Dear Beloved in Christ and Partner in the Gospel,
Hello from snowy Iowa! It has been a blessing to spend this season reconnecting with many of you. In these past winter months we have enjoyed catching up through phone calls, email and notes in the mail. Though personal contact is still challenging in this season of life, we’re grateful to still be able to encourage one another in walking with Christ. Thank you for the many ways you have lifted up our team and family!
For years now, you have been praying with us for God to raise up more workers for His Tokyo harvest. Despite the increased restrictions we have all faced this past year, God has grown our team to 11 members! We’d like to take the opportunity to briefly introduce you to each of them:
Adam Bailey
Currently raising support to return as long-term staff. Adam served with the W. Tsurumakicho church and hosted APEX teams.
Melanie Brunell
Arrived in January but transferred from the Sapporo team in Northern Japan. She will be focusing on studying Japanese as she serves in one of the local Small Churches.
Michiyo Ishida
Serves the Yamabukicho Church and facilitates student outreaches, Culture Makers Café and Dream Café.
Kim Larson
After mobilizing students with APEX for three years, she is pursuing God’s calling to serve for 23 mo. with us in Tokyo. She is currently raising support.
Shige & Luann Nakazawa (4 children)
Shige co-leads with John and leads the Tokyo Small Church Network. Luann is an industrious mother and master of logistics, supporting the team in countless ways.
Kevin Moore
Arrived in December, settling into his first term as long-term staff. He will be serving with the Yamabukicho Church and reaching out to students, among other opportunities.
Krystle Robb
Currently raising support to serve 23 mo. with our team in Tokyo. She has previously served as a member of two short-term APEX teams to Tokyo.
Sarah Roberts
Also arrived in December, celebrating the long-awaited deployment to serve the Japanese in Tokyo. She will be focusing on language learning while serving in a Small Church.
Alongside maintaining a clear sense of vision and mission with discerning hearts, caring for each team member is essential to our health as we grow. We feel personally called to the ministry of team-care, to provide our teammates support, coaching and encouragement for fruitful ministry. Alongside these technical pieces, much of this care is found in the little things: hosting team gatherings, sharing meals and fellowshipping in our home on a regular basis.
We continue to invite new staff with a common vision for Tokyo in order to multiply the work of disciplemaking and Small Church planting. In fact, we are working to establish a new church planting team in a different area of Central Tokyo by 2023.
We’re excited to see how God leads us as a family and as a team, and we’re grateful for your prayers!
-John, Jo Beth, Brooke, Bonnie & Bella
We’ve got our COE…just waiting now for a visa!!
Return Plans & Prayer Points
We’re eager to share this joyful news—God has raised up through you all of our monthly support needs! We are in awe, once again, by God’s faithfulness through you. Thank you to all of you who have prayed and given so generously!!
We feel God’s steady hand leading us to return to ministry on the field in Tokyo. Our departure has been delayed due to COVID travel restrictions. Japan has declared a State of Emergency in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19, including measures to suspend the issuing of visas. And yet, we are moved to pray that we might somehow be granted a visa to return in the next month or two.
Upon returning to the field, we are praying toward starting a family oriented small-church in our home. Please pray that God will prepare hearts and bring those He is calling to fellowship together with us and become fruitful disciples.
Please pray for God’s perfect provision of long-term housing for our family of five. We are a big family by Tokyo standards, and options are fairly limited. We are praying specifically for an apartment or house that includes a parking spot, has space for us all, plenty of windows letting in light, and balcony and/or garden space for the kids to play outside. We also pray it will be located near enough to our teammates to be in easy walking distance of one another.
Brooke’s third, and final, year of Japanese preschool would be starting at the beginning of April. Please pray we might be moved in and settled down before the start of this next term, which would greatly ease the stress of her transition back to Japanese school if she can start alongside the other kids in a new classroom.
Pray for each of us in this upcoming transition! The kids are growing fast and understand very little Japanese language at this point. Pray that we will have good closure when the time comes to leave our extended family and home in Iowa, and that He will prepare each of our hearts.
Please lift up John’s father, whose physical and mental health have declined greatly in the past year. We’ve been taking turns caring for him, alongside other family members, and are looking at long-term care facilities. Please pray for God’s perfect provision of a home for his final years of life, and that he would be surrounded each day by people who point him to Christ. We would love to see him comfortably settled somewhere before our transition back to Japan.
Grampa Lee & Bella
Japanese Language Practice with our good friend Shoki!
Catching up with the Yamabukicho Small-Church on New Year’s Eve!