WHAT DID I DO THIS WEEK??
Note: you guys may notice that we hang out and have fun with the japanese students...we aren't just having fun but its how evangelism is done in Japan. Ive come to realize more and more the importance of developing relationships with Japanese people. the more they know you, the more they trust you and will listen to you. So our key objective is to develop relationships with them and then transition to the Gospel. Its different from the states and other asian countries...there you could just bring up deep topics on the first meeting. In Japan, if you bring up deep topics on the first day of meeting, they will be immediately turned off and shut you out.
Sunday: Went to the same church as last week. One Japanese student we met at Wasade University came to church with us. His name is Kohei. He is very interested in learning about Christianity, but for knowledge purposes. He is Shinto.
Later on, we decided to watch the Spiderman movie with him. he really enjoyed hanging out with the team. He was excited to hang out with us again.
Monday: went on campus. Me and my group got rejected several times. Finally, we gave up hope and decided to pray for God's help. Afterwards, this guy sat next to us and i started a conversation with him. I was ready for him to reject me, but surprisingly he wanted to talk with us. We got to do solarium with him (answer questions by using pictures). He was really into it and we talked about religion. We almost were able to share the Gospel with him but he declined. he said "I'm not interested in learning about religion." After that, we continued to hang out with him anyway. Im just happy that we at least opened up something. He told us that he liked Christians because they were nice. I pray that we continued that good impression and made him think about religion.
Tuesday: Campus time again! Me and two of my teammates met these 2 girls and they brought along 18 friends. It was so overwhelming when they came because we only expected to talk to 2 people. Either way, i had fun talking to them. They told us good hanging out spots and everything. One of the guys really liked me and gave me a present.
It like pushes up your skin to define your jawline...lol..... its one of those wishful thinking gadgets haha. But apparently he does it 5 minutes a day....and he told me to do that too haha. He was hilarious.
We are suppose to meet up with them to have lunch again this week. They were willing to bring us karaoke and stuff. Hopefully we will be able to continue to develop this friendship and be able to share the Gospel ^^
That night, the team decided to go walk around Shinjuku. We ate dinner and had ice cream and had pillow time ^^ haha, all of us went into one room and just asked each other questions. it was a nice night of relaxing and getting to know each other
WEdnesday:
We had our first outreach event. We played card games between 12-1PM, before the students had class. We spilt up into 2 groups and went to the 2 different cafeterias on campus. Me and my group were unable to gather people to play. We invited the people we met through these 2 weeks, but noone came or rejected our invitation. The other group was very successful, they were able to share their testimonies and got to talk to quite a few people. Either way, we were successful ^^
We were free to go home after the outreach event. But me and a few people decided to stay behind and evangelize more. We met a group of 4 students, they were very friendly. Their names were Moemi, Keita, Aya and Shuntaro. They taught us japanese words and we had good conversations. One of the students asked us what were our dreams. That seems like a normal question, but in Japan, thats a personal question. Its the first time someone has asked us a deep question, so I'm praying that this group can have even deeper conversation and hopefully lead to spiritual conversations. They were excited to meet with us again...so we scheduled meeting them again this coming Wednesday.
That night was 4th of July!! I really missed fireworks this year, but it was nice seeing photos online. The girls and I decided to celebrate by going to Burger King or Japanese style: "Ba-ga king-gu"
I got a whopper jr value meal...and then got another whopper jr...haha i was so hungry and was so happy to eat a burger.
No joke, I could hear The Star Spangled Banner as we ate those delicious hamburgers. Man, it was great to be an American that moment! It was like 3 weeks since my last hamburger and that burger was an explosion of deliciousness
Happy belated 4th of July! yay for freedom
Thursdays, i normally have staff meetings. So i meet up with vinnie and kimberly and we talk about logistics, our spiritual walks and just relax together. Afterwards, i normally have discipleship with Kimberly.
I learn a lot from Vinnie and Kimberly because they are so outspoken. If something is bothering them, they will speak up and I'm able to process my emotions with them. As an Asian American, sharing my emotions is very hard to do. Or even helping me to voice my opinions with them. Usually, ill do whatever floats people's boats. Im learning to voice my opinions....ahh...they are sharpening me ^^
At night, the rest of the team ate at a delicious ramen place. I decided to stay home that day because i was so exhausted
Friday:
Fridays are our day off. So i spent that whole day alone. I went to the bakery and had some QT there. Took a long walk Tokyo. I was mentally drained that whole week, so it was nice to be alone. I was at the brink of a mental break down...you know that kind where ANYTHING could just set me off
Anyway, it felt so good ^^
THat night, one of my teammates treated me out to Korean food. I was having a hard week, so his encouragements really helped me that night. yay for brothers ^^
Saturday:
We had family time meeting. Me, Vinnie and Kimberly decided to make the team Tacos for lunch. It was a nice change from the regular japanese food menu.
I usually lead family times, so this week i talked about Honoring Parents. So i compared and contrasted how Asian Americans view with the Biblical perspective. I thought that the discussions went well and we shared a lot about our family life growing up.
At night, we had our outreach event with some of the japanese friends we made. Shuree, Yuta, Kochan and Kohei came out..they are so much fun!! Actually, Kochan is a Christian. He is having such a hard time because he doesn't have Christian friends and noone to encourage him in his faith. Please keep him in your prayers! We had ice cream and watched The Chronicles of Narnia (great movie to transition to the Gospel ^^). we played dancing and asian games...haha...it was so much fun. The Japanese students seemed to have a lot of fun with us, I'm really glad for that. It was really late, so we couldn't talk to them further about the movie. As we continue to meet with them, we hope we can talk about the movie and transition to the Gospel.
Sunday:
Went to church as usual ^^ The churches here are different. In their sermons, they are "non Christian" friendly. i think their goal is to attract Japanese to the lifestyle of Christianity, then in small groups they go in-depth into the Gospel. Even then, its still a different approach.
Christianity is still new here, so i can see how evangelism has to be approached differently.
EMOTIONS: The last few days of campus time have been difficult. Just filled with discouragements and drained from all physical/emotional work. I think i reached the "lowest-dip" on this missions trip. I think everything is starting to weigh down on me. The more things i have to, the more Ive realized the need to be more in prayer and reading the Word. It reminds me of this Charles Spurgeon quote "I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” Yes, the more things i have in the day, the more i should set aside time for prayer. I think thats the main reason why I've been so drained. I must change this by being more in prayer and listening to sermons/articles/blogs.
But being alone on Thursday and Friday really refreshed me. I think i needed a full day alone with the Lord to really get my act together and process my emotions. Im such a woman with emotional problems lol
WHAT IVE BEEN LEARNING:
Im learning so much here. Its mainly my sinful tendencies. being around a group of 11 people 24/7....it really opens up your eyes to your self and sins. Many things i need to pray about and even battle against. LIke I have many open wounds that are festering. Its smell is like leaking out into the air around me.....its that time to really confess it to the Lord and allow God to do surgery on me.
One thing i know for sure is that my eyes can see that God is bigger and mightier than i once perceived. Before, i thought i knew a lot but i definitely know now I don't haha. He has gotten bigger and I've gotten smaller.
Ill actually start putting up some of my devotional stuff on here!
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