Newsletter 2024 June,July English
Newsletter 2024 June,July English
Praise the Lord! Thank you for reading and praying for me.
As we near the end of this semester, I would like to share with you how God has been working in June and July and how students' hearts are being changed.
Specifically, this newsletter will include
1. Non christian student got saved!😭(Regular meeting)
2. Time to reflect on this semester (discipleship training)
3. Summer camp
4. Summer short-term missions
5. Receive discipleship training
6. prayer requests
These are lists of prayer requests.I would appreciate it if you would read it to the end and pray for each part!
1. Non christian student got saved(Regular meeting)
On July 5, we had an evangelistic meeting. I was in charge of the message. "The image of God" in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7"He breathed into us the breath of life," which indicates that we humans are specially created by God, live in fellowship with Him, and are loved by Him. This is how the God in the bible views human beings.
Mutsuko-san (freshman), whom I met this semester while I was doing evangelism at Nanzan University, also came to this meeting.Mutsuko had a little knowledge of the Bible because she went to elementary, junior high, and high school at a mission school.And since meeting her at the time of the mission, she had been meeting regularly with Staff Trainee Kobayashi.
When she came to the meeting this time, she sat at a table with Kobayashi staff and kobayashi shared how she felt after listening to the message and talked about whether she wanted to know more about the Bible.. Mutsuko said, "I want to believe in a God who loves me as I am.And then Kobayashi's staff explained the gospel to her and she believed in Jesus!Hallelujah!✨Afterwards, Kobayashi's staff asked him if she really understood and accepted it, and she really did!
It was really moving to see her connect through evangelism on campus, become friends, and come out to the event and accept the gospel for the first time in a long time.Thank God for giving us to meet a student who is seeking God.Thank God for using my message as well.
Prayer
Please pray for Mutsuko's growth as a Christian.
Also, as she goes through discipleship training with the Kobayashi staff, she will talk about church .Please pray that mutsuko will be connected to a good church for her.
2. Time to reflect on this semester (discipleship training)
I have been doing discipleship training with Chuki and Caleb every Wednesday, and there was a time when students looked really tired. Originally I was going to do a book sharing, but we changed our plans and asked them, how are you doing these days? How are you doing spiritually? How about physically? they had time to reflect on these things.
I asked each of them to take 30 minutes to think about it and found that they were still physically and mentally exhausted.Then I found out that they had both become very busy with assignments and internship pressures, and they were exhausted.So they shared with me that they were in a state where church and reading the Bible didn't hit them.We decided to have a rest retreat so that the three of us could have time to pray together about this condition and spend time with God.For the rest retreat, we went to himaka Island, about an hour's drive from Nagoya.While taking a physical break from daily life, each of us had time to reflect on how God has led me this semester.
We are thankful that we were able to share with each other what we were thankful for and what difficulties we had this semester, and pray for each other.
Chuki said that he felt God was working through the new students who came to SI Nagoya this semester. And on a personal side, he said that the bible has been speaking about how he has chosen the people he has been involved with. He tried not to get involved with people who were less knowledgeable than he was, but when he saw the love of Christ, it hit him in his heart.
Caleb said I have been reminded about the "heart of worship". I remember joining a worship night at SI Tokyo, and realized how much I have been missing God in my daily life as a student. Seeing fellow students worshiping wholeheartedly was inspiring. I hoped I would be able to worship with the light of Jesus openly someday, with my other non-Christian friends.
In one of our sessions last week (towards the end of the semester), the theme that got ingrained in my head was still worship—that worship is not just about singing songs, but giving to God what is His; this means my life, my everything.
Although it was tough, I came to learn about the idols that I have been keeping in my heart, not realizing that they affect me everyday. I have to abide in the Spirit, fully trust God's leading, more so in a land where plenty of harvest is waiting; otherwise my light will be nothing but darkness, if it does not have Jesus.
Prayer
A.Chuki has recently been working on her master's thesis while also doing an internship and job hunting. It seems that he is busy with the things he needs to do every day, please pray that he will keep a daily fellowship with God.
Please pray for him that God would show Chuki where He is leading him in his future career path and what he wants to do through his work.
He has begun discipleship training with another student (Yuji). They are studying the CCC material together! Please pray that through their studies together, they will be transformed more and more into followers of jesus.
B. Caleb has a concern about his career path. It has to do with his Japanese language ability and graduate school.
His Japanese language ability is related to job hunting, so he needs to be at the N2 level.
