On Monday, after helping out at the Okada`s place, Hyo, Beland, Ed, and I went to Yoshinoya`s (Beland`s favorite) with some students we met from Osaka Prefecture University. So while the others on the team were babysitting Nicky and Noah (the Okada kids), we were chowing down with Ash, Kurara, Yuuto, and Mike. All of them are a part of the Engish Speaking Society at the university. Dinner time was spent talking about the gospel and building relationships with these student. We praise God for such opportunities and for His sovereignty. Indeed, we are priveleged to carry the message of the cross. Afterward, we went out to eat ice cream and then went back to our houses. Jun, a member of Hamadera Bible Church and also a seminary student, was kind enough to drop us off and pick us up from OPU. The memberes of Hamadera Bible Church have been so generous and gracious to us since we`ve gotten here. We are all very thankful for them and very encouraged by them.
Konnichi wa (good afternoon) its tuesday afternoon for me right now... and i've been blessed with the opportunity to share what God has sovereignly allowed us to do sunday afternoon and all of yesterday... i say sovereignly because oftentimes I have a wrong attitude towards things that God places in my life... Sunday afternoon was an example of that.
hi! it its sunday, or our seventh day here. today we went to church, and service started at 8:30. just like at home! but we all walked here and got here on time. we just stayed for the first part of both services. we sang thy word, seek ye first, whiter than snow, and one other one that i forgot. we went to the front and they introduced us. ed, beland, and adler also played listen to our hearts for special music. they had scripture reading which was psalms 99, and a pastoral prayer. when they started the message (pastor doi spoke), we left and had our own devotional.
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever." - Psalm 136:1 Today was a day spent mostly in preparation for our big dinner. We have been inviting students to come to a "real Amercian dinner" Saturday night and thus today was our shopping excursion. They actually have a Costco here so our morning was spent browsing the aisles and picking up materials for the dinner. Costco here is very similar to home. However, the samples given are uniquely Japanese. We had Sashimi, and green tea cake.
Our 4th full day here has been an interesting one to say the least. Oh and in case you were wondering, Irene is feeling much better. I`m going to back track to yesterday and you`ll hear about the interesting stuff in a bit.
It is the third day of our stay here in Osaka. The typhoon has passed and the city is looking much nicer especially when it is lit up by the sun. Although the weather is still hot and humid, I think we are getting used to being sticky and uncomfortable. It`s actually quite nice because it makes the showers here so much more gratifying. Speaking of showers, I love the bath rooms here. You get to shower while sitting in front of a big mirror and it`s just awesome. I`m currenlty living in the same home as beland, addison, and kevin, and I think they would agree that the bath room and the bathroom are like nothing the western world has ever seen. There are gadgets and gizmos a plenty and each one has a little charm of its own.
it still doesn't feel like we're really in japan... though we've been here for more than 2 days.
God is not just the God of America, God is not just the God of Grace Community Church. God understands japanese... wow. and of course He has again shown Himself to be faithful, even in japan, because He is the Lord of all nations. whoo first full day in japan!! good stuff i tell ya... so anyways, lots of stuff went on, but first things first. we have really good timing because we arrived in japan a day before a major typhoon. a day later and we would've experienced plane problems. so yeah, God's providence. so yeah weather was pretty crazy... rain and winds @ 22km/hr.
First day of the trip, and we've already had quite an adventure. We left the apts near UCLA a lil later that we expected, but through God's sovereignty, we made it despite some traffic and luggage inspections and checkins. Praise the Lord that everything went smoothly!
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