so sunday night at team meeting, gen and heather announced that this week would be a bit more challenging (or a lot) than usual (hence the title). not only would we be starting our days an hour earlier every day, but we needed to set 3 goals for ourselves:
1. a ministry goal for ourselves: mine was to try and share the gospel with 15 people this week
2. a personal goal: mine are
- to rely on only God's strength this week, so i am giving up caffeine in all forms (coffee, tea, everything) and relying on God to give me energy
- to pray continually
- to let no unwholesome word come out of my mouth but only what is uplifting to others
3. an "exceedingly more" - a goal we ourselves cannot accomplish but must have the faith that God will if we ask, so mine is that God would establish Student Impact (Campus Crusade) at Hitotsubashi University as a legitimate club
it's been challenging. but awesome. God's been so faithful and amazing already. i have never actually gone off all caffeine since i started drinking it 6 years ago, unless i was sick and it didn't matter- so this is really difficult for me-- i've been trying not to seem tired or complain, but it's hard. every day i've been going onto campus feeling out of it and tired and unfocused but God is so good and has blessed me with energy and words to say when i get into conversations, and good people to be with me and support me.
monday: went to Gakugei. had English Lunch and it was awesome for 2 reasons:
1. we got to meet and talk with a girl who had become a Christian the day before! her name is heidi and she's so sweet and was just eating up everything we talked about pertaining to God and the work He's done in our lives- it was so cool to see her excitement and wonder
2. i was having a horribly difficult time talking with these 3 girls, then randomly in the middle of a silence one girl (Ran- pronounced "rahn") pointed to my hand and asked what was written on it and i told her "oh that's one of my favorite Bible verses (it was philippians 4:13 - "i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" ) and i showed it to them in my Japanese/English Bible and that just sparked a great spiritual conversation and i ended up being able to share the Gospel with all of them. it was so awesome. then we got shanghaied into going to a gospel concert on campus put on by a Korean Christian club and we wanted to go sharing more but jess and i just shrugged and went along and it was actually a ton of fun and really encouraging. monday night Jesus and i went to the park and listened to a guy play japanese flute by the pond and it was so tranquil just to sit on a rock and listen to the music and stare at the reflection of the trees in the water. then we did laundry.
tuesday: went to Tsuda. had an amazing English lunch because of many reasons, one being that Hitomi came! and jess and i got to lead a sort of Bible discussion and we chose Luke 12:22-27 as our basis for discussion so that was cool to do that and get good question/answer from the girls at lunch, and then afterward Hitomi and a girl named Kei stuck around for another 1 1/2 hours and talked about the Bible and we got to share the Gospel and gave Hitomi a Bible and she's in theory going to read some of John and come back next week with questions! it's so awesome!
after English lunch, jess went sharing with anita and heather and i met up with emily, and we were just standing there talking and heather noticed these 3 girls sitting at a table staring at us and she asked if we knew them and we said no but they kept looking at us so she starts walking over and they beckon us over and we do introductions and all the sudden we're in a conversation with them and were able to invite them to Student Impact's Discover Friends party which is Friday (technically today b/c it's about 2 am as of now) and one girl Mai is really excited about it. so it was a good day. tuesday night for Girls' Night we just had a chill night and then went out and bought stuff to make the boys breakfast wednesday morning
wednesday: wednesday morning we got up really early and made french toast and sausage for the boys for breakfast (each apartment rotates cooking every wednesday) -- it got so ridiculously hot and smoky in the room, but the food turned out well and the boys enjoyed it i think. and they made us each posters with acronyms of our names- it was so cute! mine:
K araoke enthusiast
I ntercessory heart
M ovie star in the making
I nnovative evangelist
Y outhful energy
O h-so-good hugger
so after breakfast my team went to Hitotsubashi. English lunch was also pretty sweet- met up with Hikaru (girl i met in the bathroom last week and had like a 3 minute conversation with and she wanted to meet up again) and when we got there Ngoc (Vietnamese girl) was there as well, and we met another girl named Yuki so God totally answered my prayer for girls at the lunch, so we set up a table of girls and just started talking. i was a bit frustrated b/c it seemed like i wasn't able to turn the conversation spiritual at all, but at one point there was just this shift and i started talking to Hikaru about what God has shown me in my life and how i know He has a plan for my life and she says "oh yes i totally agree with you" and i was just like "wait- what?" and so we started talking and i wasn't able to go through Jesus' resurrection really but she wants to meet up again and talk so praise God. then she had to leave so i joined the conversation jess was having and it was spiritual so i just kind of jumped in and it was one of the hardest conversations i've ever had b/c Ngoc was asking great (but really hard) questions to answer even in america, but the language barrier and cultural/spiritual barrier was really hard to overcome. she does want to meet us again though so hopefully something will change. afterward i went and had a quiet time and then met up with jess. wednesday night for family night we had ice cream sundaes and most of us played mafia while the others played settlers.
thursday: the most unproductive (in my mind) day on campus. got to talk to some girls and invite them to the party but then they had to leave, then i was talking about how i was feeling so out of it and unfocused when 2 girls just sit down next to us which was cool b/c it was just a reminder that it's not what we do or how we're feeling, it's God. so we got to talk to them for awhile and i felt like i should start talking about the Gospel but i felt like it was really awkward and difficult, but they seemed interested (possibly just out of politeness) but hopefully we can see them again. it's in God's hands now. then i went and had disciple time with heather and then quiet time. then when we got back from campus amy and i went on a dinner date and had some good food and conversation, then went and got eclairs from a bakery and talked for awhile, then i was going to be productive (like write this blog) when heather came in and asked if we wanted to go on an adventure w/ gen, tim and jeremy so we said sure and we went to the Rainbow Bridge- a pretty touristy area but it had a lot of cool picture opportunities and we found a beach where you could see the bridge and it was a lot of fun. but i'm totally worn out and need sleep. tonight (Friday) is the Discover Friends party and we have to help out a lot, but i know God will give me energy and strength if i have the faith He will.
please be praying for Hitomi, Ran, Nemo, Ngoc, Hikaru, Mai, Tomoko, all the other people we've met and invited to the party, and for jess' friend Arisa who she met with tonight and had an awesome conversation with! may the Lord bless you and keep you always, now and forever-
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