He would like to go to graduate school, but he is considering it . If he can get a scholarship to have his tuition covered , he will go to graduate school.
Caleb says he is hopeful about how God will lead him in the future. Please pray for his path.
3. Summer Camp
The SI Nagoya camp will be held in Shiga Prefecture from August 9-10. Last year there were not enough students to hold the camp in Nagoya alone, but this year we are grateful to have been given about 10 students to participate in the summer camp!
I have been working with the student leaders to think about what kind of content we would like to have at this year's camp.
When I asked what kind of content they would like to think about or learn about with the students, they wanted to hear about “what it means to believe” and “personal growth as a Christian”.
The student leaders will be in charge of our first game time.
Two students who came this year will be sharing their testimonies during campfire time.
One was recently saved and shared how he got saved, and the other will share her testimony from his exam.
I will share how this camp goes in the next newsletter.
Prayer
Ohata staff will prepare two messages about what it means to believe and grow as a christian. Please pray that God will work in the preparation. Also, that the students who listen to the preach will know what the Bible says about it and that it will make a difference in their lives.
One non-Christian student will join us. Pray that he will also be able to experience what it is like to be in a Christian community.
4. Short-term mission in summer
There will be a short-term mission to the Philippines organized by SI Osaka this summer. One student from Nagoya will also participate. Yuji Sunagawa will join the mission.
The mission period will be from August 31 to September 12, and the main location will be at the University of the Philippines in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.
I am thankful that a student was raised from Nagoya to go on a short-term mission trip.please pray that he will have a positive impact on his faith life as he learns about missions in the Philippines and lives together with other Christians for two weeks. Please also pray that after returning to Japan, he will have a heart for missions , a desire to be involved in missions in their japan, and a desire to share the impact of the gospel.
5. taking discipleship training
Recently, while I was doing discipleship training for students, I began to think that it would be nice if I could also take discipleship training as a staff regularly. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I have been speaking more messages at regular Friday meetings this semester than I did the previous year. Second, I wondered how I could love the students through my job as a staff at CCC. I think I can love the students by helping them to know the Word of Truth more deeply.
However, when I actually created the message, I was very worried about how to make it. Although there were a few training sessions on message when I was a trainee, I wanted to know more about how to actually create various messages, so I contacted a senior staff at CCC who had graduated from the seminary, and he agreed to take time with me for a message practice session once every two weeks with him. His name is Mitsu Nakamura, and I am grateful to him for the message training. I am planning to purchase some materials to learn more about the Bible.
Prayer/Summer Special Offering Request
Please pray that I will be equipped as a preacher through this message training.
Please pray also that I will be able to speak the truth boldly.
2Timothy 4:1 ¶ hI charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, iwho is to judge the living and the dead, and by jhis appearing and his kingdom:
2Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; kreprove, rebuke, and lexhort, with complete patience and teaching.
I am considering purchasing tools for Bible study (commentaries, Greek dictionaries, etc.) to prepare a message. However, all software is expensive. On top of that, the exchange rate of the Japanese yen makes it even more expensive. Since I need to study the Bible in order to prepare messages, I will be purchasing these tools little by little, but due to the high cost, I would like to ask for donations.
Below is a list of tools I am considering purchasing in the future.
https://www.accordancebible.com/view-a-list/?wlid=1230348
If you have a heart and would like to give a special summer offering for my Bible study, please click on the link below ☺️ (you can give one time offering gift by choosing single gift)
6. Summary of Prayer requests
all prayer requests are summarized below 👇.
I would appreciate it if you could look at this page and pray for us again when you remember us🙏.
・Please pray for Mutsuko's growth as a Christian.
Also, as she goes through discipleship training with the Kobayashi staff, she will talk about church .Please pray that mutsuko will be connected to a good church for her.
・Ohata staff will prepare two messages. Please pray that God will work in the preparation. Also, the students who listen to the preach will know what the Bible says about it and that it will make a difference in their lives.
One non-Christian student will join us. Pray that he will also be able to experience what it is like to be in a Christian community.
・please pray that yuji will have a positive impact on his faith life as he learns about missions in the Philippines and lives together with other Christians for two weeks. Please also pray that after returning to Japan, he will have a heart for missions , a desire to be involved in missions in their japan, and a desire to share the impact of the gospel.
・Please pray that I will be equipped as a preacher through this message training.
Please pray also that I will be able to speak the truth boldly.
This newsletter is very long, but thank you for reading this far and praying for me. The next newsletter will be published around the end of September or the beginning of October.
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