WEDNESDAY: PRAYERWALKING & MOTHERS’ & KIDS’ ENGLISH CLASS

Today after team devotion, we hung out a bit at Yume Plaza, a community facility where community events are held and kids play after school. Carson and Grace debriefed with Tracy (as the rest of the team had already done it last night) and we found out that the lady that owned the café there was going to come to the Christmas Party on Saturday. Please pray that she’ll be able to come, hear the gospel and know Christ. She’s a lovely lady who seems to know everyone in the area J

Then we went to this restaurant that served buffet – this was our thank you lunch from Oomagari church :D the restaurant used the produce grown on the farm that the restaurant was part of, and the food there was really, really delicious! As we walked in, the head chef was holding the flyer of the event (with our faces on it) as he welcomed us in :O later on we took a photo with him. Please pray that all the employees of the restaurant will be able to come into the Australian Christmas Outreach event together, as the restaurant doesn’t open in winter for dinner.

PRAYER WALKING

Afterwards we went prayerwalking in prayers around the area – Cerise and Karen were with Steve, praying for the older part of Oomagari and passing a lot of the homes of seekers and members of the church that they prayed for. They said they saw a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses also roaming around. Please pray for the people of Japan to know the truth about Christ and not be distracted by Satan’s lies.

There is quite a huge number of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons in Japan and many cults and we found it surprising that they’d convinced the shy and cautious Japanese who they converted to be so pressing and forward to other Japanese people. The lady who did bible study with a Jehovah’s Witness for 10 years said that when you get baptised into Jehovah’s Witnesses you have to sign a contract agreeing to go doorknocking and stuff, and the JWs here have been quite pushy and persistent day after day as they doorknock and often the Japanese feel that out of politeness they are obligated to let them in to talk to them and it’s often hard to break out of relationships even if they are bad. This is why the evangelical churches here avoid doorknocking because the Japanese will often firstly ask Christians whether they’re JW/Mormons…

Grace and Carson went to pray for Yume Plaza where the church holds most of its events while Tracy and I prayerwalked along the main roads for the businesses and the customers and employees inside it, focusing on the supermarket.

Prayerwalking is something I’d like to encourage back home because it really helps us see (if God allows us to) our suburb and our city the way God sees it – not as somewhere fun to hang out at or an awesome place to shop but as a missionfield where there are so many competing idols for our love and worship. It’s pretty much just praying as we walk but trying not to be too obvious but like we’re talking to each other, and we prayed about anything we saw – like this water machine where we prayed that the Japanese wouldn’t be satisfied with water on earth but that they’d seek Jesus, who gives water that gives eternal life… or when we saw bread and we prayed that they might seek Jesus who is the bread of life, or when we saw salt, that the churches would be salt and light in their schools, workplaces and everything :D

MOTHERS’ & KIDS’ ENGLISH CLASS

Before we finished our prayer walk, we realised that we were late for the English class we were helping out with. Susan and Saeko run this English class where kids from preschool to primary school age get to play and learn English and the mothers would be discussing what it means to be a good mother from a biblical perspective.

The kids were asking us what our names were, what food we liked, what animals we liked and stuff in English and it was really awesome to be able to play with them and communicate by laughing or playing because I really had no language – and as Cerise said, it is quite sad when you can’t even communicate with an 8 year old but really thankful that Christ’s love is for everyone and transcends all cultural and language barriers and it was so awesome to be able to serve them and get to know them :)

Afterwards some mothers and children would move down to the play area where we chatted with the mothers (Saeko and Tracy translated for me) about earthquakes and cooking and stuff and really praise God for the time that Saeko and Susan can spend with these wonderful mothers (some who are seeking) where they could build relationships and open up to each other. Praise God that a while ago, one of them even asked to see Saeko to meet up privately read the bible together as a result of this time together :D

JAPANESE BIBLE STUDY

Tonight we visited Steve and Susan’s Japanese bible study where they’ve been going through a series on prayer, and the passage tonight was on 1 Timothy 2. The Japanese speakers read through a book on that topic and Susan translated for us, before we all practised a game we’re going to play at the Hiraoka Christmas service :) Praise God for this small but committed group of Christians and please pray for them as they try to invite non-Christians to join their bible study, and that they’d have courage to invite people to join their bible study.

Please continue to pray for the English Christmas Party the Oomagari church is holding 11^th (this Saturday) – that many will come and that relationships will be built with contacts and that many will be interested in coming to church. Also please pray for the Australian Christmas Outreach event we’re having on the 18^th

·      wisdom for the Committee to plan the event

·      for preparations and energy for the team

·      for Nakamura sensei’s Christmas message God will bring people to the event and that He will open the hearts of those He has chosen to know him, and for the church to spend quality time following up and answering questions J