except this time I got to be the Japanese emcee! :)
Us announcing together
The hall was PACKED! Sooo many people showed up to the party and we all had a fantastic time.
David playing a game with some college students
Crazy story:
Steve was at Rikkyo (his secondary campus) on Wednesday and he ran into a Christian who goes to Sophia (his primary campus). He found out that the guy goes to a Hillsong church plant, so he and a few others from our team joined him at the Wednesday night service. There, he was introduced to a few Sophia students, and one of them was Seiya. Seiya came to Discover Friends to help out with the ministry. Well, he sees the Japanese emcee and thinks "hmm... he looks familiar. Gen, huh?" So he asked Joe from our team what my last name was. "Nakamura." Seiya comes over to me, taps me, waves and says, "Sakuma Seiya desu." I went crazy. Here standing in front of me was my friend from pretty much infancy... Our dads were both pastors in Tokyo a good twenty years ago!
Seiya
I had been kind of discouraged because that was our big evangelism week where we were supposed to be as intentional as possible about sharing with students on campus. I hadn't gotten too many chances to share... Other great things had happened between me and God, which was awesome. But I felt discouraged. But that night, I just sensed the Holy Spirit being present in that hall and very alive in my heart, and I went out there and intensely shared the Gospel with four different guys. The first guy really didn't want to hear it, but God wasn't having any of that, and I got to share with him. Then I sat down with three guys who were having a few laughs. We started talking and I found out that all three were freshmen at an education University- they were all gonna be science teachers: one bio, one physics, and one earth sciences. SMART guys. All three seemed really excited to talk to me, and we just had a great time talking about some pretty deep stuff, actually. We talked about why they wanted to be teachers... I didn't accept any textbook answers- I asked them why they REALLY wanted to be teachers. I got to talk about my fraternity and my semester as Pledge Master because some of what they said seemed to relate a lot to how I felt about that period of my life. So I got to talk about God and the community of His followers and how we help each other become the righteous men we were designed to be. I asked them why they liked each of their subjects- the bio guys said it was cuz he liked nature, so I asked why he liked nature. "YOU ASK HARD QUESTIONS!" said all three. He asked me why I like nature so I got to talk about the beauty of God's creation and seeing His artful masterpiece. Then the announcement came on saying we had to clean up in five minutes. So I hurried and said, "Do you guys know about Jesus?" One of them had a KGP booklet, but he said he really didn't understand. So I offered to tell them about it- the bio guy and the physics guy didn't wanna hear it, but earth sciences guy said, "Okay, but really quickly." So I powered through the ENTIRE Gospel. From God's sovereign nature to His undying love for each of us, to our sinful nature, to the crucifixion, to our reconciliation, to the opportunity for each of us to accept... I finished a schpiel that was definitely the Holy Spirit giving me the words to speak, and as soon as I was done, the bio guy who most fervently didn't want to hear it leaned back from his attentively listening position and said, "IT'S SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND!" I gave them all my email addresses, and they didn't wanna give me their contact, so I have no idea what's going to happen... all I know is that it's completely in God's hands and that I got to plant a seed in each of their hearts. They were soaking it all in like sponges!
I didn't see any of the four pray to receive Christ... But four guys got to hear the Good News of God's salvation through Jesus Christ His Son! I was feeling so discouraged and so useless... I was in a point of weakness, recognizing my inadequecies and also not being satisfied with God's plan for my week those few days... God, in His abundant mercy, let me feel productive. He didn't need to do that- He had been doing plenty of work in my heart and in the team, but He knew how much I wanted to share Him with a few more people, and His power was made perfect in my weakness... I spoke with supernatural confidence and clarity- it was amazing! I finished talking and looked back on the conversation with a "WOW! WHAT JUST HAPPENED??"
Thank you for your prayers...
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