Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  Things have been going well here.  It is very humid now in Japan.  The Japanese are celebrating with matsuris (festivals) all around Japan.  They celebrate with beautiful fireworks in the summertime.  

My English classes have been going well.  Everyone seems to be enjoying the Bible time after the English lesson. The Bible time is also refreshing to the few believers in some of my classes.  The kids' Bible time is done with flannel graph, which is very enjoyable for the kids.  

Please pray for one of my students as he has asthma.

Please pray for my student in Sakurai.  Her husband does not know the Lord.  

Four girls accepted the Lord on Sunday of last week.  We are excited about that.  

In two of my English classes I shared this verse: 

 Psalm 4:7-8  "You have put gladness in my heart more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.  I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

I told my students that God is putting gladness in their hearts...more than the biggest harvest they could ever have in Japan.  This is interesting because Japan has many fields for growing rice and vegetables.  I believe God is planting seeds of hope in their hearts as well.

God Bless you
      John

   About two weeks ago we had a visit from our friend Bill Cook, who we knew from childhood. He is currently living in Thailand and sharing the Gospel there. He taught our parents Japanese when we were little and decided to share with us what he knew about the Japanese language. We had a good time of studying and hearing his stories about witnessing in the East. One week ago we had a Christian koto player that came over to our English class and played the koto. She used to be a Buddhist  priest but she got saved and she is trying to spread the Gospel through her koto playing. Please pray for the ministries of Bill Cook and this Christian koto player.

Last night I had a traditional Japanese New Year's  meal at my sister's Japanese teacher's house. Of the many dishes there were sweet black beans and Japanese fish eggs. The fish eggs were hard to swallow. But the rest of the meal made up for eating the fish eggs. We found out that the Japanese teacher's husband used to travel a lot. It was interesting to hear about all the places that he and his wife went to. He talked to us about the emptiness of their religion in Japan. He said that they go through the rituals but they don't believe in them. We were able to share with them about the difference between having a relationship with the Lord and having religion. Please pray for their salvation.