Please Pray!

This is part of a recent email from an MTW missionary serving in Tokyo who has been making trips up to the tsunami affected area.

"The Holy Spirit was so obviously moving on those trips. There is no other explanation for the openness of the people and the clear healing taking place. On the other hand, there is also an obvious spiritual battle going on around the community of Tsukuda/Tsukishima. The town is literally divided over whether or not to partner with or even associate with Christians. Three separate individuals have gone to the retirement home where we have been storing supplies telling them to stop because Christians are dangerous. Our closest Japanese friends have been in long meetings every day from vocal members of the community who want them to stop working with us. Many arguments between friends. This is taking up a lot of people’s time and energy. Please pray!"

Our battle is not against flesh and blood. The people of Japan have been in bondage for centuries and Satan is not going to give up the battle without a fight. But he ultimately knows the war has already been won and he is defeated!

Please pray for these Japanese Christians who are experiencing persecution because they are proclaiming the name of Jesus and pray that they will remain steadfast in their boldness!

Update from Triston - Still in Iowa!

Hey all,

Thanks so much for your many prayers. It has been really neat to see God at work here in Iowa. Things have fallen in place in a way I could never have arranged them. The connections that I've made have been very encouraging and not just in ways of financial support, but hearts that are sincere about the Great Commission.

Yesterday I met with a pastor that knows a Japanese man who has been coming to the US once a year for the past 25 years on business. When he comes he stays with them and as a result has been converted to the Christian faith. He is now expressing an interest in seminary. I have the privilege of introducing him to some of our team in Japan and hopefully making some positive connections that will bring about fruit in Japan. This is exciting as this is what we want to see in Japan. Japanese men being called into the ministry for the sake of evangelism throughout Japan. Very few Japanese men are even Christian.

I have met many Christians here in Iowa that are serious about the advancement of God's Kingdom among the nations and that is encouraging!

What better desire to have in our hearts than to see Christ exalted among the peoples of the world where there are no Christians or where the Church is so small, so frail, and so non-missional that it is unrecognizable. May we long to see the supremacy of Christ in ALL things to the joy of ALL peoples - okay I've been listening to a lot of Piper on this trip :-)

It has been good and I appreciate your prayers and support. Also thank you for keeping Kim and the girls in your prayers. I'm off to Holland now (Holland, Iowa that is).

In Christ,

Triston

58%

Praising God for new partners bringing us to 58%!!!

Here is the latest update from MTW:

May 9, 2011 - Help Japan Update from MTW

Would you be surprised to know that more than 30,000 Japanese commit suicide every year? That is double the number of Japanese who have been confirmed dead, so far, in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Japan has one of the highest per capita rates of suicides in the industrialized world, and some experts believe the numbers are much higher than previously thought. The number of suicides is rising every year, with depression given as the most common cause. While many factors contribute to this deadly toll, it is clear that Japan is in spiritual crisis.

The tsunami has come and gone, leaving devastation in its wake. Even though the shock and immediacy has passed, the larger crisis will not be over for a long time, and our teams in Japan are still working to minister to the survivors. The earthquake did terrible damage, especially to the east coast nuclear reactors, and believers are braving the dangers to reach out those who live within the reactors’ shadows. They are traveling to the tsunami area and cooking hot meals. They are coaxing out personal stories, weeping with those who weep, sharing the hope of Christ, and praying for fruit. And they are seeking God as they develop a long-term strategy in response to the recent events. But none of the damage that stretches for miles and miles is as severe as the increasingly chronic loss of hope by many of the Japanese people. And fewer than .5 percent know the true hope for the world—the hope found only in Christ and the gospel.

Rebuilding homes, businesses, and lives is important, but the single most critical need is to build the Church of Christ in Japan.

Would you continue to pray for the believers as they reach out with the gospel in word and in deed? And would you pray that this would truly be that longed-for day of opportunity in which God will open the hearts of many Japanese people.

Thank you for caring for Japan!

Midwest Trip

It has really been exciting to see the way the Lord has been working things out for this trip, in ways that only He can!

Jesus reminds us in His Word to " ask, seek, and knock..." and so we have been doing just that and He has been opening the doors! Once the door opened for us to speak to a Christian school in Iowa, we asked for more opportunities in Iowa and He answered! We asked for provision for the trip and He has provided in a much better way than what we had originally thought or imagined.!

