Hello friends! Thank you for keeping up with our last few updates.
For our last Sunday service at Hamadera Bible Church, Eric shared about what our ministry had looked like over the last three weeks, and thanked the church for their support and prayers for our STM team. The church then presented each of us on the team with a gift, which was really only a small picture of the generosity they all showed us throughout our trip.
Eric, Seichi, and Carissa then led the church in special worship time with Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery. Kondo Sensei also preached a sermon from Revelation 2 about the church in Pergamum. We were blessed each Sunday with wonderful times of worship and fellowship at HBC with these church members who became like our Japanese family.
For our last Sunday service at Hamadera Bible Church, Eric shared about what our ministry had looked like over the last three weeks, and thanked the church for their support and prayers for our STM team. The church then presented each of us on the team with a gift, which was really only a small picture of the generosity they all showed us throughout our trip.
Eric, Seichi, and Carissa then led the church in special worship time with Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery. Kondo Sensei also preached a sermon from Revelation 2 about the church in Pergamum. We were blessed each Sunday with wonderful times of worship and fellowship at HBC with these church members who became like our Japanese family.
After discussion groups and lunch, we began our last day of Summer Joy camp! We started off with singing worship, and then played a Japanese board game in smaller groups as well as had snack time. This was a good time for us to get to know some of the students who had come to participate in the camp, and to have fun together. We had lots of fun making new tomodachis (friends)!
We then headed into Bible time! Takashi gave the last lesson of the weekend, which was about the purpose that God made each of us for, which was a presentation of the gospel. After his teaching, we split up into small groups to discuss the lesson and the implications that the gospel should have on our personal lives, which is to change us and lead us to faith through trust and obedience.
We then headed into Bible time! Takashi gave the last lesson of the weekend, which was about the purpose that God made each of us for, which was a presentation of the gospel. After his teaching, we split up into small groups to discuss the lesson and the implications that the gospel should have on our personal lives, which is to change us and lead us to faith through trust and obedience.
After camp, the church hosted a potluck at church. It was our last official time of fellowship together with the church. It was amazing to see all the food that the church people had prepared. The plates covered several tables! And the food was so good! It was a really nice time to eat together and cherish the last opportunities we would have to see everyone. We sang worship songs together, with Eric playing violin and Seichi playing guitar. Eric then played whatever songs the church people requested. We also had a Q&A with the church where they could ask us about the ministry we had done during the trip and what we had learned, which we hoped encouraged them and spurred them to continue ministry in Japan long-term. We then got to watch a slideshow, which was a compilation of pictures from throughout our trip! We really loved this time that we got to spend with the HBC members.
We ended the night with our last trip to the onsen. Some of the church members, specifically the Mortimers, Hikawa-san, the Nishimoto-sans, Hibino-san, and Kat were able to join us!
Very thankful for this full day of worship service, ministry with Summer Joy, and fellowship with our wonderful friends at HBC.
Very thankful for this full day of worship service, ministry with Summer Joy, and fellowship with our wonderful friends at HBC.