Christmas in Tokyo

Sooo it's officially winter I'd say. Hehe. I found online that winter here in Tokyo is from December to February. Noooo....I can't believe it has only started. It is so cold. Unless you're walking briskly and the sun is out.

Ok no more rambling. So for ministry, we started our Santa Project today! We went all the way out to Tachikawa, about 1.25 hoursish from my place, and our supervisor dressed up as Santa and we were his helpers. We all passed out Christmas music cds and also a Hope dvd offer (it's an offer for a free dvd that explains the whole Gospel in good depth but it's not too long, and it is in Japanese, AND it's really not cheesy! haha really!). Altogether we passed out over 1000 of both in a little over 2 hours! I had 2 interesting conversations. One lady, H-san told me that she was Christian too! And although she spoke all in Japanese, we somehow communicated hehe and I gave her my email, so hopefully she will email me because I gathered that she was interested in studying the Bible with me! :) She told me that her friend who is half Japanese who is also Christian shared Jesus with her and she became Christian because of her. So yay! Keep praying for Japanese Christians to continue sharing their faith with others! The second guy was this old man who was so so sweet and kind. He told me he used to be Christian but decided to be Buddhist because Buddhists focus more on world peace. Well, I told him that it was a great goal in life, world peace, but when and how would it ever be achieved? I told him that because of sin, world peace will never happen the way people want. But that in the midst of all the craziness and turmoil brought about by sin, Jesus was sent to provide peace for our souls. He is also called Prince of Peace, ain't He? :D So please pray for the Japanese Christians who are struggling in their faith, that they would be grounded in His Word, and that they would be able to find a group of fellow Christians they can share their life with.

Here is our Santa and Andrew, another journeyman.

These three pictures are of the Christmas tree in Ginza. The lights change colors as you can see :)

This is at the top of a department store in one of the train stations. Pretty Christmas decorations are up everywhere here.

Please continue to pray for the Santa Project! That people would mail in the dvd offers and their hearts would be open to the message of Christmas yay! It's also really cold outside so maybe you can throw in a prayer about that too hehe. Thanks everyone!

Some Going Ons and Personal Thoughts

So, interesting stuff has been happening around here...yesterday, me and the 2 other journeyman on my team and our 3 interns got to go to Seikei University where a Christian professor invited us to 2 of his classes. He gave us free reign for his entire 2 classes - it was amazing. We got to introduce a little of ourselves to the class, and then we broke up into smaller groups and we each individually got to talk to several of the students. I know most of us were able to share the gospel to them that way. They've had other Christian groups come spend time with them. Some of the students had been given Bibles, etc. It was so cool. There were several who were open, so that was great :) I learned that in Japan, Christmas is a time for couples. So if someone was not in a romantic relationship with someone, they were like "I hate Christmas", like someone in the states would say for Valentine's Day if they were single. I got to share with my two groups what the true meaning of Christmas was. That was awesome. My first group was a group of girls, and they were shy.

My second group was a bunch of boys, but they turned out to be hilarious. They kept cracking me up! It made me miss hanging out with a bunch of dumb boys haha. Different things happen there. Both classes were invited to Andrew's Christmas Party on the 25th. So please pray for many seekers to show up to his party! They will be passing out Messiah Mangas as Christmas gifts :)

It is definitely getting COLD here. The wind is ICY and it's STRONG and we have to walk around everywhere in it. But I think it's making me a little tougher hehe.

Well I feel like some thread is unraveling on the edges of myself (is this a dumb metaphor? haha I'm getting so lame). I think I'm sliding a little here, and a little there, and then before I know it, I'll be in a bad state. So before I get there, I want to get myself back on track that narrow road. Here is a passage from Proverbs that convicted me to work harder (I definitely am weak in the area of diligence):

"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." (Proverbs 6:6-11)

Dang, the word "sluggard" definitely can describe me! I'm ALWAYS like 'just a little more sleep...just a little more rest...just one more chocolate...just one more slice of cake haha' dang always always. It's interesting though because I see the people around me, and they are all hard working people. My coworkers, my mom, my dad, Wilson, Peggy, etc. How did I get like this? lol...but I know I've always been like this. My dad would always scold me for lack of self control. Once I watched television, my eyes were glued to it and my mouth was partly open and I could just sit in front of it for hours upon hours. So my dad cut off cable for the rest of my life lol. How many times have I been late to something because I hit the snooze button 5 times? Man, the story of my life. I make excuses after excuses, to myself, to God, to my family, my friends...eh and then it'll bleed into other areas of my life that shouldn't be compromised. I rush through reading my Bible, or I think I'll do it tomorrow EARLY morning, except WHEN have I EVER woken up "early" like I wanted to? It's sad, but funny. Because then I'm left with a messy room, which I've promised myself I'd clean up for months now, a growing To-Do list, inboxes with 30+ unread messages. Sigh. And I can't really afford to be like this. I'm only here for a little over one year now. It don't matter if it's freezing outside, or I'm snug in bed, because the time here will go by fast and I don't want to have missed any chances to live my life for my Heavenly Father. Gotta love Him. <3

Wow December Already?!

I just made curry for the time with my roommate independent from my mom haha. I've always helped my mom chop vegetables, but I never did the whole thing from the beginning to the end myself, so now I can say I've made カーレー (curry). Of course, the directions were all in Japanese, so there was one part where we realized that I had put too much water. So after getting help from my neighbor, we corrected the watery curry and it turned out oishi! (yummy) That can definitely be a repeat :)

Hmm well, our other dear roommate's term is quickly coming to an end. I've been here with her the whole time I've been here (8 months now) and I can't believe she is no longer going to be here. She is leaving on the 15th and it is going to be very hard...

Our Santa Project will start on December 14th. Our supervisor will dress up as Santa, and we will all pass out Christmas cds and try to engage people to share what the real meaning of Christmas is. It should be cold but fun! :D

Speaking of the meaning of Christmas...I went to lunch with my roommate and T-san today. I got to share the gospel with her again by asking her if she knew what the meaning of Christmas was. It was my 2nd time getting to fully share the gospel with her, and this time I think it sunk deeper. More seeds planted! PTL :D

I got this article from the Tokyo big boss about a Japanese Christian soldier. You should read it if you have time.