Challenge Week

Hello again!


Last week was designated as challenge week. Gen and Heather challenged us to set goals (# of gospel presentations, ministry goal, and exceedingly more). We also spent one extra hour each day on the campuses in order to help us reach our goals, but mainly to share God's word to the students. I felt that this was a great way to seek conversations with students, to trust God to open the hearts and minds of the students so that we could present the gospel to them, and to stretch our own capacity to evangelize.

Monday and Friday we had the Joyful Cafeteria (an english lunch) at Gakugei, which is a great place to share God, and the gospel with the students. Many students were able to get into gospel conversations with students and we were able to encourage our fellow Christians at Gakugei. I always look forward to the english lunch because it is a lot of fun and it exposes many new students to God and Jesus Christ.

Tuesday at Hitotsubashi, Andrew and I were looking for students to share with and we were having a slow day. Not many students wanted to talk but we prayed that God would help us find someone to talk to who had an open mind. Finally we saw this student who was reading and we asked him if we could talk. God answered our prayers. His name was Daisuke, and he was really interested in God and Christianity. We presented the gospel to him and he said that this God is amazing, and that he wanted this for his life. But like many Japanese students, because of the past, the war, their knowledge of religion, and their upbringing, they struggle to want a religion. They fear religion and God. It is really sad talking to Japanese students about God and hearing their thoughts. But Daisuke was really interested and we talked for two and a half hours. We have been able to meet with him several other times on campus and are building a good friendship. Just keep him in your prayers. He is really interested in the promise that God gives.

Wednesday, we had English lunch at Hitotsubashi. English lunch here is a praise to God because it didn't exist before we arrived. We are able to eat with Japanese students and many of the conversations are spiritual and lead to gospel conversations. I was able to share with a guy named Kenji. He was interested in learning about Christianity and learning about what i believed in. I had been praying that God make it clear to me, those who are seeking Him. What an answer to prayer. He had read some of the Bible and had some knowledge about God and Jesus Christ. It was good to hear his thoughts about Christianity. We had a wonderful conversation and i asked him if this was something that he would want in his life. He said he didn't want God, but he wanted to be my friend and learn more about the gospel and about Christianity. Please pray for Kenji, that he would be given to God, that God would make light the truth, and that one day he would come to know Christ. I'm really excited for what God is doing in Tokyo.

Thanks for your Prayers and Support
I'll post more later

Jeremy

The Weekend!!

It is the first weekend after campus days.....a much needed rest!

Saturday May 30, 2009


Today we all slept in and then went to the imperial gardens around the Imperial Palace. The imperial palace offered sculpted, rolling greenery, stone walls, moats, and guardhouses. It was really neat and we were able to take a bunch of fun pictures.

There was a neat water area where a lot of photos were taken.

Kimi, Sammy, and I

We all stood on posts and did fun poses. The guards at the gardens were giving us funny looks.....i don't think they liked it.

Here was a bridge with two swans below at the imperial gardens.

After the gardens, we went to Asakusa. Asakusa contains a buddist temple and several shinto shrines. It was sad to see all the people coming and praying to gods that don't exist. Here is a picture of the gate at the entrence of the shrine.

Happenin's In the first week of Project

Hello Again!!!!!

So its been a week in Tokyo and there have been a lot of activities. So i'll break it down into days

Monday May 25, 2009

This day in Japan was wonderful. We went to Mitaka to meet with the staff and stinters with JCCC (Japan Campus Crusade for Christ) for an orientation. They made us yaki soba for lunch which was really good. So delicious!! Then after lunch we were split into groups of 3-4 people and were sent out on a Scavenger hunt.

My group consisted of Andrew and Jess. Our task was to get to Shibuya, a really popular shopping district, and find several significant places, eat foods, and find out a story about a dog. The three of us had a great time. We got help with the train station from a person who spoke english really well, and made it to Shibuya with little trouble. Then we went hunting. It was difficult at times to find the shops, do to the irregular street configuration. I enjoyed the pericura booths the best. You take goofy pictures with each other and then you go to another booth and edit the photos by adding all sorts of silly stuff. Then you get a little print out of the pictures. It was a lot of fun looking at the photos that our group and the other groups had created. When it was all over we had to meet in front of the statue of the most loyal dog in Tokyo, Hachiko.

