Author: David

It’s a few months since the start of my internship at Morioka Bible Baptist Church, and it’s quickly become apparent that ministry in Japan is fast paced, exciting and quite a bit different from being a full time language student, or working 9 – 5 as an IT professional (my previous day job). We’re still in the process of adjusting to this new pace, learning to take time to breathe when things are a little slower so that we can dive right into the long days, late nights and long hours on the road that characterize ministry in Morioka and throughout rural Iwate.

It’s been both a challenge and a blessing to be able to experience many different aspects of ministry in December. As seems to be the case in most places, Christmas is one of the busiest times at our Church.

At the beginning of the month we hosted a team of four gentlemen from Texas. For me it was my first chance being on the receiving end of a short term missions trip. With the help of the team we were able to host an English Cafe at the local community center. We also spent a day down on the coast working with Tomo’s dad to minister to survivors still living in temporary housing, as well as help with an afternoon children’s program for kids living in temporary housing. We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to hosting more teams from their church in the future. For me in particular it was a lot of fun being able to hang out with a group of guys who understood (and were quite proficient) in American sarcasm, which rarely translates well into Japanese.

As we said goodbye to our new friends from Texas, a large team from Singapore arrived the same day and helped to host another English Cafe at the church before we sent them off to various locations on the coast to help with Christmas outreaches.

Tomo and I were put in charge of our church’s Christmas Service this year, where we came up with a program to explain who Christ is, by using Japanese calligraphy. I produced a series of videos of Church members writing about Jesus, while Tomo coordinated and enlisted nearly every member of the church to help with various aspects of the service, from reading scripture, to singing in the choir, to making snacks and cleaning the church. It was an exhausting ordeal but in the end everything came together, and we were encouraged to see a number of new people attend, as well as some friends and family of church members.

The Japanese calligraphy created by church members. Watch video.
The next day our family drove 2 hours down to Ofunato to spend Christmas Eve with Ofunato Church, where we celebrated Christ’s coming with one of the only two members of the church. We were pleasently surprised to see one new beleiver and two non Christians who had been ministered to by 3.11 staff members also attend the service.

Throughout December God gave us many opportunities to share about the coming of His Son, and through all these experiences we’re begining to get a better understanding of the needs here, and how God can use us to meet those needs as we look towards many years of future ministry here in Iwate. We still have much to learn, but God is faithfully teaching and preparing us to serve Him here.

The average person in Japan has never set foot inside a church building, and very likely has never had a conversation with a Christian. We try to help change that through various outreach events at our church. In October we hosted two English Cafes. In addition to our normally scheduled Friday evening event, we also held a Tuesday afternoon English Cafe. On Friday evenings we normally get a lot of college students attending. However at the Tuesday event we were encouraged to see a different demographic, primarily made up of retired people and young mothers.

Please be praying for those who attended, that God would speak to their hearts, and bring them back again and again so that we can build friendships and have further opportunities share Christ.

Ofunato Harbor at dawn.

I had an overnight trip to Ofunato, a coastal city that is both home to our sister church, and one of the 3.11 Network volunteer bases. There are still many people living in temporary housing, and through the 3.11 Network staff and volunteers, programs are held to encourage these residents as they slowly work towards moving into permanent housing and rebuilding a normal life. For the last three year the 3.11 Network has rented a home to house staff and teams working at the various temporary housing parks scattered throughout the city, however in October the owner of the house needed it back, so I went to help with the move.

Rina, the remaining 3.11 staff worker in Ofunato was given permission to move into one of the open units at the largest temporary housing unit. This is both a blessing and a a bit of a trial. It’s a blessing that she is now able to live right in the midst of the people the network is seeking to help, but it is a more difficult situation to live in, and the unit is very small which limits the size of teams that can be hosted. Please pray for her and the ministry to the residents of Ofunato.

Over 500 people gathered for the national CPI conference.

We also had a wonderful time attending the national Japan Church Planting Institute national conference. Over 500 missionaries and pastors gathered to pray, encourage one another and learn how to multiply churches in Japan. As we are gearing up to be involved in Church Planting after my internship is complete, it was incredibly helpful to start thinking through the ways in which evangelism and discipleship drive the church planting process. Additionaly we gained a clearer sense of the things we wanted to learn during the internship phase at MBBC, and came away really praising God for that. The kids survive the long car ride, and we got to meet many missionary friends from around Japan that we rarely get to see. It was a great blessing.

We’ve been back in Japan for a little over a week now, and are praising God for a safe journey. The trip went very smoothly, although Felicity was not very happy with the long flight (and made that clear to all the other passengers on the plane throughout  the lights out portion of the trip).  We’ve also struggled with some minor health issues since being back, Felicity came down with a fever the first few days, and the rest of us have now caught colds on top of that. Prayers for quick healing are much appreciated.

