HELLO!!!! This is Deborah =). I have the privilege of updating you about Saturday`s English camp, an event we have been anticipating long before our arrival in Osaka.
Okada Sensei actually came up with the idea for this camp last year as a means for the church to better reach out to students, since the church instead of the students would be responsible for organizing activities and could maximize opportunities to share the gospel. In planning for the camp, we envisioned a mix of fun and gospel-centered activities, such as English games, outdoor activities, testimony-sharing, worship music, and discussion questions. The details of the camp kept changing, so in the end, we had to exercise humility and rely on God`s sovereignty to allow the event to unfold. At the beginning of the trip, we expected this camp to be an overnight event at a youth hostel near the church. Then we found out that the college students were not comfortable with the idea of sleeping over, so the camp became a half-day event at a park near the church. On Saturday morning, when we arrived at church, we found out that it was about to rain, so the camp was relocated to the youth hostel. In spite of all these changes, the event ran smoothly, and we were able to have quality interaction with the students as well as a place to have it.
We did not know exactly who had decided to attend the camp, but on Saturday morning, four Osaka Prefecture University students and two Osaka Christian College students met us at church. We walked over to the youth hostel for lunch, which turned out to be semi-decent Chinese food. After lunch, we played Human Text Twist, followed by testimony-sharing from Jun and Estella. Estella shared a version of her testimony catered specifically to the Japanese students. To address the fact that Japanese people do not like to stand out from their family and their community, she talked about how many, if not most, Americans are not Christian and that she is the only Christian in her family. After the testimonies, we played Human Bingo, which allowed us to interact with the students and get to know a little about them. Then we attempted to play Catch Phase, but the electronic version we used turned out to be too difficult, even for the Americans. Instead, we played various rounds of Pictionary, which was a very succesful last-minute game..
For dinner, we had yakiniku (Japanese-style BBQ) outside the hostel. We were split up into three different barbeque stations. At my station, the two girls from Osaka Christian College were talking to Jun and Akiko (another church member) in Japanese for much of the time, so Dan, Evelyn, and I did not always know what was going on. I was really thankful that the OCC girls were able to directly establish relationships with church member, even if it meant that the Americans were not as involved for much of the time. Turns out they were talking about their thoughts on the chapel services held at OCC. Also during dinner, we asked each other some prewritten questions that had the potential to lead to gospel-related conversations. These questions included “What is true love?” and “If you were stranded on an island and could have only three things, what would they be?”. These questions allowed us to bring up the Bible and God`s love for us. My station was fortunate to have Jun, who was able to talk to the Japanese girls more in depth about biblical issues when our language barrier interfered with clear communication.
After we returned to church, we sang worship songs including “Son of God,” “How Marvelous,” and “How Deep the Father`s Love For Us,” purposely chosen because the lyrics are simple and gospel-centered. We found out that one of the students from OPU was familiar with some worship songs because he had attended Moody Church while studying abroad in Chicago. He is not saved, so please continue to pray for him and the salvation of the students!
Praise God for a good day! Many things did not go as planned, but in the end we were all truly able to rejoice that the camp turned out much better than we had expected given the circumstances. The students had a good time. Jun did mention to us though, that even when we have the opportunity to share the gospel with a Japanese student, we need to keep in mind that they do not have the same spiritual background and might not have the same understanding of fundamental things like God and the Bible. Please pray that our team would have wisdom in knowing how to share biblical concepts clearly so that the students might understand the gospel.
We did not know exactly who had decided to attend the camp, but on Saturday morning, four Osaka Prefecture University students and two Osaka Christian College students met us at church. We walked over to the youth hostel for lunch, which turned out to be semi-decent Chinese food. After lunch, we played Human Text Twist, followed by testimony-sharing from Jun and Estella. Estella shared a version of her testimony catered specifically to the Japanese students. To address the fact that Japanese people do not like to stand out from their family and their community, she talked about how many, if not most, Americans are not Christian and that she is the only Christian in her family. After the testimonies, we played Human Bingo, which allowed us to interact with the students and get to know a little about them. Then we attempted to play Catch Phase, but the electronic version we used turned out to be too difficult, even for the Americans. Instead, we played various rounds of Pictionary, which was a very succesful last-minute game..
For dinner, we had yakiniku (Japanese-style BBQ) outside the hostel. We were split up into three different barbeque stations. At my station, the two girls from Osaka Christian College were talking to Jun and Akiko (another church member) in Japanese for much of the time, so Dan, Evelyn, and I did not always know what was going on. I was really thankful that the OCC girls were able to directly establish relationships with church member, even if it meant that the Americans were not as involved for much of the time. Turns out they were talking about their thoughts on the chapel services held at OCC. Also during dinner, we asked each other some prewritten questions that had the potential to lead to gospel-related conversations. These questions included “What is true love?” and “If you were stranded on an island and could have only three things, what would they be?”. These questions allowed us to bring up the Bible and God`s love for us. My station was fortunate to have Jun, who was able to talk to the Japanese girls more in depth about biblical issues when our language barrier interfered with clear communication.
After we returned to church, we sang worship songs including “Son of God,” “How Marvelous,” and “How Deep the Father`s Love For Us,” purposely chosen because the lyrics are simple and gospel-centered. We found out that one of the students from OPU was familiar with some worship songs because he had attended Moody Church while studying abroad in Chicago. He is not saved, so please continue to pray for him and the salvation of the students!
Praise God for a good day! Many things did not go as planned, but in the end we were all truly able to rejoice that the camp turned out much better than we had expected given the circumstances. The students had a good time. Jun did mention to us though, that even when we have the opportunity to share the gospel with a Japanese student, we need to keep in mind that they do not have the same spiritual background and might not have the same understanding of fundamental things like God and the Bible. Please pray that our team would have wisdom in knowing how to share biblical concepts clearly so that the students might understand the gospel.