Greetings! It's Tricia! I can't tell you what a joy it has been to serve here. The blessings are multiplied each day.
Thursday was a packed day! We had our usual morning team time at 8:45, where Tim shared about Revelation. He encouraged us that we already know the ending... Christ will triumph, and every knee will bow, and unsaved people will be judged. The judgments of God display His glory and His power... and His holy wrath. Do we consider each person who doesn't know God to be a soul either an "immortal horror" or an "everlasting splendor"? It reminded us to take every opportunity for the gospel.
Thursday was a packed day! We had our usual morning team time at 8:45, where Tim shared about Revelation. He encouraged us that we already know the ending... Christ will triumph, and every knee will bow, and unsaved people will be judged. The judgments of God display His glory and His power... and His holy wrath. Do we consider each person who doesn't know God to be a soul either an "immortal horror" or an "everlasting splendor"? It reminded us to take every opportunity for the gospel.
Sano High School
We made our first visit to Sano High School. We engaged with students for 2 class periods. Each of us lead our own groups of students. This was an English conversation class... and it was full of girls...some very giggly girls. :) We were given a schedule of what to talk about and the students were given the task of introducing us to the class. This school didn't allow us to pass out flyers to our church events, but did allow us to show them the flyers. We also could not directly share the gospel, but we were able to in some ways share about why we came to Japan and the students knew we were Christians. It was an encouraging time - the students were tracking with us for the most part. We are hopeful that our interaction will encourage future opportunities to minister to this school. We will return here next Monday and will have the pleasure of eating lunch with them.
Deborah's first Ramen Experience in Japan and a Christian Book Store
Japanese ramen is really good! That's what we had for lunch! It's amazing how much more guys eat than girls.... virtually all the men had super-sized bowls of ramen...and the girls had a hard time finishing their regular bowls. Then it was off to a Christian bookstore for a short while with the Japanese staff... we saw a Steve Lawson book in Japanese... very interesting...and encouraging! Then there was Praise DDR! It was fun to see that despite the small number of Christians in Japan, there are still some resources out there to encourage them in their faith.
Back to OPU
We visited OPU on Tuesday and on Thursday we returned for round 2 with the ESS Club. We were in charge of the activities for the day. There were some familiar faces from Tuesday and some new faces too. We played the ID game, where each person said three things about themselves and we would trade nametags and take on the identity of the name we had, and at the end introduce the name we had. The students seemed to enjoy the game very much, and then it was free talk time again. I was able to re-connect with Eriko, a girl who asked for my testimony on Tuesday, and we just built on the relationship that we had started. Tim was able to share the gospel because a student asked him what Christians believed. How great is our God that He gives us such opportunities! We had dinner with them again in their cafeteria. We made some new friends and strengthened some existing friendships. Although we were not allowed to outrightly share the gospel, we were able to invite students to our activities and I think may come.
Fellowship and Relaxation
We were tired from a long day of engaging with students, but God was so good to provide a time of relaxation with the Hamadera staff and the team. For me, I had the opportunity to interact a bit with Marcia Okada, one of the missionaries - Okada Sensei's wife, and it was so encouraging! The work that is being done at this church warms my heart and we are so honored to be a part of it!
Prayer Requests - The Camp in Tannowa with Osaka Christian School
The next couple of days (Friday and Saturday) will be spent at a camp near the beach with some female students from a Christian Junior College. They will be full days and the girls on the team will stay overnight while the guys head home. Please pray for this time. We are also putting on a skit (called the "Prodigal Daughter"). Thank you so much for partnering with us in ministry!
We made our first visit to Sano High School. We engaged with students for 2 class periods. Each of us lead our own groups of students. This was an English conversation class... and it was full of girls...some very giggly girls. :) We were given a schedule of what to talk about and the students were given the task of introducing us to the class. This school didn't allow us to pass out flyers to our church events, but did allow us to show them the flyers. We also could not directly share the gospel, but we were able to in some ways share about why we came to Japan and the students knew we were Christians. It was an encouraging time - the students were tracking with us for the most part. We are hopeful that our interaction will encourage future opportunities to minister to this school. We will return here next Monday and will have the pleasure of eating lunch with them.
Deborah's first Ramen Experience in Japan and a Christian Book Store
Japanese ramen is really good! That's what we had for lunch! It's amazing how much more guys eat than girls.... virtually all the men had super-sized bowls of ramen...and the girls had a hard time finishing their regular bowls. Then it was off to a Christian bookstore for a short while with the Japanese staff... we saw a Steve Lawson book in Japanese... very interesting...and encouraging! Then there was Praise DDR! It was fun to see that despite the small number of Christians in Japan, there are still some resources out there to encourage them in their faith.
Back to OPU
We visited OPU on Tuesday and on Thursday we returned for round 2 with the ESS Club. We were in charge of the activities for the day. There were some familiar faces from Tuesday and some new faces too. We played the ID game, where each person said three things about themselves and we would trade nametags and take on the identity of the name we had, and at the end introduce the name we had. The students seemed to enjoy the game very much, and then it was free talk time again. I was able to re-connect with Eriko, a girl who asked for my testimony on Tuesday, and we just built on the relationship that we had started. Tim was able to share the gospel because a student asked him what Christians believed. How great is our God that He gives us such opportunities! We had dinner with them again in their cafeteria. We made some new friends and strengthened some existing friendships. Although we were not allowed to outrightly share the gospel, we were able to invite students to our activities and I think may come.
Fellowship and Relaxation
We were tired from a long day of engaging with students, but God was so good to provide a time of relaxation with the Hamadera staff and the team. For me, I had the opportunity to interact a bit with Marcia Okada, one of the missionaries - Okada Sensei's wife, and it was so encouraging! The work that is being done at this church warms my heart and we are so honored to be a part of it!
Prayer Requests - The Camp in Tannowa with Osaka Christian School
The next couple of days (Friday and Saturday) will be spent at a camp near the beach with some female students from a Christian Junior College. They will be full days and the girls on the team will stay overnight while the guys head home. Please pray for this time. We are also putting on a skit (called the "Prodigal Daughter"). Thank you so much for partnering with us in ministry!