Two Months!!

I've been saying this a whole lot recently, but my time here is really running out! Out of the two months left i have here, about 2 of those weeks will be spent traveling, so really i'm only left with about a month and a half left! And with that month and a half, quite a large part of it will be taken up by my assignment, which is due at the end of january... no to mention that near that time i also have exams and presentations to do! Well, okay i'm actually not stressed about that at all, but the thing is, i don't have much time left! So i wonder, what does God want me to do with the rest of this time? How best could i use this time to glorify His Name?

Before i came here, one of my goals was to create strong relationships with the people i meet here. In a way i guess i can say that i have achieved that to some extent. I feel that i have been able to make some pretty good friends this year, and i praise God for that! It's also been a year full of awesome experiences, and God has taught me so much, and i thank Him for allowing me to enjoy my time here so much! He's blessed me so much, and i feel so completely undeserving of it all...

Anyway, here's a little update on what's happened in the past week!

So it's December now, which means that Christmas is drawing ever closer! So on tuesday, a Christian korean dude came to our uni for a little concert. He's actually a pastor now, but he could have been a famous singer if he wanted to. He had the offer a while back, but he realised that he didn't want to be making money in that way, and the only music that really made him feel at peace was Gospel music. He could have become rich through singing if he wanted to, but he chose to use his talent so that the word of God may be spread - free of charge. It's so amazing meeting people like that - people who give up the successful life so that they may use their talents for Christ's sake. He doesn't know very much Japanese, so the pastor of the nearby korean church (the church i went to KOSTA-Japan with!) was there to translate. It was a short concert, and only about 20 people turned up, but it was a really nice time - beautiful music and talks about why Christmas is celebrated and all. Awesomely encouraging! :D Praise God for awesome missionaries :)

On thursday night, a couple of us exchange students watched "Facing the Giants" together. Pretty awesome movie! I was moved to tears the first time i watched it (though not as much as Fireproof, which is by the same dudes who directed this movie!), and my friend from Bible study said she'd lend it to me so i could show it to my friends. So that's what i did! About 8 people watched on the night, but only about 4 really paid attention... still, those that actually paid attention really liked the movie. They said they were really moved by it! Out of those 4, three of them are non-Christians, and one of them is a chinese girl who has recently become very interested in Christianity. Praise God that i have these opportunities to minister to the non-Christians around me! And please pray that i will use the rest of my time here to be a good witness to the people here! :)

Just yesterday, that same chinese girl came to our Bible study group for our Christmas party, and although she was rather late, she seemed quite keen on mixing with the others there. Also, one of my Japanese friends - a church goer but non-Christian, came along. He doesn't seem very keen about Christianity at all though... so please pray that his heart may be more open! We lent Facing the Giants to him, so hopefully that will be an eye-opener for him!

I'm also getting my little bro to bring fireproof over so that i can watch it with the people here. Please pray that that will go well!

Today was the second time i did my testimony in Japanese, but since the last time i've tweaked it quite a bit. Praise God that it went well, and the people at my church were able to hear it and be encouraged by it!


The kids at my church are SO cute! Today we had the kids' Christmas concert, where our pastor had a short sermon directed to the kids, and the kids also had a couple of items. I couldn't really do much, so they asked me to be the "curtain opener / closer" LOL! I know it's a small role that could have been filled by anyone, but i think they just wanted me to get a little more involved in some way that didn't require me to use my fail Japanese! :)

Lately there have been a whole lot of birthdays, dinners and outings, and it's been rather hard on my wallet, so please pray that i may be wise with how i spend the money God has given me - that i may be generous towards others and not look to spend so much on myself!

And now I'm off to another birthday dinner, which should be good fun :) A little sleepy, but i'm sure the winter cold will give me a bit of a kick!