JGPNetwork

Dear Praying Friends:

Pray for A-san who teaches English in Japanese schools as part of the JET program. She has a heart to reach Japanese. Also, she may be the only Christian in her town which is out in the country. Here is part of an email I received this week. Praise the Lord for young people who have a heart for Christ and for the lost.

“Thank you so much for your prayers! Lately I have just been feeling so much love for people and this desire to tell them about Christ because I can’t stand the thought that they won’t hear the good news. Yesterday I was driving and saw this little old lady all bent over and pushing her vegetables in a baby buggy down the street and it just struck me that she has probably lived her whole life without hearing the Gospel. I almost pulled the car over but didn’t know how on earth to talk to her and didn’t have anything with me to give her. I want to be able to speak so badly because I want to be able to talk to people! … Please be praying that God would give me language ability and open doors for me to talk to people. I have really felt called to be a tentmaker so I can have the opportunity to form relationships in the community and through work. God has been so good to have given me many friends here…all of whom are not Christians. Please pray that I would be bold and not put friendships ahead of the Gospel.”

Pray that God will open the door for these young people to have opportunity to share their faith with those who are hungry to know God. Pray for His Holy Spirit to draw the Japanese to Himself. Ask God to show us how we can equip them and help them to fulfill the calling they feel from God.

Claiming His Promises for His Glory,
Lana and Tak

Dear Prayer Partners:

It has been several weeks since you heard from us and we apologize. Thank you for praying and for those of you who wrote in response to my SOS when my Outlook crashed. I think we are about back up to speed.

Since we last wrote, Lana spent three days in Kagoshima prefecture and visited with the Christians Jets, Mrs. S and her daughter and Mrs. H. After the trip we mailed boxes of Digest Bibles and Manga Life of Christ to these contacts to put into the hands of lost people. Please ask God to bring forth fruit from the word that has been and continues to be sown.

Before the boxes of Bibles were out of the living room, a couple arrived from Kentucky to serve. They helped with putting labels on literature and packing the boxes to send to Kagoshima. They followed us around for nine days, sharing with Japanese, praying and encouraging us and our churches. They also taught American Sign Language to a deaf lady in Togane. They needed an interpreter, which God provided. She was a not yet Christian Japanese who heard the gospel for the first time. She memorized John 3:16 along with the Christian she was interpreting for. Pray that this young lady will trust Christ.

We had two earthquakes this week, but no damage. However, this past weekend we drove to Niigata where they had a devastating earthquake last year. We saw houses that had been damaged covered with blue tarps; the road was still wavy as we drove through the snow covered mountains. Our hearts were burdened for the folks who live in those villages not only because of their physical loss but because we knew they have never heard of Christ. We prayed that God would show us how to get the gospel to them so their hearts can be “repaired” and made whole in Christ.

Once over the mountains we arrived in Toyosaka, which is in a large plain covered with rice fields. What a sight!!! Mrs. K, her son and daughter, live in a farm house in the middle of some rice paddies. All three made professions of faith and were baptized in their ofuro (bathtub). We had worship together twice leaving a model for them to follow as they have worship together. Please pray they will be lights and salt, sharing the gospel with their friends. Ask God to build His church there. Pray for God’s blessing on this family as they look to their Heavenly Father for provision and guidance. Mr. K passed away in January.

Thank you for holding the ropes in prayer.

Claiming His Promises for His Glory,
Tak and Lana