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Dear Praying Friends:

During May as we traveled across Japan we caught glimpses of flying carp that families have hoisted to celebrate the males born into their families. We share with you these “glimpses” from a month that has flown by as if only a day.

Glimpse: Bible study with Mrs. H at a park in the small town of Fujieda as children from the local kindergarten played nearby. Pray for her to yield herself to God and accept God’s truths from His word.

Glimpse: Worship with Mr. Y at a restaurant in a country town shopping mall on Shikoku Island. Two hours to fellowship, eat, pray, worship together with this young man that we have been having worship with via skype, a computer phone. Pray for his continued spiritual growth and a burning passion to reach the lost.

Glimpse: Watching a Japanese wife place her deceased husband’s picture on the table and placing food before it for him to “eat” as we had our meal together. Seeing her throw the food away and return the picture to the Shinto god shelf and wondering what she could be thinking! Pray for God to break down the spiritual strongholds and barriers and open the eyes of the entire family to the truth.

Glimpse: Hearing the joy in the voices of the leaders as they shared in leaders training. Seeing God’s power in the midst of darkness.

• Mrs. S sharing she had just come from a worship/discipleship time with Mrs. M and her grown son, Y. Y has trusted Christ and decided to be baptized. Mrs.S is ministering to the entire M family, providing job, lodging, and counsel for reconciliation within the family. Praise the Lord for His work and answering Mrs.S’s prayers for this family.
• Another sharing about a young boy trusting Christ and wanting to be baptized.
• Three ladies sharing about God’s leading in their witness to their husbands. Mrs. Shi shared about getting in the car with her tape player playing praise songs. The volume was really loud so she turned it off. Her husband told her is was ok to turn it back on, so she did, adjusted the volume and they drove along listening to God’s word through music and word. Mrs. Mo shared that though it is not often that she watches TV it seems that each time she sets down with her husband to watch TV there seems to be something about a Christian come on. Mrs. S shared a similar testimony. Pray for these husbands to be saved.

Glimpse: Mrs. Ha being baptized in the ocean as three of her grown children watch. The children came because they were concerned about what kind of group their mother was joining, but they saw the church in action and heard testimonies from several Christians as they waited and then watched. Pray for Mrs. Ha to continue to experience the joy of her salvation and for her children to be saved.

Glimpse: Mrs. Maru, late to children’s worship because she was in the street in front of her house witnessing to a neighbor. As she came in late to have worship with the children she had four of her daughter’s little friends in tow: their first time to hear the gospel. Mrs. Maru’s six year old son, Kyou, who has just trusted Christ and made a decision to be baptized. Pray that this family will grow in Christ and that Mr. Maru will be saved.

Glimpse: Mr. D, a farmer, sits in a shop on his farm listening to three of us Christians share the gospel and responds saying that he thinks Jesus is a space man. He has inoperable stomach cancer and may soon face death. He says death is the end of everything so he doesn’t think about after death. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open his eyes and for him to accept Christ.

We pray that God stirs your heart as you share our “glimpses” from these last couple of weeks. Pray without ceasing for the Japanese who don’t know Christ to come to know our Risen Savior.

Claiming His Promises for His Glory,
Tak and Lana
Eph. 3:20-21

Dear Praying Friends:

This is “Golden Week” in Japan, so called because several holidays in this one week allow people a lengthy time off from work and school. During this time, the Japanese travel across Japan and around the world taking advantage of this “golden” time off. Pray that the Christians will take advantage of this time also, visiting, witnessing, listening, and opening their homes and hearts to their lost friends and families.

May 5th is Children’s day. For most of May as we drive through the country side, we will see the “Carp” that flutter in the wind (see picture below). These windsock type carp are flown as a sign that the parents are praying for their sons to become strong like carp, being able to swim upstream against the current. Unfortunately, today most Japanese can’t seem to “swim upstream”, to overcome the burdens of life or the spiritual darkness that surrounds them. Suicide rates are up. School dropouts are increasing. Many have lost hope and given up. Pray that will have an opportunity to hear the gospel and that they will turn to Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to break up the hard soil of their hearts, tear down the spiritual strongholds that bind them. Pray they will experience the Abundant Life that only He can give.

Pray for Atsu, Kei and Hi. Kei has just lost her mother and is looking for answers to her questions about life and death. Hi’s parents are both in bad health and he has many “why’s” as he takes responsibility for their care. All three of these young people are in their twenties and looking for meaning in life, for answers to their questions. Pray they will find that Christ is the answer to their problems. Pray for their salvation and for the salvation of their families. Pray for us as we try to share the gospel with them this week.

On Sunday night, we met two clowns, R and G, who have traveled around the world teaching and performing. In their travels, they have met Christians. R especially seems eager to know more about Christ and thinks our meeting is of God. During dinner on Sunday we were able to share our testimonies and present the gospel to them. Pray that those seeds will bear fruit and that we will have other opportunities to share with them. They will go to Singapore for a month of classes and performances in September. Ask God to send Christians to witness to them. Pray that they will open their hearts to Jesus and become clowns that share the gospel.

Claiming His promises for His Glory,
Tak and Lana