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Dear family and friends,
Greetings in the US Thanksgiving and Canada Remembrance seasons!
Praise the Lord! We submitted applications and received the visas successfully through your prayers. In God’s grace, we entered Japan in early September and lodged in a guest room. We are thankful that an apartment housing is assigned to us located about 1.5 hours away from the urban area of Tokyo. According to the practice in Japan, the available apartment is fully empty besides a gas stove. While lodging in the temporary guest room, we completed the orientation sessions, applied for all necessary documents, including residence cards, and opened bank accounts, as well as purchased some furniture and electric appliances for setting up our home.
The apartment housing is in a local residential community. The window in our bedroom is shared with the hallway of the building. The public stairs of the building are attached to another side of the wall of our bedroom. Nick had surgeries on his left eye twice before, and Iris’s left eye got posterior vitreous detachment since June. We found that the apartment is quite dim, probably due to our weak vision. We are thankful that TEAM Japan has adjusted some lighting fixtures for us. We pray that the Lord bless people in the community through this new home.
In the first few weeks in Japan, we have visited some churches and met a small group of Chinese people in an international church. Not all members of the group know Japanese language well, so a brother does the translation for the others during the Sunday service. Their thirst to worship God encourages and warms our hearts. After moving to our apartment housing, we are going to attend a Japanese church regularly and immerse ourselves into the Japanese culture. On the other hand, we are eager to know and connect with Chinese residents as well. Pray that God provides and guides us to a suitable church in His time.
While we are walking on the streets and taking buses, it is very often to see shrines at the corner or temples on the road. From time to time, we found that some passersby would stop and stand still in front of shrines for a short moment. Buddhism and Shintoism have been the two dominant religions in Japan for many centuries. Practicing these two religious faiths has already penetrated deeply into the Japanese culture, as well as daily living. Some young generation visit temples during traditional festivals though they may not even know the meaning and purpose of the custom. May the Lord reveal Himself to all those who are seeking the Truth and lead them to know and accept the precious salvation!
It is a privilege for Iris to participate in the ladies’ retreat October 28–30. Besides learning a lot from the main messages of “Active Listening,” it was a good opportunity to meet other missionaries who have been serving in Japan through various ways of their ministries. Yuri Nakano, NAB missionary serving in Japan, also participated in the retreat. Iris is more than grateful to have a reunion fellowship with Yuri.
Every day here is full of God’s grace. We especially give thanks that there are a lot of things for us to learn and grow in each day. The first thing we are eager to pursue for growth is the humility from co-worker missionaries here and the virtue of diligence in learning Japanese. We are excited and are anticipating what God leads us in and lets us experience His presence in the new mission field.
Once again, we would love to express our heartfelt gratitude for your continued prayers and all kinds of support. Your walking with us in the mission journey means a lot to us.
Your missionaries,