Elated Hearts <3

I'd like to share a quick story of a joy I had from my adult beginner class. This year, every month in English class, we will spend a little time talking about some cultural aspect of the United States. This month I chose to focus on Easter, because it fell in April this year. Last week I read the story from a children's Bible in English, and this week I played for them a recording from when I sang in Christus Chorus at Concordia St. Paul of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives". They loved it- and described the sound as "calming", "tender", "hopeful", and one student even looked up from her dictionary and said, "My heart feels... 'elated'!" We talked about what "redeemer" means, and why it was that Jesus had to redeem us, and Easter as being a celebration of Christ victory over sin and death, and the hope we can have in faith of eternal life.

I played also for them Schutz' "I Am the Resurrection". We read John 11:25 in Japanese too, after I showed them the words in English. They loved this one too, and one student said, "Our teacher before taught us sometimes too about the Bible, but I didn't believe it then; but now I am beginning to understand." Little by little, what a joy it is to see the seeds of faith God is planting in hearts as he relentlessly pursues the lost! Thanks for your continued prayers!