JGPNetwork

Merry Christmas From Tak and Lana!

We have had an eventful year, both in our work and in our family!!! We saw our worship services multiply, people come to Christ, Christians grow in their faith.

We are thankful for those who accepted Christ and will celebrate their first Christmas as God’s children!!!!

Lana and Tak

This year we transitioned from being leaders of the Rural Team which was targeting cities, towns and villages under 100,000 to being the Strategy Coordinator for the Cities, Towns and Villages across Japan with a population one million or less. That means we are looking at how to reach about 50 million people with the gospel! Can you imagine the task? Pray for us. We see God do amazing things in people’s lives in Togane City as Christians grow and the lost are saved. We’re thankful for the volunteer teams from Tennessee and Kentucky who joined us in 2004 and we are looking forward to the teams that will come in 2005. You can see some pictures on our cluster website. The website address is at the bottom of this page.

In August we were blessed with a new grandson, Stephen. Big brother, Caleb loves to ‘pat’ him and sing to him. Caleb is also happy to tell you that he is now ‘two’ and is not a baby. They grow up so fast. Richard and Renae are working to start a multiplying house church movement in south Tokyo/Yokohama/Kawasaki area. Richard also has been working with Christian professional baseball players who want to reach Japanese for Christ. Renae is reaching out to the young mothers in their neighbor hood, having them over to their home, sharing the gospel as well as talk about the raising children according to God’s way. From time to time they have the families over too. They are also very busy being mommy and daddy to the two little ones and cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs!!

Jonathan and Rachel at Georgia Ballgame

Jonathan and Brittany are still in the waiting mode in their adoption process, praying that God will open the door soon for them to go to Ukraine and bring home the children they believe God has waiting for them. We are all praying and confident that God will open the door in His time. We are definitely thankful for the internet and webcam that allows us connect with our family from across the ocean. Rachel, our little ‘performer’, likes to sing for us, recite her memory verses, and tell us about her ‘animals’ and activities. We enjoy seeing her when she sits still long enough for the camera to focus. .Jonathan continues at Hyundai and Brittany is full time mom. Both are serving this fall by promoting missions in their church, Brittany by leading the Lottie Moon Offering C

ampaign and Jonathan by promoting prayer for the persecuted church and serving on the missions committee. They both play in the church orchestra. They too are ‘die hard’ Dawg fans. We thank God for each of you. You are all so special to us! We thank your and your prayers, your letters, cards, and emails encouraging us and we are thankful for your support!!!

We pray that God will bless each of you this Christmas Season and that Christ will be honored as we all share the true meaning of Christmas with those who do not yet know Him. We would love to hear from you either by snail mail or by email.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
Tak and Lana

Dear Praying Friends:

We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We did. Our volunteer, Johnny, was here and joined us as we ate turkey, played games and had fellowship with missionaries and Japanese friends. Johnny blessed our friends and church folks as well as produced a bookmark and a brochure for our cluster. This was no small feat. Soon these materials will be printed and hopefully into the hands of people across America who will advocate and pray for the Japanese who live in cities, towns and villages with less than one million population. This group being targeted by the JGPNetwork includes about 50 million Japanese.

Volunteer Johnny

On August 1 the children in Togane met for worship. As we prayed together, the children shared the names of friends that they wanted to come to know Christ. Ko requested prayer for his friend, Ta, whose mother had died suddenly at age 39 of a heart attack. He prayed for Ta to know Jesus who could heal his hurting heart. As we prayed for Ta, Ko continued sharing with his friend both during school and play times. On Saturday afternoon, December 12, Ko brought Ta to the children’s worship at his house. Ko’s mother and Mrs. M who were leading the worship presented the gospel to Ta who accepted Christ as his Savior! Praise the Lord! These two ladies had witnessed to Ta’s mother; however, she died without accepting Christ. Pray for the salvation of his father who although a doctor was unable to save his wife when she collapsed. Pray he will not only allow Ta to be baptized but that he also be saved and follow Christ.

The Christians know that abundant seed sowing brings an abundant harvest so they continue to share their faith realizing that although many times of the seed falls on hard soil, sometimes the seed finds receptive fertile soil. This past Wednesday, December 12, was such a time. Mrs. Se was witnessing to a lady next door to her company. When Mrs. Ya heard the gospel this time, she opened her heart and accepted Christ as her Savior. Pray for her as she follows Christ and is baptized at the Christmas celebration. Many new Christians will be experiencing their first Christmas as God’s children. Praise the Lord.

Across Japan our Baptist missionaries, Japanese partners and volunteers have distributed several hundred thousand pieces of literature (i.e. digest Bibles, tracts, cards, CD’s) these last couple of weeks. Pray that all these materials, as well as the witness of those who passed them out, will be used by the Holy Spirit to draw many to Christ this Christmas. Pray for God to bless the outreach activities that take the Gospel message to the Japanese throughout Japan this Christmas season.

Continuing to Claim His Promises and Praise Him,
Tak and Lana Oue