Tuesday and Wednesday

     Tuesday morning we had the opportunity to meet with the leader of the JBU (Japan Baptist Union) and his wife.  They have both been very helpful in working with the JBU.  Keep them in your prayers, they have been struggling with some decline in most of the churches.  Some churches that have switched to more contemporary styles have been able to reach many young people and have been growing a lot.  Pray for all of the churches and the pastors in the Japan Baptist Union and that God would lift up new young pastors and also missionaries for Japan.  They showed us around the JBU office and the campus of the university there.
     In the afternoon we went to Soshin Girl's School, which is where Lee Ann works.  We helped her with a group of students who will be studying abroad in Australia soon.  We gave them the opportunity to ask us questions and then we broke into small groups and conversed with them.  They were all very excited to see us and asked us many questions and practiced using their English a lot.  We also got to invite them to the Bible study that Gordon and Lee Ann are hosting on Friday and many of them (all but one) asked to come.
     In the evening we took the train to Akihabara, which is like the nerd paradise of the world.  They have many different places to shop that sell anime products, trading cards, computer parts, video games, and lots of different souvenirs.

     Wednesday we spent the day at Soshin Girl's School.  There are three English teachers there and we split up and went to their different classes and helped the English teachers teach the students.  They started out by having us introduce ourselves to the students and then they gave the students an opportunity to ask us questions.  Some of the common questions that they knew how to ask were "how tall are you" (especially once Nathan was able to join us), "what is your favorite Japanese food", and "what are your hobbies".  After questions each of us got a group of students to chat with.  We had them each introduce themselves by saying their names and what their favorite hobby is.  We then let them ask us as many questions as they wanted.  The teachers were very encouraged because the students got very excited and started practicing their English a lot with us.  We went to classes until about 3 and then some of us returned to Akihabara while some of us rested.  Nathan is finally feeling better and has joined us in the classes.  Continue to pray for the students and teachers at Soshin school and that they would be reached with a passion for the gospel.

Ben