End of Week 2

hokay, so.

thursday was kind of a hard day for me at first. for the first time i was the only girl on our team to go to campus, because not only was jess not there (because she had to go to the doctor) but neither was heather (who had been coming with me so i wouldn't be the only girl) or any of the JCCC Staff, so i felt a bit like i was battling to repress feelings of apprehension all morning. but i got to meet up with one of the first girls jess and i had met- noriko- for a few minutes before her next class so that was exciting that she had gone out of her way to meet up with me and talk even if it was only for 15 minutes. after she left, i got some lunch and wandered around outside for awhile until kylan found me and decided to stick with me to have lunch (which was very nice of him b/c sometimes it's harder to get into conversations if it's a guy-girl pair and you find a table of all one gender) but it was cool because he found some freshman lacross guys jeremy and andrew had met earlier, so we sat with them. at first it was a bit difficult because they didn't speak much english so i felt a bit like the outsider b/c while kylan speaks amazing japanese, i do not, so at times the conversation was hard to follow, but then a guy sat next to me who spoke english pretty well so that was nice. then one of the guys asked me what was written on the back of my hand (i had Romans 12:12 written so i could remember it) and so kylan and i looked at each other and whipped out our japanese/english New Testaments and began sharing with the guys next to us- kylan was able to share some of his favorite verses and John 3:16, and i was able to get into a good spiritual conversation about religion and how Christianity is more than a religion- it's not just a set of rules to follow, it's a way of life, and a faith that God isn't just a mean judge but a God of love, compassion and grace. hopefully we'll be able to talk with them more in the coming weeks. they already love jeremy because of his lacross skills, so that's definitely helpful because lacross is huge at Hitotsubashi. after that conversation, we met up with Nosuke (JCCC staff) who was chillin' on a bench, and the boys left to go evangelize and i did a quiet time. then i wandered to the west cafeteria again, said hi to jeremy and joe, and saw a girl sitting by herself and decided to take my pudding cup over and ask to sit down. she said yes and we immediately began talking- her name is ngoc and she's vietnamese, is very good at english and loves to talk. she was really excited to practice her english because she said she never gets a chance since everyone speaks japanese. and she wants to come to English Lunch on wednesday! hurray for answered prayers! i left campus that day in good spirits. thursday night was a free night so i took it easy at the apartment and went to bed early.

friday we went to Gakugei and had English Lunch set up for us already- i love fridays because CCC is already an established club at Gakugei so not only do we have a solid weekly event to go to, people normally know what we're talking about when we mention CCC. it was so awesome because as we were getting lunch, josh invited a couple guys randomly and then they brought like 6 other people, so we walk into Engish lunch with all these students in tow that we've just met, and then even more showed up! and then i saw like 4 people that we'd met at monday's lunch who had come! and tomoko, a girl i'd talked to on monday for awhile, had brought 3 of HER friends so i got to meet and talk with all of them! and they want to come to the Discover friends party and lunch again on monday! and while we haven't gotten into deep spiritual conversations yet, evangelism in Japan must start relationally or else normally they won't really trust you, so the fact that God has opened up all these doors for relationships is fantastic. the average Japanese person takes about 5-7 years to become a Christian, and the majority of Japanese students have no interest in any sort of religion at all, so honestly, even the fact that we've gotten chances to talk about the gospel at ALL is a miracle. friday night we took it easy and split off- some watched a movie and some of us played a card game called Nerts.

saturday morning we got up at 3:30 am to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market- the largest fish market in the world. it's only good early in the morning b/c that's when all the fish are fresh off the boat. the 2 best stories of the day are about eels:
1st story: we were walking by these big containers of eels and one decided to slither out and fall to the ground- the fisherman picked it up and sliced it's throat and threw it back in the container, but it kept fighting and slithered out AGAIN. poor eel.
2nd story: a guy was tossing live eels from one container to another crate thing and i was video-ing on my camera, when he decides to toss one AT ME and onto the ground. i squealed and leaped like 3 feet backward because i was so startled, and then he and all the other fishermen around him started cracking up (as well as the team members i was with...). sigh. at least i made them laugh. they're all big and scary, so it's cool to make them smile or laugh. later we got some sushi right next to the market- freshest sushi around, and kylan, amy and i ate eel (ironically) at the best place i've ever been to in Japan- the guy talked like a muppet and was so funny and nice and gave us all sheets of paper with the restaurant name in calligraphy and took pictures with all of us and had us sign his guest book. and he made us pinky promise to come back. awesome.we got back at 9:30 am feeling like we'd already spent a whole day out, and so we took naps and then i spent the day resting and catching up on things.

now i have to go plan things with the Outreach team, and then we're going to church! i love sundays.

please continue to pray for team bonding, spiritual protection and that we can continue our new friendships with students, share the gospel, and lead even more students to Christ.