In our ministry update this month we shared the testimony of how the Lord is using a mission team we sent to Japan for two-months. Because we try to keep those updates concise, we were only able to share a short quote of a testimony from one of our team members, Austin, who is pictured in the middle above.
Here is the full version of his testimony from Japan:
“This mission trip to Japan has been amazing on both the personal and missional aspect. The social rules and habits of Japan are vastly different from those of the United States but since I am a foreigner (gaijin), I can bypass most of the normal social obstacles.
As foreigners we attract a lot of positive attention due to our uniqueness and therefore it is very easy to make friends and meet new people. We visit local college campuses with friends from church who are students there and spend the day meeting new people and building relationships by hanging out with them.
We invite the students we meet to the church-operated English club (Aloha English Club) each Wednesday night and continue to build relationships with them. The English club is a middle ground between events outside of church and specific church events but provides a comfortable environment from which we can invite our new friends to church on Sunday or more hangout events with other church college students.
God is blessing us with many open doors to the college campuses by giving us opportunities to go into some college English classes and make connections there and invite students to our club.
I’ve seen that the process of bringing Japanese people to Christ is a long one that requires much sensitivity, patience and most importantly, love and compassion. Many Japanese converts took one or two years of church attendance to finally commit.
At our Hawaiian party, roughly 200 people attended (our pastor here speculates that it’s probably the biggest crowd of young people at a Christian event that Japan has ever had). Roughly 15 people raised their hands to receive Christ that day, and now we are working hard to follow up and firmly establish their choice as a true relationship with God.
For me personally, this time is allowing me to temporarily step out of the pace of my normal life to focus on God and seek Him on the direction of my future.
I really do love this place and there is much more I need to learn about it. I can’t wait to get home and bring back the things I’ve learned here to build us up in Tallahassee.”
I hope you find this as encouraging as I do! Praise God for what he is doing in Japan and in these young men!
Please pray that they would continue to bear fruit in ministry as they return to their local mission field: the universities and community of Tallahassee, Florida.