Thank you all for your prayers. The Thanksgiving Party went very well. We have been very busy preparing for it, and we were even busier on Sunday. Something about preparing thanksgiving dinner for about 75 people will do that. ^_^
The church members were wonderful too. Some helped in the kitchen and the food preparation room, some with the guests and two translated during the program. I had the great opportunity to work with a beautiful woman of God, who translated my message for the group. I heard, from some bilingual friends that, not only did she translate accurately, but also simply and clearly, which was especially beneficial for those who have no background knowledge of the Bible. I am so blessed by our Lord, and I pray that the audience was blessed by the diligence and joyful obedience that is clearly exhibited by this lovely lady. Also, in typical Japanese fashion, many church members stayed after to clean up. Washing dishes, bundling leftovers into to go boxes for all who helped, sweeping mopping and just putting the church back together in about 2 hours (which would have taken the 6 of us missionary teachers like 2 days), was a wonderful blessing. There are somethings we learned, so maybe it'll be a little easier for us next year, but all in all it was a great evening. Especially once we heard the response from the guest survey. Every single person exclaimed how good the food was. That was because Beth was cooking and she made almost everything from scratch. Amazing! From our perspective we were busy and a little stressed, but from the guest's view it was everything we had prayed it would be and more. For them, we wanted it to be a wonderful dinner, complete with good food and good conversation and, of course, to share with them our love for Jesus. Thank you again for all your prayers. You were also apart of this. I wish we could have shared some of the food with you. ^_^ God bless you all. And may you have a blessed thanksgiving!
The church members were wonderful too. Some helped in the kitchen and the food preparation room, some with the guests and two translated during the program. I had the great opportunity to work with a beautiful woman of God, who translated my message for the group. I heard, from some bilingual friends that, not only did she translate accurately, but also simply and clearly, which was especially beneficial for those who have no background knowledge of the Bible. I am so blessed by our Lord, and I pray that the audience was blessed by the diligence and joyful obedience that is clearly exhibited by this lovely lady. Also, in typical Japanese fashion, many church members stayed after to clean up. Washing dishes, bundling leftovers into to go boxes for all who helped, sweeping mopping and just putting the church back together in about 2 hours (which would have taken the 6 of us missionary teachers like 2 days), was a wonderful blessing. There are somethings we learned, so maybe it'll be a little easier for us next year, but all in all it was a great evening. Especially once we heard the response from the guest survey. Every single person exclaimed how good the food was. That was because Beth was cooking and she made almost everything from scratch. Amazing! From our perspective we were busy and a little stressed, but from the guest's view it was everything we had prayed it would be and more. For them, we wanted it to be a wonderful dinner, complete with good food and good conversation and, of course, to share with them our love for Jesus. Thank you again for all your prayers. You were also apart of this. I wish we could have shared some of the food with you. ^_^ God bless you all. And may you have a blessed thanksgiving!