Signs of Fruit

Since we arrived in Utsunomiya at the end of May we have been involved in a frenzy of activities from water fights to sports tournaments to Bible discussions to all night road trips to English and Japanese lessons. Every part has been incredibly fun but through it all our focus has remained to share the gospel through our words and lives. Now that we have been here for four and a half weeks we are seeing the fruit of all these interactions as students are opening up to us more and allowing us to share more deeply with them. This is especially an answer to prayer as Japanese people are typically very private.

Here are a few examples of the open doors God has given us. Over lunch last week I (Joel) was able to share my testimony with Yihan while we were talking about our families and childhood. April shared her testimony with Tashiro after English practice when he asked her when she became a Christian. Monica had a great conversation with Moeca about why the Bible is so important to her and what Jesus did for her when He died on the cross. Jose and Austin have opened the Bible multiple times with their roommate Yuske in the midst of daily conversation. Hannah shared her testimony with Natsume during their Japanese practice time. These students have most likely never heard a personal Christian testimony before.

The uniqueness of our opportunity particularly struck me the other day as I was talking with Take about the freshmen Bible discussion from the night before where we looked at the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus in Luke 19. I asked Take about his opinion of Jesus and he replied that when he looks around he doesn’t know or see anyone who is powerful enough to change lives like Jesus is able to. WOW!!! Up until three months ago, when Take began college, he probably had never read the Bible and had no opinion about Jesus. But now he stood telling me his positive impression of Jesus and he is familiar with several Bible passages.

We are so thankful to God for how He has been using our time and that He is passionately pursuing these students’ lost souls. We truly are blessed to be a  part of His work and to be able to see firsthand His love and redemptive power in action. Thank you for joining with us in this incredible journey.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.