Hello friends! This is Deborah! I get to tell you about the long-awaited event that we`ve inviting the students to every time we visited schools: the BBQ lunch at Hamadera Bible Church. This was a significant part of our outreach because it was an opportunity for us to get to know the students outside of school and for them to be able to hear the gospel in Japanese.
We met at church at 9:45 to prepare food and games for the event, and at 11:00, the students began coming. A total of twelve students from Osaka Prefecture University and Osaka Christian College came and mingled with church members over a very delicious BBQ lunch of beef, sausages, vegetables, and yakisoba.
After eating, we played some icebreaker games for an hour. First was Barnacles, which involved forming groups of people of a certain number with a certain common characteristic. Then we played Fruit Basket, which involved sitting in a circle with one person in the middle, who completed the statement ``I can ______``, and everyone who had the same ability had to switch seats. Finally, we played Telephone, which was HILARIOUS because the sentences evolved more than usual, since we had native Japanese speakers participating. One of the statements was ``There was once a man who lived in a shoe,`` and it turned into ``I am in nantoku konto month.`` This hour of games was very fun and fostered a friendly environment. =)
Following these fun activities was Okada Sensei`s message. I couldn`t understand it at the time because it was entirely in Japanese, but I found out later that he talked about Acts 17, which describes how the Athenians worshipped the unknown god. Similarly, the Japanese worship many gods, but as in the case of the Athenians, these gods are unknown to them. He contrasted this with worshipping the God with whom we can form a relationship. Our God loved us so much that He sent his Son to die for our sins, and only by knowing Him can we receive salvation.
Each time I looked around the room, everyone seemed to be listening, and there were quite a few times where people laughed, so I`m sure it was entertaining, but I cannot say for sure how the students reacted to this message. However, the next activity was very helpful in getting to know the students. We divided everyone into groups with both church members, students, and Americans, and we drew questions from an envelope and answered them. Some of the questions were funny, but there were also some questions that were designed to encourage spiritual conversations. For example, there was ``What is your favorite book and why?`` which led into conversations about the goodness of the Bible. ``What is your religious background?`` helped us to understand more of where the students were coming from and their level of interest in religion. This activity led to profitable conversations in every group. For me, I was not only able to get to know students and share briefly about my religious background, but also found out a little more about the church members` backgrounds. I heard that Okada Sensei was able to challenge one of the girls about the importance of the family. There were also two girls from Osaka Christian College that stayed later than everyone else and ended up going to dinner with Ashley and Tricia and some church members.
After exchanging e-mail addresses and saying our goodbyes, we cleaned up. While Ashley and Tricia went to dinner with the two girls, Priscilla and I had dinner with a girl that Priscilla had been meeting up with each time she came to Japan. The boys went to play laser tag in a park, and they are probably soaking happily at a bathhouse as I write this now.
Overall, today was a great day of fun and relationship-building. We don`t know what kind of seeds have been planted or how these students will change in the future, but we can definitely pray that God will work in their hearts!The Japanese value work above all else, to the point where they hardly have a sense of family, so God and life after death is definitely do not concern most of them. I am really thankful for the past two weeks, during which I was able to form relationships with the church members, who are running hard towards God against their culture, and with the non-Christian students, who are really nice people that desperately need God. Please keep them in your prayers!
After eating, we played some icebreaker games for an hour. First was Barnacles, which involved forming groups of people of a certain number with a certain common characteristic. Then we played Fruit Basket, which involved sitting in a circle with one person in the middle, who completed the statement ``I can ______``, and everyone who had the same ability had to switch seats. Finally, we played Telephone, which was HILARIOUS because the sentences evolved more than usual, since we had native Japanese speakers participating. One of the statements was ``There was once a man who lived in a shoe,`` and it turned into ``I am in nantoku konto month.`` This hour of games was very fun and fostered a friendly environment. =)
Following these fun activities was Okada Sensei`s message. I couldn`t understand it at the time because it was entirely in Japanese, but I found out later that he talked about Acts 17, which describes how the Athenians worshipped the unknown god. Similarly, the Japanese worship many gods, but as in the case of the Athenians, these gods are unknown to them. He contrasted this with worshipping the God with whom we can form a relationship. Our God loved us so much that He sent his Son to die for our sins, and only by knowing Him can we receive salvation.
Each time I looked around the room, everyone seemed to be listening, and there were quite a few times where people laughed, so I`m sure it was entertaining, but I cannot say for sure how the students reacted to this message. However, the next activity was very helpful in getting to know the students. We divided everyone into groups with both church members, students, and Americans, and we drew questions from an envelope and answered them. Some of the questions were funny, but there were also some questions that were designed to encourage spiritual conversations. For example, there was ``What is your favorite book and why?`` which led into conversations about the goodness of the Bible. ``What is your religious background?`` helped us to understand more of where the students were coming from and their level of interest in religion. This activity led to profitable conversations in every group. For me, I was not only able to get to know students and share briefly about my religious background, but also found out a little more about the church members` backgrounds. I heard that Okada Sensei was able to challenge one of the girls about the importance of the family. There were also two girls from Osaka Christian College that stayed later than everyone else and ended up going to dinner with Ashley and Tricia and some church members.
After exchanging e-mail addresses and saying our goodbyes, we cleaned up. While Ashley and Tricia went to dinner with the two girls, Priscilla and I had dinner with a girl that Priscilla had been meeting up with each time she came to Japan. The boys went to play laser tag in a park, and they are probably soaking happily at a bathhouse as I write this now.
Overall, today was a great day of fun and relationship-building. We don`t know what kind of seeds have been planted or how these students will change in the future, but we can definitely pray that God will work in their hearts!The Japanese value work above all else, to the point where they hardly have a sense of family, so God and life after death is definitely do not concern most of them. I am really thankful for the past two weeks, during which I was able to form relationships with the church members, who are running hard towards God against their culture, and with the non-Christian students, who are really nice people that desperately need God. Please keep them in your prayers!