Dear Praying Friends and Family:                 
Greetings once again from Snowy Hokkaido!  The Lord is gracious and ever abundant in mercy, and we certainly depend upon these gifts each and every day.  Despite our weaknesses and failures, we are humbled that He continues to use us here in Japan.  We are privileged to be in His service, and enjoying it immensely.  This time of year is more difficult than other months emotionally, as we are accustomed to being with family during the holidays.  Yet the Lord gives grace and helps us to see the folks, that we would not otherwise be able to share the Gospel with were we in America, as He sees them: still lost and needing Christ.  So we shed our tears for those we miss, pull together as a family, reminisce about the goodness of the Lord in times past and present, and rejoice at God’s faithful blessings.  Then we get back to work learning the language and culture, raising our boys, and trying to Light up a dark place.

Leaking 
I am told that ninety-five percent of missionary work is simply surviving.  Much of what we do is rather mundane compared to the exciting missionary stories written of God’s miraculous working in extreme situations. 

Dear Praying Friends and Family:                                                                                                                                October-December 2009

Greetings once again from Snowy Hokkaido!  The Lord is gracious and ever abundant in mercy, and we certainly depend upon these gifts each and every day.  Despite our weaknesses and failures, we are humbled that He continues to use us here in Japan.  We are privileged to be in His service, and enjoying it immensely.  This time of year is more difficult than other months emotionally, as we are accustomed to being with family during the holidays.  Yet the Lord gives grace and helps us to see the folks, that we would not otherwise be able to share the Gospel with were we in America, as He sees them: still lost and needing Christ.  So we shed our tears for those we miss, pull together as a family, reminisce about the goodness of the Lord in times past and present, and rejoice at God’s faithful blessings.  Then we get back to work learning the language and culture, raising our boys, and trying to Light up a dark place.

Leaking 
I am told that ninety-five percent of missionary work is simply surviving.  Much of what we do is rather mundane compared to the exciting missionary stories written of God’s miraculous working in extreme situations.  While we do see God’s hand of provision each and every day, and there are at times the exciting tales to tell, the same everyday chores that need to be done to survive in America still need to be attended to here in Japan.  With eight boys, there are loads of laundry needing to be done, meals to be prepared, shopping to do, dishes to wash, rooms to be cleaned, and MANY things that need to be repaired both inside and outside.  Time ravages buildings and vehicles, fabrics and furniture rend and break, and appliances and motors break down.   School must be taught, languages studied, and lessons prepared and learned.  All of this needs to occur with Japanese tools, appliances, and materials – the bulk of which are vastly different from what we were accustomed to in the States.  Yet it is in doing these daily and seemingly mundane things that opportunities for the “exciting stories” arise, and sometimes even become the stories themselves.

Some time ago the church building roof began to leak.  After a few estimates quickly priced the roofers out of reach, the Lord gave some wisdom and helped Bro. Smith, Bro. Kiguchi, and me to make the needed repairs before the snow set in.  We were able to get the outside finished in the nick of time, and then patched up the inside until we could tackle it after the holidays. It all came together without much to report about.   Sorry, no exciting story this time.

Laughing and Lauding
We had five missionary families get together for a Thanksgiving fellowship in the town of Teshio, about two hours drive from here.  It was a good time of refreshment with families that share the same burden and passion to reach the Japanese with the Gospel.  We often do not realize how important those times of fellowship are needed until we visit together and leave refreshed.

On Thanksgiving day, we enjoyed the day with just our family.  Shellee made a great meal, and we rejoiced in rehearsing the blessings of our Great God.  The harvest this year was good and God’s provisions always plenteous. Oh how good is our great and mighty God to us!!

On Christmas Day, we spent the morning together as a family and rehearsed the events that led to the birth of our Saviour and King.  We also discussed again the reason for His birth and ultimately the reason for God’s calling to Japan.  We opened the gifts and cards sent by  many of you folks and were humbled once again by your generosity.  It was a great time to spend together as a family and  to once again look at the many ways the Lord continues to be gracious to us.  The challenges of living here are great, but we are very well aware of you folks that are praying for us and holding the ropes in the States. 

We then spent the afternoon (and unexpectedly the night) with the Minks family.  Our boys always enjoy being able to get to play and fellowship with people that are their own ages and can speak English.  (The adults enjoy it too!)

Loving 
On Dec. 19th, Shellee and I celebrated 11 years of marriage.  Our getaway was postponed, however, as that same day was the day that Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church held its annual Christmas program.   The program went well and there were many first time visitors.  There were many songs sung, a puppet skit, and a time of fellowship.  Probably the most important part of the program was the testimonies given by two Japanese believers:  Brother Kiguchi and Mrs. Nakajima.  Christianity is seen as a “western religion” here in Japan.  How important it is to have the Japanese give testimony about the grace and goodness of God to their own people!  Brother Smith tied it all together to make sure the Gospel was clearly presented, and then everyone was given one of our DVDs detailing an overview of the Scriptures from Creation to Christ. 

