May 2015 – Update

Dear Family, Friends, and Partners in the Gospel,

Hello!  How are you this Spring day?  I (Jo Beth) sat down at the kitchen table to type this letter, but I couldn’t stop looking out the open window.  An evening spring storm is about to roll in, and the wind is rich with the scent of blooming flowers.  Before getting started, I had to go out for a quick walk through the neighborhood to enjoy the gusty twilight before settling in to share with you what God has been doing in our lives lately.

Much of our work takes place closer to the heart of the city, 40 minutes or more from here.  However, we are thankful for opportunities God provides in this small neighborhood where we live.  Frequently we stop to visit with the neighbors who live on either side of our apartment, but our relationships seldom reach deeply beyond these next-door families.  Recently though, a couple of women who both live nearby stopped us on the road to chat; one of them, knowing that we are missionaries, shared that she is also a Christian!  The other, Setsuko-san, didn’t speak of spiritual things at all, but later that night she came to our home bearing gifts of garden vegetables!  She also invited us to a tea ceremony downtown the following day.  Though we are studying to learn Japanese, much of our communication is still limited to facial expressions and laughs.  We feel the burden to pray for these dear people and to disciple and share the Gospel of Christ in whatever fashion we can.

Prayer at Waseda University with the Pennsylvania Prayer Team

This past month, we also received a prayer-team from Pennsylvania.  This team came to pray for the city, pray for churches, and pray for us.  During their visit here, we took one morning to prayer-walk through our neighborhood—praying for these and other specific neighbors we’ve gotten to know, and even praying over a small park where we might someday take our child to play.  Out of all the places the team visited in Tokyo, this was perhaps one of the most meaningful times for John and I personally.  God, in His goodness, sent His children from Pennsylvania to join us at the foot of His throne on behalf of the folks who live in our tiny suburb of Tokyo!  Praise Him for working beyond language and cultural barriers through prayer.  And please pray that we will be shining lights for our neighbors, that they might come to know Christ as savior of the world.

John, Jo Beth & Baby Lee

---