Merry Christmas (Be Joyful in the Lord)

Merry Christmas from Lima, Peru

As we end the year we would just like to say thank you for your prayer support this past year. We are seeing more interaction with Nikkei people. Our existing relationships are becoming deeper. The church in Miraflores is growing. We have a core group at the church that is very faithful. We are looking forward to mission teams working with the church in the month of January and February. These are great opportunities to share the Gospel. Please be praying for these teams that will be traveling to Cusco and Trujillo. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be working in the lives of these people even now.

We recently held our first Nikkei Peruvian prayer meeting with Nikkei believers of different churches.

We would also ask you to pray for a mission team that is coming to Peru the first week of January. They are coming to give a Baseball Clinic. We will be able to meet roughly 200 plus young men from the ages of 11 to around 25. This is a tremendous opportunity to meet and get to know many Nikkei families. Already in the preparation process we have developed a relationship with the leaders of the Baseball Association. Please pray for the Nikkei people that they will understand that there is a creator God.

We are thankful to have Gray and Caleb with us in Peru this Christmas.

There are many problems and difficulties in the world at the moment, but God is in heaven and watching. One day He will return and until that day we have the great advantage of having a personal relationship with Him. This Sunday we will be studying the fourth chapter of Philippians. A great encouraging passage in chapter 4 is verses 4 - 9:
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

We pray for Blessings and Peace to All,
( Have a joyful and merry Christ centered day every day of the year.)
Tim and Joy Mitchell
PS We are always eager to hear news from family and friends in the states. If you have a Christmas letter or a note about how things are going in your life please share with us. This is a great way to stay connected. www.teachingothers.blogspot.com


Note: We are beginning ESL classes with more students. We are praying with more people. We are involved in discipleschip and Bible studies with more people. Pray that God's word will work in the hearts and lives of the people in the world and they will know and understand Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Amen

Nov 2010 Baseball and Matsuri Events

Family and Friends,

This month we had several meetings with the Baseball Association of Peru. BellShoals church in Florida is coming in January 2010 to lead a baseball clinic. There should be between 150 - 175 young boys and teenagers attending this event. The President of the Baseball Association asked the team leaders of the clinic to include moral/values from the Bible at the clinic to help build the character of the young men.

The Prince Mission Church in Miraflores is continuing to grow. God is allowing this small church to be involved in a lot of various outreach activities.

The end of Oct and Nov are busy months in the Nikkei community in Lima. There are many Matsuri celebration events. Matsuri means festival or holiday in Japanese. Many of these events have their origin in a Shinto or Budhist reason. The November 15th event in Japan was began because of the belief that children of certain ages have bad luck and that they needed to go to the Shrines to pray for protection.

The Festivals today in Lima have a mixture of food, music, vendors, etc and I am sure for some there is a time to pray against bad health. There is also a lot of Saki. Different music groups perform anything from pop or rock to traditional Japanese music.

Please pray for the Nikkei that they would come to understand that there is a Creator God that loves them.

The Mitchell's

Japan Trip Oct 2010

Today, I would like to share a few observations about my trip to Japan. Plus I will include several pictures. We may add a few more pictures as time goes by. First, I am very thankful I went on this trip. It was a great learning opportunity. I saw first hand and experienced the Japanese culture for two weeks. I also met many Nikkei who went to Japan to work, but as they found themselves outside of their home environment they began to wonder more about the world and their purpose and the purpose of life. I visited two Nikkei congregations and had a chance to speak and share my testimony. Interestingly at the Spanish speaking congregation they translated my testimony into Japanese for their children. Many Nikkei I met had a similar testimony. A co worker on the factory line invited them to a bible study or a church service and after hearing and studying the Bible for 6 months to a year they made a decision to receive Christ. One lady shared with me that she never understood for many years that she was a sinner. And finally when she did she accepted Christ.

One problem many Japanese people have in understanding sin is that the word in the Japanese Bible for sin is a very strong word. It is basically the description of a mass murderer type person a very bad criminal. Japan has a very high code of morals built into the culture. Stealing among other things is not acceptable. Therefore many people struggle with the concept that they are a sinner because they think I am nothing like that type of bad person.

