7/12/10

Today I woke up to the sound of rain, again. It seems like it's been raining for the past few days, but at least the humidity is down! We had our morning as usual, then we had about 2 hours to spend time with the Lord. Since it was raining pretty hard, I decided to do my quiet time in my room. I read another passage in Luke (I don't have my Bible around me right now), and it talked about how Jesus told his disciples how to pray. But one passage that really spoke out to me said something like this, "Ask and it will be given, seek and it will be found, knock and the door will be opened." This passage really encouraged me because it gave me hope for all the contacts that we've met so far on this trip. My human instincts keeps telling me that 5 weeks isn't enough, and that it's almost impossible to get into a deep relationship with any of the students. But after reading this passage, God showed me that He can do the impossible and all I have to do is have faith and ask. I'm also reminded of a quote by Billy Graham saying, "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict, it's God's job to judge, and it's our job to love." Basically, I was reminded that the best way to show God's love to the Japanese student's is not by using words, but through my actions. I've learned this from my life at home. Since my family doesn't know God, it's hard for them to understand what God's love is by using words. So instead of trying to force it upon them, I just try to show them the same love that God has shown me.

Campus time was super amazing because Kerby and I (The project director) were able to share the Gospel to these two guys that we sat next to at lunch. Their English wasn't too good, but we were still able to share with them. After about an hour of talking, we left the cafeteria to meet up with the rest of the team. From that point time went really fast, and as soon as we noticed, it was time for us to leave campus. After campus we went to my favorite ramen place that has a very thick ramen broth. I could literally eat there every single day of my life, but then I'd only live for about 4 years. As soon as dinner was over, we headed to a Karaoke place for our team bonding time. We spent a good 2 hours there and had a blast. God has been so real to me in the conversations that I have with my contacts as well as my teamates. Although the weekends are nice and relaxing, being on campus and doing God's work has been so exciting to me during this trip. I'm falling in love with God more and more each and every day. All I can do is praise God for what he's doing in my life right now.