Dear <<First Name>>, I wanted to let you know just how thankful we are you. Your prayers, giving, encouragement, and support keep us on the field in Japan.
We pay the price to live in Japan for people like Sayaka. She came to visit our family group again this week, and also came to church for the second time! Thank you for praying for her, and her husband Geordie.
**Soon you will be receiving our year-end letters in the mail, so please respond to this email if your mailing address changed in 2021!
As I've been preparing for these year-end communications, I've been struck by the cost of what it takes to support a missionary family in Japan. Of course, living in a far away land has its challenges, but there is a whole host of people behind us that make it possible, and they each sacrifice in their own way to be a part of this team. Finances are a part of it, but also a lot of emotional energy comes in to play. Thank you for sending us to this unreached land.
All of us are willing to pay this price because only 0.3% of the Japanese are Evangelical Christian. That's about 361,000 people out of over 120,000,000. Imagine if the USA had less than 1,000,000 Christians? If Morton IL had less than 50 Christians? If Cissna Park IL had only 2 or 3 Christians?
I remember my early call to missions and the inspiration that I received when reading the book Let the Nations be Glad (Piper, 2010). When I consider all that Jesus Christ has been for me and how faith in Jesus has shaped my life, I couldn't imagine a place so spiritually desolate as Japan. What impact does it have on people to live in a place with such little access to the gospel of Jesus? Is it not worth devoting your life to this cause, to represent Jesus in a place where so few have heard?
So when I see the cost on paper, I'm reminded, YES, it IS worth the cost. So thank you for investing in Japan. This is an eternal investment that WILL bear fruit, because Jesus told us it would. The harvest is ripe!
I you have more interest in Japan, specifically the spiritual atmosphere and task ahead of us with planting churches, please consider these two books by former missionary to Japan, John Mehn. I hope you will be encouraged to persist in prayer for the church in Japan and for those churches and people sending workers to Japan.
Thankful for the call,
John, for Silvia and the boys
www.johnandsilvia.com
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