To end the night on monday's, we have date night with Jesus. I decided to spend date night exploring Koenji, getting dinner, and listening to worship music in a state of constant prayer. It was really good, but there are sooooo many tiny restaurants around so it is hard to decide what to eat. I ended up not eating until after date night was over and i ran into Josh. We went exploring the area for food and ended up in Nakano, one town east of Koenji by train, where we ate meat and rice bowls. However our rice bowls contained raw egg, which i could not stomach. Josh thought it tasted good, well until i mentioned that his had raw egg as well. Then he said, "I think im going to be sick." It was a wonderful first monday in Japan.

Tuesday, May 26 2009

Tuesday started the first day of the normal daily schedule for project. Tuesday mornings we have prayer meeting at 9:00am which is lead by prayer team (Amy, Joe, and myself). Then an hour of quiet time, which i use to journal and read God's word (i.e. the Bible). Then off to campus at 11am. The campus is called Hitotsubashi. Our first day on campus was great. We got to meet two students at lunch and had a great conversation. The students seemed really open to talking to Americans to practice their english. It was encouraging. We also did a lot of prayer walking to get to know the campus and find out where the students like to hang out. Overall it was a great day.

We ended the day with man time where we ran around town looking for a park that was very elusive. We finally found it and were able to share our testimonies with each other. It was a very good time. The next morning a few of us went out running to see if we could find the park again, which turned out to be much easier in the day light.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

We went back to Hitotsubashi and before we entered campus, we prayed. Kylan, one of our team leaders, prayed that i would meet some lacrosse players on campus. I was really excited to meet people and when i got my lunch and was about to pay, i ran into a guy who was wearing a lacrosse shirt. I asked him if he played and he did, and so i went and ate lunch with him and about 10 other lacrosse players. We had a great conversation and they invited me to go play with them later that afternoon, so i said i would love too.

At 2:00pm, we went to the Lacrosse field and the guys found some equipment for me to wear. I suited up and they warmed me up and then i let everyone take shots on me....it was soo much fun. I had a great time. Two other guys on my campus team came along and were able to share with the womens lacrosse team as well as some of the other lacrosse players. Overall, it was a great opportunity to meet and build relationships with some of the students.

Wednesday night is family night. For the first family night, the family night team planned an evening of games. We ended up playing "signs", which is a fun group game where you pass around signs while the person in the middle has to figure out who has the sign. It was a great way to unwind from the day.

Thursday May 28, 2009

This was a difficult day on campus due to the rain and tests. Many of the students who were in the cafeterias were not open to talking. So we prayer walked through much of the day.

Thursday night was a good night. We meet with Student Impact in Mitaka to worship and have dinner with our fellow christians in Japan. I had a great time getting to know a couple of the students and enjoyed the time in worship.

Friday May 29, 2009

Friday we went to a different campus, Gakugei. We started out with lunch at the joyful cafe. The Joyful cafe is a time for lunch with the christians on campus, and whom ever we invited, to speak english and share with them our faith and spur spiritual conversations. It was a great time. Afterwards, we went out sharing and kylan and i got to talk to 3 soccer players who invited us to their soccer game. Kylan and Josh went to their game and were able to make some good friends with whom we have been able to eat lunch with a couple more times. It was a great day all together.

I'll continue to fill you in with more posts on the next week soon.

Thanks for you support!

First days on Project

Hello,

So i've been having an awesome time here during my first day in Tokyo. But i must tell you of the things that God accomplished during briefing. We raised $19,000 dollars in 3 days to complete the support raising. Also a passport was lost in the mail and it was found at 7 am on the day of departure. Our flight was smooth and the quarantine for swine flu (H1N1) only took a couple minutes.

The apartment we are staying in is called the Rain Palace, in Koenji, Tokyo. I've added some pictures of the surrounding area. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Jeremy