By the way, very very very few Japanese speak English. But I was able to find several the did and they were very helpful. On my journeys I seemed to always find someone that could help me with directions and we always seemed to be sitting together or very close by. Therefore, I was able to engage these people in a much longer conversation. These were for the most part people who spoke a very high level of English. At first when I would broach the subject of the possibility of a Creator God and ask their thoughts about that they were speechless and a little caught off guard. At first I thought they just did not know the words in English to describe what they thought or felt. But near the end of my trip I continued to have these same type of encounters. It finally hit me. They understand what I am saying and they understand the concept. The problem is that they have never had the thought or considered the idea that a Creator God exists. For the first time in their lives they are being asked to give an opinion about the idea of a Creator God and they have never ever even considered that there is such a God. (Thus they were all speechless at first)

Japan is a beautiful place. On one hand there is a great amount of punctuality. All the trains are always on time to the second. Unless one of the 40,000 people who commit suicide a year have jumped in front of a train as it is pulling into a station. (We especially need to pray for the hoplessness that many people have in this country.)

The attention to detail is phenomenal. It is truly a culture of form. What you do and how you do it is very important. People are courteous and nice and generally friendly and helpful. People are busy and occupied with their work day all day. In general people are very quiet. On the trains they are occupied with their cell phones, read books or sleep. They generally go out of their way to help each other get along. If people meet on the street both parties are considerate of the other and move in unison to create space for both to pass.

Some of the highlights to see in Japan. The scramble, the arts, the trains, God's beautiful nature (the mountains, the ocean, rivers, rice fields, etc). And especially the people. Please pray for these people. The gospel has been in Japan for well over a 120 years. Many mission organizations have pulled out or many missionaries have had to return homw because of the expensive cost to live there. Many people have given up because the culture is so closed to the Gospel.

One huge blessing and great potential we have in Lima is that we met some Nikkei Christians in Japan that have family in Lima. These family members are not believers. We are going today to take a small gift from a Nikkei lady who has lived in Japan for more than 20 years. S married a Nikkei in Japan and has 2 children. She is the only member of her family that is a believer. We are taking some small gifts and pictures to her mother who is not a believer. Please pray that God will use these connections from the Nikkei that have accepted Christ in Japan that their families that are back in South America will hear and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well.

Thank God that there are many Nikkei Christians in Japan. (pray for them and their families, all of them have families back in South America that are not believers)

God's Blessings and Peace,, We truly appreciate your prayers!!!!

Tim and Joy Mitchell

August Connections

We have had many great reunions this month. We have also been involved in many interesting conversations. Plus we have met many new people.

Pray that the Nikkei would come to believe in a creator God. A God that loves them and desires them to be His children. Many Nikkei have a syncritized worldview of Budhism and Shinto mixed together with a little bit of the teachings of the "man" Jesus mixed into their thinking process. Thus we are learning that more and more of them have an animistic worldview, basically believing that God exists as a part of all nature. They believe that their are good spirits and bad spirits. They consult tarrot card readers for dates of when to make major decisions in their lives.

Nikkei:
Please pray for: L, C, D, K, M, R and I.

Peruvians:
Praises a Peruvian friend has told me he has accepted Christ and desires to be baptized. Please pray for M and his family.

God has brought many new people into our path this month. Pray that we will be light for them.

Plus, we met a Nikkei business person who has been gone from Peru since we arrived. She has been in Taiwan getting a Masters Degree. While there she accepted Christ. She is now back in Peru for a time. She is not sure how long. Please pray for God's direction in her life.

We thank you for your prayers. Pray that Holy Spirit would draw the Nikkei to Himself.

Blessings and Peace,
The Mitchell Family

Prayer for the Nikkei

This past Saturday we ran into one of our former ESL students. Please pray for J as we try to plan to meet again. We have been conversing with one (k) of our students who wants to study English the most but who's idea of God is very far from correct.

Tonight two of our key students and friends are coming to our house for dinner after work. Pray that they will be open to developing a deeper friendship with us. But most important that they will accept Jesus into their hearts and lives and develop a friendship with Him.. (L & C)

Also, please pray for (M) as he is actively searching for God..

