Arrived in Japan!
Hello, Estella here blogging on behalf of the team. We have arrived safely in Japan! It's Saturday afternoon over here, and we've had time to just relax and settle in and go over our schedule for the next two weeks.
Because of fears of the H1N1 virus, some of the schools we normally visit have canceled their visit with us since we are Americans. Please be praying for flexibility for the team and wisdom on how to best use the time we have. I am excited to see what different opportunities the Lord might bring with the extra time we have. Let's see...I'll try my best to briefly give you an idea of what we'll be up to.
The schools that we have visited in the past that we will go to again are Osaka Prefecture University, and Seikyo Gakuen. Seikyo is a junior high/high school, and some of the kids at church attend this school now, including Pastor Kondo's older son. It will be exciting to see what kinds of opportunities we will have with these new connections. OPU is the university that Hamadera has had the longest relationship with. STM teams have been visiting this school since 2001. After so many years, Okada Sensei feels that we have built a strong foundation with them, and he is hoping that in the next few years we can move toward a cultivation stage of our relationship with OPU and we are praying that we will begin to see fruit in this ministry. Pray that God would begin to save students at OPU, and that we would have even more opportunities to share the gospel!
Some of the new opportunities we are trying to figure out still:
We will be visiting Koyasan Hugh School, a Buddhist high school that is up on a mountain. One of the Hamadera Church members, Momo, grew up at this Buddhist high school and will be coming along with us, so this will be an interesting and exciting opportunity for sure. Besides that, some of the schools we may visit are: Osaka College of Music, Osaka University of the Arts, Kyoto University, and Osaka City University. With our flexibility, we will either have a lot of down time, or have a LOT of schools to visit. With extra down time, we are planning to help clean up and paint the church building.
That's it for now! Please be praying for:
- Health of the team
- The students will want to know about us as Americans since we're different. Pray that we will stand out as a testimony for Christ to the students.
- Pray for opportunities to strengthen relationships with OPU with offering to help students with their English and looking over their speeches/debates. We are hoping this idea is something that Hamadera could continue with throughout the year and continue to visit and help the OPU students.
- Pray for how the Lord might use new opportunities with new schools.
Because of fears of the H1N1 virus, some of the schools we normally visit have canceled their visit with us since we are Americans. Please be praying for flexibility for the team and wisdom on how to best use the time we have. I am excited to see what different opportunities the Lord might bring with the extra time we have. Let's see...I'll try my best to briefly give you an idea of what we'll be up to.
The schools that we have visited in the past that we will go to again are Osaka Prefecture University, and Seikyo Gakuen. Seikyo is a junior high/high school, and some of the kids at church attend this school now, including Pastor Kondo's older son. It will be exciting to see what kinds of opportunities we will have with these new connections. OPU is the university that Hamadera has had the longest relationship with. STM teams have been visiting this school since 2001. After so many years, Okada Sensei feels that we have built a strong foundation with them, and he is hoping that in the next few years we can move toward a cultivation stage of our relationship with OPU and we are praying that we will begin to see fruit in this ministry. Pray that God would begin to save students at OPU, and that we would have even more opportunities to share the gospel!
Some of the new opportunities we are trying to figure out still:
We will be visiting Koyasan Hugh School, a Buddhist high school that is up on a mountain. One of the Hamadera Church members, Momo, grew up at this Buddhist high school and will be coming along with us, so this will be an interesting and exciting opportunity for sure. Besides that, some of the schools we may visit are: Osaka College of Music, Osaka University of the Arts, Kyoto University, and Osaka City University. With our flexibility, we will either have a lot of down time, or have a LOT of schools to visit. With extra down time, we are planning to help clean up and paint the church building.
That's it for now! Please be praying for:
- Health of the team
- The students will want to know about us as Americans since we're different. Pray that we will stand out as a testimony for Christ to the students.
- Pray for opportunities to strengthen relationships with OPU with offering to help students with their English and looking over their speeches/debates. We are hoping this idea is something that Hamadera could continue with throughout the year and continue to visit and help the OPU students.
- Pray for how the Lord might use new opportunities with new schools.