Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12
Our second and third weeks here in Tokyo have been amazing! My team and I have continued visiting university campuses, and God has been teaching me a lot through talking to students at Hitotsubashi. A highlight of my time ,here so far has been going to the international church New Hope and a Student Impact weekly meeting on Thursday night (Campus Crusade For Christ goes by the name Student Impact here in Japan). I cannot fully explain how uplifting and humbling it was to hear students praying and worshipping God in Japanese. Meeting brothers and sisters in Christ in Japan has opened my eyes more to how amazing He is, that He truly is the God of all nations, all cultures, all languages. I never thought He was only our God, but I don't think I have fully comprehended what "every nation" and "every tongue" really signifies. I find myself praying to "Kami-sama," ("God" in Japanese) being completely moved by the fellowship I have found here with Japanese brothers and sisters. I am so encouraged when I hear their testimonies, that God may open the heart of any student we interact with here to know His love, forgiveness and redemption.
And we have definitely needed this encouragement. Many of our conversations have been difficult, as the language barrier is hindering and the Japanese rarely open themselves to spiritual discussions. We were told at briefing that many of the Japanese people are very spiritually closed, but we are only just now facing it ourselves. However, praise God that many have been open to sharing their beliefs and hearing the Gospel. God is growing our faith when sharing with students, realizing that we have to trust Him completely with the results. We are not here to force anyone to become Christian - we are here to tell them how much God loves them right where they are at, and the lengths He went to redeem them. Only God can open their hearts to receive Christ. Our prayers are that they would accept His love and follow Christ, knowing that He has loved them perfectly from the beginning and wants them to be with Him in the end. Only God saves, and it has been a humbling truth we all as a team have known in our heads but are having to learn in our hearts by finding joy in Christ everyday we are sharing regardless of "good" or "bad" conversations.
And God is showing His faithfulness on a daily basis. One of our friends has recently come to accept Christ as her Savior. My teammate Rachel and I shared the Gospel with her last week, and we met again to talk about anything she wanted to ask. She was interested in hearing how we became Christians, and Rachel shared her story with Nana. There was a rather large language barrier, but with God working and opening her heart, our friend came to understand His love and what He did for her in Christ. She was moved by how kind and loving God is, and was so happy when we told her that she only had to believe in Him and what He did for her in Christ. She accepted His love, and prayed with us to receive His forgiveness and Jesus in her heart. It was the best day I have had here. It was amazing to share and witness God save! We are looking forward to introducing her to our new friends in Student Impact so that she may have fellowship even after we have to leave. Please pray that God keeps opening the hearts of students here in Tokyo!
My time in Tokyo on this trip has been stretching in many ways that I never anticipated. It is too easy to get sucked into what others may think of you, how students are receiving the Gospel and doubt your own effectiveness in sharing. But I forget that it has never been dependent on me. My teammate, Rachel, shared with me this quote from her book No Greater Love when I needed to be reminded of God's love most. I thought you may enjoy it too:
"No need for us to despair. No need for us to be discouraged. No need, if we have understood the tenderness of God's love. You are precious to Him. He loves you, and He loves you so tenderly that He has carved you on the palm of His hand. When your heart feels restless, when your heart feels hurt, when your heart feels like breaking, remember, 'I am precious to Him. He loves me. He has called me by my name. I am His. He loves me. God loves me.' And to prove that love He died on the cross.
How unlike Him we are. How little love, how little compassion, how little forgiveness, how little kindness we have. We are not worthy to be so close to Him -- to enter His heart. Let us find out what part of His body is wounded by our sins. Let us not go alone but put our hands in His. Our Father loves us. He has given us a name. We belong to Him with all our misery, our sin, our weakness, our goodness. We are His. Our way of life depends on our being rooted in Christ Jesus our Lord by our deliberate choice." - Mother Teresa
God has already proven His love for me in Jesus. And my Creator's love, His affirmation, is all that matters. This joy drives us to share it with the world, but it is not dependent on sharing. If we learned nothing else from this trip, knowing God's love more and loving Him more as a result is more than worth the hours spent here spreading His message of love and redemption.
Thank you so much again for all of your encouragement and prayers :)
Also, my team has recently received some great news! God has provided us with drivers through New Hope church to take us north to the Tohoku region so that we can volunteer with Tsunami relief. We will be cleaning and building during our last weekend here, from July 29th to July 31st. We would love to be able to stay longer, but it is a blessing to be able to help at all.
In other amazing news, some team members and I are going to climb Mt. Fuji!! A non-profit organization working to alleviate global hunger is organizing a hike up the mountain on July 23rd. From what I heard, we are going to be starting at the 5th station at 10 PM and hiking to the top by 5 AM in time to see the sunrise. It's going to be a hard hike, but totally worth it I'm sure. Starting from the bottom would take 22 hours, and we definitely aren't in shape for that. This is going to be plenty tough as it is. Expect some amazing pictures from all of these plans, both the hike and relief efforts. I can't think of a better way to end our time here than by spending time up north volunteering.
I'm also sorry that this post is so late, my computer has died for good and I have been borrowing my roommate's. I think the wattage is different here in Tokyo, so it may have permanently damaged some circuits in my computer so it cannot pick up a charge (if anyone has ever experienced this problem and knows how to fix it, please email me ASAP). I had been taking footage to make a video for my blog, but it is all on my (now dead) computer. So here is a link to one that my teammate Cody made: Tokyo - Week 2 :) . He did a great job, I hope you all enjoy it!
Love in Christ,
Liz
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