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Dear family and friends,
Greetings with our Father’s peace and joy.
In the past quarter, we had the privilege of serving in different ways around several provinces. Twenty discipleship training sessions, marital relationship enrichment workshops, and counselling sessions, as well as numerous visitations were completed. Praise G*d that ministry trips went well and were very fruitful and productive. We are thankful to witness some believers to be willing to re-commit their lives to the L*rd in their families and workplaces. G*d is awesome!
In one of the trips, we were invited to visit a privately owned school, which is not a “normal” school in the country of our service. In particular, curriculum underpinned by Chr*stian principles and values are adopted. Accordingly, the authority strictly forbids its existence; technically speaking, the operation of school is illegal. The entrance of the school is a hidden, narrow tunnel stairs at the back door of a restaurant. It is a small school in terms of the size of space, as well as the number of students. There are less than thirty students in total. It carries only curriculum of elementary school and may not provide class for each grade. The availability of class of a certain grade depends on the availability of students and teachers. All teachers and pupils come from Chr*stian families. Parents send their children to study there, as they hope that their next generation have an opportunity to receive Chr*stian faith-based education from childhood. On the other hand, they unswervingly defy the authority’s propaganda education to their children.
The school is operated by faith in every moment. Not only are all staff and students well-prepared to face threats and persecution from the authority any time, but they are also walking in the faith for G*d’s financial provision. The monthly tuitions are not sufficient to cover all expenses, including rent, utilities, staff salaries, costs of curriculums purchased from overseas, etc. Meanwhile, some teachers serve as volunteers in the school. May the L*rd continue to bless, protect, and provide for the school as the participants seek first His kingdom and treasure His teaching in their daily lives. Our hearts are warmed and deeply encouraged by these faithful followers of Chr*st.
After COVID, some believers whom we had known left their families and migrated to other countries due to different reasons. We are grateful that we got an opportunity to visit some of them in Japan this summer. We assisted them to search for ch*rches in their language and pr*y that they continue to be pastored and discipled in a new living environment. Thankfully, we also visited the NAB Japan team in Osaka and learnt more about the needs, culture, and language of another field in Asia. We greatly appreciate the team’s warm-hearted welcome and hospitality, especially in the midst of their busy ministry schedule. There are quite a large number of migrants from our current host country settling in Japan these recent years. We keep on pr*ying for discernment from what we have seen and felt towards the needs of G*spel of these migrants.
Counting every blessing and great joy with thankfulness to serve in the current host country over the past decade, we re-evaluated effectiveness of our ministries and considered a feasible plan to develop future ministry. Due to the intense nationwide scrutiny of personal activities, as well as strict censorship on the internet, it is inevitable that our connections with local believers and ch*rches would bring them a certain level of risks, or even danger. In particular, the authority’s exploitation of the pandemic for data collection and activity scrutiny has made the situation worse since a few years ago. To avoid implicating our local friends, we have been trying to protect them by lessening contact and blanching certain information with ch*rches’ leaders. Discerning our Father’s direction to our ministries through pr*yers since March, we have made a very difficult decision to finish our services in the current host country by the end of this year. Please join us in pr*yer for G*d’s mercy and protection to the local believers to be able to grow in the Truth. At the same time, we pr*y for a successful and smooth transition of ministries to the nationals and are seeking G*d’s direction to our ministries in the future. We are passionate to continue to serve and extend G*d’s kingdom in the international m*ssion field where He leads us. Your intercession is much appreciated.
With love and gratitude,