Today was a packed day with all sorts of activities. We began at 10 with our team meeting, and I led a devotional on Philippians 2:6-8, looking at humility through Christ’s incarnation and death. After that, we went to help out Kat with her ABCs class. It’s a class that teaches basic English to toddlers, accompanied with their mothers. They go through various nursery rhymes such as the Hokey-Pokey, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and The Wheels on the Bus. Afterwards they have 30 minutes of free-time and arts and crafts. The toddlers were really cute and our team had a blast playing with them.
Afterwards, we had lunch with the church staff and some of the helpers for the ABCs class. They made us pasta, and one of the mothers, Sayaka, baked us all sorts of fresh bread, such as bacon and pepper bread, coconut milk bread, and red bean bread. My favorite was the bacon and pepper bread. We had another encouraging lunch with the staff here. Today we had the opportunity to hear Akemi’s testimony and hearing how she’s been faithfully serving at Hamadera Bible Church since she started college. Definitely a huge blessing on this trip has been all the meals we get to share with the church staff. First of all, it’s encouraging to see them serve us so joyfully by preparing meals for us almost every day. Secondly, hearing how they constantly strive to be bold for the gospel and serve the church in Japan, a country with a culture that is very hardened to the gospel, is truly evidence of God’s grace.
We had a one-hour break, where we got to catch up on some personal things like emails and daily devotionals. Then we went back to Osaka Prefecture University (OPU) and met some of the students from the English Speaking Society again. They took us to a nearby arcade that had a Karoke Station. The students and our team really rocked out. We sang a lot of my favorites, A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton), Because of You (Kelly Clarkson), You Belong With Me (Taylor Swift), 22 (Taylor Swift), and much more. The overall consensus was that I had the best performance, but Adrian was definitely a close second. We had dinner at Yakiniku, which is Japanese BBQ, very similar to Korean BBQ. They bring out plates of meat for us to grill and eat. Six students from OPU joined us, Shohei, Yuka, Genkyo, Kensuke, Jong, and Murasaki. Once again, we were able to use the conversations as opportunities to talk about Christ’s work in our lives and the importance of the gospel. I was able to share the gospel with Jong, who had heard it before, but he really struggled to understand the cost of following Christ. Eric, Jenn, and Will had a long discussion with Genkyo resolving some of the discrepancies between what science says with regards to evolution and the bible. Adrian, Debbie, and Hannah were able to reach out to Mursaki and Kensuke and share a bit about Hamadera Bible Church, the importance of prayer, and how God has been working in each of their lives individually. Once again we’re extremely thankful for the opportunity God gives us each time to share His good news. Another praise is that they are coming to hang out with us again on Saturday at our “Camp” at church. That was everything for today! Thanks for reading.
–Michael.
Afterwards, we had lunch with the church staff and some of the helpers for the ABCs class. They made us pasta, and one of the mothers, Sayaka, baked us all sorts of fresh bread, such as bacon and pepper bread, coconut milk bread, and red bean bread. My favorite was the bacon and pepper bread. We had another encouraging lunch with the staff here. Today we had the opportunity to hear Akemi’s testimony and hearing how she’s been faithfully serving at Hamadera Bible Church since she started college. Definitely a huge blessing on this trip has been all the meals we get to share with the church staff. First of all, it’s encouraging to see them serve us so joyfully by preparing meals for us almost every day. Secondly, hearing how they constantly strive to be bold for the gospel and serve the church in Japan, a country with a culture that is very hardened to the gospel, is truly evidence of God’s grace.
We had a one-hour break, where we got to catch up on some personal things like emails and daily devotionals. Then we went back to Osaka Prefecture University (OPU) and met some of the students from the English Speaking Society again. They took us to a nearby arcade that had a Karoke Station. The students and our team really rocked out. We sang a lot of my favorites, A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton), Because of You (Kelly Clarkson), You Belong With Me (Taylor Swift), 22 (Taylor Swift), and much more. The overall consensus was that I had the best performance, but Adrian was definitely a close second. We had dinner at Yakiniku, which is Japanese BBQ, very similar to Korean BBQ. They bring out plates of meat for us to grill and eat. Six students from OPU joined us, Shohei, Yuka, Genkyo, Kensuke, Jong, and Murasaki. Once again, we were able to use the conversations as opportunities to talk about Christ’s work in our lives and the importance of the gospel. I was able to share the gospel with Jong, who had heard it before, but he really struggled to understand the cost of following Christ. Eric, Jenn, and Will had a long discussion with Genkyo resolving some of the discrepancies between what science says with regards to evolution and the bible. Adrian, Debbie, and Hannah were able to reach out to Mursaki and Kensuke and share a bit about Hamadera Bible Church, the importance of prayer, and how God has been working in each of their lives individually. Once again we’re extremely thankful for the opportunity God gives us each time to share His good news. Another praise is that they are coming to hang out with us again on Saturday at our “Camp” at church. That was everything for today! Thanks for reading.
–Michael.