Christianity week at ICU

Hello everyone!

Sorry again for the super slow posts! I realize now I should have taken my laptop--trying to write a blog while having to borrow a friends laptop is not easy. So here's another brief update!

This week has been super busy, but a lot of fun! We have mainly been helping out at ICU high school's Christianity Week.
ICU (International Christian University) high school, is really Christian in name only, and Japan's stat of about 1% Christians seems to apply here as well. The school does not actually teach Christianity, and teachers that are Christian (which are few) are not allowed to preach their faith. However, they still have one week every year called Christianity week, during which they hold seminars and classes more focused on the religion of Christianity.
This year, we were able to be a part of a cool opportunity to come and share our testimonies in some of the Christian classes, and then get to discuss and talk to the students in small groups!
On Monday, I had the opportunity to share my testimony with a class of freshman high school students. I believe it went well, and heard that at least some students were able to clearly see how my life was changed for the good after I came to fully trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior. Along with myself, 3 other members of our group have had a chance to share their testimonies, and a few have also had the chance to share their testimonies in the smaller group discussion times.
Also, on Wednesday, the group we are with called Let's Talk (run by Cru staff) was able to put on their own seminar featuring a Christian rap artist in Japan called Young Kirk and a popular Japanese female artist named Manami. They were able to both perform some of their songs as well as share their stories of how they came to faith in Christ and how that has impacted their music careers. It was a really awesome experience, and out of the 270 students that had to sign up for different seminars, at least 70 students chose to come to that!! We are praying that God really stirred some things up from that event.

Please pray for these seeds that have been planted. Pray that the enemy would not be able to snatch them away, but they the students would really begin to seek out this Jesus that they've heard can save them. Pray that we would have the opportunity to meet with some of the students again and get into deeper conversations with them. Also, pray for our day tomorrow, as we have another opportunity to share testimonies with a class and then discuss with them about it.

I'll leave off about there for now--hopefully I will have a chance to post about our times at Waseda University soon, but I felt like the ICU events were more exciting, and more current as from here on out we will be focusing more on our outreach at Waseda.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers. We greatly need them, and Japan greatly needs your prayers as well!

1st Update From Japan

Hello from Japan!

First off, thank you all so much for helping me get to be a part of this trip, and just covering my team and I with your prayers!

So a brief recap of what has happened so far:

1.     Arrived to Hope International University in California on the 21^st, where we had 3 days of solid training. Spent a lot of time listening to great speakers, interacting with and getting to know my team, and spending time in prayer and worship of God.

2.     We flew to California on May 24^th, arriving in Japan at around 7 pm on the 25^th. Unfortunately, our staff leaders on the Japan side messed up our arrival date, so no one was there to pick us up and take us to the apartments. However, we got a hold of one of the staff members and he was able to meet us at the station where are apartments are located. Also, luckily, I knew how to navigate the trains a little bit in Japan, so I was able to lead our team to the correct station. Praise God they already had our apartments ready for the 25^th, or we would have been staying who knows where that night!

3.     As of now, we just finished our 3^rd day of training here in Japan, learning about what we will be doing and getting a short testimony ready for sharing.

What will we be doing? I don’t know all the details yet, but I know that we will be spending a lot of time at Waseda University, and ICU (International Christian University) high school.
For the high school, there are already several events planned, so praise God for that! We will be getting to go into several different classroom settings and share our testimonies and have opportunities to befriend some students. Now, even though it’s called a Christian school, apparently, there are actually very, very few Christian students, so most of the students we meet will not know anything about Jesus Christ. They have also planned a concert event featuring a Christian rap artist called Young Kirk who is apparently fairly famous in Japan. Also, they are hoping to have us help them throw a barbeque for the students we befriend while we are there.
As far as the college goes, we still don’t really know much of what we will be doing, but I assume we will simply be going to the cafeteria to try to meet some students and start meaningful conversations with them.

Me time:

I’ve already seen God drawing me closer to Himself through this time. Between getting to know new people, working on my testimony, and being forced to spend time in the word and in prayer has just brought me to a place of dependence on His grace. Working on my testimony has been a really good experience for me, as it has forced me to look back on my life and I’ve been able to see and remember the numerous ways that God has blessed me and guided my path to lead me to where I am today. As we go through life, we also think that things just happen randomly, but I think that really, God has preordained every step, and that each part of our lives has purpose and meaning. We definitely don’t see it in the moment, but when we look back, we can see how every choice and every moment has changed our lives and caused us to end up on the path that we are on now. This actually gives me great joy and peace, because it means that there is really nothing to fear or worry about even when times seem hard. Yes, the pain is real, and yes the hurt is deep, but God hasn’t abandoned you or put you in that place just for spite. He uses hard times to teach and to mold us into people that can do great things. The me of 3 or 4 years ago would never have come on a mission trip to Japan. Yet since I went though so many ups and downs, tests and trials, I’ve been changed to the point where I am happy and excited to be here. I am praying fervently, that God would continue to give me a love for the Japanese people, and that He would use our team to bring Japanese students into His kingdom.

Praise God for His mercy and faithfulness. I praise God for each of you who have been a part of my life, even if the only interaction we had was that you read a letter of mine and felt compelled to support me on my journey. Thank you so much!

Please continue to pray for our time here, that we would be salt and light, and that we would be able to love the students we meet as Christ loved us. Pray that He would fill us with his Spirit, and that our words would speak to the hearts of the Japanese in ways that our usual empty words never would. Praise for divine appointments and awesome friendships, and for real fruit from this 5 weeks trip here in Tokyo.

Your brother in Christ,

Ben