Dear Praying Friends
Dear Praying Friends, (As we mentioned in our last Gideon's 300 email, we're no longer using our "@studentimpact.jp" addresses. Please update your records if you haven't already with the following NEW addresses: [email protected] for ministry correspondence and [email protected] for personal correspondence.
Thanks so much!)
We have a TON to be thankful for since our last Gideon's 300 email 2 weeks ago! Less than 24 hours after emailing all of you, GOD clearly answered your prayers by giving us 'eligibility' for our bank loan! We soon found out that, in the Japanese system, this means our 'final approval' is all but assured. Nonetheless, pleaseKEEP PRAYING that there won't be any snags up until the day we move in, about 2 weeks from now! We had another 'grace' experience this past week at Seisa High School! I was approached by a young teacher after church last Saturday night about helping out with his "Job Challenge" class. Although I REALLY wanted to do it, and it was something I'd been praying about, my initial reaction was "Next Wednesday, are you kidding? No way, Jose!" I'm a long-term planning type, and I like to schedule everything weeks in advance. So being asked to lead a 90-minute class...4 days later...on a topic I've NEVER even thought about...was WAY outside my comfort zone...and I thought IMPOSSIBLE! Not so with GOD! He gave me peace on the drive home from church as I talked Kyoko's ear off, and continued thinking and praying about it all Sunday. I messaged the teacher Sunday night saying I'd do it under the condition that we trust the Lord for a few more 'language partners' for the class. To my amazement (oh me of little faith), the LORD provided my wife and 3 other team members to help with the class. So we perfectly had 6 adults (3 men and 3 women) to help lead 3 co-ed discussion groups within my presentation. The Lord also gave me the whole workshop outline within a 4-hour timeframe on Tuesday. I've been praying for courage, and GOD gave me supernatural courage to do something I normally would shy away from. Thanks for PRAYING! We've been really busy lately with all kinds of home-related meetings and paperwork, and we don't have reliable transportation right now (using Kyoko's dad's car), so unfortunately it's been really difficult to figure out how we can help with the disaster relief. Kyoko wants to volunteer at the 'Smile House' office, and I'd really like to burn off a few more pounds of American (grown on U.S. soil) fat. However, we'll probably need to wait until after we move our stuff from Tokyo (which includes my disaster relief outfit). In the meantime, we've been encouraged that so many Christian workers have been helping in the most devastated areas, and many more are being raised up through the churches and C.R.A.S.H. for the weeks to come! THANK YOU for lifting up the following requests to the LORD during the next 2 weeks...
GIDEON'S 300 DAILY PRAYER for Sep. 10~23
* September 10 (WE) – Thank the Lord that our first Hiroshima classroom presentation (on “Job Satisfaction” from a Christian perspective) at Seisa High School went very well! Pray for the young Christian teacher Masuda sensei, and for his English Conversation class which I’ll be helping out with today. * September 11 (TH) – Please continue to pray for the mudslide and flooding victims who have lost loved ones (72 known dead), houses, cars and everything they own; and for the 1,000s of families who are still displaced. * September 12 (FR) – Keep praying for Hiroshima Peace Christ Church (in Yagi town), its pastor and congregation. Pray that they, and other partners with them, will be able to really help the disaster victims in their neighborhood both now and over the long-term. Pray for all the churches which have been impacted.
