We’re back! (Team 1 [David Chang writing])
Hey Everyone,
Our missions trip to Japan is finished and we are back in LA. We’re all doing well and our time in Japan went pretty smoothly. The B&E (Bible and English) classes went well for the most part. I taught the beginners class with Kristi and George taught the intermediate class. Kristi and my class consisted of 2 teens and some of the older women from the Inochi church. The first day we planned was too hard for our students in both classes. So we tried to adjust our teaching curriculum day after day from what we had planned before in order to make the lesson easier to learn. But as we started to get a better feel for our classes we were already on the last day of our classes. The fellowship time after the classes was good for getting to know our students a little better. It was still difficult for me to communicate with some of our students, but we were able to make a lot of motioning and signaling to get our point across. It was like playing gestures all the time. In the end, everyone seemed to enjoy having fellowship time with each other after class.
Friday and Saturday, the Inochi church had a camp at which I taught a couple of Christian English Lessons while Kristi and George taught a few more kids’ songs. My lessons were very short, but I hoped to teach them some more Christian terms so that they could communicate with missionaries in the future. They seemed to enjoy learning the words and phrases. On Friday night we had some time to do some group sharing with a few church members. At this sharing time the Inochi church members expressed their gratitude for IBC’s ministry to their church. It was a blessing for them to hear our testimonies and to hear that other Christians were saved by the same Gospel that they believed in. The church members also shared of how our B&E ministry encouraged them with their spiritual lives and how they wanted to serve more after as well. There were signs of growth within the church over the years when the members shared about how they wanted to have more fellowship time together. Pastor Doi of the Inochi church shared that this was an encouraging sign as just a few years ago they were not as interested in having fellowship together as they were today.
The Inochi Church had constantly thanked us for our ministry to them and thought that they couldn’t give much to us. However, I do believe that they had been so much more generous than they may have realized. They are extremely hospitable and a great encouragement and blessing to myself and the IBC team. I am glad that I was able to be apart of this ministry. I hope that you would continue to pray for the spiritual growth of Inochi no Izumi Church and their ministry to the non believers in their community.
Once again thanks again for all of your prayers and support! I hope to talk to you guys soon.
David