first day of action

Well, we've been in Tokyo since June 1 doing orientation. I met a bunch of REALLY cool people, and got to know quite a bit about my team (and myself!). Yesterday we took a bunch of trains to an airport, and flew to Fukuoka. Upon arrival, we went to the Shins house for some food and the opportunity to get to know some of the key BEST members. Best is for Bookdiscussion English Sports Travel, what we will be doing here at Fukuoka University.
Today, we had a great feast of a breakfast with our roomie, Naoko, and then set out for a busy, busy day! We walked around the neighborhood, visited the grocery store, and then headed for the University. We were supposed to help in a classroom with an English teacher from the Canada Navigators, but he wasn't expecting us until Tuesday. While we were hanging out in the hallway, we met a Japanese man who was an English teacher who went to school in Kansas. We ended up visiting his class, speaking in front for about 20 minutes. We told the class who we were and that we were there for the next 2 months and we would love to chat with them sometime if they have the chance. Within the hour, we got 2 emails just saying hello. We met a student Jun meets with, and then Meg, Naoko, and I went to do some "cold turkey evangelising" they like to call it. We don't talk about anything spiritual (and probably won't for a long, long time, if at all), so it's really just walking up to people and starting conversations. We met one girl who was wanting to be friends and practice English, and talked for her for at least 35 minutes before she had to go practice. The next girl we talked to was a Philosophy major and told us she was interested in discussing the Bible, even before we mentioned anything about it! When we were walking out, some girls were sitting outside and started saying, "Hello!" really loudly. It turns out that one of the girls was in the class we spoke in front of, and really wanted to speak to us in a smaller setting. She and her friends are in a break-dancing club. The whole time we were walking around, Naoko was nervous about the guards kicking us out because she said they know her. After we left the 3 girls, 2 guards went up to them and looked at the contact information Naoko had given them. At this point she was almost hysterical. The girls had told me ways to find them in the next few weeks, so I'm not worried about finding them or them being interested in talking to us. There are signs all around the entrance to the school telling students to watch out for people talking about religion, and to stay away from them. One of the guards even came to the BEST club party tonight and asked what it was about. We said English conversation, so they said that was okay.
Please pray that 1)we will be allowed on campus for the next 2 months, 2) we will be welcomed with open arms by the students, and 3) that Naoko will gain wisdom with how to handle the guards, and peace about continuing mission work at Fukuoka University.

I'm pretty beat, but tomorrow I will have a lot of down-time since Naoko is working until noon and I cannot ride a bike, yet.

I hope you all are having a great summer (or last few weeks of school). Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you, again, for all your support and encouragement for this trip!