Well nothing much has happened lately. We had a Korean missionary to Iraq, came and spoke for us this Sunday. He can speak both his native tongue, English and Arabic. So that was interesting, but I could not understand the sermon. My classes are going good, the few ones that I do have. We have a English service this Sunday and I am going to share a little message in the morning service. We also have a outreach this Saturday where a church is presenting a choir group in front of the Tenri station. So I hope that will reach a lot of people. I want to thank my church family for all your prayers and support. God bless...

  Luke 2:46. The will of the Father. When Jesus said He must be about His Father's business, he was listening and asking questions in the temple among the teachers. He had not yet begun His ministry of preaching. Each of us have our own ways of ministering. Each of us have our own place of value. We have different giftings. We are not all the same. We have a difference about ourselves that makes us unique as an individual, but yet we all make up the same body. 1 Corinthians 12:14-26. We cannot do without each other. Even the hidden parts have even greater value. The ones that might not be seen or heard. the ones that might not look so comely or pleasing to look at. But each has it's own special function or role to play and it cannot be seperated from the body. Even Jesus had no comely form that we would desire Him, but yet He is what makes up the body. So everyone of us have value and a place of ministry that fits us whether it is seen or not and we all make up the body of Christ.

 Recently I been going through some trying times, trying to cope with the cultural differences between  America and Japan. But we had a good service on Sunday where a guest speaker spoke. He preached on how we are all foreigners set apart to be holy for God. Those who become Christians are different and become one family. So we don't have to be defined by the cultural differences from which country we

came from. We become a new race of people set apart to be holy for God. We have the Word of God
now describing what kind of people we are. So this was a comforting message to hear what I could understand of it, since it was mostly in Japanese. Afterwards we had our youth service at Family Koen Mae. A park where I used to go to when I was little. It was a good time of hanging out with the youth and playing sports. It was great to see so many youth smiling and enjoying themselves playing sports. And the weather was good too, since last time we could not do it because it was raining. 

 Well, I found some interesting scriptures from the Bible lately. It seems like my life is filled with trials, but reading from the Bible, it shows God has not only intended it to stay that way forever. Psalms 35:27 says "Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant". And it goes on in Leviticus 26:3-4 saying "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in it's season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit". Then after that it lists more blessings. So this shows that there are blessings to come following after the Lord, even though there seems to be many trials to reach that point. Though I always think how many times would the trials repeat themselves after every blessings you receive? I guess it doesn't end till we reach Heaven.

 Recently I met a friend of ours on the road. She befriended me and Bethany before. She likes mountain climbing even though she is old and has some physical problems. But she is amazingly strong to climb the mountain almost every day. Anyway I talked with her the other day over 10minutes in Japanese, I think. It was one of the longest conversations that I had. Difficult but yet rewarding to see what I could understand. It has been raining here in Haibara off and on. Getting ready to share from the Word this month at Lifesong church. I found out that my friend that I work out with, recently bought some whiskey and had some. So that was some discouraging news. I wish he can come back to church and get saved. I had a new student come to the Tuesday English class. It was a good time and we had several Christian ladies witnessing to the new student. Our neighbor came too class too, an old Christian friend of ours. Most of my students giving the new student their testimonies of how they met the Lord. Our neighbor is such a sweet lady and strong in the Lord. She gave me a ride home and kept repeating "Don't give up" about life, my driver's license, and my friend that I work out with. I would like to thank all for your prayers and support. Hope Last Chance Chapel is doing well. Remember not to give up when you see changes happening or everything seems to be so hard. Remember God will give His rain of blessings in due season.

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.

 I went to the Honduri last Saturday. The Honduri is a big marketplace beside the main temple of the Tenri area. I passed out tracks for our English classes. The people were friendly and most of them accepted a track. Please pray that they will come to our English classes. I am glad to be back in Japan working for the Lord.