June Update
Welcome back to our blog! Thank you all for your support whether it be through prayer, finances, sending words of encouragement, the list could go on! We are very appreciative of you all and grateful that God has provided us with such a wonderful community.
June saw us reach our 100 day milestone. We are 3 months in- 1/4 of our time here. Where has it gone!? Ministries are continuing to travel well.This month we have letterbox dropped close to 1,000 flyers and Gospel booklets with the intention of spreading the Good News and informing people of the various ministries we currently have up and running. Each time we go out, we pray that the booklets and flyers won't just be discarded but actually read. We also take the opportunity to prayer walk as we deliver. The great thing about Japan is that it is common practice for people to have their nameplate on or near their letterbox. This is such a great opportunity to be able to name and pray specifically for each family even though we may not know them yet. A highlight was one day after we were walking back from letterbox dropping and I saw an elderly man out on the street, by his letterbox, reading the Gospel comic we had just placed in there! Praise the Lord!
英会話　English Conversation Class (ECC) Ministry
ECC Ministry continues to go well. It's a privilege to share the Bible with children and adults who have not grown up with the teaching we have had access to. This month, we met the dad of our regular family. The kids had been talking so much about it at home, that he wanted to find out for himself what it was all about. He often works on Saturdays but he has come twice this month! We have now met the whole family. We have also recently had another new family join. We met them one day when we were out letterbox dropping. The daughter is 4 years old and mum brings her along each week.
Bible Discussion
On the back of ECC Ministry, another ministry has organically evolved. We have a friend in her 20s who has been coming to church for about 3 years but is not yet a Christian. She comes to ECC as she is interested in learning English but afterward, we do more "adult level" English and discuss the Bible story of the day with a mix of English and Japanese. She has a lot of great questions! Just this week we met another lady in the community who has also expressed interest in learning English and she may come and join Bible Discussion. We're praying for that!
3P Ministry- Praise and Prayer in the Park
In our last blog post, I mentioned that we were thinking of taking the prayer meeting that is scheduled to operate at the house on a Wednesday to the local park nearby. We have been doing it every week for the past month and have had someone come every week! Our regulars are our usual family from ECC. They try and invite friends to come along. This week they weren't going to be able to make it. We weren't sure if we would have anyone, so we prayed. Still no one. We finished setting up our picnic mat and our activities, practised the songs and prayed again that God would bring someone. We said"amen", looked up and there was a lady walking up the street. She looked like she was heading to the park. She looked that way because she was!! She apparently likes music, knew our family from ECC and wanted to check out what we were doing in the park and join in the singing. She is the same lady that also expressed some interest in English and so may attend the Bible Discussion group. And so, we continue to go and be a presence and trust God to bring the people He wants to the various things on offer or just randomly to our home for a conversation (it's happened! And yes....Mrs S continues to visit regularly- a few times a week, often bringing tasty food to share).
Praise God for:
His faithfulness
His incredible strength that encourages us in our weakness
The people He continues to bring along our path
The opportunities for one-on-one connections with people
Our regular ECC family who actively invite their friends and neighbours to different events
Pray for:
Our ECC attendees to come to know Christ
Mrs S to come to know Christ (see our blog post from April)
The messages at ECC ministry to be planted deep in hearts and to be the messages that sow seeds of transformation in families
Wednesday's "Praise and Prayer in the Park"- that the community will engage and people will be drawn to hear the truth about God through song
Our new ECC family that they will continue to come regular
The new lady who came to "Praise and Prayer..." that we will be able to build a good relationship with her and have more opportunities to connect with her. Pray that she will join the Bible Discussion group.
God to continue to send people in His timing
Continued growth of our language skills and abilities