G.R.I.T.

Summary of Week 1 by Norman

Well, the first week was not at all what I hoped it would be in some ways and way more than I expected in other ways. We had lots of last minute "necessary" things to do that took up too much time. However, in our outreach, we had opportunities to share the gospel with at least a few people in every group and with the whole group a few times. In addition, two people have expressed an interest in starting a Bible study. All in all I am pretty happy with the first crazy, hectic week.

Our outreach for the summer is a little different than what we have done in the past. We are trying to join existing groups as much as possible, and when we do invite people to get together are keeping it much more informal than in the past. We very little outside of the Sunday night service that requires much in the way of preparation , other than our hearts which is most important.

The guys are meeting with a local airsoft club once a week (if it doesn't rain) playing a few games and getting to know them. Jacob has connected with several of them who are also into cars while Andrew has learned that he has a lot in common with the hardcore airsofters.

Everyone is part of the Tues night and Friday night get togethers. Tuesday is a group of parents and kids interested in English, they are all friends who asked us to join them once a week while the GRITers are here. Friday night is at a local cafe and everyone is invited to talk and laugh with us as we struggle to speak to people interested in English or foreign cultures.

We also have scheduled several field trips in conjunction with the local YMCA. They are cultural activities for the GRITers as well as outreach opportunities.

Almost everyone has given a devotional this week, so far they are doing a great job. Jacob will be preaching on Sunday with Andrew to follow the next week. In between the outreach activities we are thinking and talking about what it means to be a disciple and how we can become a better disciple of Christ. We studied a little about out spiritual gifts and all took a spiritual gifts inventory.

Every morning has started with excercise and is egarly anticipated by the GRITers!!!



And if you believe that you don't know them very well. They do tolerate it fairly well though. We have had a minor accident while biking around Kumamoto. Barbara fell off her bike, skinned her knee and sprained her wrist (no broken bones, we took her in for an Xray and all is well). We have biked around 70 km in downtown traffic so I am happy that nothing worse has happened so far. they are adjusting to the environment and should be able to get around easier in the coming weeks.

If you have a request for a photo (like a picture of your son/daughter; photo of something here in Japan) you can send a SHORT message to my cell phone and I will try to oblige you by posting a photo here. I am sure others would be interested as well. The email is norman.1970-1120(at)ezweb.ne.jp (replace (at) with @)

Until next time, I am off to torture the GRITers some more...

posted by Norman @ 2:08 PM