This past Sunday I got to preach at my home church in San Juan Capistrano. It’s been wonderful to get the opportunity to preach there, and hopefully been an encouragement to them as well. This is the second message in a series through the book of Malachi, where we’re seeing some of the amazing links between the Old and New Testaments, in particular this week by looking at the deficiency of the Levitical priesthood and how Christ succeeded where they failed.
We’ve been back in the US for just about three months now, and have had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. More than ever we are grateful for the people that God has brought into our lives to share in this work of reaching the people of Japan with Christ’s love and salvation.
We’ve also had time to slow down a little and reflect on how things have been going over the past few years in Japan, and some areas we need to grow in. In particular I’ve thought of five areas I hope to grow in this year, and I’d encourage you to consider how you might as well.
1. Personal Spiritual Life As time went by in Japan it seemed harder and harder to find time to read the Bible and pray. Ministry and children kept us busy and often it wasn’t till the end of the day that I felt I had any time for devotions. This year I’m trying to refocus my priorities, as I’ve found that as I neglect time with the Lord my effectiveness in ministry and my ability to love my family suffers.
2. Corporate Spiritual Life
Recently God has really been impressing on me the need to be involved in the spiritual life of others, as well as allowing others to be involved in my own. This is a core part of being a part of a church that I think I have often overlooked. To that end I’m looking for chances to meet with other believers on a regular basis to talk about God’s Word, to be involved in Bible Studies, and even just being more willing to give my time to my Christian brother’s and sisters, to hear what’s going on in there lives and to think of ways I can be an encouragement to them.
3. Evangelism
One of the biggest challenges to living in Japan for me has been the difficulty in communicating in a second language. The extra courage and effort it takes to initiate any conversation, much less conversations that deal with sensitive issues, often left me just listening and nodding my head instead of opening my mouth. To help get over that, one thing I hope to begin doing more of once back in Japan is simply offering to pray for people on the spot when I hear about needs in their life, and through that look for an opportunity to go a little deeper and help point them towards Jesus.
4. Community Service
Another lesson that God’s really impressed on me during my time in Japan has been the importance of loving people without expecting anything in return, not even a chance to share the gospel with them. Don’t get me wrong, the ultimate act of love we can have for a non-Christian is to introduce them to Christ. But in a culture that is highly suspicious of religion, trust needs to be gained before they are willing to hear what I have to say about spiritual issues. If others perceive my goal is to increase membership in my religious group, I’ll be kept at arms length. But if I am able to demonstrate Christ’s love in a practical way first, even in ways that do not provide an opportunity for evangelism, that trust can be built as others come to see the genuine love that Christians have for people.
5. Global Missions/Engagement
Even though I’m going to Japan as a cross cultural missionary, I still want to be involved in what the Lord is doing all around the world. That includes ministering to our supporters in North America (and beyond!), and supporting and praying for other missionaries and ministries that are serving in other parts of the world. I also want to take advantage of all the amazing ways we can communicate in the 21st century to have an impact in the lives of people around the world through blogging, emailing, and utilizing online video.
What about you? What are some ways you can grow in these areas in 2018?
This year we are seeking to raise an additional $6,500 in year end giving for home service expenses and budget short falls.
In 2018, Lord willing, we will begin a new phase of ministry on the coast. It is our prayer to continue partnering with MBBC and Pastor Kondo, to strengthen and plant churches in coastal cities that were effected by the Tsunami. In order to prepare for this ministry we will be returning to the US in late 2017 to raise additional monthly support. However we will need to raise money for travel costs to the States and back. Additionally we are hoping to make up for some of the shortage of monthly giving in 2016.
We continue to see God working here as he allows us to be more and more involved in the work he is doing here in Iwate. It’s truly an exciting time to be serving in this area and we are incredibly blessed by the partnership of our Japanese church and our supporters back in the US.
On May first we reached another milestone, as I was able to preach an entire sermon in Japanese for the first time. I was told by a number of people afterwards that it was easy to understand. There were a few non-Christians in attendance that Sunday, and I was overjoyed to be able to preach the Gospel to them. You can watch a video clip of the sermon here.
Taking 15 visitors to a three member church.
Since first arriving here we’ve been especially burdened to support the needs of Ofunato Bible Baptist Church, which was heavily damaged by the Tsunami, and after many difficulties has only two remaining members, and no pastor. But last Sunday I was able to visit along with two international teams, which meant the attendance that Sunday was more than quadruple it’s normal number.
The church is about 100 yards away from two newly built apartment complexes which serve as permanent housing for those who lost homes in the Tsunami. Just as God brought believers from around the world to fill that little church building to capacity last Sunday, we pray that in the near future God will fill it with new believers from the surrounding community.
Next Sunday we will visit the church as a family and I will preach the same sermon I preached at our home church.
5AM Baseball Fellowship
You may have heard that baseball is a big deal here in Japan. While in the states Evening Softball leagues are common, here they take it a little further. In order to work around the typical busy Japanese work days, they have leagues that start at 5AM. Our Pastor has been playing for the past few years because he loves baseball and meeting new people. This year my brother and I also joined.
Pray that we would be good witnesses on the team and for opportunities to get to know our team mates, most of whom are non-Christians.
In 2015 we started our third year of ministry in Japan! It has been a year of transition for us personally, as well as for much of the ministry that is happening in our part of Japan. In answer to our prayers, this past March David graduated from language school and was invited to serve as an intern at our church in Morioka. Meanwhile throughout the prefecture, vic-tims of the 2011 Tsunami finally began moving into permanent housing, and as a result the ministry to reach out to these people is shifting. In the midst of these changes, new church-planting efforts are starting again for the first time in decades. Yet as we look forward with joy and anticipation to being involved in this ministry in the near future, we find ourselves needing additional financial support.
