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.