English Classes

Just finished with the second week of teaching English here in Shimonoseki. I am very thankful to be here and so happy to get started in this ministry. It's been a joy starting to get to know the students and in some cases the parents of the students. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be here in Japan.
To give you an idea a normal class I will give you a general outline of how they go. For the youngest kids; I teach them english- often with their parents in the room- for 30 minutes. There is a curriculum to follow and the lessons are very well laid out so we take as long as the class needs for each lesson. The last 15 minutes of the class we read a bible story in English and either a parent or a member of the church is present to translate and explain it in Japanese. For this type of class the children are basically studying the Bible for over 30% of the time and often the parents are in the room reading right along with the children. The older kids have 45 minutes of English, and 15 minutes of Bible and the adults have an hour of English with 15 minutes of Bible. The first week I taught a lady asked if she could take the English story Bible home, and the next week she came back with every single word we had read defined in Japanese so she was sure she understood it properly. Most of the students are unsaved and often this is the first time that any of them have heard any of the stories in the Bible let alone anything to do with the salvation message. Please pray for wisdom in how to develop these relationship with students and parents, for strength as we continue to adapt to the different lifestyle, and most importantly for God to draw these people to Him that they might know Him as their savior.
David