2020 Here we go! Japan Missions

 

Dear Family, Friends and Prayer Warriors,

We hope this new year is finding you all well in body and spirit, and full of expectation as to what the Lord will do in you and through you during 2020! This is our prayer for each one of you.

We are enjoying a mild winter here in Tokyo, and staying very busy day to day, as well as looking ahead to many big plans looming on the horizon. Here is a quick summary:

The Christmas season afforded us with several outreach opportunities. Our church hosted a Christmas worship outreach with nearly 100 people in attendance. We enjoyed the day together, in song, in feasting, and in sharing the story of Jesus. As a family, we did plenty of holiday baking and then went Christmas caroling, bearing cookie bags and cards, to many neighbors and people we have been reaching out to. This is not a common practice in Japan and we feel that it was very well appreciated. We hope it provided one more step in building relationships and softening hearts.

Over the New Year holiday (much bigger in Japan than Christmas), we were blessed to have a visit from Fabio’s brother and his family, who live about 6 hours away from us.

Once the holiday season was over, Fabio started back to Japanese language school full time, at a different school, which seems to be a better fit for him. He continues to meet everyday with pastor Ogawa for Bible reading and prayer time besides helping with teachings and other practical things.

On January 16th, we welcomed Joshua back home with much joy after five months of doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM (Youth With a Mission). The lecture phase was in Taiwan, and the outreach phase was in Okinawa part of the time and on another island that belongs to Taiwan part of the time. It was a life-changing and heart-changing experience for him and we are so thankful to see the growth in his life as a young man and his desire to seek the Lord and serve Him. We are praying with him about the next step for his life, and would appreciate your prayers as well.

When he came home, Joshua also brought a friend from DTS with him, Brinson, and the same day another young lady from our church in Brazil arrived for a visit, Vitoria. So we had a very full house (er, apartment!) for a week, and a nice international mix. 🙂

In January, we also planned an outreach event at church, a concert by Skip Tanaka from Tennessee! We were encouraged by a good turnout, and were blessed by Skip’s music and the sharing of his testimony. Pray that these seeds that are being planted will bear fruit!

We would like to share another beautiful opportunity that God has provided. Each Monday, we have a private teacher come to give our children Japanese lessons, one by one, so she is there most of the afternoon. Her name is Mrs. Morita. Well, since she expressed a desire to find out more about what the Bible is about, Elizabeth started meeting with her on Monday afternoon as well, not to study Japanese, but to read the Bible together! They are reading the book of Mark, and have been able to have some very good conversations about what the Bible is all about, who God is, and what the Good News is. Please pray for her salvation.

So, here we are in February. We continue to do Kids Club outreach once a month, and English Time outreach every Friday night, as well as assist the church with various things. Elizabeth is working on wrapping up the school year with the children (the school year in Japan ends in March), and nesting instinct is also kicking in strong as we prepare to meet our new addition the end of March. Thankfully, the pregnancy has gone very well. Please pray for a safe delivery as well.

At this point, we are actively preparing, both mentally and in practical ways, for our big move to Nagasaki! Fabio and I will probably be traveling there the last week in May. Please pray that we will be able to find a suitable house during that trip so that we will be able to move during the summer.

 

 

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