Day 1

Bibles, bikes, and bathhouses…

Today was our first full day in Japan, and boy was it exciting! We had the wonderful opportunity to join the OMF Hokkaido center in their bi-annual day of prayer and fasting. We did not stay for the entire time, it was decided that it would be best for us to participate for half of the day because we are still getting over jet-lag after having just arrived last night! It is still so unbelievable that we are already here! Well, we began by reading through 1 Thessalonians 1, focusing on the grace of God: the unwavering, unceasing, and very astounding grace of God. We also sung Amazing Grace. As the words of that hymn filled the room, and the voices of the worldwide church rose up to worship our Lord (while there were only about 30 or 40 people in attendance there were Christians from Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Britain, the US, and more) I was overwhelmed by the reality of the truly amazing grace of God.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The words above were the words that stuck out to me. I remembered the difficult semester that each one of us had gone through, the difficult past few months that many of our friends have gone through, the difficult year that the worldwide body of believers have endured, but besides remembering the tears and the struggles God showed me the triumph that he has had in my life, in our lives, and when faced with that reality I could do nothing but rejoice (and shed a few tears). We then lifted up the OMF missionaries all over East Asia, Europe, and the West as we read through the booklet of prayer requests and praises on each country, and rejoiced with them in the triumphs that they have witnessed and the powerful displays of the Holy Spirit moving and working in their lives and the lives of the community that they work with.

We then took a moment to read through 1 Thessalonians 2, and we prayed over each country that the Christians there may be able to live strong lives in the spirit of Power that the Lord grants us even in the face of such intense opposition. The room lifted up our brothers and sisters in Singapore, Germany, Canada, North Korea, and Malaysia (to name a few). It was an awesome experience to say the least.

It was then about 1 in the afternoon, and we did what anybody would do after spending a few hours in the morning in prayer, we went to the Onsen (aka the public hot springs bathhouse). Well, we went to lunch first. The constant anxiety associated with the upcoming visit to the bathhouse worked up an appetite I suppose. It was a great time to chat with the missionaries Karen and Dale that we will be working with, along with a newlywed couple that has come up to work with us. THEN we went to the Onsen. Can you say “awkward”?!?! Well, it was, at first. Basically you walk into a locker room, strip down, and walk into a room full of baths of varying temperatures with different minerals in them. You have a small towel that you can take with you. There were a ton of people in there (don’t worry, separate rooms for men and women) but the walls soon came down. Let’s face it, in situations such as that, one MUST embrace it because you really have no other choice. It was a great cultural experience not soon forgotten, and actually it was kind of fun… kind of. There really is nothing like sitting in a hot yellow colored bath with people you just met, or even perfect strangers. Nothing like it.

Prayer Requests:

That we would be Christ centered and saturated in prayer

For divine appointments as we spend our free days in Sapporo

That we would be bold in our proclamation of the gospel while also remaining wise and culturally sensitive

That we as a team would encourage and love each other and the missionaries we would be working with

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement, both throughout the semester and up until this point!

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A.W