Mittwoch

     I wanted to write today's update mostly about last night's meeting. It was a night of two firsts for me. It was the first time being at one of the Big City English evangelism team's sushi dinners. It was also the first night for my Bible English class.

     The sushi dinners are a ministry and evangelism event for the people of Big City English Club. David, along with several people from Big City Church meet occasionally with people from the English club for dinner. The purpose is to directly share the Gospel. If David or one of the leaders see someone who has been coming to English club for a while and seems open to the Gospel, they will invite the student to dinner before the club meeting. It starts with informal conversation, just to break the ice. David brings sushi from a local restaurant, hence the name. (Side note: I've found that I like sushi. I never expected to like it. Sushi never sounded appetizing to me.) (Side-Side note: Yes. I like something with veggies in it. Surprise, surprise.)
     The evangelism team uses this time to talk to the invitee about the Gospel and the Four Spiritual Laws. Personally, it's a little hard to follow the conversation sometimes because I don't completely understand the language. Last night is a good example. David was talking in English to the person he invited for a while about justice. To me, it seemed like the conversation got lost in the weeds for a little. But another member of the evangelism team, Denis, stepped in and started asking questions in Russian. After about five minutes of this, Denis stood up and led the invitee in a prayer of salvation.
     Shocked? Yeah, so was I. It was such a rapid change in conversation pace that I didn't realize what was happening until he started praying. I've heard great about things happening in missions. But this was completely unexpected. I'll have to ask David more about it to understand all that happened.
     The sushi dinners have been a fixture of the evangelism team for a while. Over the last year, it has led to at least eight people praying for salvation. Now, I don't know what was really going on in their hearts. But it's an encouraging program to have when the visible outcome is so positive. This was the first time I've been to a real meeting like this. We've had several planning meetings before that were supposed to be meetings with students but didn't happen due to scheduling conflicts or other problems.
     OK, Bible English. Like I said, this was the first night for it. We had been talking about it for the last two weeks and finally tried it out last night. For a first time out, it went well. I had the advantage of having at least four people with a Christian background sitting in on it. It's a lot like the Bible study except that I'm focusing more on vocabulary. I used the Ecclesiastes study guide but chose a simpler chapter to study. (Ecc. 7:1-8:1 for those who are interested) The three others in the group didn't talk nearly as much. But it was good to have them there. I'm not sure if it's because I'm bad with faces/names but I didn't recognize them. Perhaps they've been to English club before. But it was encouraging to have that much interest for a first attempt at this sort of thing.
     We got a bit of a surprise last night during closing announcements. We will be shifting Tuesday English club to Monday sometime after the 21st. The elders of Big City Church need a day to meet during the week and the only time that works for their collective schedules is Tuesday. And since English has such a massive crowd, we need to move. So that means I won't be involved with the sushi dinners any more unless something changes with my schedule. But I'll still be there for English.
     And now for your bonus informative tidbit. I studied German in highschool but never really got good at it. I knew the German word for "Wednesday" but didn't know how to spell it. So that's what that title means.
     Another note, the blog just passed 2500 views this week.