Dear family and friends,
Hello from the Nagano prefecture, I hope that all of you are enjoying the beginning of summer. Azumi village is beautiful right now, all of the trees are turning green, right out side my widow I can hear the mountain stream running by, and there is a cool refreshing breeze coming from the mountain peak, where you can still see lots of snow above the tree line.
I want to thank you so much for your prayers for me and my work here. God has been showing his faithfulness daily to me and it has been so encouraging. As some of you know the past year was the hardest of my life spiritually and emotionally. I guess God had to prepare me for this step in my life and I wasn’t being very corporative most of the time. What has been so encouraging in my returning month here is to finally feel at peace and passionate about God and his work. All I can say is thank you for your prayers, and thank you God that your will prevails.
The staff here and myself continue to see God working here at Northstar daily.
It has been a process to go from my western ministry mindset of conversions and tangible results, to being sensitive to all of the little and often time huge ways God is working in lives all around us.
Recently at our last camp two of the staff where asked by the guests staying here to join a discussion that this group of young people was having about life after high school.
On this panel discussion all three adults who where questioned where Christians and where able to proclaim that Christ was the sole purpose for their lives and the God is the one who gives wisdom and guidance.
The kids had questions, and although we where wondering what the teachers of this non Christian, high class school would think, they told us later that what was said was ok because the staffs visibly lives out what they said that night.
Recently I was having a bad day on my Tuesday teaching day. My Tuesdays are long with 6 children classes and an adult class at night, sometimes it’s hard to have a good attitude throughout the whole day. The 3rd grade teacher at my school has always been very friendly. She always tries to talk to me in her broken English and every lunch I eat with her and her class. This particular day we started talking about church, Christianity, and the Bible. All of these are usually foreign words to Japanese, but she was very familiar with them. I found out that her father is a Christian and attends a church in Nagano city. He is actively involved at the church and has a dream of reading the Bible in English someday. After this conversation tears came to my eyes, as I felt like I was given a small peak at God’s wonderful plan. With less than 1% Christians in Japan, there is no way this friendship, or this conversation was by chance. Praise God that through language cultural, and spiritual boundaries he is working here in the lives of the people of Japan.
Please pray for this teacher, that Christ’s love, hope and peace would overwhelm her heart, and that her fathers prayers would be answered and she would come to Christ. Please also prayer for the local people here in the village and those guests we have, that God would continue to work as only he can softening these hearts.
Lastly I want to present my continuing financial need. I am at about 2/3rds of my full support. With the high cost of living here in Japan, student loans, and medical insurance I cannot go this year without reaching full support. What I have been asking individuals and families to consider is a $150 gift now and another in November. This equals $25 a month (just a few Starbucks visits) and helps so much towards my expenses here.
Well I miss you all! Please stay in touch. And thank you so much for being a blessing and encouragement to me.
DRK
