This past Sunday I had the opportunity to visit the coast for the first time since we moved here one month ago, in order to attend the Sunday afternoon worship service at the only Christian church in the town of Ofunato. Ofunato is a town of 41,000 people, slightly larger than my home town of San Juan Capistrano, yet it has only one church, and that church has only two members.
The church has seen it’s share of hardships. For a number of years the church has been without its own Pastor, instead a pastor would come from the neighboring prefecture, often commuting over an hour, to preach at the afternoon service. The church was heavily damaged by the Tsunami, but thanks to the generosity of Christians in Japan and abroad, the small church was repaired. However by the beginning of this year their numbers had dwindled to 2, and their pastor was no longer able to make the commute each Sunday. Our church, Morioka Bible Baptist Church (MBBC), has taken the responsibility of ministering to this little church each Sunday, by sending a speaker and some of their members to make the hour and a half drive each Sunday afternoon to fellowship with the 2 remaining members of the church in Ofunato.
These two saints are a mother and her adult son. As you can imagine it is incredibly difficult to be a Christian in such circumstances. They are the only members of the only church for miles around, and surrounded by a culture and society that looks at them with suspicion because of their faith in a God that seems totally foreign. As they face persecution from family and coworkers, living in a town that was completely devastated only two years ago, they have also had to watch as every other member of their church, including their pastor, has moved on. Yet each Sunday this mother and her son gather at their little church to worship their God, hear from His Word and offer tithes.
It was a tremendous blessing to be able to worship alongside them this past Sunday. Our neighbor, James, who is a missionary that is working with MBBC, went to preach, while I and two other members of the church came along as well. MBBC also has strong ties to the Iwate 3.11 Church Network, and with this new partnership with the Ofunnato church, 4 or 5 Iwate 3.11 Staff members are now working more closely with the church in Ofunato. While I have a long ways to go in language acquisition, I was able to share through an interpreter how God had brought me to serve in Iwate.
- Pray for the two remaining members of the church in Ofunato, that God will continue to give them perseverance, and that they will not become discouraged.
- Pray for this new partnership between the church in Ofunato, MBBC and Iwate 3.11 Network. Pray that through the tsunami relief efforts of Iwate 3.11 Network that many in Ofunato would come to salvation and join in fellowship with the church in Ofunato.
- Pray for us as we begin to seek God’s guidance and direction as to where He can best use us after the I am done with language school. There are many places with many needs, and Ofunato is one of them.
One minor praise, today we picked up our car, a 2003 Subaru Forester. Now that we have a dependable vehicle that can handle the mountain roads that lead from here to the coast we’re free to begin visiting more frequently. We hope to visit various coastal towns at least once a month. Last Sunday in Ofunato I received an open invitation from some of the Iwate 3.11 Staff members to come to Ofunato any time to visit and help out. We also are looking forward to visiting Tomo’s parents in Kamaishi which is just north of Ofunato) and helping out with their ministry from time to time. We can’t express our gratitude enough to those of you who have given financially in the past, as it was these gifts that enabled us to purchase this vehicle. Pray that it is useful to God’s work here in Iwate!