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Dear family and friends,
Greetings in the Thanksgiving season.
This late summer, we were invited to attend an English speech contest, which was founded and has been organized by Toshie, a Japanese Christian lady, since 2015. Toshie is an English teacher and an interpreter. Despite the outwardly reserved characteristic of Japanese culture, she always encourages young people to express and share their feelings, personal experiences, interests, and perspectives, particularly in English. She invited native English speakers who are Christians as judges in the contest. The contestants came from places all over Japan. Right after the contest, there was a refreshment session, and Toshie took the opportunity to share her faith. Being uncommon in the Japanese society and culture, it provided a relaxing and favorable setting for the participants to raise questions about religion. In the past, some contestants openly shared their painful life experiences and sorrowful feelings, and Toshie led them to know Christ. We are thankful that God gives her the zeal to share her faith through this special ministry and has used her greatly in the past decade. We pray that the Almighty God continues giving Toshie wisdom and courage to witness Him among Japanese young generation.
In August and September, there were two Chinese families and two Chinese individuals who came to our Japanese church and attended the worship services. One of the families with a young daughter is a seeker of faith, and all members of another family are Christians. Both individuals claimed themselves as Christians. Shortly afterwards, the two individuals contacted the two families and privately invited them for a meeting. During their gathering, the individuals were found to be religious cult followers and asked those two families to follow them instead of going to our church. By the grace of God, the incident was discovered and resolved in a timely manner, and the Japanese pastor of the church was notified without delay. Praise the Lord who protects those who seek the Truth.
In the past decade or so, numerous Chinese moved to Japan for work and study. Some religious cults from China also extend their work to Japan and carry out their wicked schemes. We pray that God protects His people in the spiritual warfare: in particular, that the Lord guides their hearts and gives them wisdom to discern the Truth from fake beliefs.
In October, a couple with their little child came to visit us from Taiwan. We provided them with pre-marital counseling some years ago. After getting married, they have gone through lots of challenging and distressed moments. Praise God that they stood firm in faith and have overcome various difficulties by His might and grace.
We are very thankful for having opportunities to reach out and visit over twenty Chinese and Japanese families in the past quarter. A regular Bible study with some Chinese was launched. At the same time, we also started an English-speaking club with two Japanese ladies. Meanwhile, our Japanese language learning is ongoing.
We sincerely thank you for your prayer lifting us up. Without your continued prayer, it is impossible for us to serve on the field. Have a very blessed Thanksgiving season!
Serving together for the Kingdom of God,