Praise the Lord!!!

These past few days have been so tiring, with completely full days. And today started off slow and painful hehe, but today was just one of those days, where I could just see God working in the hearts of people here, putting me in the path of people who ARE searching for God, and these are the days where me being all the way here on the other side of the Pacific away from the home I've known, ALL makes sense. And I just praise God for it.

A group of summer interns and I were at a University, just checking it out for future ministry, prayer walking around the campus, and we decided to go to the bookstore. It was hard to converse with people at first, but then God just literally started dropping people in our path. It was so cool!!!! I personally talked with two people today. The first, was a guy, and it turned out his English was top notch, and he had actually visited UCI, and had even attended some Navigators (Christian club on campus) Bible study meetings. Man, think about it, out of all the people in Tokyo, and all the people in that university (and the university was so so big compared to others I've been to) I meet with this guy who had been to my very own school!!!! That is definitely God at work!!! And I asked him if he was Christian, he replied with, "not yet", which I've noticed is a kind of common answer from Japanese who are interested in who Jesus is and are interested in the Bible. Anyways I got to plant another seed, telling him my testimony, and we are going to meet up in the future! He's even going to introduce me to some of his Navigator friends who are coming from UCI for an 8 week summer missions trip I believe? Dude, what if I know some of them?!?!!? THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOMEEEEEEE!!!

Then before our conversation was even over, an intern girl brought over a girl who turned out to be a Korean girl who is going to college here. And her English wasn't that good, so I got to talking with her in Korean. And she told me she was Christian, and was looking for a church. So I was happy so I asked her for her story of how she came to know Jesus, and she told me she was Christian because her mom was Christian when she was still in her mother's womb. Well that's interesting I thought...so then I told her my story of how I came to know Christ. And afterwards, she just said on her own, "hrm I don't think I am Christian then because I don't have a relationship with Christ." And things just led from there to her accepting Christ and praying to receive Him in her heart!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! Seriously, this is just so exciting!!!! Please pray for her!!!! We talked a little bit about baptism, but she is struggling with that because she said she was already baptized, but I pointed out to her that it was before she even knew Christ for herself, and she realized that it was true and said she will think about it. But praise God for her, and let's pray she will grow in Him!!!!! Thank you for your prayers!!! You are definitely a part of God's work here!!!

the train map!

the intern girls, audrey, and i made a train map for all the target train stations this summer! The summer teams are getting organized and we're getting ready to officially kick off the summer! this makes me excited!! under the train map, we will be posting up prayer requests, and encouragements for our focus areas, and i'm just so excited to see how it's going to look at the end of the summer!

oh man this week was long!!!!!! meetings up the wahzoo!!! but it's over, and i'm slowly winding down to get some relaxation time!!! i was trained for peer to peer debriefing, which ive learned is so important!!! everyone needs debriefing from life!!! haha life... i believe this will be a very important tool for not just this summer with the interns, and not just the next two years with ministry, but for the rest of my life!

on a side note: i had korean food again for the first time in a long time. it's been almost two months and I do miss Korean food. Especially my mom's dwen jang jjigae if yanno what i mean ;P and i miss driving in my own car at the pace i want and with music. i haven't had any big culture shock moments...but i'm just waiting for it bc i know it's gonna come...then you'll read some depressing posts on this thing! :P

rejection continued

My roommate Audrey showed me this video called interview with an Atheist.
you can watch it here --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Eo_sXQ4NMk
it was challenging :)
rejection isn't something i naturally accept, i dunno who does, and i know that when i am rejected i don't need to take it personally. the point is that they reject Christ. but every rejection, i'm going to need to be reminded of this. this video had a line that i liked, that me sharing the gospel with them is good (well duh) because "i gave them a fighting chance". so when i am rejected, i will remember not to take it personally, but that "i gave them a fighting chance"...

Rejected

Yesterday during 5 Minute English (5me), a cute Japanese girl came up to talk with us. Her name was Minami and she talked with Samantha from the CBU volunteer team. They had a great conversation and it led to Sam sharing the Gospel to Minami by using Steps to Peace with God. The girl seemed interested and said she wanted to accept Christ as her Savior. Then Minami and Sam came to me and shared with me whats up. It was exciting and the girl wanted to meet up again the next day, but I wasn't sure she completely understood what she was saying. Like, Samantha asked her, where is Jesus? And the girl replied, In my heart? So I explained to her that if she believes in Jesus then she is Christian. So I've been texting with her back and forth, and usually if a Japanese person here doesn't REALLY want to be your friend, they never reply back to your texts, even if they say it and act like it in your face. Sad but true. So I was encouraged that maybe she did understand and we just kept texting back and forth trying to find a time we could meet up again. Well I asked her to come out to my area tonight because a group of Japanese non-Christians were interested in studying the Bible and I thought it would be good for her to join. She replied with a not mean rejection. It was like a stab in my heart. It was really sad for me. I've been told that I will be rejected all the time here in Japan, but for it to actually have happened the first time like this, a blatant rejection, it made me so sad. She rejected Christ. Well, at least it was a seed planted ne?

Yesterday during 5me, I got to share with a man the Steps to Peace with God from front to end. And his English was very good, and he understood me well, and was open to hear what I was telling him. That though, was my moment where I just had so much joy, to be able to share who Christ is for them! That's what I came here for ne? So desu ne! He didn't accept Christ but he took the things I gave him and later when I cast a look at him he was intently looking at the things I had given him as he walked up the stairs to the train station.

I realize I'm going to be rejected because of Christ. It's not ok because people are rejecting Christ, but it's ok because people will know I love Jesus and He is the Lord of my life ne? I think though and I accept it now, I dunno why this happened so late, that even friends from home, whether or not they are Christian, will accept or reject me because of what I'm doing, because I trust in Jesus. Once again, only for Christ, is this worth it. But I want to and I will choose to praise Him for who He is regardless!!! Thanks for you guys who pray for me and think of me and love me. :) I miss you guys.

Start of a Busy Summer

So my busy season has begun. My schedule is crazy and I have to be flexible, but I know it's actually going to get crazier as the weeks go by. My first volunteer team has come into town and it's been fun and busy. But it is hard! The team is great, I love them, but when the day is over and I'm heading home, I am completely exhausted. This work is hard.

To give an overview: we have been visiting 2 university campuses, Gakugei University and Keizai Daigaku University; prayer walking around the campuses; meeting people, making friendships and sharing Jesus; doing 5 Minute English, we do this in front of a train station with signs and we converse in English with those people who walk up to us and share Jesus if we can; and Friday night we had a really fun friendship party, where we invite people we've met to dinner and just have fun getting to know each other and also sharing the Gospel if we can once again. It was very fun, but on my way home I was purely exhausted.

Please pray for me, the volunteer teams that come, and the Japanese we meet. We need prayer that we would be bold to share our hope in Jesus, have energy, joy, confidence, and encouragement, and that we will be able to find Japanese whom the Holy Spirit is already at work in and share with them God's love. Let me tell you, it can be so discouraging. You go through many people to find someone who is interested in hearing about the Gospel. And I am just so tired.