Today was our last free day in Japan before going into debrief. The rest of our team was spending time with their homestay families while Anna and I (who have been living together for the month) had nothing planned. We decided to venture by train into downtown Osaka BY OURSELVES (big deal people… we are navigationally challenged and always travel with the team) to maybe do some shopping, sightseeing, and of course, Starbucks.
I started out the day a little discouraged for several reasons. So before going out I just really prayed that God would open up an opportunity for us to minister to someone in someway. I also did pray specifically that 1. God would lead us to someone who speaks English who could help us, and 2. That I could buy someone’s drink at Starbucks.
So we set out for an adventure, having no idea what the day would hold.
We SUCCESSFULLY arrived at the main hub in downtown where we got off, looking like a deer in headlights not knowing where to go next. An older woman approached us, noticing we were confused. But when we started speaking English, a younger Japanese woman around my age came up and started speaking to us in English! We told her we’d like to find if there’s a Starbucks around and she said that’s where she was headed and would take us there! YIPPEEEE!
Of course we bought her her drink and had a lovely time with her. We told her about the most important thing in our lives- Jesus, and introduced her to the Truth for the first time. She told us that she didn’t really believe in any gods (Japanese gods) because there are so many and she didn’t know what to believe or how to worship. But we shared the Hope and joy that faith through Jesus Christ brings and I could tell she as deeply moved. Our conversation and plans moved elsewhere, but PTL God lead us to her!
The 3 of us then headed to an amazing 360 degree observatory that overlooks the ENTIRE city of Osaka. It was like standing on top of the Empire State Building… but better. It was a breathtaking view that is ranked as one of the top 100 places to watch the sunset in Japan. Sure enough, we arrived right at sunset.
Our new friend left us but God quickly brought someone else in our path.
We met another younger European man there at sunset who was visiting Japan on holiday and had just arrived. After talking a bit with him, we asked if he wanted to get dinner with us. We had such an amazing and fun time hanging out with him. We had conversations greater than small talk over politics, religion, our lives, jobs, and travels. During our topic on religion we told him about Jesus explaining that it’s not a religious system we follow but a relationship with a Father that we cultivate. Religion gets messy and legalistic and stand-offish. After hearing us talk about Jesus he replied, “Wow, I’ve never heard it explained like that before”.
God doesn’t call us to win souls. Sometimes we have the honor of seeing that person surrender their lives to Christ, but it takes a person on average to hear the gospel 7 times before believing (Thanks EVAN101 from Liberty University).
Thank You Jesus for taking our “plan” for the day and giving us something GREATER! Thank You for revealing yourself to these people in a new way. I pray that You would come to them in a new way that they would realize the greatness of who You are and the sacrifice You made for them! Please bring along other Christ-followers into their lives who will water these seeds that have been planted. May they find You when they seek and have the door opened when they knock.
Thanks for an awesome day God and thank you to those who are praying for us back home for encounters like these!
