God is AMAZING

It is has been a good couple of days in Japan. On Tuesday, I was able to get a lot of things done on the computer like updating things and putting my pictures on-line. Many people commented on how much they liked them so thank you for that. Wednesday morning was prayer meeting at church. It was a good time. The pastor told me that I did not have to attend because it was all in Japanese, but I wanted to go anyway. I am so glad that I did plus one woman was able to translate enough of what was said into English so I could follow along. Something interesting I have found that is even though I do not know much of the language I can still pick up a few words and have a good idea of what the conversation is about. That is nice because other wise I would be totally in the dark! Anyways, at the prayer meeting, there was a small group of women at the prayer meeting and we took our time reading through the first two chapters of James and discussed what we thought was most important out of each chapter. It was a wonderful time to share our heart and get to one another on a more personal level. We then shared prayer requests that we had. All of these women do not have Christian families and many of their husbands are not Christians so it is very hard to practice their faith without ridicule. It was a wonderful two hours and I am looking forward to it next week!

Yesterday (Thursday) was a blast!!! My friend Belva came to the church to do her cooking class. She comes once a month and holds a cooking class for women. They come and learn a new recipe that is usually from the States and then they have a meal and try out what they made! The women love it and it is an amazing outreach to women who do not know about Jesus. There is also a short message that tells about the Gospel. Yesterday about 17 women came and over half of them did not go to church. In Japan that is a great turnout for an activity at church! Afterwards, Kagawa San, a woman who attends the cooking class but not church invited Belva and I over to her house. It was a wonderful time of fellowship! Kagawa San, and her friend Kohgo San, wanted to know all about Missouri and where I was from. Kagawa San had an atlas and we marked where I grew up, where Bado was at, and where I went to school. The four of us talked for a couple of hours about church, the States, Japan, Michael Jackson, and Bush vs. Obama. Haha As you can tell it was an interesting conversation!! Please pray for Kohgo San!!! As soon as she walked into the church for the cooking class I could tell that she was hurting. She is searching for Jesus and she is almost about to find Him! Belva and I were able to minister to her and she was so receptive. I think she will be saved before the six months is up!

After we left Kagawa San’s home, Ito San and I met her sister and brother-in-law for some Korean food. Well the Korean restaurant was closed so we ate Chinese. However, this was Chinese like I had never had!!! It was a very nice restaurant where we had a 7-course meal!! I had so many things that I had never had that I cannot even remember it all! I had some type of jellyfish, cuttlefish (an octopus-like creature with 10 legs), pork, shrimp (the only thing fried), crab, shellfish, and Chinese tofu. Everything was actually good! It was very expensive and it was an experience that I probably will never have again. It was amazing. We then went over to Ito San’s sister’s house for fellowship and to watch their pictures from their recent vacation. They just got back from Hong Kong to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

I am sorry this is so long, but there was so much I wanted to tell you! Thank you for all your e-mails of encouragement and prayers! God is going to do great things in Japan!