Please pray for this trip. Pray that God will be glorified, first and foremost. Pray that Triston will be able to make the "real need" clear to those with whom he speaks, Japan needs the gospel! American Christians must know about the serious spiritual need in Japan and the opportunity that God is giving the Church to reach Japan with the gospel. 127 million people with less than .5 percent Christian. The harvest field is plentiful in Japan and the workers are so, so, few. Jesus said "pray to the Lord of the harvest that workers may be sent... "

Pray also for safety on the roads for this round trip of over 2600 miles in Kim's dad's Honda Civic through some areas that have recently experienced flooding.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Trip Schedule:

Wednesday 11th - Triston leave for Iowa

Thursday 12th - Drive remainder of trip to Orange City, Iowa and spend weekend with a family from the Christian school

Friday 13th - Presentation at Orange City Christian School

Sunday 15th - Presentation at PCA church in Orange City, Iowa

Monday 16th thru Friday 20th - Triston will be driving from Orange City, Iowa to Chicago, Illinois meeting with PCA churches along the way

(Monday-PCA church in Hospers, Iowa / Tuesday-PCA church in Holland, Iowa / Wednesday-? / Thursday-PCA church in North Liberty, Iowa / Friday-?)

Friday 20th - Kim will be flying from Charlotte to Chicago to meet Triston and spend the weekend with the Coverts (our former Assistant Pastor and his family)

Sunday 22nd Worship with the Coverts, then drive to Indianapolis, Indiana to meet with family/friends and spend night with Kim's aunt

Monday 23rd - Possibly meet with a church and/or partners in Indiana then head home to NC

An Everyday Burden for Japan's Everyday Tragedy (Michael Oh)

An Everyday Burden for Japan's Everyday Tragedy

Latest MTW Update

April 26, 2011 - Help Japan Update from MTW

Thank you for your interest in the progress of our Help Japan efforts—and for your prayers.

MTW sent an Advance Needs Assessment Team (ANAT) to Japan at the end of March to see how our Disaster Response Ministry could best assist our teams in Japan. Dan Jenny, Dennis Hamilton, and Michael Behmer spent several days worshiping with the Chiba church, attending team planning meetings and conducting interviews, traveling with team members to observe their ministry in Iwaki and Sendai, and considering future opportunities. They remain available able to advise and assist remotely, as needed.

At the time of their visit, primary ministry activities involved distributing relief supplies to needy areas. It was anticipated that conditions would improve rapidly and although this has proven true overall, our teams have continued to look for overlooked segments of the population still in need of resources, building new relationships as they go from place to place. The “ministry of presence” has become as important as the initial more urgent need of supplies. MTW missionaries have been leading teams to shelters, not only with needed supplies, but hosting concerts and events that provide a glimpse of normalcy in lives that have little of their former normalcy. Many in the shelters have wept tears of gratitude. One missionary said he said he saw the atmosphere change from one that felt like a concentration camp to a celebration. It is important to feed the soul and spirit as well as the body.

Distributing supplies was labor intensive. So soon after the assessment team departed, a large number of former missionaries to Japan and their grown children, who speak the language and understand the culture, arrived to assist in the ministry and have been a great asset.

In many disaster situations that MTW responds to, we often send follow-up teams of disaster response trained personnel after the ANAT returns. Would you like to be trained and ready for future disaster situations? Disaster Response Training is a week-long course comprised of classroom time and “in the field” hands-on learning. Volunteers are trained to work safely and effectively in unstable environments and to serve those suffering from shock, pain, trauma, illness, and dislocation from their homes. If you are interested in information about MTW’s next Disaster Response training this fall, please email: Response@mtw.org

What about the future? As we mentioned last week, MTW-Japan is beginning to work out a long-term strategy which will include church planting in the area affected by the tsunami, and God seems to be opening doors as never before. Please continue to pray that God would raise up new missionaries to serve in Japan. And pray that the Lord will quickly bring in the remaining funds for approved Japan missionaries who are raising support. They are urgently needed! Jeremy and Gina Sink are long-term missionaries itinerating for Japan. Short-term and intern missionaries include Haley Lebo, Jake & Anna Claire Gee, Triston & Kim Craven, Kendrick Johnson, Jonathan & Alanna Walker, Todd & Michiyo Buckwalter, Ellie Honea, and Richie Lisenby.

Let us continue to pray together that God will keep open this day of opportunity for the gospel and that we will be enabled to respond quickly and appropriately.

Free Download of Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die (John Piper)

Free Download of emFifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die/em