One month from today we will be leaving Japan. Yikes. This week has been so great! All of us got back from our retreat on Friday and it was exactly what we needed. We went to a bible camp in the mountains and it was so beautiful! It was really great to get away from the busy city for a while and just relax and rest in His creations. This was a smaller camp right on the river in the middle of green hills and mountains and words cannot describe how beautiful and peaceful it was. I was really excited to finally see some of Japan's country side.
I feel that Japan is so so close to changing for the Lord. It is so evident in all our contacts and conversations this summer. There are still many people who have never even heard Father's name, but I feel that it is dramatically different than last summer. I know I'm not the only who thinks this either. Every contact that we have this summer has a story of Christians in their lives, went to a Christian school, or something along those lines. The Japanese see that there is a savior, the only thing is that they don't understand why they personally need Him. Traditions are still very, very strong here, but a lot more Japanese are having boldness in standing up for their faith and sharing the gospel. The Japanese churches are now understanding the importance for them, the Japanese, to share with other Japanese. Father wants to use them to reach their own people and I love that! We, the M's, have planted seeds, but Father is using the Japanese to be a part of the growth.
So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily! Acts 19:20
Please be PRing that the Japanese Christians will rise up and boldly proclaim the Truth with urgency and love. My heart yearns for this change!
Father encouraged me today with this amazing passage- Acts 19:25-27 saying that people are seeing that "gods made by hands are not gods" and those idols and beliefs are "counted as nothing" by the people who used to worship them. I PR that this will be Japan very, very soon!
Tonight we met with M-san again and her friend K-san again. We all met up at Starbucks and were there for about 3 hours. Amanda, Sarah, Kelley, Hunter, David and I knew that this would be the day that we would share more about our Father. We got together to PR before our meeting with them that doors would be wide open to lead to the gospel. Wonderfully enough, they did. We talked about it for a good 2 hours. The conversation couldn't have gone any smoother. K-san, to our surprise, shared that he knows the whole story of our Father and went to church as a kid with his friend from America. He said he knew why Father died on the cross and he responded. "He died for all of us." He and M-san already know the full gospel! To them it seems like it is just a story. I don't think they understand that being a Christian means having a new life and a personal relationship with Father. PR that this will change. M-san loves to sing and she told me that Psalms is her favorite and she used to sing them in her Christian high school. We started to talk more about His word and then asked them if they wanted to study more and have a bible study over John. When we gave K-san the gospel of John he said, "Can I borrow this?!" He was so excited to read it! We then explained that it was his to keep. He wanted to know more even without us really offering it to him. We are meeting with them next Tuesday for a bible study over the first 5 chapters of John. They both seemed really excited! K-san said that he would read it tonight.
Please PR that they open their hearts to His word and that Father would give them lots of questions for us. His word is so powerful. I have no doubt that those 5 chapters will do amazing work in their hearts. PR that they see His love and their desperate need for it.
Thank you all so much for your PRs! I cannot wait to see how next Tuesday goes.
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