As we were having a prayer time at a local church. Five sets of eyes peeked in the side window. Instead of just ignoring these wondering eyes Peter paused the prayer time and went to open the window.
“Hello, How are you?” Peter said.
“I’m fine, how are you?” All five said in unison, making everyone giggle.
Peter invited them inside and our afternoon changed it’s look in one moment. Those sets of eyes belong to five of the cutest little sixth grade girls.
The rest of that first afternoon was filled with chatting, laughing, and dancing. When you run into the language barriers and you are around sixth grade girls dancing is a language that breaks all barriers down. 🙂
We invited them back the next day to the regular Sunday morning service not sure all of what The Lord had in store. Pastor Ando was just in awe of what had happened because they had been inviting these girls in for a long time but they never came.
The next morning as we drove up the hill to church we see this little huddle of girls outside the church waiting for us to arrive. It’s a miracle that they came back but even a bigger blessing that they were waiting for us.
We again just loved on them through the language barrier with games after Sunday school.
This was not going to be the last we saw of them. The Lord had more planned for these five girls.
The next Saturday again all five girls came to the Kids Party and had a blast throughout the whole party and even stayed until they were asked to leave (two hours after the party). They even taught us a Japanese children’s game.
The same thing happened the next day at church when they showed up. Staying all through church and the luncheon, all the way until they were asked to leave (2-3 extra hours).
That last day with them I made sure to give them each a big hug and tell them “I love you!” Because I broke through Japanese tradition/boundaries to truly show these girls the Love of Jesus!
Each time we spent with them was just spent dancing, playing games, and laughing. The love of The Lord has no boundaries and can be expressed many ways.
I hope this story is encouraging to you to just be LOVE to those around you.
Pastor Ando even shared with us how one of the girls mothers is now interested in coming to church because of us pausing in that first moment to invite them in.
Continue to pray for these girls and their hunger for God.
