Hello!

Well now it’s December and the cold is settling in. The Nagoya weather is still beautiful – cool sunny days, but if that wind picks up watch out! Everyone on the team has taken to bringing extra layers to uni just in case, and Andy has even pulled out his Grandfathers coat with the 10 plus pockets.

This last weeks ministry has been amazing. There are so many open doors. I was talking to a girl at church and she said she knows what I mean. Because we hang around Christians all the time, and are used to other people having a relationship with Jesus – we forget it’s something to be desired! We forget that it’s an amazing privilege to be able to know we are saved and loved by the creator of the universe!

I have so many great stories about Japanese people wanting to know about God from last week that I’ll just tell you about Friday. We have a group lunch on Friday and Sachie, one of the young Christians at Gaidai bought two of her non Christian friends to hang out with us. Their names were Ayumi and Shizue. Pamela was at the table with me and we got talking about our hobbies. Ayumi said that she liked reading books on life, so Pamela asked her if she’d ever heard of the bible – because that’s a book with a lot of wisdom about life in it.

Ayumi said she had heard of it, but that she was Buddhist, so she didn’t know if she could read it. The conversation flicked back and forth between us all, and I got the feeling that Ayumi had the desire to know more about Christianity – especially when Sachie told her that she was a Christian, and Pamela shared that her family was a Buddhist family, but that she was also Christian, but she was torn inside because her family was Buddhist.

Shizue also expressed a great interest in knowing more about what the bible said and having a relationship with God. It was a really good conversation and the girls didn’t notice the time until they had to leave or be late for class. Luckily though, they came back to find us after class so we could talk more. We invited them both to the Friday Night Live event that night, and although Shizue couldn’t make it, Ayumi said she really wanted to come! So exciting!

After that, I was simply waiting at the table for Esther to come to have a meeting when another Japanese girl – who had been sitting at the table next to us at lunch and had overheard our conversation – came over to me and asked if I was a club on campus. I explained that I had come from Australia, and asked why. She replied and said that she wanted to know more about western culture so she tried to read the bible and didn’t understand it. Her neighbour is a Christian and was telling her more about Christianity and so she wanted to read the bible and know more about Christianity, but didn’t know anyone who could help her!

What a blessing that she had over heard our conversation and that we were not afraid to be proclaiming Christ just hours before! Her name was Yurie, and we have met with her again since and Shiho and I have both shared our testimonies with her. She has decided to begin a Christianity Explained course so that she can know more about Christianity. Our prayer is that as she discovers more about God, she will also desire a relationship with him.

Later on that Friday, as Friday Night Live was winding down, Ayumi and Sachie ended up talking with each other. Sachie shared her testimony with Ayumi (praise God! As a baby Christian, Sachie is growing!) and they talked for a good hour about Christianity. Later on, Kaji, another young Christian, also share his faith with Ayumi, and Pamela also had the opportunity to share a Knowing God Personally booklet – which has the four points of the gospel inside.

Ayumi said she is a person who never cries, but that night she was so overwhelmed by God’s love in that place and in the people she was talking too, she couldn’t stop crying. She is also starting a Christianity Explained this week.

God is just opening up the harvest field here for seeds to be planted, watered and grow.

Praise God for all the work he has done so far in the lives of these Japanese people.

Praise him for raising up young Christians to help in the harvest, praise him for the workers he has called.

Praise God that he has answered prayer, and has shown us the people to meet. Praise him that he would be using us in his plan.

Psalm 8 says; “Who am I, Lord, that you would be mindful of me?”

It is so amazing that God cares about us, and chooses to use us to reach his lost people. Thank you for your prayer support – God is working wonders!