Quick update

Yesterday proved to be a pretty good day. After church at Koganei Park, Josh (GoTokyo teammate) and I went back to the Higashikoganei train station to meet our contact (H-san), at the time we planned to (1 pm). I got a text from H-san at 12:55 saying he wouldn't be able to meet until 2:15, so Josh and I decided to go and get some lunch until he came. We came back to the station at 2:15 and he had texted me asking me to please wait, because he was going to be another 15 minutes late. He didn't show up until 2:40, but it was awesome that he was so insistent on waiting. Though I don't know the reason completely why he was late, it spoke volumes to me that he was so persistent in learning about the Bible. We ended up going out to this random station out by Chofu and had Bible Study at this university called Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The three of us sat at a park bench and just talked about the concept of faith and how we first must believe before we can grow in the Lord. A common theme amongst witnessing to Japanese people is they feel as though they need to know the whole Bible before they can accept the Gospel. We explained that this wasn't the case. To become a Christian, all we are called to do is BELIEVE (or have faith). This intrigued H-san a lot, from what I could tell. We gave him the assignment to read over one of the tracks we gave him called the Steps to Peace With God. This track has English on the left side and Japanese on the right, allowing Japanese to easily follow along. I hope and pray that this will be a useful tool that will lead H-san to the Lord. Please pray for him. Josh and I are meeting with him this Saturday at Nishikokubunji at 12. Please pray for our time together.

Continue to pray for S-san (Katrina and I met with her last Thursday for Bible Study). We are meeting with her now at 2 pm on Thursday as opposed to 3. Please pray for our time together and for her salvation.

Please also pray for my Christian friend T-san. He has trouble being open about his faith in this culture. There is an old Japanese proverb that says, "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down." Meaning that those who stick out in this culture will eventually conform once again to the original culture. This is an unfortunate thing for the Christians in this country, because it is so group oriented over here that being bold about their faith is sometimes out of the question for them. Pray for his boldness. Pray also for his job situation. He is in the midst of losing his job; something that he has found to be a joy to him. I can tell from the tone of his e-mail that he's having a hard time. Pray for a strengthened heart in T-san.