Hello Everyone!

Well it has been an amazing month here in Japan, and now this portion of our outreach is coming to a close. Soon we will continue our outreach, but our small team will be divided with some going to the Philippines and my group heading back to south New Zealand's Christchurch.

While we were here in Japan we set ministry along side the Ichihara Shalom Church, with pastor Curtis. He is not only the head of the church here but also the Director of three kindergartens. So for our ministry time here we would be helping with the church by giving the teachings on Sundays, Bible studies on Wednesdays, Prayer meetings on Thursdays, and some kind of church involved outreach on Saturday nights. It was a wonderful time of teaching and learning for both us and the people of this church.

Through most days of the week we also were involved with helping out at the kindergartens. I was allowed to help as a "teacher" 3 turning 4 year old class, and sometimes with all the kids during the day. I really got to know my class and loved my kids! Eventually we had a kind of parent meeting pot-luck and I got to know their parents as well. Witnessing to these people, the parents, the teachers, and even the students was not an easy task. The Japanese people are very traditional, and it is difficult to talk about the gospel but these opportunities allowed us to really get to know the people and actively pray for them and their children.

We also got help with some service to the schools by fixing fences, cutting down trees, putting insulation in the buildings, and painting. It was a lot of hard work, but we saw this as a hope that this would build up relationship between Pastor Curtis and the employees to show how much he cares about the success of the schools.

Other days we were having more free time to try out some different ministry strategies. We went to the train station to give out tracks and sing a little bit of worship. We did prayer walks around the neighbor hood. We prayed over the church and had a time of calling people into the church through intercession. On Saturday nights we had dinner and a movie, a coffee house night, and all kinds of different dishes like Mexican, Italian, and Korean food for anyone who would walk through the doors of the church. It was a full month of investing into the ministry that is here and it has show some amazing fruits.

God has shown us the power of prayer and intercession over and over again. We have seen the closed people in Japan just walk into the church and say, "I have some questions about compassion. Can you talk to me about it? I am not sure about this stuff, but can you please teach me?"

I am so thankful to have been able to spend this time here in Japan. Now it is time for us to step into the next part of our outreach and head back to New Zealand. I can't wait to see what amazing things God has in store for us in the weeks to come. Thanks for keeping up with everything and please continue to pray for me and my team.

Love you all!

Mia