Week 3 in Japan 2023

Konichiwa! (Hello!) It has been our first full week of class. We are aiming for 30 hrs a week of Japanese study total. This is about 15 hrs of class time and 15 hrs of personal study. We have been enjoying the interactive nature of language class. In our class there are 8 different countries represented. Can you guess how many Kanji characters we need to memorize to be considered fluent?

Oct 15:

Today was our first church visit in Okinawa. We went to a church close to where we live. It was all in Japanese. We did not understand what was going. After the service we had a really nice connection with a brother in Christ who is an English teacher in Naha. He shared how some of his family members recently believed in Jesus. It was encouraging for us all.

Oct 16:

This was our first day of a full week of class.

A photo of Jesse outside the school

We were really blessed when one of our classmates offered to drive us home. We had a great connection, we learned more about Okinawa, and were encouraged.

Oct 17:

To get to school each day we take a monorail train. It is about a 25 min commute total.

A photo of the monorail

After class today we went out for lunch with a large portion of our class. It was a great time of getting to know one another more.

In the afternoon we went to a community centre not far from our place. We connected with the staff and some kids there. The staff were really friendly and helpful. They even helped us with our Japanese study. We shared about how Kami-Sama (God) led us to Japan.

Oct 18:

While we were on a walk we connected with a local man who was outside a store we buy food at. We shared the gospel with him but he did not believe that God wants to help him. Because of all the bad stuff he has done he feels there is no chance for him. We encouraged him by sharing that God does love him and wants to help him with his bad things.

Oct 19:

We went to the community center after lunch to study again. While we were there we had a great time on our break playing table tennis & a card matching game with some of the kids.

Oct 20:

Today Wes had a great connection with some of our classmates and was able to share the gospel with them. We also were told by one of the ICLC staff members that they are a Christian. We felt greatly encouraged! Later in the evening we went to an event hosted by the community centre.

A photo of Wes and Jesse outside the community centre

Later that evening we did some evangadancing (dancing the gospel message). We felt led to do so and as we were warming up in a mostly secluded parking lot 2 men sat down facing us… so our warm up ended up being a show! We were able to share about the dance being how God saved us. We also danced in a more public spot after. We connected with a man after and shared about God and gave him a card.

Oct 21:

Today was a day of prayer & fasting for personal growth. In the evening we went for a drink along The Street and connected with a man from Nepal. We shared the gospel with him and gave him a card.

The Street we frequented last week as well, and it continues to be a great place to connect with people and for conversations about God and Jesus.

A photo from this week of the Kokusai Dori Shopping Street (“The Street”)

Thank you again so much for your prayers. We are looking forward to more of God doing awesome things!