Thanks,
Tim

Happenings In July

PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUEST IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY:

1) The process of moving is very stressful. But in the midst of all the turmoil Tim had the opportunity to share the Gospel twice last week with people we know and have had the opportunity to build a relationship. One of the men said that he was searching for God and he wanted to study the Bible. (Pray for Marcos and Jesus)
2) Today Joy and Tim were able to meet with Jun and Ryoko (Japanese Baptist Missionaries from Japan). We were able to reconnect and discuss how we could start back some of the ESL ministries and possibly create new ministries to the Nikkei.
3) The church and the ministries out of the Prince Church in Miraflores is growing. Tim has already had the opportunity to begin preaching again. There are many bible studies going on in different houses in Ventanilla . There are bible studies almost everyday at the church.
4) Carlos Baca was in church Sunday. He is in Tarapoto with members of the church on a mission trip to the northern part of Peru. (This is the third trip to this area)
5) Pray for the Nikkei and Japanese people.
6) Caleb was able to go on a mission trip to the mountains with WorldChangers. He had a great week. He had the opportunity to share the gospel and see people accept Christ. The group had over a 100 decisions in the week and helped start several bible studies and support some new starting churches. Caleb returned to the U.S. this past Thursday. Jacob has been able to work at their school on a special project in the school library. Luke had the opportunity to go out sharing the Gospel with a friend of Jacob's (another Missionary Kid named Joseph) They went out into a retail area and the park and just met people and engaged them in conversation. And if possible they shared the gospel and gave the people a track.

MITCHELL FAMILY BACK IN LIMA, PERU

We arrived in Lima June 18, 2010. We are settling into our former home and have been busy unpacking and getting things set up. We now have telephone and internet. (YEA!) We have reconnected with some of our friends. Last Saturday night Joy and Tim went to a Japanese singing competition at the Nikkei Cultural Center. Two of the Thirteen contestants were Japanese. It was very interesting watching the different contestants and trying to identify traits that identified them as more Japanese or Peruvian. As we were talking afterward Joy and I both commented to each other how we were impressed to pray for these people.

We have been to two high school graduations since returning and we have had the opportunity to go to our church in Mira Flores. The church is growing and has started several more Bible studies.

There is still a lot of high rise building happening and the traffic is unbelievably much worse. There are so many cars and just not enough places to put them all.

We went to the Interpol office today as part of the process to obtain new visas.

There is a lot to do when you move to a new country.

Please pray for our Nikkei and Japanese friends and potential new contacts as well as all of the Peruvian people.

Serving in Peru,
The Mitchells

Visiting the Churches: Winding Down our Stateside Visit

We are within 3 months of heading back to Lima, Peru. Currently we are visiting churches and sharing about missions. It has been great to meet a lot of new people in all the churchs. We really do appreciate the prayers for the Japanese and the Nikkei. The kids are all enjoying school. It is nice to finally see some warmer weather.

One of our key goals at this time is to add people to our newsletter list. Our desire is to make people aware of the needs of the Nikkei, Japanese and Peruvians so that they can pray more specifically for the needs of the people.

Thank you for remembering Lima and its people in prayer.

God's Blessings and Peace,
TJGCJL

Stateside Assignment Conference

We have had a wonderful Christmas and many opportunities to connect with family and friends. We have also had the privelage of speaking and sharing about missions in many different places the past few months. We are thankful that there are people committed to praying for the lost and dying world in which we live.

Joy and Tim just returned from a week in Richmond, VA. We saw many of our missionary friends we have met over the years. There were also many of our colleagues from South America there as well. It is always hard saying goodbye. We were able to be updated on what is happening at the IMB around the world. We received some additional training and are close to completing the medical clearance process so that we can return to Lima.

In December Caleb received his drivers license and Jacob received his learners. Gray started a part-time job in January. Tim had his knee scoped in November and is doing well.

We recieved an e-mail this week from the pastor of our church in Miraflores that they just had another baptismal service for three new believers from Ventanilla. We are scheduled to speak at several churches over the next few months. And the boys are settled into their new school.

Our stateside is about half over. If anyone would like to talk with us about working with us in Lima please contact us. Or if you would just like to hear more about our work so you would better know how to pray that would be great to.


Please continue to pray for the lost and the new believers as they begin to study their bibles and share their faith with family and friends.

The Mitchell's