Thank you for your faithful prayers and support! For the last month I’ve been on Summer break from Language School. We’ve tried to find time to relax and catch our breath, while at the same time getting involved in a number of different ministry events that God’s allowed us to take part in. At the same time I’ve also been slowly making progress through the mountain of Japanese homework I took home with me to do over the Summer (Just about done!). To see some photos of our Summer so far, click here.
Other than that our big project has been getting ready for the arrival of our new baby! Tomo’s due date is just a month away, so we’re almost into the “it could happen any time” zone. Thanks in aprt to the help of my brothers and one of their friends who were visiting from America this Summer, we were able to rearrange our little apartment to get a dedicated kids room. Already we’re reaping the benefits of that with Titus sleeping in his own room instead of with us (though he’s still getting used to that arrangement…). Titus is also getting ready to start Yochien, or Japanese pre-school later this month. This will make it a little easier on Tomo when she first takes our new baby home, as I’ll be back in school by then. Please pray that Titus adjusts well and that the baby is born without any complications. We’re really excited to welcome our new daughter home in the coming weeks!
I had a random encounter with a couple of Mormon missionaries, one girl from Oregon, and a Japanese girl from Chiba. I was taking Titus to the store to get some groceries by bike for the first time, but couldn’t figure out how to use the kickstand on it. After struggling with it for a good 5 minutes with many people streaming past, I someone behind me asking if I was ok in Japanese. This is fairly unusual as most Japanese are a little hesitant to strike up conversations with foreigners. I suppose that here too, Mormon’s are among the nicest people you’ll meet. On the one hand it’s devastating to see that the Mormon church is here in Japan leading people away from the truth of the Gospel. Ironically in the years leading up to the Tsunami while all the Evangelical missionaries had moved on from Iwate, the Mormon’s continued to send a steady stream through to their church near our house.
But even more devastating is just how close these Japanese Mormon’s are compared to the vast majority of their countrymen. They’ve overcome all the same hurdles that keep Japanese away Christ, only to land themselves in a false church. I had a nice chat with them, and even got a chance to share a little bit of the Gospel while standing outside the grocery store. Please pray that they would find the truth, and that their efforts to lead other Japanese to Mormonism would fail (or somehow in God’s providence would instead lead them to Himself!).
Thank you for being a part of all that God is doing over here. We appreciate and rely upon your prayers each day.
