The Refresh

It's been a busy week, but the blog post is finally back.

We've been run close to ragged, even on our days off (Nice work from Alaric).

We've been involved with students on three different fronts, and just as we start enjoying it, we realize that it is going to end soon.

So here goes the update.

Each Wednesday we've been involved in a group called SACLA which meets at the International Student Centre at HokuDai. Apart from being an obvious attempt by the university to diversify its campus, it still feels the need to isolate the international students from the Japanese. So this group formed as a means to converse, in English, with said international students. Looking for opportunities to spread the gospel we venture down there and begin conversations with the Japanese students over lunch. This week we had our most promising meeting, we met a girl (who's name will remain secret for now) who was so interested in us and the gospel that she later attended the Bible Study we were putting on that evening.

As I was leading the study in the small group we were in, I was able to observe her interest in Christ blossom as we encountered the problems of sin and Christ as God. Her English was not brilliant, but with Alaric translating and a Japanese copy of the NIV to read from, she quickly pounced at the opportunity to study the gospel in more detail.

Next week I shall be leading the study through which I hope to introduce them to the concept of salvation through faith and Jesus' death on the cross, using John 3:16-18 and Luke 23:33-47 respectively.

Each Monday Dan and Hazel have been involved at Tokai university with the ESS group which means there. These ESS groups mainly consist of Japanese people who are looking to converse in English about the current state of Japan. These meetings are not for the easily bored or anyone with little patience, as these groups tend to get into quite boring discussions, one such example was regarding a recent change to garbage disposal which meant that all burnable items have to be wrapped in yellow bin bags. Though this group has often be rather questionable if the meeting is even on, which considering it takes an hour to get there can be quite troublesome.

Pete is involved with the HokuDai ESS group, which also meets on a Monday and Wednesday, though they meet in the evenings and usually go out afterwards.

Each Sunday we split off in different directions around the Greater Sapporo area, Claudia and myself to Oasa church, Dan and Hazel to Minami church and Pete to Sapporo International Church.

These most recent Sundays have been a little more active than our previous ones. Last Sunday I was asked to give my testimony at Oasa, a first for me as I'd never given full appreciation of just how God has worked in my life. As a special treat for the church I wore my formal kimono to the service, making me look like a proper Samurai. You should be able to find pictures on facebook in a week or so.

This Sunday, Claudia will also be giving her testimony and is hoping to borrow or buy a yukata or kimono for the event, as well as the barbeque which will be occurring after which Pete will also be attending with us.

Last Sunday Dan led a Bible study at Minami church on the fall of man, which there was one non-Christian attending, who Dan has been meeting up with outside of the meeting. Though Dan has mainly been using his time outside of events to meet up more with people.

Each Thursday all of us attend the weekly prayer meeting at the OMF Hokkaido Centre, just a few blocks away from the guest home. The first week gave us all an opportunity to meet with all the rest of the OMF team in Sapporo and around. Though this week we decided to skip the meeting as they had a guest speaker who came to talk about the relationship between OMF and the Japanese Evangelical Christian Alliance (JECA) which has sometimes be sketchy.

After the first meeting though we went out with Tre to a local sushi restaurant, which I had to run to due to lack of bicycle, which then led to a French pastry and ice cream shop and back to the guest house. Trust me, jogging all the way whilst trying to keep sushi down is quite a difficult task.

Each Friday Pete, Dan and myself have been involved with Alaric's English class with the Nuclear Fusion postgraduates at HokuDai, helping them through learning English. Last Saturday though we met up with three of them and went travelling around Sapporo to a ramen restaurant and Mt. Moiwa which is a local mountain which overlooks Sapporo. During this nightly excursion we were able to make a few new experiences, Dan rode on the back of a motorcycle (though he could have been more appropriate with his hands), and whilst everyone else realized how awesome and beautiful looking over Sapporo at night is; I discovered my despair at how we have poisoned this amazing creation as the only thing that could be seen were the bright lights of the city.

Monday to Wednesday, Claudia and myself were invited to stay at Rakuno university which is the closest university to Oasa church. This showed Claudia just how insane the Japanese students are at working late into the night. I'd known about their nocturnal nature, but this was my first chance to experience it, this included a 3am sake party. After this first night though Claudia found herself unable to cope with this nature of Japan and went into culture shock forcing her to retreat for a good nights sleep elsewhere.

I persevered through the second day, attending a Korean-Japanese service on the Tuesday which the first year students are forced to attend, which is at least preaching the gospel of Christ in a very animated fashion. I slept during the afternoon, needing to catch up on the lack of sleep I had managed to get. During the afternoon I observed and took part in minor fashion with the kendo club, and continued to participate with the group I was staying with at the university.

That evening John-O dropped by and we received a demonstration of Japanese culture and taught them a little about England, through our own demonstration. We followed by playing with fireworks and stink bombs and followed up with playing Kabari, something akin to the Japanese equivalent of Bull-dog, which if you've played it will know how dangerous it can be and how important it is to have a big build, basically making foreigners excellent at this game without much effort at all.

Finally, reporting back on the Asahikawa Gospel Night, it was an amazing success. After all the hard work of the Dan, Pete and Hazel and the rest of the team they were working with in the pouring rain, 3300 people attended the two day-three meetings event, and 57 people gave their lives to Christ on the first night. Praise the Lord!

Finally prayer requests.

Please pray for the team for good health, Claudia is again wrapped up in bed with an upset stomach, so pray that she would be feeling well again soon, and before she gives her testimony this coming Sunday.

Please pray for Hazel that she would be able to prepare her testimony in a manner which would glorify God, as she is having trouble deciding what to put in it. Pray that she would be blessed with perseverance and sustainability.

Please pray for Dan, that he would glorify the Lord in all the people he has been meeting up with.

Please pray for Pete, that he also would be gifted with the Word of God as he meets with people.

Please pray for me, that God would glorify Himself in the lives of the people I take interest in, that I would be led to good discipleship of other Christians and that I would have the necessary opportunities to be able to improve the fmZERO website and still be able to meet up with people.

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