Easter Party Update

So the low down on how the Easter Party went... Thank you all very much for your prayers :)

Well, so I had broken sleep because I was so nervous, and I was nervous throughout the whole morning because there was still much to do to get things in order. Around noon I calmed down after I remembered that hey, this was supposed to be fun! Got some fresh flowers, bags and bags of marshmallows (so expensive here!), and more eggs, hard-cooked some eggs after studying the proper way of cooking them (yes there is a proper way!), had some pasta salad ready from the night before (my first ever and it was a hit hooray!!), gobbled up some of Amanda's amazing chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (seriously, I wish you could try them!), and arranged the room a bit...

The weather was supposed to be sunny and great (it had been COLD and GLOOMY - where IS spring??) but sadly it started raining. I was almost discouraged thinking that people would cancel...went to the Hachiko statue to meet with most of the friends to show them the way to our apartment and guess what? A lot of people came and nobody canceled and several more were already at our apartment! :)

I didn't share the Gospel as much as I wanted to, but there were a few Christians and I heard that there was a lot of sharing going on! Amazing!! I think some relationships were strengthened; one of my friends Sa-san asked me for a hug!!! A new friend that I met made a point to tell me that she would like to study the Bible with me! That has never happened to me here before. I think God was working, and I ask you to continue to pray for the people who attended our party, that they would remember the party and it would lead to a continual curiosity and openness to knowing more about Jesus. Please pray that relationships would be strengthened, that the people that I invited would become even more of my friends...

Thank you!! Enjoy the pictures!

Easter flowers: Red for the blood Jesus spilled for us, White for the forgiveness of our sins, and Yellow for Heaven!!

Children's Bible in Japanese

Flower balloons that Andrew made

Our apartment, nice and clean

Me loving Amanda's cookies

T-san playing chubby bunny

Chinese college students

Dying eggs!

More egg dying!

How pretty

Some of my friends

Some more of my friends!

Everyone take 1!

Everyone take 2!!

Pray for Sa-san

Dear prayer partners,
This is my dear friend Sa-san. She has been meeting with me recently
again but sadly she is moving out of Tokyo at the end of this month.
The past two weeks we met three times to study the bible together
before she leaves. Today we finished our bible study plan. She is so
close to accepting Christ into her life. She even wants so badly too
but she is also scared. She asked that I pray for her to have courage
to make that leap of faith. So I am passing that along. Please pray
for her that whatever binds her would be released and that she may
have courage to believe. Thanks :)

Also, please be praying that SK-san would email me. She is Sa-san's friend, who has mentioned to Sa-san that she would be emailing me. SK-san asks Sa-san questions about the Bible. So please pray that we would get connected so that more seeds could be planted in her heart! :D Thank you!

Prayer Request

Thank you for your encouragement :)

I don't know why I've been updating so much lately hehe but I guess it's a good thing. I have a new prayer request :)

My friend Sa-san, whom I met through this past summer's interns, has been really interested in learning more about the Bible and what it says for her. I met her off and on the past couple of months, but this month is her last month in Tokyo before she moves back to where her family is. (It's not too far and she plans to visit at least once a month and I think also means to meet with me some of those times!) She quit her job as well at the end of December, so that means that all of January, she is free! So I met her earlier tonight, and we have already made plans to meet 2 more times during the next 2 weeks!

Today she brought her friend SK-san who is interested in the Bible as well. SK-san is so sweet and cute, and she has studied the Bible in the past for college. SK-san had many good questions and I think that regular Bible study meetings in the future might be possible.

Sa-san has come so far. She says that sometimes she prays to God when she is troubled. She also told me that recently she has been reading in Acts, about 3 times a week. Praise the Lord! She's not even a believer and I know she's reading the Bible some more than some of you believers out there ;) SK-san isn't as fluent in English as Sa-san, so Sa-san spent a good amount of time explaining the Gospel to SK-san, it was amazing.

Please pray that...

- the holy spirit would convict her and work in her life in the next couple of days so that the next two times we meet will really be meaningful

- Sa-san would continue to search God and continue to read the Bible for herself, even after she moves

- SK-san would also continue to be curious about Jesus and will join us the next times we meet

Thank you all very much :)