Ministry and observations

I spent the first day walking around the city and got to see a lot of it. It was all kinds of fun, though also surreal at points. I ended the day by prayer walking one of the biggest love hotel districts-that is, districts that have hotels that rent out rooms by the hour. It was definitely spiritually heavy there. Japan overall is quite hard ground. From cults (there are more Mormon missionaries in Tokyo than Christian missionaries) to Buddhism, many things seem to belittle or push Christianity out of the picture. That's why we pray redemption for all the broken people there and for God to fall upon Tokyo and Japan as a whole!

I starting working with the IMB team here in Tokyo yesterday. I met with one of them shortly before the rest of the team to learn about what I'd be doing. We passed out a hundreds of tracts, prayer walked for a while, and did something called 5 minute English. 5 minute English is just like it sounds, we stand in a public place with signs and tell people they can practice their English with us for a few minutes. It's used to make connections and a springboard to deeper conversations with those who stop. We also gave away Manga Messiah-a biblical depiction of the life of Jesus in Manga form-to younger boys that love that form of literature. I believe we will be doing more of the same today.

One thing that happened yesterday was that I got hit with a desire to learn foreign languages more strongly than before. We were at the mercy of those who happen to speak good English and were willing to stop. It's hard when your heart breaks for the people in a place, knowing that most of them don't know Jesus at all and yet you can't communicate it with them. With all the hundreds of people that passed, i just wanted to stop a few of them and share the Gospel. However, I can say all of 4 phrases in Japanese, so for most of them, I wouldn't get too far. In the states I love being able to go up to almost anyone and share the Gospel, and I find myself longing to do the same thing to those in desperate need of redemption here.

God is good. I haven't been jet lagged pretty much the whole time here and have really enjoyed everything so far. Our team had several good conversations yesterday-including two in Spanish with Japanese people. Contact info was exchanged and they will be followed up with by the team here throughout the summer and beyond.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement! I treasure them.

-Nate