Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for our ministry here in Japan.  Eternity only will tell what impact you have made here in Japan.  We certainly see only the surface results of our efforts to lead the Japanese to a loving Saviour, and all would be impossible without your participation.

Shellee and Grace left October 6^th for Indiana to spend some time with her Grandparents for 3 weeks.  I have been doing my best to maintain our “man cave” (as some have called it) with all of our little cavemen.  (The Smiths are helping out as well, though they are without JoAnne Smith and daughter Anne who are visiting JoAnne’s folks in Minnesota as well)  We are only halfway into our time of Mama being away, and the boys are ready to have a feminine touch back in the house.  While difficult for us to be separated we are grateful that the Lord has allowed and provided for Shellee to have the time with her grandparents (who she was partly raised by), and to be able to spend some time with our church and other friends and family. 

With the exception of some pumpkins and carrots, all of our harvest is in.  The Lord gave us a great yield this year and we are so very grateful for His blessings.  The gardening time has been such a tremendous blessing since we have been in Japan.  Gardening has taught the boys about the rewards of hard work, been and unending source for Biblical applications to our family,   provided endless opportunities to practice our Japanese and to be a witness to the farmers, allowed us to watch God provide for the needs of our growing family, and been a humbling force to this missionary oh so many times.   We are so very thankful for it all.

In July we had our annual VBS.  This year Shellee and I were responsible for appx 18 2-5 year olds.  Oh I had great plans on how to deal with all of these little rugrats:  we had games planned at different intervals, and a schedule of when everything was supposed to happen, and I was SURE that I could keep them all busy and on track until Bible time when Randy would take over.  Right.

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Thank you for your consistent prayers for our family and for the work here in Japan.  We are humbled and honored to be in the service of our Great God and King, and to be your representatives to the people of Japan. 

Thank you for your giving and prayers for the trip to the earthquake and tsunami zone.  It was an amazing trip in so many ways, and the Lord did as we asked Him to do:  to guide and direct us where He wanted us.  We have been plagued again with computer and internet problems for several weeks and am now finally able to get a trip update out.  I had internet access with our cell phone, but could not access our mailing list.  I was able to set up a blog about the trip and you can read the details here.  www.hopeofjapan.wordpress.com   Randy’s perspective was recorded on His blog as well - http://nayorosmiths.blogspot.com/

With our computer system back up and going our prayer letter should be out in the mail in the next couple of days and I will post it on the site when it is finished.

We are contemplating our next steps in the recovery and evangelism efforts in the Tohoku area (the earthquake zone).  With the amount of finances it has taken to take a trip down to the region from Hokkaido, we are looking at ways of relocating people from there to here.  It would be much easier to help meet these folks’ spiritual and physical needs if they were here.  There are many abandoned city owned buildings here that could easily be turned into livable housing.  This would certainly take a work of God, and the entire community getting behind it, but we serve an omnipotent God that can turn the heart of a King or a City Counsel.  Pray for wisdom and clear leading in this matter and for direction in the coming weeks and months.

We would not be able to be here without you and we are truly grateful for all that you do for us.

May the Lord bless and keep you as you serve Him,

Duane for the Wilhites