We tried to take it easy our first week back and give all of us a chance to get over jet lag. Titus was especially excited to be back home and has made a habit of pointing out every place and thing he remembers. 3 months a way is a long time for a 3 year old, and I think he forgot that he would be coming back. He started going to pre-school again yesterday and seems to be adjusting well. He is having a hard time with the language, having forgotten a lot of Japanese over the course of the Summer, and is a little more shy than usual because of it.

We’re starting to ease back into ministry here as I begin my two year internship at Morioka Bible Baptist Church. We’ve got a list of things we’d like to help out with at the church, and will be having a meeting with out pastor shortly to talk about where I can help out.

I attended a meeting with leaders from the other churches in Iwate and was really burdened by the needs of the churches here which are struggling without a pastor. I feel there is a large need among these congregations for discipleship and training of lay members to help lead these congregations during their time without a pastor. Pray for direction and if the Lord wills for future opportunities to help in this area.

We’ve been back in the US now for just over two months, and in that time we’ve visited 8 churches, attended JEMS annual camp, and reconnected with many friends and family. It’s been wonderful spending time back home where we were blessed to see two of my siblings get married this, and meet our newest niece and nephew for the first time.

As we continue to serve in Japan, Lord willing for many years to come, we anticipate returning to the US for trips like these every two years or so. We have a number of reasons for this.

Reporting on what God has done.
First we want to report back to the people and churches who are praying for us and financially supporting us and the work that God is doing in Iwate, Japan. Those of you who partner with us are an absolutely essential part of the ministry that is taking place in Iwate and we want you all to know how God is answering your prayers and using the resources you are contributing, as well as keeping yo informed of the needs going forward and how you can continue to pray and help out. After our first two years in Japan we were really blown away at all that God has done, and have been excited to be back and share about the unprecedented ways He has begun to work in our part of Japan. If you haven’t had a chance to hear an update from us during our time here and you live in the Orange County area, we’ll be giving one final update this Saturday, September 5th.

Click here for for details about attending our Sep. 5th Missions update.

Raising support.
A second reason we’re back is to seek out additional financial supporters, people who God has given an interest and a heart for Japan and want to partner with us to help bring the Gospel to the people of Iwate, and see new churches started in unreached cities. All of our salary and ministry expenses are provided each month by the financial giving of churches and individuals. This is an incredibly humbling thing for us, and yet we see this pattern of ministry to be firmly Biblical, and God honoring. It allows the entire body of Christ to be obedient and involved in the work that God is doing throughout the world. Currently we’re in need of additional monthly financial partners, and our prayer is that God will lead people here in the US to join us, and send us back to Japan to continue His work.

Click here if you’re interested in becoming a monthly financial partner.

Rest.
The third reason we’re back is simply to rest and recharge a little bit. Living in a different country, with a different culture can be a stressful experience, particularly for me as I strive to learn Japanese. Simple everyday activities turn into intense mental gymnastics as I try to catch every sound and recall every meaning in every conversation that I have. It’s been very refreshing to have some time to reconnect with friends who speak English, and to hear sermons and worship in English. For the kids this is a chance to maintain a relationship with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who they rarely get to see. We’re very grateful as a family for this change of pace and this opportunity to rest and ready ourselves for another period of active ministry in Japan.

Throughout our time here we’ve seen God’s blessings in each of these three areas, and continue to look to Him to provide and enable us to do the work that He has called us, along with our prayer and financial partners, to carry out in Japan.

It’s already been a month since we’ve been back in the US, and we’ve had a wonderful, but busy time visiting friends families and churches who have all played an enormous role in our lives and ministry over the last two years. It’s been an incredible blessing to serve with your support and partnership, and we look forward to many more years in the future.

Thank you for your prayers, God has provided both a vehicle for us to use, and places to stay during our time!

We’ve already had opportunity to meet with many of you since being back, and we hope to see many more of you in our remaining two months here. Please check the schedule  to see what churches we’ll be visiting  — we may be at your church soon! If not, we’d love to see you some other time, so please email us and we’ll try to set something up. We’re also in the process of planning a Saturday update at some point, and maybe some evening prayer meetings, we’ll let you know as soon as we get that figured out!

Below are some prayer requests for our time here in the US!

• For new ministry partners. Our monthly support is low, which is one of the reasons we’re back here in the US. Please pray that God raises up new ministry partners during our time here so that we can continue seriving in Japan long term.
• For me and Titus not to forget all the Japanese we learned before coming back to the US.
• That we can see all the people and churches we’d like to in the short time that we’re here.
• That we don’t lose sight of the fact that ultimately Go is the One who is our provider, and therefore not neglect times of prayer and devotion during the short time that we’re here.

If you feel led to partner with us in monthly giving or to give a special gift to enable us to continue serving in Japan, please visit: http://www.daveandtomo.com/support/