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Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3) This verse certainly has many more in-depth studies, but I like to share a little bit of what the Lord has been teaching me. Why did Jesus say we must be like children? He doesn’t mean that Children is more innocent or sinless than an adult, but he is showing how children desperately need their parent, or even nagging their parents, so we should also be so depended on God in every of our need. On the path of salvation, if we have any self-reliance, we will end up in destruction. In the same way, on the path of spiritual growth, we should also be like a child, also in need of the Lord and never rely on our own for spiritual growth. Two months in Japan this verse reminded me how I must be humble and learn to be like a child, always in need of the Father. This verse is teaching me, “to be like children” is a necessary experience to learn about humbleness. If we are prideful as (1 Pet. 5:5) taught us, we will never know the Lord nor experience His power. God uses the environment that I am living in to teach me this lesson. First I thought, I have learned Japanese before, even though that was 20 years ago. I should have the ability to pick it up very quickly, I should be able to handle the daily need. However, as I took the entrance exam for the language school and going through one month of intensive Japanese class, I realized how bad is my Japanese. When people asked me, how long have I study Japanese, I now very hesitant to say 20 years. “What ! 20 years and you still cannot carry out a conversation?” This voice popping up in my head very often. Although it is true that I haven’t use nor practice any Japanese for the past 20 years. I cannot believe how much I have forgotten. When my pride and self-esteem polled my heart, the regret and self-condemnation floating on my mind. I feel regret, why haven’t I study Japanese harder when I was young? Blaming myself, how come I didn’t come to Japan 10 years earlier, now I am 41 and need to relearn this difficult language and adapting to a new culture. Many people may think that living in Japan was such a “dreams come true” place. Well, come to Japan for tourism is fun but moving to live in Japan is much different and harder. Well, I cannot let the past dictated my future, I cannot change the past, and often time, the devils use the past to make us complaining, regret and give up. The path that really will benefit us is the path of humility and submission. Japanese is a lot harder than I thought, and when Japanese speak like a machine gun, and I show a face of “wonder” they will also look at me very strange because we are Asian, we look similar, they assume we should understand what they say. All these experience brings me to the learning lesson of “to be like a child.” As a missionary, I have great hope and high expectation. When I know my reality I realized, what can I do? Reaching Japanese is a lot harder and longer than I thought. This is why we must be like a child because none of these is about me. I am not the boss, and I am not the Adult, but a child who needs my Father in heaven each and every day.
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Praise:
- This is the first photo we took in Japan. In Shibuya, the famous dog Hachikō. It is said that the dog goes to the station every day to wait for his master to come home. Later, after the death of his master, the dog still went to the station every day until the dog passed away 10 years after. We ask the Lord to help us, no matter what difficulties we encounter, make us be faithfully like this dog, to serve Him in Japan until He calls us home.
- Thank you for your prayers. We arrived in Japan on September 12 safely. The church we served in Japan gave us a very warm welcome, we thank God for his leading and provision.
- We gradually adjusting to the life in Japan. However, we may only live in the current address for a short period of time, it is possible that we need to move again. Please see the following prayers request.
- When we first arrived in Japan, we had a lot of registration to go through, such as looking for a school, and local ward office, health insurance etc. We needed patience and many help from others (the language part was very complicated). Thanks to the Lord, for providing co-workers, brothers, and sisters to help us.
- One more thing is Abby’s schools' application. We have visited the school and got an interview. If all set, Abby should begin her school in December. We are thankful that God also provides a Japanese teacher to Jennifer who is a Christian and can speak English.
- Thank the Lord, also provide a teacher who can speak some English. Although there are still many challenges in elementary school, we trust the Lord to take care of him.
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Thanks to the Lord, although we have just arrived in Japan, the Lord has been moving and waiting for us to get involved in ministry. Our team leader told us that he has been in Japan for 20 years and has been waiting on God to open more doors and possibilities. The wonderful thing is that in just 2~3 weeks, so many things happened. One of the key steps is to have our own facility. The church that we serve does not have its own buildings. The currently rented venue (Cozy Hall) is only available on Sundays, so it is inconvenient and difficult to do any outreach during the week. Who would have thought, that there is a land for sale, in this already saturated and high prices area? However, just a month ago, the Lord opened the way. This land was located behind Caleb’s school. It is very ideal for gospel outreach because of the nearby school, library and many big apartment complexes.
