Tomorrow (thursday, July 23) will be the 3 week mark for my journey here in Japan. God has continued to bless my socks off!!! We have 42 new believers so far this summer!!! Praise God!!!! Beginning to today we are hosting 138 high school volunteers on their summer mission trip. Please pray with us for the Lord of the Harvest this week. God is at work and just wants to bust the doors wide open here. Please pray for humble and accepting hearts; hearts that are seeking Our God.
In case you didn't know, Tokyo is home to 33-34 million people. Let that sink in just a minute. Double the population of New York city, put it in Atlanta, GA, and you have Tokyo!!! I wanted to share this tid-bit of information with you so you have a better understanding of just what an incredible God story I am about to share with you. But let's go back to April of 2008 first.
Last April I came here with a volunteer team from Willowbrook for a 10 day mission trip. On one of our days there was a MAJOR train delay because a transformer had exploded. This really put a wrinkle in our plans for the day. On our way back to our hotel that evening we were sitting on a train hoping we were on the right one. The conductor kept making announcements (in Japanese only of course) and the Japanese would get up and move to another train platform. We stayed in our seats because we weren't sure exactly what we should do. About this time one of my teammates (Gary) ended up sitting by a Japanese man (Mr. A, who is in the picture with John) and Mr. A asked if he could help us. Of course we said, YES! It ends up that both Gary and Mr. A are engineers so they had lots to talk about as we waited for the trains to move. At the end of our week long trip Mr. A came to our friendship party and he and Gary agreed to stay in touch with email. Over the past year they have emailed several times.
On Thursday, July 9 of this year I had only been here one week and was working with a volunteer team doing 5 minute English. We were at one of the smaller train stations and I had been there for about an hour with the team. I stepped in to give one of the volunteers a break and noticed a man standing to my right talking on his cell phone. As I looked at his face I thought to myself, "he looks familiar." Now keep in mind, to my rookie eyes, all the Japanese really do look the same right now. But he still looked very familiar to me. The more I looked at him I realized it was Mr. A!!! After he finished his phone call I approached him to ask if he was the man who helped our team last April. He remembered the day, our team, and helping us. I told him that Gary would be returning to Tokyo in August, and asked if Gary could contact him about them getting together while he is here. Mr. A said that this time would not be good for him. I was very sad, but excited too because what are the "chances" of just running into Mr. A on the streets of Tokyo! As he walked away I began praying that his heart would be in unrest asking "Why does this group of Americans keep coming into my life?"
A couple of days later I received an email from Gary. He shared that Mr. A contacted him and shared that we had talked to each other at the train station!!! Please join me in praying for Mr. A. Pray that he and Gary will be able to spend time together in August, and that this would be the time when Mr. A gives his life to Jesus and becomes His follower! God is amazing, and He orchestrates incredible details!!!! In a city of 33-34 million people, He orchestrated and "run into each other" moment!!! That kind of thing doesnt' just happen without God's mighty hand being at work!!!!!
"And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." Galatians 6:9
"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14
