We started a Bible study with Haruo and his Chinese wife. We meet for about an hour and a half every Wednesday afternoon. We have a Japanese and Chinese translation of the materials called fundamentals of the faith. One of our church members who is from Taiwan and speaks Chinese, kindly joined us as an interpreter for Haruo’s wife, so our group for the series is four people.
Haruo’s wife loves him so much that she wants him to become a Christian. Haruo does not himself desire to study the Bible but he wants to please his wife and so he is willing to spend time walking through the Bible with her. We covered the first two lessons so far: an introduction to the Bible and how to know the Bible. I get the impression that Haruo is grasping some understanding of the scripture and gaining an overview of the Bible. I am hoping that Haruo gains a soul-level understanding of God and true faith. We are praying for the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit to work upon his heart until he understands the Bible is the Word of God.
- Pray for Haruo’s salvation. The entire church and his wife are praying for Haruo to come to faith.
Kenji is eighty-two and facing aging issues. He is physically suffering from several diseases, but also his abilities of memory and judgment have significantly declined. He is showing early symptoms of dementia–emotional ups and downs, memory retention problems, etc, according to his wife. When Kenji comes to church or when I visit him at all, he seems to be interacting well and now showing much sign of mental decline. We have heard that Kenji is rough and harsh towards his wife quite often nowadays. Please pray for Kenji’s wife as she is facing difficulties in this situation and caring for Kenji daily.
I consciously call the wife and send encouraging notes to her via email to provide member-care as her pastor. Yet, I would like to invest more of my energy and effort in this area, thus I am asking God for guidance and wisdom. Pray for Kenji to accept reality and walk peacefully in the Lord. Pray for me as I guide Kenji in his difficulties. Pray for Kenji’s wife so that she can receive practical help from someone. I intend to increase my visitation to them.
- Pray for Kenji and his wife as they navigate this phase of life.
- Pray for guidance and patience from all involved.
My older daughter Nina, twelve, fell down the other day. She has an injured bone in her left ankle and is going through rehabilitation now. Pray for the complete healing of her ankle.
We continue to care for our church members by visiting their homes during the week, texting each other, and the men’s Bible study meeting on Wednesday evenings. In addition to the Sunday worship services, I am continuing individual Bible studies.
We anticipate having a Christmas service. We are planning to reflect upon the year by visiting each other in the afternoon; I am hoping everyone will experience the warmth of fellowship at this event.
It was such a meaningful time for me to participate in the White Fields Japan seminar last month. I was very thankful for the opportunity to learn from other pioneer spirit pastors who have already established multiple churches in various parts of the country, and to fellowship with White Fields’ co-workers in Christ. It was a moment of renewing my soul and of determination in moving forward with my church plant and pastoring. I felt so refreshed. We are grateful for your prayer and support.
Testimony
I was born in Okinawa Japan. I was born and raised in a Christian Family. I attended church with my parents, but at the time I didn’t have my own independent faith. I continued to go to church until I was 18 years old when I moved to Tokyo and enrolled in the University. At the time I studied and worked as a paperboy. I was too busy, so I quit going to church.
During this time I kept thinking, how I could live on my own without needing anyone else. I was trying to work more and make more money, so I quit the University and move to Nagoya, Japan to get a new job. When I arrived at my new job, I discovered that it was not what I expected. So, it was tough during this time, and I felt like a failure, and I was very disappointed.
On a visit home I spoke with my parents and I thought, “I need to go to church, and I wanted to come back to God.” My parents started sending me their recorded sermons, and I began reading the bible and watched a Christian movie they sent me. All those things caused me to decide that I needed to go back to my hometown of Okinawa.
Once I arrived, I started studying the bible with my pastor. That is when I dedicated my life to God and believed in Jesus. I decided to get baptized after three months—it was May 2, 2004. I was very happy, and I had an expression of joy and felt that I had come back to my Father, just like the prodigal son in Luke 15.
Now I began thinking, how I could spend the rest of my life? I talked to the pastor for counsel and at the same time, our church started a Bible School. I enrolled and studied the bible for two years. Afterward, I talked to the pastor and told him I felt that I needed to learn more about the bible. It was during this time that I met my wife and we began to get to know one another.
We were married and moved to Chiba in Japan, and we both enrolled in seminary and studied for three years. I started attending Japan Alliance Christ Church, which is a large church that was part of the Alliance Denomination that had two hundred and forty churches in Japan. They sent me to start a church plant in Chiba, my wife and daughter (my daughter was only 2 years old). I started church planting in April 2011. The very first service I did, I only had my wife and daughter as attendees. We are blessed by how God has brought us into a partnership with White Fields and together with our denomination support; God has used us to bring people into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
