This morning, Eric led us in reading Ephesians 4, in which Paul urges us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. We focused on being intentional with our speech, with both the content and the manner with which we speak. As Ephesians 4:15 says, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” In verse 25, Paul writes, “let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” In verse 29, Paul writes, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” We aim to obey these instructions as we talk to each other, university students, and church members, so that we can love others and glorify God.
After our morning devo, our team had lunch at the church with a moms’ Bible study group. The church lunch is always so good, and we are always so thankful for the loving care of the church members who cook for us. Adrian and I shared our testimonies, and Pastor Kondo translated. After lunch, we practiced singing “All I Have is Christ,” with Debbie playing guitar and Eric playing violin, in preparation for singing it during church service on Sunday.
We originally planned to go to Osaka Prefacture University in the afternoon to spend time with students there, but the rain changed those plans. However, God is always sovereign and wise. We ended up traveling to Nara, where we walked among lots of deer and visited the Todaiji temple. In the temple, we saw one of the largest Buddha statues ever made—it was enormous. Seeing this temple opened our eyes to the spiritual state of Japan. Worship of idols is clearly engrained in Japanese culture; much of Japan does not know who the true, living God is. We saw the glory of depravity, but we were ultimately reminded of God’s amazing grace. It is God’s grace that saved us, and it is God’s grace that will continue to save. Realizing this spurs us on to evangelism.
For dinner, we ate at a Japanese hamburger restaurant with some church members. Each of us got a sizzling tray with a hamburger pattie on it, which cooked in front of us. We are thankful for our Japanese friends that help us read the menu and order food. Shout out to Tomoko!
Thank you for reading our updates :) Please continue to pray for the students’ salvation, for the church to grow, and for our faithfulness in ministry.
- Meini
After our morning devo, our team had lunch at the church with a moms’ Bible study group. The church lunch is always so good, and we are always so thankful for the loving care of the church members who cook for us. Adrian and I shared our testimonies, and Pastor Kondo translated. After lunch, we practiced singing “All I Have is Christ,” with Debbie playing guitar and Eric playing violin, in preparation for singing it during church service on Sunday.
We originally planned to go to Osaka Prefacture University in the afternoon to spend time with students there, but the rain changed those plans. However, God is always sovereign and wise. We ended up traveling to Nara, where we walked among lots of deer and visited the Todaiji temple. In the temple, we saw one of the largest Buddha statues ever made—it was enormous. Seeing this temple opened our eyes to the spiritual state of Japan. Worship of idols is clearly engrained in Japanese culture; much of Japan does not know who the true, living God is. We saw the glory of depravity, but we were ultimately reminded of God’s amazing grace. It is God’s grace that saved us, and it is God’s grace that will continue to save. Realizing this spurs us on to evangelism.
For dinner, we ate at a Japanese hamburger restaurant with some church members. Each of us got a sizzling tray with a hamburger pattie on it, which cooked in front of us. We are thankful for our Japanese friends that help us read the menu and order food. Shout out to Tomoko!
Thank you for reading our updates :) Please continue to pray for the students’ salvation, for the church to grow, and for our faithfulness in ministry.
- Meini