JGPNetwork

Dear Praying Friends:

Many of you celebrated July 4th with family and friends. Perhaps you had a picnic with hot dogs and hamburgers?? Sounds good!!! Some celebrated on the 5th… That sounds like fun too. Since July 4th isn’t a holiday here, we didn’t have a picnic or hot dogs, but on the 5th we ate Japanese box lunches (pickled eggplant, grilled squid, boiled octopus and fish cake, among other things) with our leaders and had leadership/discipleship training for about 3 hours!! The training time was good and the lunches were good too!!! Come try them with us!!!

From July 5 to 12 the T group home had ten days of intensive counseling for people who are having problems. This included all the family members. The counseling is done through the study of the Bible. We learned much and met some new families who are open to hearing about Christ. Pray for the parents and three young adult children of the Oh family. At worship this past Sunday, the mother raised her hand indicating she wanted to know more about following Christ. Pray for the entire family to experience Christ’s forgiveness and love and accept Him as their Savior. Pray the seeds that were planted during those ten days in the Word will produce fruit in this family and the other families who attended…

On Wednesday, July 7 after worship, we had a parenting class for the young mothers. Since none of our new Christians are from Christian homes, they don’t know how to raise children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Many of the parents come from dysfunctional families. They have many questions and are earnestly trying to grow in the Lord themselves and learn how to raise their children. Pray that they will be filled with the fruits of the Spirit and led by Him as they parent their children.

Mrs. Mo who has been witnessing to her daughter for several months went home after parenting class and once again talked to her daughter about trusting Christ. Mi-chan trusted Christ as her Savior that afternoon and was baptized the next Wednesday. She and her mom are praying and reading the Bible, studying a devotion book and memorizing Scripture together. They are praying for the father and brother to be saved. Pray for them both to be bold in witnessing to them as well as to neighbors and friends.

Picture fourteen people sitting on the floor around a small table in an 8′ x 10′ room, praising God, singing, praying and partaking of the Lord’s supper together!!! That is a picture of our worship Sunday afternoon, July 11! Crowded, yes! Kids having to sit on parents laps because of space, yes!! Wonderful, yes!!! A first time experience for the Yo and Sa families. Yes!!! What a thrill to see a father who had just been baptized holding his son on his lap, sharing a songbook with his son, praising the Lord together. Pray for us and them as we disciple the parents to disciple the children. Pray as we train them to lead the children in worship.

Many of you have written about how great the study on Japan was in VBS this year! We are so happy that you had a chance to learn about our country!! We pray that your interest in Japan will not stop as VBS ends but that you will continue to remember the 126.5 million lost Japanese and pray for their salvation.

We look forward to hearing from you! Join our prayer team!!!

Claiming His Promises for His Glory,
Tak and Lana Oue

Dear Prayer Partners:

VBS!!!! Many of you are in the midst of VBS. Some have finished and others are looking forward to it! Wherever you are in the process, we invite you to take the children on the VBS Virtual Prayer walk on our website. Just click this link VBS Virtual Prayer Walk, or click Virtual Prayer Walk on the menu, then click the VBS picture. There are fourteen scenes for you to visit and pray for. Some of you have asked for DVD’s and they are in the mail. We hope that you will know Japan better and how to pray more concretely for needs after your VBS study of Japan.

Many thanks to those of you who have written and told us you were praying for us during your VBS. And thanks also to those of you who have asked about partnering with us to reach the Japanese. We look forward to working together to reach the Japanese for Christ.

We all like surprises and on Monday we had one when we received a call with E telling us that Mr. Yo, whom you have been praying for, had decided to be baptized. So we had another baptism at the beach on Wednesday. Thirteen adults and 7 children made for a lively group. Mr. Yo’s two sons were able to be there and his son, Ko, who is 8 years old quoted Luke 9:23 as a scripture present to encourage his dad. Both father and sons are memorizing the verse. Tears filled the Christians eyes as they listened. It was a blessing to see the Christians share Scriptures to encourage him in his walk with the Lord. This has become a custom, to give verses of Scripture as a “present” to the person being baptized to encourage them in their walk with Christ. Check on the website for pictures of the baptism!!!

It is good to be home after ten days out of the country. We returned to find some of our Christians in crisis situations. Some are enduring trials. Two men have quit their jobs because of the conditions where they work. Another is wondering what to do. Several moms are dealing with child rearing issues, children being bullied at school, etc. Pray that the new Christians will thirst for God and grow in their walk with Christ. Pray especially for Mr. O and Mr. Sa. Ask God to give them all wisdom and understanding Pray that their faith will be strong, that they will walk worthy of the Lord, being steadfast and patient in trials, living to bring glory to Christ.

Claiming His Promises for His Glory,
Tak and Lana