Monday, April 9, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
One Year Later
(This is from MTW missionaries, Bruce & Susan Young, who spent 30+ years in Japan.)
On March 11 it will be exactly one year since the catastrophic 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan, causing massive destruction. Looking over these past 12 months we see the terrible effects it has had in four areas—physical damage, emotional damage, nuclear damage and economic damage:
· one, the tsunami which was at some places 90 feet high, killed over 15,000 lives! And there are 3,320 still missing; it will take 245 billion dollars for reconstruction;
· two, emotional damage that resulted in increased suicides, depression and emotional stress (throughout 2011 earthquakes continue to shake Japan—there were over 19,000 earthquakes in the 3.0 category and 2200 5.0-5.9 magnitude quakes!)
· three, exposure to nuclear radiation and the shut down of the power plant which resulted in the loss of 20% of Tokyo’s electricity and the scare of contamination of food, water and the air.
· four, it was a blow to the all ready hurting Japanese economy by the loss of production and increased debt from having to pour money into repairing the infrastructure and care for the affected people.
Could there possibly be anything positive come out of such a tragedy? Yes, and let me tell you of four ways God is using this:
· the evangelical church has become unified in their efforts to work together to reach the affected areas.
· our Presbyterian denomination has committed to starting a presbytery of several churches in one of the least churched areas of Japan.
· perhaps most notably, the reputation of Christians in Japan has taken a turn for the good. Many Japanese are impressed at the unconditional help and concern shown by Christians to those suffering from the tsunami.
· local churches have become visible in their community. Neighbors have entered churches for the first time to bring contributions to be sent north for relief work!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
"Passenger Injury"
What is "passenger injury"? A nice, tidy way of saying that someone jumped in front of the train to commit suicide.
Over 90 people a day commit suicide in Japan and it seems to be on the rise. The people of Japan need the hope that can only be found through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Encouragement!
The past month has been very encouraging. We had the pleasure of participating in two Mission’s Conferences, met some wonderful people and had more opportunities to share about the great spiritual need in Japan. The Lord also orchestrated a meeting with Japanese Pastor Shingo Katayama and his wife while they were here on a short trip in the US. Pastor Katayama greatly encouraged us and also invited us to a Japanese Bible study that meets once a month in Gastonia (about an hour from our house). We were able to attend the meeting and met some wonderful people who invited us back to be a part of their Bible study group!
We also heard from our team leader last week and we now have a place to live in Japan! One family on our team will be leaving for HMA at the end of December and another family at the end of June. Our team leader agreed that December is most likely out of the question for us, so they are planning on putting us in the other house. We were hoping to be in Japan before then, but God’s timing is perfect and we praise Him for the provision of this “furnished” home in Japan! This is an encouragement in so many ways. We don't have a lot of "stuff" to furnish a home, so we won't have to purchase and/or ship a lot of things, praise God! And it's encouraging to know that our team is making preparations for our arrival because we can get pretty discouraged sometimes feeling like we're never going to make it to Japan.
We feel very encouraged that God is preparing us in so many ways and we trust Him to bring in the additional financial need in His timing. It is tempting to worry about the money, but when we look back at how God has always provided and how He continues to provide for us and prepare us, how can we worry. Our job is to trust Him and keep moving forward in faith, not to worry. Not because our faith is great, but because of the Greatness of the One in whom we put our faith!