This past Sunday the church voted to officially accept as cooperating missionaries for the next two years! We continue to be humbled by God’s grace in leading us to this church, and for the opportunity to both serve and learn there during the next two years.
It’s the start of the fiscal year here in Japan, and for churches that means a lot of meetings. In the past month I’ve attended numerous Pastors meetings, congregational meetings, deacon meetings, 3.11 Network meetings and denominational meetings. It’s been a little exhausting but I’ve been able to meet many pastors, missionaries and staff workers involved in ministry here in Iwate, as well as gain a better understanding of how everyone is connected and what sort of ministries are taking place. I feel that in the future as these relationships with churches and pastors grow they will prove invaluable to the work God is calling us to.
However for the moment our focus in on our upcoming home service which is now less than 2 months away. We’re in the process of preparing updates to give to all our supporting churches, and getting new brochures and prayer cards made so that we can keep all of you informed as to what God is doing here in Japan. We can’t wait to see many of you this Summer!
We are still in searching for a vehicle to use over the Summer, so if you or someone you know has an extra car you would be willing to let us borrow during our time in the states, please let us know.
We’ve also decided to move to a new house just before we leave. A friend at church who’s mother recently moved in with her, is offering to rent her mother’s house at a very reasonable rate. It will save us about $150 a month in rent, so the sooner we can move the better. This is going to make the next two months even more busy than they already are, so please pray that everything will go smoothly and that we can get the help needed to pull this off.
God has been so faithful to guide and direct us during our first term here, and we have seen Him work in so many different ways. It’s exciting to see the doors He is opening throughout the prefecture, and we can’t wait to share in person about what He is doing when we come visit this Summer!