June — We moved! God provided a new, larger home with cheaper rent!
Summer — First home service in US, reporting back to 9 partner churches!
September — Safely returned to Japan to start an internship at Morioka Bible Baptist Church
Doors Opening Ahead of Us
We came to Japan believing that God was working through the tragedy of the 2011 Tsunami, to reveal Himself to the people of Iwate. Our hope and prayer was to see new church-es stadrted among the coastal cities which were almost totally untouched by the gospel. By God’s grace we are now seeing this begin to happen, and have received multiple requests to help with church-planting or re-planting efforts in the coastal cities. We are prayerfully considering where God will have us serve in the future, but first we will be serving at our receiving church in Morioka for 2 years in order to gain much needed experience in working with Japanese Churches. We are incredibly excited for this opportunity, as well as for the doors God continues to open here in Iwate.
Support Needs
This year we are prayerfully seeking to raise an additional $6,500 in year end giving. Since we arrived in Japan the monthly gifts we’ve received have been below what is needed to cover all our expenses. However, each year God has graciously pro-vided through special gifts, so that we have been lacking in nothing. Without these needed year-end gifts we would eventually have to return to the US for support-raising, potentially interrupting the much needed work we in which we are engaged, here in Japan. God has faithfully provided for us since we arrived in Japan and we trust He will continue to do so according to His will. As 2015 draws to a close, perhaps He will lead you to share in what He is doing here in Japan through a special year-end gift. All gifts given to JEMS on our behalf are tax deductible.
Each month we’re currently receiving about $1,000 less than needed in order to remain in Japan long term.
Previous Year Giving: 10/2014 – 10/2015
Gifts Received: $68,107
Expenses*: $72,804 Reserve Funds Used $ 4,697
*Expenses include not only our salary, but also administrative fees to JEMS, employment taxes and ministry expenses. This year ministry ex-penses were significantly higher than normal due to the travel costs of returning to the US for home service.
Thank you!
Many of you have already given much towards this minis-try, not only financially, but also in the pouring out of your hearts in prayer for us and the people of Japan. We cannot thank you enough for the encouragement you have been in our lives, and for your contribution to bringing the gospel to one of the least reached prefectures in one of the least reached countries of the world. Each day we see more clearly the need for more workers here in Japan, and God has put in our hearts the desire to serve as one of those workers. We are already beginning to see Him work in new and amazing ways, and with your continuing partnership and God’s provision we hope to see even greater things done in His name in the future.
Check below to see where we’ll be sharing during our tine in the US! We’re still hoping to plan some other events and will update the page here when we do.
2013 started off with a sense of excitement; after 5 years of support raising in the US, we finally had a departure date set and were preparing to move to Japan. There were many times during those years that we wondered and questioned whether or not would ever open the doors for us to go to Japan. If He wanted us to serve Him there, why was He taking so long to provide? Yet every time we considered giving up He would provide some small push to keep us going. Encouragement from a friend. A new supporter, or a new supporting church. A reminder of the incredible need for missionaries to serve in Tohoku. We learned to persevere. On March 25, 2013, the three of us boarded a plane and flew to Japan.
The first few weeks were a chaotic blur as we tried to settle into our new home, or it would have been if we had a home. Initially we did not. But by God’s grace we arrived knowing that my brother and his family had come a month earlier, and God had miraculously provided a large house for them to live in, which they then generously invited us to share until we could find our own home. Thanks to new friends that we had barely met, we were able to sign a lease on a cozy apartment the day after we arrived, and moved in less than a week later. Again God provided.
Language school began on April 7, before jet lag had even fully subsided. I started knowing virtually no Japanese. The language school I began attending required that students spend six months of full time language study in their home countries before beginning the program in Japan. Despite this they agreed to accept me, and I was put in a “class” with no other students, receiving one on one instruction from two amazing teachers, both of whom are Christians (impossibly rare in a place where Christians comprise less than half a percent of the population). After six months they decided that I was close enough to the other students in level that I could join their class. I was able to pass the first 2 of 5 national language proficiency tests, and Lord willing I’ll be able to skip the third and take the fourth this Summer. While it has been challenging, I can’t imagine a better scenario in which to learn Japanese. Yet again, God provided.
We arrived in Japan with a heart to see churches planted among the Tsunami devastated coastal cities of Iwate. But at the time we had no idea where, or how or with who we would work. But God gave us a church and a network, which led to new friends and a constant flow of opportunities to help out and to contribute to the ongoing efforts to minister to the survivors. In the summer we were able to spend a week on the coast participating in events at the temporary housing parks, or Kasetsus as they are called here. We also found many opportunities to serve in our new home city of Morioka. Despite not playing piano in years before arriving, Tomo has joined the regular rotation to play on Sunday mornings. In the fall the church decided to continue a monthly English practice outreach that was started by short term summer team, which Tomo and I have been able to help at each time, often seeing many unbelievers coming to the church to practice English, but then also having the
opportunity to hear the gospel. In the midst of full time language study it’s wonderful to be able to also participate in ministry, and to see God working.
We saw Him provide abundantly in 2013. We are incredibly thankful for those of you who have been praying for us, supporting us, and encouraging us throughout our first year as missionaries in Japan. We look forward with great anticipation to what God will do in 2014 and beyond, and are so encouraged that you are coming along with us.
