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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
Although we are already more than halfway through January, we want to wish you and your family a happy new year. It’s been nearly 4 years since we entered Japan and we are so grateful for your ongoing prayer and support. At the start of a new year Japanese people would say: 今年も宜しくお願いします。Kotoshimo yoroshiku onegaishimasu. It’s a difficult phrase to translate but it basically means; please be kind to me again this year. As we continue to live during a pandemic with plenty of uncertainty, let us continue to show each other kindness in the Lord who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Kotoshimo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
Answered prayer!
Last time I wrote about a young guy who was convicted about sin while listening to one of my sermons and has since then started coming to church. I asked for prayer that he would come to know Christ. Well, he started doing an investigative Bible study with the pastor and has decided to follow Jesus. He is now busy with a baptism class. Praise God! Thank you for your prayers, we can certainly see the effect of it here.  
Ministry placement is decided
Thank you for praying about our next ministry assignment once we return to Japan after our time in South Africa. It was decided that we will return to our current church and work with them to do a church plant in the future. There is still a lot of ground work to be done, but we are excited to be part of a Japanese led church plant right from the beginning. We are still working out what our specific role will be but the plan is to move into the area where we want to plant as soon as we return to Japan. Please pray that God will already be working in people’s hearts, provide funds, and clear the path forward. We have never been involved with something like this before, let alone on foreign soil so there will also be a lot of learning along the way. Pray that our hearts will be in step with the Lord and our ears open to His guidance. The area is not yet 100% confirmed but it will most likely be an area called Urawa Misono. An area that is developing very quickly, with many young families moving in. If you want to have a look, here is a link to the main train station in the area.
https://goo.gl/maps/is2fF8Ny5mhBTFPTA
Current regular ministries
Much of the ministry we currently do consists of participating in church activities, building relationships and serving the church community. There are activities happening every day besides Mondays and Thursdays. (Thursday is our day off). These activities include prayer meetings, kids’ ministry, elderly ministry etc. There is a lady in our church who plays table tennis and together we started a table tennis group at church that meets on Saturdays. One non-Christian started coming and since then she joined other church events including last years Christmas carol service. She has not yet come to a regular Sunday service so this last Saturday I invited her to come and listen to my sermon. She seemed interested but said the Bible message is too hard for her to understand. I told her my Japanese isn’t good so I can only use simple words 😊 Please pray that God works in her heart to come.

Since Aven spends plenty of time looking after baby, I have taken over teaching the English Bible study every second Sunday. There is a non-Christian who attends who we are earnestly praying for. She has been coming to church for 2 years but cannot seem to make a commitment to following Christ. However, this last week she asked for prayer because things are difficult at work. This has been an encouragement to us because she understands the value of prayer.

Aven sometimes finds it challenging to adapt to her role as a missionary mother. There are ministries and things that she wants to do but simply can’t do at the moment. Pray for her as she thinks about how she can be ministering in this new phase of life.  She has looked into joining a local moms’ group with a friend and hoping it will provide opportunities to meet non-Christians.
New Years service
Other news
Andrew Jun is growing well and has recently discovered that he can scream very loudly and loves to make his voice heard. He is also a very inquisitive young guy who enjoys looking at different objects and things around him. Problem is, he very quickly gets bored of the same scene which means we need to take him for a walk around the house. But then he got bored of the same scenes in the house so now we need to take him outside 😊 He really is starting to show his personality now and we are glad he is in our lives.

Last month I had to take a trip to the car license department to renew my driver’s license. It was a pretty interesting cultural experience. I had to sit in a 2-hour lecture on road safety before I could receive my new license. The instructor said that if anyone falls asleep or gets caught on their phone, they will not get their license. I felt that the purpose of the lecture was to scare people into being good drivers. They had a video of a woman being interviewed after losing her son in a traffic accident. After the interview they said, “dangerous and careless drivers destroy the future of families”. They also showed statistics of road accidents and deaths on the road. Most of those deaths are elderly people who get bumped while riding their bicycle. They even showed some actual video footage of cyclists and pedestrians being hit by cars. Afterwards when I got into my car to go home, I was almost too scared to even drive. But I guess it gets the job done because Japan has almost 3 times the population of South Africa but 5 times less road fatalities.
License Lecture
Prayer requests
  • AJ preaching Jan 23rd, 26th, 30th.
  • Andrew’s birth certificate and passport to arrive soon so we can go home.
  • Mr. H’s baptism class
  • Mrs. M to come to hear AJ preach.
  • Mrs. K to discover God’s love for her and receive Christ.
  • We have submitted our budget for 2022. Pray that God will continue to provide for our families’ needs.
  • Joy in the day-to-day activities. Including changing dirty nappies, doing laundry, and admin.
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"Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will". AW Tozer

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