Prayer Requests, June 17th

Sorry that I haven’t updated in a while; things have been rather busy the past couple of weeks (but busy in a good way). Hokkudai (Hokkaido University) had a festival which we attended rather a lot in order to support our students.  This past week I also had to teach 5 English lessons to children at rather short notice (for 3 of the classes I only got 5 minutes to prepare)! However, I am hoping to let you know more of what has been happening shortly.

Thank you for all your prayers so far, here are quite a few more prayer requests for the next few weeks:

·         Please pray for the OMF UK team who will be arriving shortly.  The team consists of 2 girls and 2 guys from across the UK (and slightly further afield) and they will be staying for a month. Please pray that they will all arrive safely and that they will be able to swiftly overcome any tiredness or jet-lag. Please also pray that housing/transport arrangements will work out.

·         The first team member arrived this week (he’s actually staying 2 months to allow him time to work on his thesis). Please pray that he will settle in and find the place which God has prepared for him here.  As he is a guy (in contrast to all us ladies) there are many opportunities open to him which are not possible for us; pray that he might be able to make full use of these opportunities. He is taking my place in Alyssa’s Friday English class.  As this class is all male we hope he will be able to form friendships with these guys, and then be able to invite them to other events we are holding.

·         Please pray that the team arriving and the team already here will be able to integrate well. Pray for relationships to be formed and that we will all be able to work together for God’s glory.

·         On Friday 29^th June we are planning another FMZero night, to introduce the team to the young people; thus the theme shall be ‘UK Night’.  Please pray for our planning and organisation of this event. Pray that it is a success, that the young people come and that relationships are formed that can be built upon whilst the team is here.

·         Please continue to pray for the Summer English Scheme. So far attendance has been good, with about 10 people each night. However, with the arrival of the UK team, the number of foreigners will be increasing. Consequently we need more students to come, so that the ratio of students to teachers doesn’t become unbalanced. This week’s theme is ‘health’.

·         Please pray for a Japanese lady, M, who has recently started attending Sunday Bible Study in Sapporo International Church. She is quite a new Christian but has changed her whole work schedule so that she doesn’t have to work on Sundays and so that she can attend Church and Bible Study. Please pray that God glorifies her in this, and that the fact she no longer works on Sundays does not cause her too many difficulties. She is also very anxious and feels inadequate as a Christian. Please pray that as she grows in God’s love she might also grow in confidence.

·         Please pray for 2 students, A and Y (both guys). Y came to our English Bible Study a few weeks back in the hope of finding Korean lessons; however he has since started attending every week. On his first week he made it abundantly clear to us that he was Buddhist/Shinto (most people in Japan tend to follow elements of both religions), and that he had absolutely no interest in Christianity.  However, recently he said he was amazed to discover that there was some history and truth in Bible.  Please pray that this spark of truth which he has seen might grow, so that he is able to see the whole truth of the Bible. A is a member of ESS who came to the first open house and since has attended pretty much everything else we have run.  He is very enthusiastic. He too recently said he was amazed to discover that the Bible had history in it, and that it even predicted future events! He has said that when he is less busy he would be interested in doing a Japanese Bible study with Karin. Another girl (E) has also said she (and possibly her boyfriend) might be interested in doing an individual Bible study. Please pray that they might follow through on this! Although they may only seem small steps, these are very exciting developments. Please pray for both these young men (and all the others who have been attending).

·         Please pray for K, a Japanese Christian student, who has been helping us with the English Scheme (always good to have a native speaker!). Christian men are very much in the minority in Japan; he is the only Christian guy who regularly attends events. Please pray for the struggles which he faces as a result of this. Please also pray that he might be a good example to the other guys who have been attending, and a good witness among his friends.

·         Please pray for T, the girl I have been meeting individually. She has recently started asking me questions about what I believe and why. Please pray that I might find the right words to say when she asks these questions.

·         Please also pray for my Friday English class. At our last meeting they noticed the Bible verse on the pen I was using (which my sister had bought me as a going away present). As a result of this we were able to a have a bit of a conversation about the Bible.

·         Please pray for me.  I have been here a little over a month now, a number of the longer term missionaries have been warning me that this is when it will start to get hard. As I become more tired, as the newness wears off and things become more frustrating. Please pray that God will give me energy and enthusiasm; that I might continue to greet each new experience challenge with a freshness and passion to show God’s love. Pray that I might not become discouraged by set-backs and the slow pace of any progress here.

·         Please also pray that I might find my place among the work here. That I might discover and follow what it is which God wishes me to do.

·         Finally, please pray for Japan. I feel this video explains it rather well;

 

Thank you,

Special Summer English Course

     We are currently planning for a Special Summer English Course which will begin this week.  For the past fortnight we have all been handing out flyers and inviting people from the various clubs, societies and events we have attended:

     
      The course will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, in our house and in Sapporo International Church. The purpose of this course is not only to help people with their English, but it is also our hope that from this we will be able to invite people to the Bible Study which usually takes place on a Wednesday night. (Rather encouragingly, when we told the usual Bible study group what we were planning, one of the girls piped up with, "but this is a Church! We must study the Bible here!")

     We also hope to include how important the Bible has been in influencing Western culture, for example in Week 5, Slang and Idioms we intend to discuss how a large number of everyday English phrases come from the Bible (over 122 common phrases and idioms, if you're interested). Through this we wish to introduce the Bible in a non-threatening manner.

    
Please pray for this outreach.
~Please pray that God will lead people to come. The response so far has been very encouraging, with many saying they wish to come. Please pray that they do actually turn up! (Many Japanese people say they will come to something to be polite, but then do not actually attend.) Please also pray that those coming to the Church will not find it too threatening a building to enter.
~Please pray for our planning and preparations. That we will provide lessons which are interesting and engaging, and which lead people to wish to find out more. 
~Please pray that people will wish to continue to come to the Bible study after the end of the course.