To start the morning, my body decided to wake up at 4 AM, because that’s when the sun rises in Sapporo. How unnatural, but yet beautiful. I think this is technically the furthest north that I’ve ever been. After breakfast, Eri-chan came down for breakfast. She’s the Kojima‘s eldest daughter, who studied English in Pasadena last year. So we traded photos and talked about our travels for a while. She got home late last night because she was working at the Sapporo Dome during the Arashi concert, to which Raye desperately wishes to attend. I just found out that they ran out of tickets, so she’ll join us for the homestay dinner tonight. The Fujihara‘s live right around the corner and there’s another American in town who regularly serves with these families, so we’re having a party.
But first, I went Sapporo Evangelical Free Church this morning, to attend service and meet Koji-sensei. SEFC was planted nine years ago and they’ve already started a now four year old sister church. They hope to natively plant a third in the area in conjunction with the denomination. Worship was excellent. The whole worship team, nay, the whole church is gakusei. Koji-sensei has been working with Campus Crusade for Christ at Sapporo University, which is just across the street. That, plus cell groups, ALPHA courses, and CCC trips, they’ve been able to get the churches growing. Unfortunately, with a large student population, SEFC is in need of a Philippian fellowship. You can read a little more on the church at their website. We studied sin and it’s effects, starting in Amos 1:13-2:5 where the Lord pronounces judgment on the various nations around Israel. It was pretty intense, but unfortunately, I didn’t know enough Japanese to follow along. Thankfully, he had slides with the verses he was reading, so following those in my own Bible helped significantly.
During the fellowship lunch, he and I spoke about ministry opportunities and his own personal vision for the Gospel. It comes down to pretty much either becoming a full-time missionary or teaching English. There’s simply no other way. One could consider becoming an exchange student, but at an even greater cost. His vision wasn’t originally for college ministry, but because of the location of the church, the doors were opened for it and he’s very thankful.
Economically, many students graduate and move to more favorable parts of Japan. As a result, Koji-sensei has been able to train and send a small army of evangelists all through Japan, connecting them with local churches in their new towns. It was all very exciting, but the financial predicament of the church worries me.
Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition, present your requests to God and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
His disposition remains very genki (cheerful, positive), and I can rest assured that He knows his God is Jehovah-Jira.
After that, Tim took me to meet an unbelieving friend of his, Fujito Ito. He and his wife studied and met at Cal State East Bay (Then Cal State Hayward) and they knew right where Monterey is. Unfortunately, they were on their way out, so we only had a few minutes. Fujito is currently living in Tokyo and has been for a few months, but now that things have settled, his wife and three year old daughter will move from Sapporo to be with him. Oh, the stories I could tell about that predicament! So, please, keep him and his extended family in prayer (we met them all, it seemed!), for as a family, imagine what doors would open to them for the Gospel!
While I did that little journey, Raye went to Grace Community with Wakako. Mrs. Kojima said she enjoyed hearing her testimony, and that the worship and study was good. I’ll have to hear more about it tonight.
