At the end of 2018, we received an abundant blessing of the Holy Spirit through the New Jerusalem Preaching Festival, and went on a short-term mission to Kobe in Japan in the beginning of New Year.
On the first day of our short-term mission, we met people who willingly listened to us and made an appointment to meet us the next time. It seemed like it was going smoother than we’d thought, but soon after, it became difficult to do our mission. The response to our preaching at best was “It was interesting to know what I didn’t know in the Bible.” Hardly anyone related the word of God to his own life.
Over a week or two, we gradually got exhausted. We felt anxious because it seemed like we would go back to Korea without any result. But then, we were encouraged by the cheering video from the team in Fukuoka. Later, we were united with the team in Osaka. Their fervor renewed our minds and reminded us of why we came to Japan.
We pulled together and continued with our mission. Until the morning of the last day of the mission at Kobe, we bore no fruit though we preached hard. Then it became afternoon. We suppressed our anxiety and went to preach with determination to do our best with the Osaka team to the end. One hour later, we met a woman in front of a department store nearby Zion. It must have been difficult for her to concentrate on the word of God because the street was crowded with people, but she paid careful attention from the beginning to the end of our preaching. As we weren’t good at Japanese, we preached simply about the Passover and recommended receiving a new life, which, by then, was probably our thousandth try.
“We hope you will keep the Passover and be saved.”
“Yes, I will.”
For the moment, we doubted what we heard. We received countless rejections during the short-term preaching for about a month. However, we found a person who willingly agreed to follow the word of God. We were elated that we jumped up and down. Our hearts were throbbing at the fact that we finally found a child whom Heavenly Father and Mother had been earnestly waiting for in Kobe.
Finding a heavenly family member in Kobe was like the Israelites’ destroying Jericho. The impregnable city of Jericho didn’t move at all even after they marched around it seven times, but when they shouted together, it collapsed. Our short-term mission schedule was similar to that in many ways. We didn’t reap any result until we were rejected for about hundreds of times, but when the Kobe Branch Church and the Osaka Church preached in unity, God opened the way of salvation.
“Do not give up to the end!”
As we realized greatly through the short-term mission in Kobe, we made a resolution to become better than before in our life of faith on our way back. Now that we’ve learned how to achieve a gospel result, we will put into practice God’s will. Above all, we will not forget the sacrifice of Heavenly Mother who would have prayed for us more than ten thousand times while we were preaching for a thousand times. Just as King David always longed for Jerusalem, we too will always long for New Jerusalem Heavenly Mother, and participate in the gospel work as with the mindset for the short-term mission.