One Week Down!
At the end of the first week of GRIT, I think all of us are tired and
still sore from some of the first days of exercise. I am glad today is a
rest day!
This week we have enjoyed the teaching by Pastor Graber preparing the
students for giving devotionals for the rest of the summer. Several
people will be doing this for the first time so they are understandably
nervous and happy to have the week of training before they begin. In a
seperate training session, we have been learning about rock climbing and
preparing for a day of climbing next week.
Everyone has shown a good spirit and willingness to work together. They
share in both the cooking and cleaning duties with enthusiasm. I believe
God has put together a good group for the summer. We have divided
everyone into 3 groups with seperate leaders, Joel, Luke and Chris. They
are taking this leadership seriously and will really have an opportunity
to grow over the summer.
I have been surprised by the amount of interest in Japan show by
everyone. In one group, all four of them have expressed an interest in
returning to Japan in the future. Pray with us that God will lead some
of them back here as missionaries!
Stay tuned for the rest of the story.
Rainy season + GRIT = ?
According to the weather forecasters, if you can believe them, rain has
set in for about a week. I am thinking about wimping out of the mornings
planned jog and doing some indoor exercise, I think most everyone is
still sore from Monday and Tuesday! We started the week with a prayer
walk from the church up to the top of Gyoindake, about an hour walk -
all uphill. With just the right level of sore legs, we did our first
timed 5k, 1 min of pushups and 1 min of situps. For those crazy few who
still needed some exercise, we did an exercise I called "Bring on the
Pain." A 20 yard sprint, out and back, followed by some sort of "animal
exercise" - example, bear crawl 20 yards and sprint back. All that is 1
rep. After 5 sprints only two of the hardiest were still willing to go
so we called it quits, off to the hot spring bath.
This week Pastor Graber from Burlington. IA has been teaching on Bible
study and preparing a devotional. Everyone has been getting some really
great teaching that they begin applying next week. Everyone will be
giving a devotional once a week for the rest of the summer. Pastor
Graber has also been teaching Rock Climbing 101. Although we will have
to wait for good weather to actually go rock climbing, we are learning
the essential safety stuff now.
We have also started a leadership training course looking at the need
for young Christian leaders. In conjunction with that, we have lots of
groups with different leaders. The goal is to give most of the students
a chance to lead before the summer ends. So far everyone has pitched in
and worked hard. I think we have a great group!
The Journey continues
Having 10 college students and Pastor Graber here for the summer is going to be a real challenge for me. But. I am excited about the possibilities for each of these students, they seem to get along well and really have a heart for ministry. We are praying several of them will come back in the future to serve in Japan. They are having new experiences almost every day, it is fun to see their reactions to everything from the first first to the public bath to finding out they will be giving devotions to the group weekly. They are a fun group.
I will be trying to add pictures to the website soon, but so far have been too exhausted every day to get that far. Sort of like now.
GRIT begins..
This week marks the beginning of our busy summer. Tim Andrianoff is at
our house now, Misti Nichols and Joel Diffenderfer are at Bill and Becky
Petite's house until Wednesday when I go to pick them, along with Pastor
Dean Graber, his son Dan, and Susan's sister, Merilee. Luke Scallon,
Andrew Murray, Chris Cox, and Jay Leutner will all arrive here on
Tuesday night.
Keiko and Miuki, two college age girls from church, will be
participating in much of teh summer's activities. We also expect a few
people from other churches in Southern Kyushu. Keeping up with the
translation for everyone this summer may be a challenge to my Japanese
ability!
Mana, Keiko's younger sister, came forward after the service today and
gave a testimony of her faith in Christ and her desire to follow Him in
baptism. We are excited for her and pray she will be a good example for
her older brother who also needs to be baptized.
God is good.
