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Harvest Baptist Church in Guam asked us to take part in their annual missions conference. The church lovingly encouraged us with blessing upon blessing. We look forward to seeing our brothers and sisters again.
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March 2018
A Blast From the Past
<<Salutation>>
We just returned from Guam last week. We were blessed in many ways during our week there. It seemed everywhere we turned we met friends or acquaintances from our past. I was particularly surprised to see F.G. Homsher who was in my prayer group my freshman year at Pensacola. It has been over 20 years since I transferred from Pensacola to Northland. It was great to catch up and hear about his work in a closed country (not sure if I can say where online). I wish I could name all the familiar faces we saw at Harvest from Northland, including Pastor Herron and Pastor Baldwin. It's amazing how God weaves our lives together. I met another familiar face from Northland named Aaron Engelhardt and found out his wife Nina and Nozomi were both officers of the same society together in college.
We shared our vision for Japan with the church people. Nozomi and I were both able to speak to some Bible college classes as well. It was great to share our hearts for church planting and our hurts in the middle of culture shock.
We met my grandmother's sister, Haruko, and her grand-daughter for the first time. We were also able to just hang out with old friends and get to know new friends. Because of the kindness of some of those friends Nozomi and I were even able to go on a double date without the kids (well, we still took the baby). It was nice to go to the beach when coming from 40 degree (5 degree Celsius) weather in Japan. But most of all it was great to pray and worship with the church family in Guam.
We return to Japan feeling refreshed and ready to work for the Kingdom of our Lord, Jesus. The preaching was great. The fellowship was great. It was a very refreshing trip. Thank you for your prayers!
On the drive home from the airport we found out Nozomi's unsaved uncle passed away. It was somewhat unexpected. God gave us opportunities to show our love and support to Nozomi's unsaved aunt and cousin by attending the viewing (they didn't want to have a funeral service). We hope God gives us an opportunity to share the Gospel with them in the future. God gave us a sobering reminder of the vapor of this life. May we all live with eternity in mind.
Please pray for our family as we are still adjusting to Japanese culture. I hear this takes a while, so a little progress is very good!
Pray for the kids as they still miss their Grammy and Pop Pop, and their other family and friends in the USA. Pray for God to give Nozomi and me wisdom to show grace and love to them as they struggle with such a huge change.
Kensei started noticing his eye problem in the mirror. He also started noticing when other kids say "What's wrong with his eyes?" Pray God will provide a good eye doctor who can help Kensei through therapy.
Taishi got a 100% on his kanji test the other day! Thank you for your prayers as he seeks to do his best in school and to show Jesus' love to friends (and siblings).
Pray for Nozomi as she adjusts to a new culture. We met a missionary couple recently. The Japanese wife mentioned she had similar struggles as Nozomi. She lived in Australia for about 15 years before coming back to Japan with her family. We hope to meet back up with them in the future for fellowship as it seems they have gone through very similar cultural struggles as we are.
Pray for me as I continue in my Japanese studies. I am currently working on sharing my testimony in Japanese. Pray for more opportunities to practice Japanese and to connect with Japanese men, both believers and unbelievers, to build relationships and to explain the hope of the Gospel.
Pray for like-minded partners.
Pray for Christian unity here in Japan.
If you haven't already, take 7 minutes to watch our video about the need in Japan and visit our website here. If you would like to partner with us, please click on the "support" button or click here and sign up with a monthly pledge. If you would like to increase your monthly pledge amount, the easiest way is to call our mission board at 603-821-5232 so they can adjust your pledge amount over the phone. Let your friends know about our ministry by sharing our video or website on Facebook.
Thank you for your love and care for us. It is an honor to be working together with you to take the Gospel to the many lost in Japan.
Love,
Jared M. Vanning
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Uncle Yoh took the older kids and me to the beach and showed Taishi how to snorkel. Taishi wants to "punch a shark like Uncle Yoh" when he gets bigger.
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Nozomi shared at a ladies Bible study. I hear she did a great job.
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What does an American missionary do when back in the USA? Get's a real American burger, of course. Jason, Dan, and Yoh and our families all went out for burgers. Great time of fellowship with these friends. Hope to see them in Japan in the near future.
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