New Hope

On Sunday we went to New Hope International Fellowship Tokyo which is located down the street from the ochanomizu station. The church is a church plant from Hawaii. It seems to be doing really well here in Tokyo. They have three centers, two services, and a Christian bookstore. The place is always crowded but it is on the small side. There seems to be about 150 people at the service we attend. The crowd seems to be spilt between the Japanese and missionaries. The entire service including worship is in English and Japanese. I love the worship! It is amazing to attempt singing songs I know in another language. It was also really moving to hear Nami singing next to me!

This past Sunday’s message was that of “yearning to be connected” which was given based on Psalm 42. The three main points are:

1. Remember how the good times with God were.
2. Remember specific experiences of God’s intervention in your life.
3. Choose to praise God in spite the feelings of depression.

One of the things that was said that I liked was “you tend forget the moments worth remembering and remember the moments that should be forgotten.” They were talking about dwelling on negatives thoughts and also how people tend to notice the ‘absence’ of God rather the times when He has clearly provided.

So that was Church! :) Nami and her friend Yuria came with me. It was awesome. It was their first time to church!!! :) Nami is the new believer from last week that I was able to share with. I haven’t been able to share with Yuria but I hope to tomorrow when we have lunch. After church a large group of us (well in Japan it is large… myself, Aya, Megan, Nami, Yuria, Maria, David, and two guys from New Hope) went to get lunch. We found this amazing Hawaiian restaurant!!! It was the most expensive hamburger of my life but it was worth every yen! :)