As we prepared to finish our days of formal Japanese language study during our second year in Japan, we were actively praying that God will give us clear direction regarding the location where we should be starting an evangelism and church planting ministry. After a number of visits to another part of Nagano Ken where our good friends, the Coles, were ministering, we were starting to feel the Lord nudging us in that direction. A city about 25 minutes away from where the Coles were working has a population of 53,000 people and only one Catholic church and one protestant church. Within those final months of language school, through the introduction of another missionary, God led us to meet with Mr. Aoki, his mother and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Ozawa, Mr. and Mrs. Kosuda, and a young single adult woman. These eight adults had become believers and were meeting regularly to PRAY that God would build an evangelical church in their city. They had been meeting and praying for five years for this to happen!!! Whoa--did that ever raise the inadequacy quotient? Have you ever felt God telling you that you are the direct answer to someone's prayers!? We were scared spitless. We could barely follow the conversation around the table and had to rely on our fellow missionary for interpretation. This was not the picture we had imagined--the picture of starting slowly with some classes and maybe a Bible study or two while we further developed our language ability, and then down the road, opened the doors for regular Sunday worship services.
Murray often describes these eight believers as being just like a bottle of cola, that has been shaken up well, and the lid is ready to pop!! The moment we agreed that we believed that God was leading us to move to Suzaka, to open the doors of our home to the beginnings of a church, these amazing people popped the lid and their enthusiasm for reaching their friends and neighbors for Christ enabled us to begin laying the foundations for a body of believers in Suzaka, Nagano, Japan.
Our nine years with these beloved people were filled with many challenges. Little by little, we all grew through working together. Our language improved slowly, God sent more believers to pitch in, people were saved and baptized, our son, Josiah, was born, our children grew up, and God established the work.
Hard to believe that it has been twenty years since those first days in Suzaka. We rejoice at what God has done. We are thrilled to see a growing, active local church there following the leadership of a Japanese pastor and a number of elders. We are incredibly excited to return there this weekend to be a part of special services giving God the glory for all He has done in these past twenty years in this small city. We pray that the light of these believers will continue to impact the city for Christ and for eternity.
