sharing Christ with entire Japanese class!

Things have been beyond amazing the past few days. I am blessed every day by God's faithfulness to provide. In all His sovereignty He shows us His ways are higher than ours, that He cares for the Japanese so much, that He has sent us here with purpose, and that truly our God is Lord of all the nations.

Over the past week at Toyo University, our team has gradually built relationships with some students from an English Conversation class. It began with a male student we met in the cafeteria named Satoshi who has showed a lot of interest in Christianity. The guys on our team have been sharing the gospel with him a lot. Pray for his heart to change! Through this one person, we started meeting a lot of his friends who are in the same English Conversation class.

Satoshi was so excited to meet us, he contacted his professor who happens to be a Japanese American who went to the University of Hawaii. And we soon found out he is also a Christian! He is familiar with Campus Crusade for Christ, so he invited us on Tuesday to lead discussions with his class. So we showed up, and we were pleased to find that we have already met about half the class, just through random conversations we've had with students in the cafeteria! He introduced us and then split us up among the students and had them pelt us with questions. By the end of the class, we had made a lot of new friends. Before he dismissed the class, he brought us up front and said, "You know, I just met these people up here, but I feel very strong connection with them. Not just because we are all Americans, but because we are all Christians. And these people came all the way to Japan to tell you that God loves you and that Jesus died for your sins."

Whoa! Amazing. Some of our team members almost cried. What an awesome professor. He has been sowing a lot of seeds to these people, because today we went back to Toyo and met a student named Yuki from that same class. We invited her and her friend to eat with us and somehow we got on the subject of Christmas. I asked them if she they the meaning behind Christmas, and they said no. "Tell me the story of Christmas!" said Yuki.

So my teammate Lyndsey and I shared with them about Jesus' birth, and they were so engaged and wanted to learn more. We showed them our Bibles and what it means for us to have a relationship with God through His word. They seemed very touched. They loved looking at our Bibles, and even started reading Lyndsey's highlighted verses in Samuel. Then we gave them the Knowing God Personally booklets (4 spiritual laws) and they had to go to class. Pray for Yuki and Miyuki! They are so open to the gospel, and we are planning on meeting with them again next week.

This is only a small picture of what is happening on campus. God has been opening so many doors for the gospel. Continue praying for Chihiro, the girl who accepted Christ on Friday.

On the leadership side of things, the rest of the staff and I have been really challenging our students to take bold steps of faith in evangelism. In faith, we have set a goal and are praying that one person from each campus we are on (Todai, Toyo, Rikkyo, and Tsuda) will commit their lives to Christ this week. Please battle with us in prayer! We know God can do it, if only we would have faith the size of a mustard seed.

Jessica, Me and Toyo students in the cafeteria