Japan

i've edited my last post and am replacing it with something short and sweet..

a lot of us are just unsure of what to expect from Japan..we're not quite sure how our hosts will respond to us or the gospel since we will be staying with non-Christians...how will people react to some of us who have Asian faces yet don't speak a word of Japanese..or at most, speak haltingly and limitedly..how different is campus ministry with the Japanese group KGK compared to campus ministry in Australia?

some of my friends told me that now is a really bad time to go to Japan with the high exchange rate and poor economy in Australia and Singapore..a few even told me that i'm being irresponsible with my parents' money..at such points i do not know how to answer: should i say that Jesus and the gospel are more important than money..even if that money was what my parents sent me at the beginning of the year? how should i tell my Christian friends back home that gospel and ministry priorities are important and that my spending Christmas away from family is not wilful disobedience of the command to "honour your father and mother"? what should i say to Christian friends who say that i can do ministry back home and i don't have to go all the way to Japan and waste my parents' money when all i want is just a holiday and i'm covering it up with religiousity? Job's comforters indeed..

Pray for wisdom and God's grace in answering these friends and family..pray that we will not be bitter with them for the things they may say..pray that we will know how to give a good Christian testimony and defence of our Japan mission trip, to our hosts in Japan and our family and friends back home..thanks