* September 13 (SA) – Pray for today’s Spaghetti & Spoons (Outreach) Party @ Asaminami Bilingual Chapel (ABC) after the worship service; that many seeking adults, children and especially students will come. Many students came last week. * September 14 (SU) – Pray for Higashi-Hiroshima Grace Church, pastored by Kato sensei, to grow in spirit, depth, number, and as a healthy church-planting movement. Pray for ‘SHAPE’ (a youth gathering of 50+ students) meeting @ 3:30. * September 15 (MO) – Thank the Lord for a strong association of churches and Christian agencies (Food for the Hungry, Salvation Army, CRASH Japan, etc.) which has been responding very helpfully in the mudslide and flooded areas! Continue to pray for many compassionate volunteers from within the churches and agencies, to shine forth the light of Jesus in this darkness. * September 16 (TU) – Please pray for our meeting with Pastor Nakao and his wife Junko of Itsukaichi Bible Church (Kyoko's home church); that God will show us clearly how we may serve them, as well as the wholeBody of Christ in Hiroshima. Pray for the Doumei (Japanese Alliance) church partnership which includes this church and 2 other church plants (Living Chapel and Hatsukaichi Grace Church). * September 17 (WE) – Thank the Lord that everything’s gone very smoothly so far regarding our home purchase! Pray for our ‘closing’ within the next few days, and that we’ll be able to move in by September 26th. Pray also that God will lead us with wisdom in our next big purchase, a 7 or 8-passenger family vehicle, which we need to have before moving into our new home. * September 18 (TH) – Keep praying for the 'P' in our 'PIONEERS' campus outreach plan; that God will raise up 300 Gideon’s Prayer Warriors, 30 praying Hiroshima City churches, and another 30 praying Hiroshima Prefecture churches. * September 19 (FR) – Pray that God will continue to open doors for student ministry at the following campuses where we already have ‘connections’…Seisa High School, Gakuin High School, Kanon High School,Shudo University, Jogakuin Women’s University, and Hiroshima International University. * September 20 (SA) – Pray for our newest Hiroshima Pioneers Team addition, Young Yang from New Zealand. Pray for her continued adjustment, language acquisition, and that she’d shine and share the love of Jesus wherever she goes. * September 21 (SU) – Please pray today for my preaching on Jonah at Itsukaichi Bible Church. Ask the Lord to give me a fresh message for this small congregation to “stir them on toward love and good deeds.” Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them a vision to grow as Jesus’ disciples and as a church-planting movement. * September 22 (MO) – Pray for our Pioneers Hiroshima team meeting today; that God will continue to lead and expand our team in the months ahead. Pray that, as a family, we’ll continue to grow in connectedness with our team members, and serve the Lord effectively together for His glory alone! * September 23 (TU) – Now 5 weeks after the mudslides and flooding, please continue to pray for recovery efforts. Pray for volunteers and funding to continue as long as help is needed, and
that every affected Japanese person will be touched by the Gospel message and the Light shining through followers of Jesus. Stay tuned for more "Love Hiroshima!" prayer requests and thanksgivings around September 22nd. Thank you for your continued partnership in the Gospel through prayer!
John, Kyoko, JJ (9), Micah (7) & Andrew (5)
"The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much!" The Risen SON for the Land of the Rising Sun! The Prince of PEACE for the City of Peace! L O V E H I R O S H I M A !
Thanks so much!)
We have a TON to be thankful for since our last Gideon's 300 email 2 weeks ago! Less than 24 hours after emailing all of you, GOD clearly answered your prayers by giving us 'eligibility' for our bank loan! We soon found out that, in the Japanese system, this means our 'final approval' is all but assured. Nonetheless, pleaseKEEP PRAYING that there won't be any snags up until the day we move in, about 2 weeks from now! We had another 'grace' experience this past week at Seisa High School! I was approached by a young teacher after church last Saturday night about helping out with his "Job Challenge" class. Although I REALLY wanted to do it, and it was something I'd been praying about, my initial reaction was "Next Wednesday, are you kidding? No way, Jose!" I'm a long-term planning type, and I like to schedule everything weeks in advance. So being asked to lead a 90-minute class...4 days later...on a topic I've NEVER even thought about...was WAY outside my comfort zone...and I thought IMPOSSIBLE! Not so with GOD! He gave me peace on the drive home from church as I talked Kyoko's ear off, and continued thinking and praying about it all Sunday. I messaged the teacher Sunday night saying I'd do it under the condition that we trust the Lord for a few more 'language partners' for the class. To my amazement (oh me of little faith), the LORD provided my wife and 3 other team members to help with the class. So we perfectly had 6 adults (3 men and 3 women) to help lead 3 co-ed discussion groups within my presentation. The Lord also gave me the whole workshop outline within a 4-hour timeframe on Tuesday. I've been praying for courage, and GOD gave me supernatural courage to do something I normally would shy away from. Thanks for PRAYING! We've been really busy lately with all kinds of home-related meetings and paperwork, and we don't have reliable transportation right now (using Kyoko's dad's car), so unfortunately it's been really difficult to figure out how we can help with the disaster relief. Kyoko wants to volunteer at the 'Smile House' office, and I'd really like to burn off a few more pounds of American (grown on U.S. soil) fat. However, we'll probably need to wait until after we move our stuff from Tokyo (which includes my disaster relief outfit). In the meantime, we've been encouraged that so many Christian workers have been helping in the most devastated areas, and many more are being raised up through the churches and C.R.A.S.H. for the weeks to come! THANK YOU for lifting up the following requests to the LORD during the next 2 weeks...
