This Sunday (11th) is the anniversary of the tsunami. In our service we will be installing Tadamitsu Nishimura as evangelist. Since July he has been hard at work helping with distribution of relief goods and evangelism among tsunami evacuees. Please pray for a memorable occasion, for his two brothers to attend and receive Christ, and for him to be encouraged and empowered.
Last weekend Franklin Graham spoke at the 'Tohoku Celebration of Hope' for 3 evenings. It was a large evangelistic meeting with 2 hours of of gospel music and hundreds attended each night. It was good to hear a clear, biblical, bold and passionate declaration of core gospel truths. We are so thankful. All the effort in getting people to hear him was not in vain. Some of the tsunami evacuees came from the temporary housing sites were bussed in. We worked as counsellors for those seeking spiritual help. I counselled a 7 year-old boy who came forward for salvation. He was adorable. He was quite determined to become a Christian. He said he believes he's a sinner, and believes in Jesus, and wants to stop sinning! His mother takes him to a church in the north of Sendai. Two inquirers who come to our church Mrs M and Mrs Y also went forward and made commitments for which we are very thankful. Please pray for them and for us as we follow up all who attended. While I have had concerns about US mass evangelism the clear gospel presentation, the pressing urgency of deciding for Christ and the good organisation are all things that the Tohoku churches can learn from (Tohoku = North-east).
On 18th at 3pm (6am in UK and 8am in RSA) we are having Sendai Evangelical Christian Church's first worship service in a community hall in the area of east Sendai near the harbour where we have been praying and working to plant a daughter church since the tsunami. It has been widely advertised but we have no idea how many may come. May we have good attendance and may the Word of God take deep root. So please get up early to pray!
On 20th a Tokyo church is helping us put on an evangelistic event (concert, skit, hymn-singing) in a community hall. It co-incides with the Equinox which is a National Holiday called Higan (which means "the other shore" ie nirvana) and Buddhist memorial services are held where people visit family graves to comfort the dead.
Christine hasn't had a recurrence of her transient vision loss since the frightening episode last month. She has had a few tests which revealed nothing and the default diagnosis is migraine. Please also pray for the UK universities to grant her home student status which is always a headache (pun, sorry) for missionary students.
For some great art see http://esther-artonline.com/Welcome.html
Thank you for your prayers
