We definitely feel that the church we are at right now (Matsuoka Evangelical Church) is the place that we need to be. To help encourage those who labour for the Lord in reaching those without Christ. For them, they’re not the type of church that gets missionaries frequently. To Brian and I, well, we’re just like any other normal person. Nothing special about us. But to them, we are something special. There is encouragement within the church because God has given us a different perspective from the culture we came from to share with the Japanese culture. We think within one type of box and they think within another. But both peoples can learn things from the other and then you have everyone unpacking their boxes!
“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” 1 Timothy 5:17
The Pastor is a wonderful man. He is an older gentleman and he had suffered from a stroke a few years back and he hasn’t been the same since. From what we understand, he has a servant’s heart, always wanting to help people. But since the stroke, he can’t even drive himself or his wife places. He will be speaking and in the middle of the sentence, forget what he was just talking about. People now have to help him. It truly bothers him because he can’t help others like he use to. But just because of all that, that doesn’t stop him from doing other things that help others. He continues to preach (in Japanese, of course). Since we’ve been there, he has faithfully typed out his messages in English for Brian and I to follow along with during service. A lot of times, when we read what he types, we feel like we’re reading a fortune cookie, but he most certainly gets his point across! Please pray for encouragement for him as he has discouraging times with his health.
There are some ministries that the church has been doing before we got here and there is at least one ministry that was started a week ago. I’d like to add this before I say much more. I keep coming to the realization on how important it is for us to be a part of the ministries that the church has because of our position. But right now, while we do understand a little of the language, there are still lots that we have to learn, and I believe that is what holds us back from being a part of those things. So please continue to be in prayer for us about learning Japanese.
“I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35
The one ministry that we got the blessing to be apart of was the one that was started a week ago by the Pastor’s wife. God had laid it on her heart to spread the gospel to the elderly at a local nursing home.
Tanpopoen Residents
There were many more people there than what I expected. But they asked Brian and I to sing. Brian got to play his accordion and also, he preached (his boss, Hiroko interpreted). One of the best elements you can put Brian into is teaching/preaching so he had a fun time doing all of that!
I’ll say this because Brian would never tell anyone this (“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.” Proverbs 27:2). There was a bit of concern at first from Hiroko about the message and the fact that it wasn’t “a usual
gospel message”. He preached from Psalm 100. But in the end, he tied in the gospel. That is a different way than what Hiroko knew. She expressed that, the way the messaged was preached, made her think in a new way. The members of the nursing home actually want us to come back, even though they are almost all Buddhist.
Also, Hannah was quite the attention-getter when people saw her. I sat down with her while all of us were up front singing and I’m pretty sure these two ladies paid no attention to what was even being sung because they were too busy waving at Hannah which Hannah didn’t seem to mind. 😉 It seems like there is always something about the young in a nursing home. Through her, or really any child, you see God’s masterpiece. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Psalm 19:1 We are beyond blessed with how God uses her!