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Traveling!

Dear friends, prayer partners and supporters,

Last Sunday we attended the missions fair at Calvary Chapel Mission Viejo, and got a chance to talk with a lot of people who came, by, and have five people to follow up with who were interested in our ministry. Praise God for that!

Right now we’re in Crowley, Texas, staying with some good friends that we haven’t seen in a few years. So far we have had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends, and sharing with people here about the needs in Japan. On Wednesday we flew into Dallas, and then immediately drove four hours up to Oklahoma to visit with old friends. We’re praising God for safe travels, especially since we discovered that my drivers license expired last month, and I was therefore not allowed to drive the rental car. Instead Tomo has had to do all the driving, which is a little outside her comfort zone as she grew up in Tokyo taking public transportation, and just got her license a few years ago after moving to the US.  In Oklahoma we were able to share with two families, and also pass on 4 support packets which these families agreed to give to interested friends and their churches.

On Friday Tomo drove us back down to Texas to stay with our friends who live in Crowley. We’ve gotten to share with them quite a bit about the things that God is calling us to in Japan, and they helped arrange for us to speak at their Sunday school this morning, and also meet with their pastor tomorrow afternoon. So far on the trip God has blessed us with one new financial partner, and nine new prayer partners. Titus has also held up pretty well

Tuesday morning we’ll be flying out to Chicago to spend the night with some good friends of Tomo’s parents before finally flying home on Wednesday. Thank you all for your prayers so far and please keep the following in prayer as we finish up the trip:

  1. Pray that we’ll be able to follow up with the people we met at the Missions Fair and get an opportunity to share with them individually.
  2. Pray that God will put a burden on the hearts of those who receive our information packets to help support the work that He is doing in Tohoku.
  3. Pray for the people that we have shared with that are still considering whether or not they will partner with us financially, that God will give them wisdom, and faith in His provision in their lives.
  4. Pray for our meeting with the Pastor of Hallmark Baptist church tomorrow at 2PM, that we would have a good time of fellowship and that if they are able, God would lead them to support us.
  5. We have a few other friends in the Texas area that we’re trying to get in touch with if they have time. Pray that we’ll be able to.
  6. Pray that we will have a good time of fellowship and sharing with our friends in Chicago, and that God will give them wisdom to know how and if they should partner with us.
  7. Pray for safe travels the rest of the way.
  8. Pray that God will provide 50% of our monthly support by the end of May so that we can stay on track for a departure within the next year to serve with SEND in Japan.

Thank you for all your prayers, we’re excited to be out here on the road seeking God’s will and giving people the opportunity to share with us in reaching the people of Tohoku with the hope and love of Christ during their time of need.

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April Opportunities

May 31 is coming up fast, which is our deadline to reach 50% of our promised monthly support. At the begining of March we were at 27%. By the end of March God brought us all the way to 36% leaving us 14% to go in order to make this deadline. As always we are confident that God will work out His will. If it is for us to go to Japan to serve with SEND within the next year, then we trust He will provide that increase. We’re praying to reach 43% by the end of April, and 50% by the end of May. And there are certainly a lot of opportunities for that to happen! Please be praying for the following:

Prayer Requests

  1. There are 12 families that we are hoping to meet with to give updates about Japan or to share for the first time. Almost all of them have expressed an interest in hearing about what we’re going to be doing, please be praying that we would be able to get appointments to meet with as many of them as possible in April, and all of them by the end of May. Pray that as we share, God will give wisdom to those we share with, and that if He desires them to partner with us He will put it into their hearts and encourage them to do so.
  2. There are also two churches, and one conference of churches that are currently considering supporting us. Please pray for these church leaders, that God would give them discernment, and that He would open up doors for effective partnership between us and these churches.
  3. From April 25 – May 2 we’re going to be visiting Texas, Oklahoma and Chicago to speak with familes and churches in those areas. This will be our first out of state trip, and Titus’ first trip ever. Please pray for safety, endurance, good time’s of fellowship with old friends, and that God would raise up new partners and supporters in these areas.
  4. This week I’m back to working full time for two weeks before we leave for Texas. This means that we have a very full schedule this month, which puts a lot of stress on our family as I’ll be out meeting with people after work on a regular basis, and Tomo will have to take care of Titus. Pray for perseverance and strength from God to get us through these next two months.
  5. NEW – On Sunday, April 22 there is a missions fair at a local church that’s supporting us, and we’re hoping to be able to participate in. Please pray that they’ll allow us to come, even though it’s a bit late, and also that we’ll have many opportunities to share with people at the church. UPDATE: We heard back from the church, we’re officially invited to participate!

As always, we are so very grateful to have your prayers, and your partnership. We’re excited to see what God has done, and even more excited to see what He will do. We’ve been amazed at the reports we’ve been getting from pastors and missionaries serving in Tohoku. God is clearly begining to do something, and we can’t wait to be able to get over there and be a part of it, and know that when God brings us there, you will be a part of it as well!

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Praying for what goes on behind the scenes.

Did you know that in the Tsunami hit prefecture of Iwate, there is on avearge 1 church in every 105 square miles, but in Orange County, there are 231 churches crammed into the same space? Click here to check out our new Tohoku report detailing the need for churches in the area we hope to minister in!

I was just reading Luke 18:1-8, where Jesus tells a parable about a widow who came before an unjust judge asking: “Give me justice against my adversary!” The judge ignored her pleas for justice for awhile, but the woman continued to bring her case before him over and over again so that he eventually granted her request just to get her to leave him alone. Christ’s point is that if an unjust judge will do the right thing when he is persistently asked to give justice, then God will certainly do the same when His people ask Him for justice from their adversaries. Christ encourages us to pray to God like that widow brought her case to the judge: frequently, persistently, with what might even be considered annoying frequency, without losing heart that God will certainly answer our prayers when we pray for things that are good.

Please be praying like that.

This week I’d like to ask you to be praying for the spiritual side of things. I often neglect to look beyond the surface of what is happening, and focus my prayers on the symptoms. In support raising, that means praying for contacts, praying for new monthly commitments, praying for the needs that I can quantify. But as I was thinking about that passage, and wondering about who our adversary is that we need God to deliver us from, I started to reflect on what is happening behind the scenes.

  1. Pray that God would place in the hearts of His people a longing for heavenly treasures that overpowers any longing for earthly comfort, so that Christians would be excited about the opportunity to invest some of their temporal finances to be a part of providing an opportunity for Japanese people to hear the gospel and grow in a relationship with their creator within the fellowship of a local church body.
  2. Pray that God would demonstrate His faithfulness to His people in such a powerful way that they would be able to trust Him to care for them when they chose to take bold steps of faith in order to fulfill the great commission, and that such faith would enable Christians who would otherwise be weighed down with fear and anxiety to give generously in order to send us to Japan on their behalf to baptize new believers and make disciples.
  3. Pray that God would constantly purify our hearts and motives, that we would always aim to build up and to offer ourselves to, and never to take from, the people we approach as we seek out people to partner with us in this ministry, for the building up of their character and faith, for the salvation of the Japanese, and for the glory of God.

Thank you all so much for your prayers!