Monday, November 17, 2014

God Keeps bringing people into our lives... (Thanks for praying!!!)

Dear Family and Friends...   Thanks for your prayers...

God has brought more people for us to meet in Oct. One highlight for October was a missions Diaspora meeting where we meet with missionaries living in North America and South America working with Chinese and Japanese people.  The meeting was challenging in many ways.  There is a great task and great harvest before us.  Two things we can always do:  Pray and be Obedient to God’s direction in our lives.  (This can be challenging.)
We have a new President of the IMB.  And it is the time of year where a large percentage of the funding for our missions work is given.  We would just like to thank you for your giving and your prayers because that allows us to be here in South America.
The second highlight for October was a meeting with two leaders from JEMS and a Brazilian Nikkei pastor.  We met in Lima to discuss how we could reach the Nikkei of Peru.  Thankfully the Brazilian Nikkei believe that God is leading them to help Peru by sending mission teams to Lima.  Also, JEMS is going to encourage and coordinate mission teams to come to Lima.  Having Japanese descendants coming to Lima to help share the Gospel is a tremendous step forward. As we had these meetings we also met many more people interested in working with the ministry of the Nikkei people. (Praise the Lord.  This was a tremendous week of connections.)     We could also use your help with mission teams.  Please pray to see if God might be speaking to you or your church about coming to Peru and helping in the sharing of the Gospel to a group of people that historically have been closed to the Gospel.  
The baseball clinic has been scheduled for the second week of January 2015.  (This will be our 5th Baseball Clinic: We are very thankful to the dedicated men that God has called to this ministry.)

Isaiah 40:31
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

It is very interesting how God works!!!  We have been in Lima now for several years.  And now after we have committed to move to Japan to coordinate the Nikkei work for South America from the factory areas outside of Tokyo we are starting to see a movement of God’s people to come and begin to work among the Nikkei people.

Please prayerfully consider a mission trip to Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, Japan and Peru….The Nikkei need to hear the Gospel.

Also, please pray for Joy she needs to have some outpatient surgery done.  We are looking into the best options for this.

And please pray for our transition of ministry and the hand off of some of our work to others. Please pray for our logistical issues as we will return to the states for a 7 month stay starting in June 2015 and for our new work location in Tokyo, Japan, in Feb 2016.  We will still be working with the Nikkei in the Spanish language.  But we will need to learn a survival level ability of the Japanese language.

Thank you for your prayers.  We are seeing God at work and we believe that when people pray things happen.


2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.













Monday, October 6, 2014

Oct 2014 Visit to Nikkei living in Japan

Joy and I spent two weeks in Japan in September.  We met many people and learned a lot about the ministry opportunities among the Nikkei people living in Japan.

Some of the highlights of opportunities...

The Nikkei are more open in Japan because they are outside their typical friendship and family connections.  They work M-F 8 to 8.. or M-S 8 to 8.

Because of the long work day the family does not have much time together.

The kids are in school in Japanese while the parents speak Spanish or Portuguese.

Thus there are many needs within the family structure.  The people are more open.

Please see the pictures of Japan and pray about these families and their needs and the possible opportunities to reach them.



Monday, September 8, 2014

August 2014: New Connections and Old Friends

We met two key people this month.  Francis and Yoshihisa
§Francis is a Nikkei Methodist Pastor working in San Miguel
§  He has no Nikkei in his church and is open to working to reach Nikkei people
§He works with young people and college age and young working adults
§Yoshihisa is from Japan and works in a very poor area of Lima, with no Nikkei in his church
§  He too is very interested in working with Japanese and Nikkei 
§  Tim and Joy are studying Japanese…!!!...(Please pray)
§  A few of our students have made great progress in their understanding of God and the plan of salvation.  (One lady believes she made a decision of faith in her early adult life and is at peace and relieved with her decision.  Another is close to making a decision… (please pray for R and MT) 
§  Also M and J, two business men are basically in the same place as we mentioned above.  (Please pray for them as well.)
Praises God brought these two families into our lives and we are trusting to see how we can work together to build ministry teams to work with the Nikkei….                       

The verse we posted last month we are going to post again.  God brought us into contact with these two families and He also reconnected us with people we have not seen for a while. 

We had two Nikkei prayer gatherings this month.  And Tim was able to spend some time with one of our Nikkei Christian friends and hear about what God was doing in their church.  There was a great amount of insight gained from this meeting and cooperation.

Please pray for all of the English students we are tutoring: students and adults.  There are a few that have accepted Christ so we are about the task of discipling them. And there are several we are still sharing the Gospel with.

The baseball clinic has been tentatively schedule for the first week of January.
Please pray for Caleb and his wife Mara as Caleb is still in Basic Training in the US Army.

Isaiah 40:31
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Please pray for the family of Pastor Shuto and his wife.  They died in a car accident this weekend in Brazil.  They were on their way to a pastors conference.


Tim and Joy will be doing some research and ministry in Japan for the remaining weeks of September.








Tuesday, July 29, 2014

June and July 2014.... Bullets...Comings and Goings.. Praises and Prayer Needs...

June and July  2014...Coming and Going....

Jerry and Andrew came and did a series of Business Seminars...

Bullets

  • People were invited to events and great conversations took place in giving the invitations
  • Lots of Good Advice and Teaching for Business
  • Many great events.
  • Time with students at ICSL and Hideyo Naguchi
  • Time with Japanese Students
  • Two Japanese students accepted Christ
  • Many people heard a gospel witness
  • A key discipleship conversation took place with a newer believer.  (It was very important.)
    • Many additional conversations have followed and hopefully will follow...
  • Many bridges were strengthened or hopefully built....
Family

Gray came to visit...
Luke graduated from high school.
Luke has left Peru and returned to the U.S.

Tim and Joy are empty nesters.... Y arrives Friday and K returns next week.
They are both seniors.. K has been living with us for more than a year. Y's parents were just transferred.   Y & K are both Seniors.  (pray for openness)

Isaiah 40:31
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Please note: 

Praise
We received three unsolicited gifts this past month to our ministry...  Our travel has been limited because of the lack of funds.  These gifts will enable us to travel without having to worry about where the money is coming from.   Thank you.

Prayer
Also, FYI..  I received some financial information last week that needs to be shared:  The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has been strong over the past few years but the money given through the Cooperative Program has been declining over the past several years.  This decline has been being managed by the IMB selling assets (ie property).  There are not enough properties left to sell to continue to make up for this short fall.  

Pictures:  Friends, Family, and Ministry