We started the day off with a Bible study with the HOPE students, where Eric taught on discipleship and what that looks like. We studied Matthew 28:18-20 which states, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”" From this verse, we learned that in order to make disciples, we as Christians are to "go" share the Gospel, "baptize" which refers to helping people get to a point where they can publicly proclaim their faith in Christ, and "teach" people to observe the commands in the Bible. The goal of discipleship is to train up others to be able to disciple, and the only tool we need to disciple others is the Bible. If you are a Christian, you can disciple others regardless of how long you have been Christian!
Afterwards, we had a chance to practice discipleship with the HOPE students as we discussed real life scenarios and how to shepherd others are they struggle with different issues. This seemed to be very encouraging to the HOPE students, and we are glad that God could use us to help disciple them with this activity.
We spent the rest of the day traveling to Kobe and hanging out with the HOPE students there. Kobe is a beautiful city by both the mountains and the beach. We also visited Chinatown in Kobe and were able to get to know the HOPE students better through intentional conversations while walking and during dinner.
Afterwards, we had a chance to practice discipleship with the HOPE students as we discussed real life scenarios and how to shepherd others are they struggle with different issues. This seemed to be very encouraging to the HOPE students, and we are glad that God could use us to help disciple them with this activity.
We spent the rest of the day traveling to Kobe and hanging out with the HOPE students there. Kobe is a beautiful city by both the mountains and the beach. We also visited Chinatown in Kobe and were able to get to know the HOPE students better through intentional conversations while walking and during dinner.
Throughout our time at Kobe, I had food poisoning which may have been caused by the food I ate at lunch in addition to the traveling. Though it wasn't the most pleasant feeling, I experienced evidences of God's grace and witnessed His sovereignty in action in the following ways:
1. On the train ride to Kobe, Hannah and I met an elderly lady on the train who had Christian parents but was not Christian herself. She gave us a fan, which would actually help me get fresh air later on train ride back from Kobe when I was more nauseous.
2. When I first started feeling sick, Jenn gave me an antacid pill which was supposed to help me feel better but actually made me feel worse. We were walking to eat in a food court where I was able to throw up in a nice, clean bathroom.
3. I did not order anything to eat at dinner.
4. When we were going back home by train, the train station where we were boarding the train was very smokey and caused me to throw up again before I got on the train. It was helpful that I didn't order more food at dinner!
5. My team was able to find a seat for me on every train (including train transfers) so that I wouldn't be as sick. I also did not throw up on the train.
I'm really thankful that God was sovereign even over my sickness today! Overall, today was a great day where we were able to encourage one another on the team and the HOPE students and build team unity!
- Debbie
1. On the train ride to Kobe, Hannah and I met an elderly lady on the train who had Christian parents but was not Christian herself. She gave us a fan, which would actually help me get fresh air later on train ride back from Kobe when I was more nauseous.
2. When I first started feeling sick, Jenn gave me an antacid pill which was supposed to help me feel better but actually made me feel worse. We were walking to eat in a food court where I was able to throw up in a nice, clean bathroom.
3. I did not order anything to eat at dinner.
4. When we were going back home by train, the train station where we were boarding the train was very smokey and caused me to throw up again before I got on the train. It was helpful that I didn't order more food at dinner!
5. My team was able to find a seat for me on every train (including train transfers) so that I wouldn't be as sick. I also did not throw up on the train.
I'm really thankful that God was sovereign even over my sickness today! Overall, today was a great day where we were able to encourage one another on the team and the HOPE students and build team unity!
- Debbie