May Update

PRAISE REPORT

Thank you so much for your prayers for our recent trip. God is good! It was a great trip and we are so thankful for God's protection while we were driving over 3600 miles, through 12 states, with no car trouble and no sickness. Thank you Righteous Rides for providing us with such a nice vehicle! 

We met many new friends and have added them to our update list. Welcome! And we were able to connect with many old friends and partners as well as some of Kim's family. Thank you to everyone who housed us and/or fed us, we are blessed!

We met with and/or spoke at 9 different churches and were able to share with countless individuals about the great spiritual need in Japan. And, as always, people just couldn't believe that less than 0.3%  of the population of Japan is without Christ. That's over 126 million people! 

We have already added some new supporters as a result of this trip. Please pray that God will move in the hearts of His people to give towards this ministry and that we will be at 100% soon!

DEPARTURE CHECKLIST

We received our renewed passports last week, so that's one thing checked off. We will be making a trip to the home office in June to get any needed vaccines. Of course, we were inoculated with just about everything imaginable before going to Papua New Guinea, but we do need the Japanese encephalitis vaccine and maybe some boosters. Sounds like a fun trip!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please continue to pray for our family as we go through all these transitions. Pray that we will enjoy every day God blesses us with. Please pray that we will enjoy our kids, they are growing up so fast! And this special time God has given us to be so close as a family and spend so much time together. It truly is a blessing that we far too often take for granted.

Please pray for our marriage. The past year has been very challenging because God has been working on some major issues in our lives. We are growing so much closer to Him and to each other as a result though. We are so thankful for the people God has put in our lives to help us on this journey!

May 18-20th we will be attending a team retreat in the Tennessee mountains. Those of us who are itinerating will be team building and fellowshipping with those who are in the states on HMA (home assignment/furlough). Please pray that it will be a nice, relaxing time for all of us and our families.

Last, but certainly not least, please continue to pray for the people of Japan. They really are more open to the Gospel right now than they've ever been. There is a window of opportunity open right now so now is the time.

Thank you so much for your encouragement, support and prayers!

In Christ, 

Triston and Kim

April 2012 Update

News from the recent Festival of Hope in Sendai, Japan

“Japan has few Christians relative to its large population, and northwest Japan has fewer than most other parts of the country. Churches in Sendai typically average less than 30 in attendance, so it was a wonderful answer to prayer and brought great joy to Japanese Christians when nearly 12,000 people attended the Festival of Hope to hear the Gospel. The final meeting was the largest Christian gathering ever in that region of Japan. The Crusade was held in the Grande 21 arena, a sports complex that had served as a temporary morgue after last year’s disaster. Many Christians asked God to transform the stadium—which had been a place for families to come and seek their dead—into a place where people found new life. God answered. Members of one family said that they decided to attend the Crusade for a simple reason—after the tragedy, it was the military and Christians who came to help, and Christians were still there a year later, volunteering, rebuilding, and providing encouragement. That made them want to learn more about the Gospel. “(From the April 2012 BGEA Newsletter)

Please pray for our upcoming trip (schedule below). Pray that the Lord will open new doors for partnerships with these new churches and /or individuals and also that we will have a good time as a family on this 2 week adventure! Please pray that the remaining 17% of our support will come in soon. Our desire is to leave for Japan in July so we can help relieve our team leaders of some of their workload and provide hope and encouragement through the Gospel to the people of Japan.

April 17-18 traveling to Gosport, Indiana to visit friends

April 19-20 traveling on to Iowa, dinner with new friends in Alton, Iowa

April 21 a.m. meeting at Hospers PCA in Hospers, Iowa, then drive to Grundy Center, Iowa for dinner with new friends

April 22 a.m. presentation at Colfax Center Church, Holland, Iowa

April 22 p.m. presentation at Faith PCA in Ackley, Iowa then drive to Madison, Wisconsin

April 23 Kim’s Birthday, meet friends from PNG for dinner in Tomah, Wisconsin

April 24 meeting at Cornerstone Church in Delafield, Wisconsin

April 25 meet Kim’s cousin for dinner in Elgin, Illinois

April 26 meeting in Elgin, Illinois, then drive to Plainfield, Illinois to visit friends

April 27-28 drive to Greenwood, Indiana to visit Kim’s family

April 29 a.m. Triston preaching at Shiloh Community Church, Franklin, Indiana, visit friends, then dinner with family in Muncie

April 29 p.m. presentation at Westminster PCA, Muncie, Indiana then head south

April 30 traveling home to NC

May 18-20 retreat with Nagoya team in North Carolina mountains

We would love to see you during our trip if you are in any of these areas! We would also like to add more to our schedule for May and June! Please let us know if you’re interested in hosting a home meeting or if your church, Sunday School class or Bible study group is interested in having us come and share about the great need in Japan!

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom - Trailer - ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATED ...

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!

"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