Richard Park

God’s Chosen People

As I look back on my trip to Japan, the main thing I think of is how much God faithfully loves Japan. It doesn’t matter that the country only has a 2% Christian population.

During our first week of participating in campus ministry, we arrived at Kwansei Gakuin University a little early and went out to invite students to join us for that day’s Funky Club. This was my first week of trying to reach out to Japanese people and it was tough to get constant rejection. I walked back discouraged after another unsuccessful session of asking students to come. Honestly, I was glad it was time to start Funky Club. As I was about to enter the building though, a class period had just ended so a mass of students came out. I felt I should at least try one more time. So, as I was about to approach one student I somehow saw another one directly behind him who seemed a little friendlier. I stopped him and introduced myself explaining that I was visiting Japan from America. After a brief conversation, he was very polite so I asked him if he would be interested in coming with me to a meeting of international students. He replied by saying “Yes, please.” I was very surprised to hear this response, but it felt so great to have a positive response! Hiroki enjoyed the discussion time and meeting with foreign students that day so he told me he wanted to come again the following week.

As my time in Japan was winding down, I really wanted to see Hiroki come to a Sunday Worship Service. Even though he told me earlier that he was interested in coming, I wanted to be there with him. It was great to see him waiting in the lobby of church ….Hiroki