Workers for the Harvest

It has been great to have a Bible college student from the USA join us for a summer of ministry.  

Elia Downey arrived in early June and will be with us until late July.  She is very interested in teaching English to speakers of foreign languages so she has been doing some observation of our English classes and is now starting to become more actively involved in teaching practice.  She is very enthusiastic and friendly, and is enjoying opportunities to spend time with Japanese people. 

We are also thrilled to announce that Paul and Liz Godwin, a married couple about our age, will be joining us from August of this year for a two year ministry assignment.  Paul and Liz have been actively involved in working with exchange students in the USA, particularly those from Japan.  During their assignment here, they are desirous of working with college and university students as well as doing follow-up with Japanese returnees who have studied overseas and have now returned to Japan.  Many Japanese returnees get involved with Christians and churches while they are in the USA but then find it difficult to continue when they return to Japan.  Paul and Liz hope to help make that transition easier as well as train Japanese to also get involved in outreach to international students studying here in Japan.  They will also assist at Agape as they can and Paul hopes to develop some English classes for outreach.  

Refreshing Rains

Rainy season is coming to a close.  I actually enjoyed the occasional rainstorms and, sometimes, the cooler breezes they would bring.  However, there are also those days with super high humidity and now we start adding more and more heat to go along with the humidity.  However, the rains have replenished the earth with moisture and kept the flowers and trees green, so it is something to be thankful for.

We have also been experiencing the rain of spiritual blessings in our ministry and we are so thankful for the refreshment and encouragement that brings!  Mrs. H and Mrs. W, two older ladies, are making the transition from attending only Sunday morning services to studying the Bible in a biweekly Bible study.  The course is "Foundations for Faith".  They both are interested in learning more about what it means to get baptized so this is a key step to learning more about the Christian faith.  Please pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten their study as one mentioned the other day, "The Bible is really difficult, isn't it?".  However, it is a joy to see them also starting to participate in serving.  Mrs. W. always arrives early and eagerly puts out songbooks, or starts water for tea.  Both ladies often stay after to help with anything that needs to be done.

In April, the Lord brought us a lovely young college student, M, who moved to Kobe to attend a nearby university.  A fellow TEAM missionary from her hometown introduced her to our church and she has been faithfully attending.  She is also very eager to do Bible study and learn more about her faith.  She is training to become a preschool teacher so she is willing to help out with the children's story on occasion.

My knee surgery also presented the opening of new doors with two Mrs. Ms.  From two days before the surgery to a month afterwards, I was in the hospital.  I got to know two older ladies, my roommates, very well.  One of them has had connection to an Episcopalian church in her past.  During our stay I was able to share God's love with them on a number of different occasions.  Two weeks ago I was very  excited to see both of them again when I was back for my weekly rehab session.  We had a very good visit and look forward to more.  Mrs. M #1 is age 80 and is already back in the hospital for the surgery on her other knee.  So now I get to see her weekly when I return for my rehab.

The recovery has been slower and harder than I imagined it would be, but I am still encouraged as the pain I have now is the aftereffect of the surgery and will eventually go away.  Please pray that I will continue to be faithful with the daily exercises.