GIDEON'S 300 DAILY PRAYER for Sep. 10~23
* September 10 (WE) – Thank the Lord that our first Hiroshima classroom presentation (on “Job Satisfaction” from a Christian perspective) at Seisa High School went very well! Pray for the young Christian teacher Masuda sensei, and for his English Conversation class which I’ll be helping out with today. * September 11 (TH) – Please continue to pray for the mudslide and flooding victims who have lost loved ones (72 known dead), houses, cars and everything they own; and for the 1,000s of families who are still displaced. * September 12 (FR) – Keep praying for Hiroshima Peace Christ Church (in Yagi town), its pastor and congregation. Pray that they, and other partners with them, will be able to really help the disaster victims in their neighborhood both now and over the long-term. Pray for all the churches which have been impacted.
* September 13 (SA) – Pray for today’s Spaghetti & Spoons (Outreach) Party @ Asaminami Bilingual Chapel (ABC) after the worship service; that many seeking adults, children and especially students will come. Many students came last week. * September 14 (SU) – Pray for Higashi-Hiroshima Grace Church, pastored by Kato sensei, to grow in spirit, depth, number, and as a healthy church-planting movement. Pray for ‘SHAPE’ (a youth gathering of 50+ students) meeting @ 3:30. * September 15 (MO) – Thank the Lord for a strong association of churches and Christian agencies (Food for the Hungry, Salvation Army, CRASH Japan, etc.) which has been responding very helpfully in the mudslide and flooded areas! Continue to pray for many compassionate volunteers from within the churches and agencies, to shine forth the light of Jesus in this darkness. * September 16 (TU) – Please pray for our meeting with Pastor Nakao and his wife Junko of Itsukaichi Bible Church (Kyoko's home church); that God will show us clearly how we may serve them, as well as the wholeBody of Christ in Hiroshima. Pray for the Doumei (Japanese Alliance) church partnership which includes this church and 2 other church plants (Living Chapel and Hatsukaichi Grace Church). * September 17 (WE) – Thank the Lord that everything’s gone very smoothly so far regarding our home purchase! Pray for our ‘closing’ within the next few days, and that we’ll be able to move in by September 26th. Pray also that God will lead us with wisdom in our next big purchase, a 7 or 8-passenger family vehicle, which we need to have before moving into our new home. * September 18 (TH) – Keep praying for the 'P' in our 'PIONEERS' campus outreach plan; that God will raise up 300 Gideon’s Prayer Warriors, 30 praying Hiroshima City churches, and another 30 praying Hiroshima Prefecture churches. * September 19 (FR) – Pray that God will continue to open doors for student ministry at the following campuses where we already have ‘connections’…Seisa High School, Gakuin High School, Kanon High School,Shudo University, Jogakuin Women’s University, and Hiroshima International University. * September 20 (SA) – Pray for our newest Hiroshima Pioneers Team addition, Young Yang from New Zealand. Pray for her continued adjustment, language acquisition, and that she’d shine and share the love of Jesus wherever she goes. * September 21 (SU) – Please pray today for my preaching on Jonah at Itsukaichi Bible Church. Ask the Lord to give me a fresh message for this small congregation to “stir them on toward love and good deeds.” Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them a vision to grow as Jesus’ disciples and as a church-planting movement. * September 22 (MO) – Pray for our Pioneers Hiroshima team meeting today; that God will continue to lead and expand our team in the months ahead. Pray that, as a family, we’ll continue to grow in connectedness with our team members, and serve the Lord effectively together for His glory alone! * September 23 (TU) – Now 5 weeks after the mudslides and flooding, please continue to pray for recovery efforts. Pray for volunteers and funding to continue as long as help is needed, and
that every affected Japanese person will be touched by the Gospel message and the Light shining through followers of Jesus. Stay tuned for more "Love Hiroshima!" prayer requests and thanksgivings around September 22nd. Thank you for your continued partnership in the Gospel through prayer!
John, Kyoko, JJ (9), Micah (7) & Andrew (5)
"The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much!" The Risen SON for the Land of the Rising Sun! The Prince of PEACE for the City of Peace! L O V E H I R O S H I M A !