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However, buying a land and getting the right price is not easy. With only about 40 members church (typical Japanese church only have 25 members) How can a small church take on such a big task? God is in control, and He is using this experience to stir up our faith in Him. In few weeks time, God not only moves among brothers’ and sisters’ heart to faith pledge and also commit to no interest loan, the Japan Baptist Fellowship (Conservative Baptist of Japan—mission branch) also approved of this purchase. On Nov/1st the church signs the contract and bought this land. In the next 6 months, an outreach facility will be built. The first floor will be used for various ministry outreach, and the second and third floor will be used for a residential for missionaries and future pastor. Takatsu district has about 200 thousand population, but there are only about 5 Christian churches, we are one of them. It is vital to have “fix physical out-reach post” in this strategic area.
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Not only that, our mission team (there are few more families are in the process of preparing to join our team) and ministry area is expanding. Our team leader Kevin is going to a new district (Musashi Kosugi-this area has 120~130 thousand people, yet without a single evangelical church, this area is about 20 mins away from our current area.) to start a new church plant. However, facing the same challenge, how to find a land or buy a facility? God certainly is pushing the plan forward, in a few months time, not only we found the land and also got a reasonable deal and sign the contract. The rest will be raising the fund to build the facility. We are all excited about what God has done. Now, we like to invite you to partner with us in this exciting gospel expansion. If you would like to donate to this building project, please contact me. Our team leader made a video which explains more in detail, please take a look. https://vimeo.com/299035952
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- On the first Sunday of 2019, I will be preaching at the church where we serve. This will be my first sermon in Japan as a missionary. I will be preaching in English, and co-worker will translate into Japanese. Please pray for me, may God empower me and give me the word to preach. I pray that the 1st message of the year will be powerful and encouraging to the Japanese Christian.
- I mention that we might be moving again (within Ta-katsu area) because when the out-reach facility builds, someone needs to live on 2F. There are also a few more families preparing to join our team, and our team leader is moving to a new area, so someone will move into his house. We don’t know yet, please pray that the Lord will have the best arrangement for us all.
- I have mentioned the “the cross-project” which is the strategic plan of our church planting team, our team leader made a beautiful website for us, please take a look for more details. http://thecrossproject.jp/
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Prayer request:
- I was going to send out a newsletter when we arrive in Japan. Never know how busy I will be, yet the among of work need to do on various registration, school, insurance etc. Were overwhelming. Every day I need to deal with different paperwork. On the second month, even worse. I begin my language school full-time, and the teaching speed was so fast, that I could not catch up. School teaches from lesson 21 up to 30 (I join from the middle because I have some basic) in less than 4 weeks, almost every other day or 2 will have a test. Please pray for my language learning. May God give me the capacity and ability to do it, and also pray that the Lord will give me the right attitude, don’t be panic or worry, but trust in Him in every step.
- Please pray for Caleb. Although his teacher can speak some English. However, he can only help Caleb understand genially what is going on. Most of his classmate are friendly to him, but since he cannot speak the language, it is harder to make friends. During recess, he usually stays in the classroom by himself. He begins to feel lonely and miss the friends and school in the US. Very often he will say he wants to go back to the US. Moments like this, we need God’s wisdom and patient to guide him, the reality is, this is very hard on us. Although Caleb knew why we came to Japan, he had the feeling that this is your adult business, I didn’t choose to come here. Please pray for him and us, that the love of Christ will touch us so deeply so we know this move and sacrifices are worth it all. Pray that we will joyfully to serve the Lord in Japan.
- On Nov/10 Caleb’s school had an open house. We went to his school to meet the teacher and get to know more about their learning situation. In this rare opportunity, we get in touch with a Japanese lady Mrs. A, her daughter also in Caleb’s class. Caleb said her English is the best among the class, she is able to carry out a basic conversation with Caleb in English. Surprisingly, this Japanese lady also has a younger daughter attending the kindergarten that Abby is going to attend, and her daughter also is the same age range as Abby, so Jennifer exchange line account with her. Please pray that we will have the opportunity to develop a friendship with Mrs. A, hopefully, some-day share the love of Christ with her.
- Please pray for Abby’s admission to kindergarten. Pray that the Lord will provide a good teacher to help her adapt to the new environment, and meet new friends. Please also pray that the Lord will provide more opportunities for us to connect with people, building a relationship, share the love of Christ with them.
- On October, we had a great outdoor Sunday worship. There are several none-believer attend the service. One of the is Mr. H. He is a deaf person. One of the ladies from the church invites him to come. Since he learns Chinese literature before he can write Chinese. Jennifer had a conversation with him on paper. Please pray that the Lord will lead him and give him the desire to know about God, pray that somehow he can attend church. (there are a deaf only church in Yokohama area).
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October outdoor worship at the park.
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Contact us
- Our phone in the U.S. has been disconnected, Please contact us using Line or Facebook
- https://www.facebook.com/Chang4Japan
- https://twitter.com/Chang4japan
- http://www.chang4japan.org/
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