huge joy to pray together as a team and to focus our thoughts corporately. During the second service sermon, Okada sensei translated Kondo sensei`s sermon into English for all the English speakers. The passage was on Acts 26 and focused on repentance and belief in Christ. So although our team is limited in our Japanese comprehension, we were still able to spend our time at church worshipping the Lord!
In between services, Tricia, Ashley, Beland, and Brandon shared their testimonies to the congregation. Each one of them shared about how they became a Christian, and/or what God has been teaching them this past year. Many people at the church mentioned later that they were very encouraged by the sharing, so that is a big praise! Even though we live such different lives from them, the struggles we face as Christians are very similar. It has been a huge encouragement to our hearts to talk with them about their lives, and it makes us really happy when they can be encouraged by our team as well.
After the second service, we ate lunch at church. The kitchen ladies prepared curry rice that was very tasty. There was also some entertainment during lunch...I actually don`t really know what that was all about, but a few people spoke and some men sang songs. I didn`t understand much of what was happening, but the food and the company was very good!
After lunch, the guys and girls split up for Bible study. Once a month, the woman at church have been meeting to go through Japanese FOF (Fundamentals of the Faith workbook). We went through the beginning of how to study the Bible and after that, there was some sharing time. I really enjoy hearing the church members talk about being a Christian in Japan...it`s like exactly the same and yet really different at the same time.
After the Bible study, our team went for a sound check because we are singing at church next week. We`ll be singing `Praise the Jesus Christ` for the church. After that, we had some time to rest, to wrap some gifts for teh church members, or to hang out with people.
We ate dinner at the church tonight. We had a Okonomiyaki/Tacoyaki party. We split up into four different tables, mixed Japanese and American. There was a stove type thing in the middle of the table and we made and ate food together. There were some good conversations and just fun times with the church members tonight. The church members were reminded at the end that our team will be having a BBQ on Saturday for the college and other school students that we have met. The goal of the BBQ is to connect the unbelieving students to the Christains at Hamadera so that ministry can continue without us. Jun told them to remember to be more aggressive in pursuing relationships with the students that will come. Please pray that they would do so!
We cleaned up, and now it`s time to rest! Thanks for reading!
During the first service sermon, our team went into our little team room and spent time sharing and praying. It has been a huge joy to pray together as a team and to focus our thoughts corporately. During the second service sermon, Okada sensei translated Kondo sensei`s sermon into English for all the English speakers. The passage was on Acts 26 and focused on repentance and belief in Christ. So although our team is limited in our Japanese comprehension, we were still able to spend our time at church worshipping the Lord!
In between services, Tricia, Ashley, Beland, and Brandon shared their testimonies to the congregation. Each one of them shared about how they became a Christian, and/or what God has been teaching them this past year. Many people at the church mentioned later that they were very encouraged by the sharing, so that is a big praise! Even though we live such different lives from them, the struggles we face as Christians are very similar. It has been a huge encouragement to our hearts to talk with them about their lives, and it makes us really happy when they can be encouraged by our team as well.
After the second service, we ate lunch at church. The kitchen ladies prepared curry rice that was very tasty. There was also some entertainment during lunch...I actually don`t really know what that was all about, but a few people spoke and some men sang songs. I didn`t understand much of what was happening, but the food and the company was very good!
After lunch, the guys and girls split up for Bible study. Once a month, the woman at church have been meeting to go through Japanese FOF (Fundamentals of the Faith workbook). We went through the beginning of how to study the Bible and after that, there was some sharing time. I really enjoy hearing the church members talk about being a Christian in Japan...it`s like exactly the same and yet really different at the same time.
After the Bible study, our team went for a sound check because we are singing at church next week. We`ll be singing `Praise the Jesus Christ` for the church. After that, we had some time to rest, to wrap some gifts for teh church members, or to hang out with people.
We ate dinner at the church tonight. We had a Okonomiyaki/Tacoyaki party. We split up into four different tables, mixed Japanese and American. There was a stove type thing in the middle of the table and we made and ate food together. There were some good conversations and just fun times with the church members tonight. The church members were reminded at the end that our team will be having a BBQ on Saturday for the college and other school students that we have met. The goal of the BBQ is to connect the unbelieving students to the Christains at Hamadera so that ministry can continue without us. Jun told them to remember to be more aggressive in pursuing relationships with the students that will come. Please pray that they would do so!
We cleaned up, and now it`s time to rest! Thanks for reading!