Dear Praying Friends and Family

Season’s Greetings from Hokkaido!  The Fall season that is: the trees are turning, the crops are being harvested, and the winterizing process has begun!  There was barely a summer here in Nayoro with only about a week and a half of high temps and only a couple of nights of uncomfortable heat.  The constant rain and cool weather made for an unproductive year for crops all across the island, resulting in a poorer than hoped for harvest time here, but we still managed to put in store some blessings for the winter.  There are also lots of new gardening lessons that can be applied to the next year’s garden, and new seed sewn for a spiritual garden.

Broken Borders . . .  At the end of July, Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church had a three day VBS at a local park.  We had a good crowd of kids all three days – and even a few parents, onlookers, and walk-ins.  Many heard the Gospel for the first time; and Shellee, Josiah, and I all voiced a part in the puppet skits.  We could understand a lot more Japanese than we could last year and I even (very roughly) translated for a Canadian exchange student that came.  (I think it was more difficult to translate from American English to Canadian than it was from Japanese to English, eh?)   We have since seen some of these young people in the regular church services.

We certainly don’t think of ourselves as missionaries exclusively to the Japanese and we thank the Lord for the opportunities to talk to those from outside of Japan.  Besides talking to the fellow from Canada, we have had opportunity to talk to a fellow from Australia and some folks from China.  We know that the Lord did not bring them by on accident and are grateful to get the Gospel to these folks.  Please pray for all of the ones who have been given tracts lately.

Broken Bonds . . . 1Co 15:53-55  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

  We experienced the first of (and then many successive it seems) deaths of friends and loved ones from 6,500 miles away.  We knew of course that this would happen sooner or later, however the difficulty of wanting to be available to comfort folks (and to be comforted by others) isn’t quelled by oceans or occupations.  Only the grace given by our Great Saviour, along with the assurance that we shall see these again in Glory, and the fact that these are no more bound by the sinful and weak flesh, is more than sufficient to dry the tears and heal the longing hurts to be there in America during these times.
 
Our dear friend, Pastor Lloyd Shepherd, was taken to Glory on June 24th.  Dr. V. “Ben” Kendrick finished his race for a crown on July 13.  (There is probably no one man that has had more of an overall influence on my spiritual life than Uncle Ben.)  The Christian man for whom I worked to pay my way through Bible College, Jonathan Byrd, received his glorified body August 20.  Shellee’s Great Uncle, JR Osborne, saw the face of Jesus at the beginning of September.  There are others as well that we have heard of.  Please keep the wives of these men in your prayers as they all are special to us. 

Broken Bones . . . The Sunday after VBS, Titus decided he wanted some more excitement.  I’m still sketchy on the details, but apparently he was accidently knocked off of the pack and play he was sitting on (don’t ask!) and landed on his arm.  After an ambulance ride and fourteen x-rays later, the doctor confirmed that the radius and the ulna were both broken – but not badly (I’m thinking any broken bone is “bad”) and put him in a half-cast and a sling. The original prognosis the doc gave was that, “everything looks fine and he should be good to go in three weeks or so.”  I remember when I separated my shoulder and it took 3 months to heal . . . something seemed amiss here!

So, three weeks later the Dr. removed the cast, and two weeks after that, Titus re-fractured both bones.  The same Dr. said that he now needed surgery and pins.  Based on past performance with said Dr., we were recommended to an Orthopedic Dr. at a different Hospital.  After deliberating with another Dr., our new Dr. made the suggestion to set the bones and put a hard cast on for 6 weeks.  This was done and the x-rays now show that everything is doing great, and he should be cast free by the middle to end of October.  After breaking and having two bones set two different times – Titus is my new hero.

A couple of other Dr. visits to note – Josiah has been diagnosed with hyperopic-amblyopia requiring him to join the “glasses club”, and Shellee has a couple of cysts on her thyroid that are being monitored.  We appreciate your prayers!!
 

Broken Beliefs . . . Josiah and I watched in August during the summer festival (matsuri), as the Japanese carried their god house (mikoshi) through the streets while chanting and dancing to the taiko drums.  I listened to the rhythm of the cadences and remembered playing very similar ones in high school.  The Japanese believe that a local deity will come and rest in the mikoshi and that the drum beats and rhythm will make it happy.  What a small and hopeless god to believe in.  Of course I’m sure something was pleased by it all, but whoever or whatever it was/is, it was/is neither godly nor good . 

We spent time with the Smith family passing out track packets at the matsuri, and probably got out 800 or so until we ran out.  The Matsuri leads up to the Bon (pronounced “bone”) which occurs in the middle of the month.  This is the festival for the “dead”.  Lanterns are lit to guide the spirits returning from the graves, dead ancestors are worshipped, gifts to appease the spirits are placed in shrines and on graves, and people travel back to their family homes during this time.  For missionaries, it has traditionally been a time of increased spiritual attacks – as the “real” spirits involved have a heyday for a while.
We are saddened to see the Japanese so blindly following these vain religions, even though many of them do not really know or believe what the Buddhist and Shinto religions teach.  That, however, is why the Lord has allowed us to labor here.  We are honored to be in the service of the God of gods, to whom all of those “spirits” will one day proclaim as LORD and KING!!
 

Broken Babbling . . . Language learning is progressing and I am actually seeing progress – a true blessing – as we get to go to the annual events and compare the two years.  Last year’s VBS and Matsuri work left us with little to work with, but this year we were able to carry on some conversations.  We praise the Lord for His goodness for sure!  We continue working with the Smiths and the various Japanese on language learning, and we are grateful for all of the help.  There still are days when I feel like I just stepped off of the airplane, but they are fewer and farther between.  Then there are times where our tongues simply get tied in knots and our tone and stress don’t ever seem to find their mark. ~~~sigh~~~~ Oh well . . .  we plod on.
Thank you so much for all that you do for us – your prayers and support make it possible to be here.  We have put together a short video of our first year here in Japan.  Please let me know if you would care to have a copy.  We will be sure to get a copy to you.  May the Lord bless you as you serve Him!

Prayer Requests
· A DVD project being put together to distribute to the city – 5000 copies to be ordered.  We are in the purchasing and production phase.
· Jared Boyd:  17 y/o family friend with cancer.
· Our Japanese acquisition. 
· For the families of the Japanese Believers to be saved, as well as our lost loved ones in the states.
·    Financial needs for all of the missionaries here as we begin using kerosene for the winter & the Yen remains strong against the Dollar.