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God's Love is the Key

Greetings from Sanda! I’m so excited to share with you a little about what I’ve been learning these last couple weeks!

At the beginning of February, we met with the Millards for three days - they are the leaders of Sunrise International Ministries. In the training we received, so much emphasis was placed on living in relationship with Jesus. The most important thing is having a love relationship with Jesus; everything else flows from that. We cannot love others without first being loved by Jesus, and connected to him. If we are not connected to him and receiving his love, it is impossible to truly love others. We also learned how to do Cross Bible Study, which is a discipleship tool for studying the Bible and taking time hear what God is saying to you about a specific passage. I am so thankful for this time of training and discipleship!

I am also learning so much about Japanese culture. One thing I’m beginning to understand is how important relationships are. Japan is a vertical society, where people interact with each other depending on where they are on the scale. People value relationships, and begin the slow process of trusting you as they get to know you more and observe how you live.

That being said, teaching English is a great door to get to know students and their families, and begin friendships with them. But I'm realizing that no relationship will be successful without first focusing on my relationship with Jesus. I used to put so much pressure on myself to find people to share the gospel with, but now I realize that as I live my life in a love relationship with Jesus, his love will naturally flow out of me.

Already I am seeing God bring people into our lives as we are living here in Sanda. Thursday mornings we meet with a local businessman to help him practice English, and he wants to have deep conversations with us to get better at expressing his feelings. He is searching for a deeper meaning in life, and already we’ve had the chance to share with him the hope we have in Jesus.

Last week, we met a man at Starbucks who is studying in college to become an English teacher. He was so excited to meet us and wants to get together to practice English.

We’ve visited two families for dinner at their houses - which is a big deal because the home is considered to be the ‘inner’ life. By inviting someone into your home, you are essentially inviting them into your personal life. The first family we visited was the Ishida family, who I lived with when I was here in 2015! It was so much fun to see them again!! We made sushi at their house, played games, and laughed trying to communicate through the language barrier (I’m getting better at Japanese, but speaking is still a big challenge for me).

We also visited a family whose daughter attends Flip English classes (Flip is the name of the Thomson’s English school). They invited us to make dinner with them, and we had so much fun learning how to cook gyouza, Japanese dumplings! It sounds so simple, but just taking time to be with them meant so much. After dinner and games their whole family got in the car and drove us home - it was so sweet!

Every day I see how God is moving through relationships. Yesterday at the grocery store, a little boy from our Tuesday English class came running up to me saying, “Arana-sensei!” He was so excited to see me, and it made my day to hear him call me by name and see him smile! Its little moments like these that remind me daily of how God’s love is at work through relationships.

Yesterday we had two new friends over to our house and learned how to cook takoyaki (bite-sized pieces of dough with octopus inside). We went shopping, made lunch together, and then had time to talk as we ate together. It’s the beginning of a relationship with these two ladies, and I’m excited to see where God will take our friendship.

It’s so amazing to be a part of what God is already doing here in Sanda! I am so thankful that because of Jesus’ love for me, I can freely share that love with others.

'I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.' -Ephesians 3:16-19

Prayer Requests:

These next couple weeks, please be praying for wisdom and peace in the midst of our crazy schedule. There is so much to learn, and it gets a little overwhelming at times.

You can specifically pray for me and my teammates as we practice and learn Japanese. Pray that we will absorb as much as possible and gain confidence in using and speaking the little we do know! Also please pray for us in the process of learning how to teach English. It is a challenge learning the specific steps for teaching, and planning for each lesson.

Allana Drianis
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