Today (Tuesday) marked the beginning of our evangelism outreach at Japanese colleges!
We each spent the morning with our homestays. At ours, the Oumis fed us a delicious (oishi!) breakfast as they always do, and Mr. Oumi-san gave Sophia and I our first cello lesson. We had a hard time but enjoyed getting to learn his favorite instrument from Oumi-sensei himself!
We each spent the morning with our homestays. At ours, the Oumis fed us a delicious (oishi!) breakfast as they always do, and Mr. Oumi-san gave Sophia and I our first cello lesson. We had a hard time but enjoyed getting to learn his favorite instrument from Oumi-sensei himself!
After that, we ate lunch at the Mortimers' house cooked by Midori-san... it was again metcha oishi (very delicious). In the afternoon, we headed off by train (we are getting pretty good at riding the trains now!) to church. Eric started us off with a devotional from Luke 19 about the irresistible call of Christ and the confidence we can have that God will draw each and every one of His elect to Himself, in His own timing. This was a very needed truth for our team to meditate on, especially as we were preparing to evangelize later in the day. It helped us remember that we must rely not on any strategy to share the gospel or our own strength, but on the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We also got to split into guys and girls groups and pray together, which was a wonderful time of asking God to do this work through us, and keep us humble in dependence on Him.
We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing gift bags to give out to the college students we were going to meet. These gifts bags contained CDs, candy, and invitations. The CDs included the testimonies of each of the STM-ers as well as the gospel, in both English and Japanese. The invitations were to a camp that we are holding the upcoming weekend at church, which we hope to use for more outreach and deeper friendships with the students we meet. Even though we ended up a bit rushed while putting everything together, God's providence yet again pulled through, and we were able to finish the CDs on time.
We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing gift bags to give out to the college students we were going to meet. These gifts bags contained CDs, candy, and invitations. The CDs included the testimonies of each of the STM-ers as well as the gospel, in both English and Japanese. The invitations were to a camp that we are holding the upcoming weekend at church, which we hope to use for more outreach and deeper friendships with the students we meet. Even though we ended up a bit rushed while putting everything together, God's providence yet again pulled through, and we were able to finish the CDs on time.
After we finished, we headed off to Osaka Prefecture University. Maaya, Tamie, Yoshiki, and Ash also came with us. We all got to eat dinner with six members of the English club - Shu, Hayato, Hiroki, Phan, Yuki, and Da. During dinner I got to talk to Shu, who is a freshman at OPU. We also played a group game where we had to draw pictures in sequence. The rule was that the first letter of the next picture had to start with the last letter of the previous picture, and the word for the picture could not end in the letter N. We had a lot of fun and laughs with our team members, with HOPE members, and the OPU students. The team of Sophia, Maaya (HOPE), Yuki (OPU) and Hiroki (OPU) won the game!
Praise God for our team unity, for Eric's leadership while we were rushed, and for opportunities to build friendships with the students from OPU, especially to connect them to the HOPE members. We are so thankful for these opportunities, that we have all bonded really well together, and that we were able to pass out CDs containing the gospel. God's amazing message of redemption in Jesus Christ can't be stopped. Please join us in prayer that the gospel will spread here in the nation of Japan, and that He will draw His elect to Himself even as we are confident that He is already doing so!
Love,
Lindsey
Love,
Lindsey