Another Chi Alpha team from Grambling State University in Ruston, Louisiana went to Hokkaido to conduct gospel workshops and evangelistic meetings. This team has come for the past 3 years to serve the same church. I flew to Asahikawa to meet up with the team on July 15.
Initially, I was to supposed to help the team with communicating with the hosting Japanese pastors. However, because of the need for translation in some meetings, I translated for the first time. I now have so much more respect for people who can translate on the spot. By no means was my Japanese fluent, but somehow I managed to communicate.
It’s said that for every 2,000 flyers passed out in Japan, one person will attend a Christian event. We passed out 5,000 flyers downtown near the train station, and many people came.
A church leader’s sister came to church for the first time. She cried during the service because she had never experienced anything like the presence of God. She also came to the Ladies’ Wednesday Bible Study. That day she decided to leave her Buddhist cult group because she learned that only Jesus Christ offers eternal life. That was a major spiritual victory. Please pray for her to break those ties so that she can know Jesus Christ personally.
A man who came to the first gospel workshop on Saturday came the next day for the Sunday morning service. Mr. Sakurai’s hobby is multimedia development, so he brought his cameras and filmed the entire service. Two days later, he volunteered to go with us for sightseeing. Again, he filmed us enjoying the beautiful, spacious landscape of Hokkaido. By the last weekend, he and Pastor Fukumori were discussing faith in Jesus Christ. Please pray for Mr. Sakurai to trust in Jesus Christ.
