"Passenger Injury"

I just read a blog post from someone living in Japan. He arrived at the train station to find out that his train was running 70 minutes late, unheard of in Japan, unless there has been a "passenger injury". His next train was running 15 minutes late, again due to "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!

We are getting close to...

80%

A Thank You From The Tsunami Victims of Japan

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!

Prayer Request and Update Oct 5, 2011

Hello everyone,

What a wonderful privilege to write to you all and ask for prayer. We may be a little bogged down with current struggles in the US, but rest assured God's Kingdom is advancing on earth and God is definitely doing something in Japan. We have a new opportunity to share with two more presbyteries out west as we continue to ask for support and also to raise an awareness of the great need for gospel ministry in Japan. I will be flying out of Charlotte this morning for Seattle and then on Friday to Sacramento. Kim is flying out on Saturday and we will visit with churches etc over the weekend and head back to N.C. on Tuesday. Please pray that God will use this time to open doors and grow our partnership with churches and individuals out on the west coast. (Of course we are certainly not opposed to support from east coast people either in case you were wondering :-)))

More than 99% of Japan's population does not profess the Christian faith. Not only is there a great need for evangelism and church planting in Japan, but there is also a great opportunity. It is our prayer that more churches and individuals will recognize this opportunity and join the mission of reaching Japan's lost millions through partnering with us financially and prayerfully. That more folks will see this as the privilege that it is - being on mission with Christ to Japan. Let's partner together to carry the gospel to a spiritually impoverished land.

In Christ,

Triston Craven

704-441-3011

tristoncraven@gmail.com

Mission To The World

JAPAN

Living by Faith and Not by Sight

I was listening to our local christian radio station the other day and the General Manager started talking about "faith support". He reminded listeners that he was not making a plea for a handout or trying to sell a product. He was asking them to be part of sharing the Gospel with people in this community, to be a part of what God is doing through the radio station. I thought he did a very good job of explaining "faith support" and it caught my attention because we trust God to provide our finances as well.

Our job is to obey God's call and be faithful to invite others to join the team! We're not salespeople nor are we professional fund raisers. We don't have control over when or how the funds are provided, we just have to trust God to provide for what He has called us to do, and He will!

God is touching the hearts of many people to be a part of taking the Gospel to Japan, through giving and going! He loves the people of Japan and wants them to be free from the bondage of false religion.

Often we feel like Peter, stepping out of the boat, doing something that looks crazy to the "rational" mind. But if we keep our eyes on Jesus, He won't let us sink!

Come Be A Nobody For Christ (Michael Oh's most recent post on the Desiring God blog)

Many people leave college with the goal to “be somebody.” And this usually means getting a good job, making good money, buying a nice house,...