Priscilla here. Sadly, today was our last full day in Osaka. Thanks so much for all of you who are keeping up to date with us and praying for the ministry here. God has done much in and through us for the duration of our stay!
Today was the Lord`s Day, so we got to church a little before 8a.m. Service starts at 8:30, but since our team had to sing today, we had a sound check and 8:00. After that, the first service started. Our team was presented gifts and we sang `Praise to Jesus Christ` for them in English. I think the words were projected on the overhead in Japanese. The Scripture reading this morning was from Psalm 56. It was a good reminder to trust in the Lord and in His Word.
Our team left the first service right before the message began. We went into our team room and spent some time in prayer. Between the first and second service, Tim, Deborah, and I shared our testimonies to the congregation. Then second service began--same format. We left second service right before the message again, and went to the fellowship area to hear the sermon translated into English by Okada-sensei. They are still in Acts 26, but today, Kondo-sensei decided to preach about important points for gospel sharing. He reminded us that our response to the gospel is to deny ourselves 100 percent and follow Christ.
We ate fried rice type stuff for lunch prepared by the church ladies. It`s so nice to go to a church again where we all eat lunch together as a family! It was a good time of fellowship. After that, the girls on our team, along with Chiharu and Leah (two of the girls that work to some capacity at HBC) went shopping with four college girls that we met at Osaka Prefecture University. It was nice to spend time with them, and I saw Chiharu exchanging numbers with one of the girls afterward. It is our greatest desire to see relationships between the church and the students be formed!
After shopping, we rushed back to church and made it about 40 minutes late. The Sayonara party was just getting kicked off. The Sayonara party is generally a church event, but some college students come to say goodbye to us as well. It was really good time with the church family, and I think beneficial for the unbelieving college students to peek in on Christian fellowship and love. Each member of our team was asked to share about their experience during this trip, which Okada sensei translated for us. They also made a video for us that was really cool (we all got copies of it too)! And, of course, the food was delicious!! Tonight was full of saying goodbye to many people that we love, which was pretty hard. But we are so thankful for the opportunity to serve with these brothers and sisters in Japan!
Prayer Requests
1. Relationship between Hamadera Bible Church and unbelieving school students: pray that relationships would continue after we leave between the church and the students. Pray that the students would repent of their sins and turn to worship the true and living God
2. Spiritual growth of our team members: Each one of us has been learning something different on this trip personally. Pray that God would use our experiences here to grow us and mature us more into the image of His Son.
3. HBC`s Joy Joy Program: One of the busiest times of the year is coming up for HBC. They have a ministry called Joy Joy 5 Days and Joy Joy 4 Nights where many many children around the area come to learn English and, in turn, learn about the gospel. It is a huge ministry that connects the church with the community, espeically a lot of parents. A team from Grace Community Church and Immanuel Bible Church will be coming for the ministry. Pray for the administrative craziness with the church, for the teams that will be coming, and for the children and parents that will be affected by all of it! It:ll start in about 2 weeks, so there is lots of preparation going on right now!
Thanks again for reading, and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Our team left the first service right before the message began. We went into our team room and spent some time in prayer. Between the first and second service, Tim, Deborah, and I shared our testimonies to the congregation. Then second service began--same format. We left second service right before the message again, and went to the fellowship area to hear the sermon translated into English by Okada-sensei. They are still in Acts 26, but today, Kondo-sensei decided to preach about important points for gospel sharing. He reminded us that our response to the gospel is to deny ourselves 100 percent and follow Christ.
We ate fried rice type stuff for lunch prepared by the church ladies. It`s so nice to go to a church again where we all eat lunch together as a family! It was a good time of fellowship. After that, the girls on our team, along with Chiharu and Leah (two of the girls that work to some capacity at HBC) went shopping with four college girls that we met at Osaka Prefecture University. It was nice to spend time with them, and I saw Chiharu exchanging numbers with one of the girls afterward. It is our greatest desire to see relationships between the church and the students be formed!
After shopping, we rushed back to church and made it about 40 minutes late. The Sayonara party was just getting kicked off. The Sayonara party is generally a church event, but some college students come to say goodbye to us as well. It was really good time with the church family, and I think beneficial for the unbelieving college students to peek in on Christian fellowship and love. Each member of our team was asked to share about their experience during this trip, which Okada sensei translated for us. They also made a video for us that was really cool (we all got copies of it too)! And, of course, the food was delicious!! Tonight was full of saying goodbye to many people that we love, which was pretty hard. But we are so thankful for the opportunity to serve with these brothers and sisters in Japan!
Prayer Requests
1. Relationship between Hamadera Bible Church and unbelieving school students: pray that relationships would continue after we leave between the church and the students. Pray that the students would repent of their sins and turn to worship the true and living God
2. Spiritual growth of our team members: Each one of us has been learning something different on this trip personally. Pray that God would use our experiences here to grow us and mature us more into the image of His Son.
3. HBC`s Joy Joy Program: One of the busiest times of the year is coming up for HBC. They have a ministry called Joy Joy 5 Days and Joy Joy 4 Nights where many many children around the area come to learn English and, in turn, learn about the gospel. It is a huge ministry that connects the church with the community, espeically a lot of parents. A team from Grace Community Church and Immanuel Bible Church will be coming for the ministry. Pray for the administrative craziness with the church, for the teams that will be coming, and for the children and parents that will be affected by all of it! It:ll start in about 2 weeks, so there is lots of preparation going on right now!
Thanks again for reading, and we look forward to seeing you soon!