Friday Reflections

Well it's pouring rain here in Koenji. I will never figure out this weather- I'm always a day late. For example- yesterday was sunny and hot so today I figured I would bring my sunglasses to campus. Wrong. It was overcast the entire day and sprinkling basically the whole time we were at Waseda. I just can't get anything right!

But other than that today was an awesome day and I'm feeling really encouraged right now. This week has been pretty dry and frustrating for me personally because there really wasn't any solid conversation or promising relationships being built in my time at Waseda. It was a lot of rejection and a lot of non-committal conversations. I was pretty frustrated because I felt like I came here to bring people to Jesus, to tell them about his love. That's a little difficult to do when no one wants to talk to you. But through this dryness God reminded me that I'm not in control and I have to trust him with my results. I've been charging ahead trying to take control of the situation, making things happen and changing lives. God just reminded me this week that that isn't how he functions. I need to trust that I am here for a reason, that God does want me to tell people about him, but remember that this is HIS mission that he is just ALLOWING me to be part of. It has nothing to do with me.

Knowing that I had a lot of peace going into today. I asked God just two things for today's sharing: that I wouldn't get any more bug bites and that Jennie and I would have one solid conversation. And praise the Lord he answered both fully! The first person we spoke with was actually a Christian of two years! She wasn't super talkative but it was still so encouraging to hear her talk about her love for Jesus. Coming off of that we approached two girls at a table. We ended up spending the rest of our time on campus talking with them. One had spent 8 years in America as a child so her English was impeccable. They were both so cute and fun. We didn't get into any really serious spiritual conversation with them but learned a lot about their lives and background. We laughed a lot and got to share about our own culture, school and why we were even in Japan. And, best news of all, we're hanging out with them tomorrow! We're going to purikuya with them- the photo booths that are so popular here. So I am verryyyyy excited for that and very humbled by God's faithfulness in hearing my prayers for today. Going into the weekend especially I'm thankful he gave me this encouragement to take away from this difficult week of learning.

Anyways, that's where I'm at right now. I'll do my best to post some pictures for you over the weekend! Love you all.