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This year will soon pass. This time last year, we were full of excitement and anticipation, for we will embark on a journey toward mission. Why do I call it a journey? Being a missionary to Japan is quite different from that of going as a tourist. When we visited Japan in April, we learned about the challenges and difficulties of actually living in Japan. Although Japan is an advanced country, in most case, Japan is very convenient, but since we have been living in the US for a while now, we need to relearn and adjust to the new living environment. The difference between a journey and a tourism is that the journey will change you while the sightseeing is only temporary. Moving to Japan, we will be changed. In particular, children will face nationality (and ethnic) identity struggles. This is one of the important topics for our training in cross-cultural parenting education. They will soon struggle with the question, Where are they from? They have Taiwanese parent, but born and raised in the United States, now moving to Japan. Which language, ethnicity and culture do they belong to? This is an interesting but challenging question. We pray that both of them can say, Heaven is my home, we are all journey through this world. From accepting the appointment as a missionary to receiving training and began to share the vision and fundraising, there are many challenges and joyful moments along the way, as well as worries and anxiety. But God's grace has been there all the time. We learn to wait and rely on Him. When we look back this year, God's grace has been evidenced by your prayer and financial support. We are grateful to God and we thank you all for partnering with us. Please continue to pray for us and may God provide all our needs and send us out next year.
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20 years ago, I visited Japan for the first time. Like many J-Pop fans, I want to experience Japanese culture. At that time there is smartphone nor GPS, only a map. My friends and I try to find a church, it took us awhile to find one. As we walked inside we saw all foreigners (Westerners) and everyone speaks English. I did not think too much about it at that time, but later I learned that Japan is one of the countries which have very few churches. I thought about myself, living in an area where Christian access is everywhere, yet Japan does not have such an access. 20 years after, Japan remains one of the least reach countries in the world. God not only called us to preach the Gospel and make disciples in Japan but more importantly, God calls us to plant churches for the Japanese. This arduous task we simply cannot accomplish by ourselves. We need the support of many Christians and churches. We pray that in this coming year, you will consider partner with us, and send us to Japan, so we can fulfill God's calling together.
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Praise and Prayer:
- This month we started our online training on "Intercultural Parent Education". This course is a required training. We are very grateful for this particular study. This course will help us better understand how to educate children in different cultures and environments as well as the challenges we may face in Japan in the future. This course may take about 1 to 2 months to complete. Please pray that we can have good learning so we can lead our children.
- Please continue to pray that the Lord will give us more opportunities to share the mission to Japan. As for now, we do not have an invitation to share in 2018 yet. We hope there will be churches that can give us an opportunity to share. If your church is interested in learning more about the mission to Japan. please contact us. We would love to share with your congregation. E-mail us chang4japan@worldventure.net or call us 626-615-5988
- Next year will be the 75th anniversary of WorldVenture, thank God for using this organization. More than 500 missionaries in 60 countries, together striving to expand for God's kingdom, we are blessed to be part of the family.
- Early next year, we will be going to the headquarters for our final departure training. However, the date is not yet determined. please pray so the planning, hope everything can be worked out.
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Partner Development progress:
- Praise the Lord our monthly budget has reached
- Monthly budget we have reached 64%, and the
- Launching (one-time) ministry budget we have reached 80%
- We made a web page which can be used to promote and easier to spread, please help us share this page with many more people.
- http://www.chang4japan.org/support-the-chang-family.html
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The following is our general timeline
- Dec/2017 attending CMC mission Conference
- Early 2018 attending training by WV (Feb ~March)
- Finish fundraising around March ~ April, prepare for visa application and moving.
- Around May ~ June, mission sending service.
- June/2018, Caleb finish second grade
- July/2018 attending WorldVenture 75 yrs. celebration.
- Late July/2018 depart for Japan
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How to become mission partner:
You can send a check (US Or Canadian check only) to Worldventure,
please make payable to
WorldVenture, and at memo write #275
Send the check to
WorldVenture
20 INVERNESS PL E ENGLEWOOD
CO 80112-5622 (new address)
Note: All currency is in US dollar,
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