SO ENCOURAGING!

None of this is my material- my dear friend Maria (graduated from Cal, was on Project with me back in '07) has been Stinting (one year overseas missions with CCC) in Tokyo, and I get her update letters. This one she just sent out was SO ENCOURAGING that I had to take some of the pictures and share them with you!

1- Japan CCC just had it's National Student Conference where over 100 Japanese students got together to be trained in evangelism and discipleship. I'm sure the time of worship, together with that many Christian students, was super refreshing for them as I'm sure they rarely ever are in the company of that many Japanese believers their age (less than 1% of the population of Japan even nominally claims to be Christian)

2- The students attending the four day conference also spent a chunk of two days going out into parks and shopping areas (ever heard of Harajuku?) and sharing their faith with random people that they would meet. Before they went out, they got together in groups to pray- good plan! :)

3- Whether it was a conversation with people hanging out at a park or with passersby the students would stop in the train station, the Japanese CCC students loved the experience and grew tremendously in their faith and boldness. Over a hundred people got to hear the Gospel, and 12 of them prayed to receive Christ! SERIOUSLY!

Anyone who has been on Project to Tokyo knows how tough ministry there can be. I've been on Project twice now (once as a student, once as staff) and my heart will probably never stop breaking for the people of Japan. Getting to hear these amazing stories from Maria refreshes my soul and gets me so excited I could jump around like a fool! Praise God for being an all-powerful God. He is God of traditionally Christian nations like the US, of exotic countries where the Gospel is spreading fast like China, and, though it's easy to forget it, He is God even of hard-soiled, spiritually resistant, seemingly hopeless countries like Japan.

Praise Him :)