 |
| Presenting at Midlands E-Free |
Dear Support Team,
Hello—we hope you are well!
We mentioned in an earlier update how God gave us unexpected contact with a pastor who encouraged us in our ministry to Japan, and now we’d like to share further how God is using that relationship for His great glory!
As we had conversations with this pastor, he and his church invited us to share with their congregation about our plans for ministry. They also let us know that they have a Japanese college student who has been attending services…and that she wanted to assist us in our presentation about Japan!
So we made the hour drive to meet the student and her host family. As it turns out, we got to have dinner with the student and two other Japanese students, none of whom are followers of Christ yet. How fun it was to plan for the church service, shyly practice a few Japanese sentences, eat bowls of ‘cookies & cream’ ice cream, and get to know each other.
At one point, we asked the student if she would go over our presentation with us to make sure that it accurately represented Japanese culture. This was particularly exciting because the presentation brought up many aspects of God and His plan of salvation. When discussing why Christians don’t need to make sacrifices, as in Shinto and Buddhist religions, the student was quick to say, “But I read somewhere in the Bible about sacrificing animals!”
Then John explained how yes, in the Old Testament—before Jesus came to the earth—God did require blood sacrifice to show us the seriousness of our sin. But those sacrifices were temporary and had to be made over and over again. Then Jesus came, and…
The student interrupted before John could even finish. “Oh!Jesus is the sacrifice!” Her eyes widened with sudden understanding. She had learned much about Jesus in the past few years, but a light came as she realized the key component of Christianity is an utterly pure, holy, and lasting sacrifice for sin through the blood of Christ.
Praise God for providing this opportunity! And please pray for the Spirit to work in this young woman’s heart, bringing her to an understanding of her need for the Savior.
Thank you for praying!
John & Jo
One-Time Need support level: 52%
Monthly support level: 16%