2nd Week so far...

it's too early in the morning for eloquence, but after waking up early to send off Team 2 to their first day at International Christian University High School (or ICU High), i knew that if i went back to bed i wouldn't want to wake up again so it was better to keep awake somehow. what better way that a blog update?

monday Team 1 went to Gakugei University and it was awesome- friday josh, nosuke (one of the JCCC staff) and i had met 5 Japanese students in the cafeteria and they loved josh- they decided they wanted to have lunch and meet the rest of our team on monday, so monday pretty much as soon as we got near the cafeteria one of them found us and brought us over to some picnic tables to have lunch. we set our stuff down and then went to the convenience store to get some food. once we had gotten our food, we came back and there were even more Japanese students we hadn't met! it was awesome- just 2 huge tables of Americans and Japanese chilling and laughing and eating together. it was so much fun and hopefully we'll be able to make it a weekly gathering and develop stronger friendships. after lunch i went and had a quiet time and prayer walked until it was time to go. monday night was "date night with Jesus" in which Jesus and i got some exercise running up and down the stairs of the apartment complex, and then we did laundry.

tuesday was one of the best days i've had so far. me, jess and emily went to Tsuda (an all women's university)- the campus was gorgeous and we met up with anita and nicole (JCCC staff) and they brought us to a lunch they established- there were 4 Japanese girls (1 Christian) and we just had a good time talking about ourselves and our homes, etc. next week they are going to have a "Bible talk" and hopefully we'll be able to share some of our experiences with God and show the other girls Christ's love. after that nicole, emily and i went to the cafeteria to try and talk to girls. emily saw a girl sitting by herself and asked if we could talk with her and she said yes and we sat down and began conversation. her name is hitomi, and her english was amazing even though she's never been to america, and her sister was Christian! she said she wasn't but she enjoyed singing gospel music, so we began talking about singing and she wants to take us to karaoke so we can sing Disney songs together! it was such a great conversation and she seemed like someone we could really become good friends with. it was really encouraging. after that emily and i prayer walked and prayed for jess and anita who had a really good conversation with another girl who wants to meet up again. tuesday night was girls' night so we went to an italian restaurant and then played "hot seat" basically where you can ask any question to the person in the hot seat for 3 minutes. it was a lot of fun and a good bonding time. God began breaking me of some things and it was hard but really good and my spirit still feels renewed from it.

wednesday we went to Hitotsubashi- jess went to the doctor because she had a cyst on her tailbone and it was making her sick, but they fixed it all up and she's on the road to recovery, which is awesome because she's been really frustrated that she couldn't be on campus with us. she goes back to the doctor today but hopefully she can rejoin us soon. when we got to campus we went to the international dorm where kylan had set up an English lunch-- it was really encouraging because JCCC has tried English lunches before and they haven't done so well, but there was a good turnout of people (although they were all guys) and it was fun. afterward we prayed for the the campus and people we'd talked to and i prayed that God would bring a couple girls to the lunch next time. then we walked to the main part of campus and a campus circle was doing obstacle course races so josh joined in and they thought it was awesome. then we met up with some of the JCCC staff and yukiko and i went sharing. the first girl we went up to was a bit discouraging because i basically said "excuse me do you speak english" and she said "a little" and i said i was from America and visiting and wanting to meet Japanese students and would she mind if we sat and talked to her for a bit and her response was "um i am eating my lunch." ......so i was like "oh....ok thank you" and we moved on. we then went to another part of the cafeteria and asked 2 girls to sit and talk and we asked them some questions and it was just really sad because they seemed to have no spark of life or excitement for anything and they had no goals or dreams and no sense of purpose in their lives. one of the girls had a Christian friend and so we began talking about Christianity a bit and i shared how i used to not have a specific goal either but i liked making plans but they would turn out completely different than i intended and i came to realize that God had a better plan for me than i could ever make and that He gives my life purpose, etc. and as i was speaking they became visibly closed off and the walls around them just shot up, to the point that by the end they weren't even talking at all anymore. so we decided that was our cue to leave, and it would have been discouraging but God reminded me that my job isn't to convert, it's to sow seeds, and even if all i did was plant the question in their minds of "do i have a purpose? what is my purpose?" that's a success. and one of the girls had never even met a Christian so it was cool to be the first. after that i was a bit drained and yukiko had to leave so i decided to go have quiet time and try and find the library. i went to the bathroom and was fixing my hair and there was a girl next to me painting her nails in the bathroom and taking a long time and i was just standing there like "she's taking a long time in here...am i supposed to be talking to her?" so i shrugged and said "excuse me do you speak english?" and she said "yes!" and i was like oh-wow-cool..."um i'm from America visiting" and she asked for how long and i said 4 more weeks and i asked her where the library was and she said she'd show me so off we went and had maybe a 2 minute conversation- she was a freshman and wanted to study abroad in America and had been a few times to the states before and i told her i was with 15 other people as a part of an international student club going to different universities and meeting students and by that point we'd gotten to the library and she asks "do you have a cell phone" and i said no but i had an email address and get this- she asks me to meet with her again and talk! after literally maybe a 2-3 minute conversation! i don't even know what her major is (which is one of the first questions we ask). i tell her of course i'd love to talk more and i tell her about the English lunch next wednesday and she wants to come! God is so awesome. especially when He answers prayers in an hour. it was so cool. and really encouraging. AND THE BEST PART OF THE DAY: JOE LED SOMEONE TO CHRIST!!!!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD! please be praying for Yuuichi, that God protects him and his new faith and he would grow into a strong man of God.

last night we all (except jess, who was resting after the doctor) went to see Star Trek and it was so much fun- i really enjoyed it. when we got back though we found out that Team 2 had been kicked of ICU campus because the administration thinks Student Impact is a cult, so they may not be able to go back there, so please pray for ICU's students and that God would use this for his glory. the cool thing is though- that means Satan's scared of them. that's pretty exciting, because it means not only are they doing something right, it means he's scared of what they might do in the future. later last night heather had a crazy back pain that made her not be able to walk so we took care of her until she could start walking again.

crazy things are at work in Japan- please pray for not only our spiritual protection, but for the students who are already Christians and the ones whom God is working in to prepare their hearts for the Spirit. but we rejoice in God's beautiful and awesome plan that we have the privilege of being a part.