One of Shellee’s Japanese helpers, Mrs. Satoh, came with her daughter’s family.  These folks have recently moved here from New York City and are adjusting to Nayoro life.  The husband, Herman was raised in the US and speaks little Japanese.  Please pray for opportunities to speak with these folks more.

We later joined Alan and Tanya Minks for a getaway to Otaru and Sapporo for a couple of days while the Smith family watched the children for both families.   (I believe they had a slight lapse of sanity by agreeing to watch thirteen children, but we certainly seized upon it!!)  The Minks’ anniversary was a few days difference from ours, so it was a good time of fellowship with them and then by ourselves.  This was the first time since Shellee and I have been married that we could spend our anniversary without at least one child in tow.  How wonderful God has been to me in giving me such a faithful and loving wife.  She is a true treasure whose value is far above rubies!  It has been a blessed eleven years and we are grateful for having had the opportunity to recount the blessings of those years during a special time.

 Learning
My language helper, Mr. Saito, took a three week vacation down to his family home in Osaka.  His birthday was the day after Malachi’s and we gave him a Japanese New Testament.  He asked us to pray for his trip and said he would have a lot of time on the train to read; and pray we did!!  When he got back, Mr. Saito told me that he had read the New Testament every day and had some questions for me later.  I am looking forward to it!!  (I wonder how many Christians have read their Bible everyday for the past three weeks?  Of course some Christians have a good excuse.  There are some around the world that don’t have a Bible at all.)  Please pray for this man as he helps me with Japanese and the Lord works on his heart.

We have already mentioned Mrs. Satoh.  She contacted us a few months ago and asked if she could help Shellee with her Japanese.  She had recently gotten her teaching credentials and plans to teach in China in the future.  She was hoping to gain some practice in teaching and asked if she could do it for free.  We thought the price was reasonable (  and that it was a great opportunity to build a relationship.  Pray for Mrs. Sato and for Shellee as the Lord guides and directs in their classes together.

舟 – boat
口 – mouth
八 – eight
船 – big boat
Bro. Smith called one night to ask if I could cover his English class as he was not feeling the greatest.  It was rather last minute, so I had little time to prepare.  There were only two students that night, but the Lord had a plan in it all.  I decided to practice introductions and then asked simple questions about their families.  One of the ladies then asked me to give the names of my sons and then asked if the names had meanings.  Knowing that the meaning of a name is important to the Japanese, we purposefully gave our sons names that would be a testimony for the Lord.  I was able to share the Gospel by giving their names.  When we got to Noah, I asked if they knew the story of “Noah” in the Scriptures.  They said that they were familiar with it and so I proceeded to use their own “kanji” (part of the written language) to show them some Biblical truths hidden there.  Borrowed from the Chinese language and dating back 4000 years, there are many biblical truths hidden within these kanji.  We first looked at the kanji for a “big boat.”  The only difference between the kanji for “boat” and the kanji for “big boat” is the addition of eight mouths (or people) to the boat.  It was a blessing to watch these two
羊 – sheep
我 – me, myself
義 – righteous

Japanese ladies get excited as they realized the correlation.  I then showed them the kanji for “righteousness” which is made up of two smaller kanji.  The two kanji place a “lamb” over top of “me, myself”.  The only way for me to be righteous is by the workings of the intercessory Lamb – Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God!  Please pray for these ladies to continue to be excited about the true God and His desire for every man to be saved.

Light to the Lost
Our DVD project is beginning to shape up nicely.  We have the distribution rights for a presentation called “God’s Story” in Japanese, and Bro. Smith is putting the final touches on it to send off to the company that we will be using to make the copies – 5000 for starters.  We have about half of the money needed for them and we are asking/expecting the Lord to furnish the rest.  We plan to get these out to every home in Nayoro eventually, and we figured 5000 was a good start!

On New Year’s Eve, Bro. Smith, Malachi, and I rang in the new year where many of the Japanese would be visiting – the local “jinja” or Shinto shrine.  Before the people entered in to offer their prayers, listen to the drums, and watch the fireworks, we wanted to give them Hope not to be found in idols made of stone and wood; to tell them of the True God that cannot be contained in boxes borne on the shoulders of men.  Many accepted the tracts and a very few stopped and talked.  One fellow, after initially refusing a tract, turned back to Bro. Randy and asked, “Why do you s out and out here and do this?”  Bro. Randy gladly told him.

People are often surprised to hear that there is snow in Japan.  Nayoro averages over twenty feet of snow every year.  Life goes on as usual . . . . snow or no snow . . . and door to door evangelism goes on most every week. 

Language
Our language learning continues to plug along, and we find ourselves being able to communicate more and more.  I was able to preach my first sermon entirely in Japanese on the 23rd of December.  I preached on the three places that the Old Testament says that the Messiah would be located: “born in Bethlehem”, “called out of Egypt”, and “called a Nazarene”.  I pointed to these prophecies as proof that only Jesus has fulfilled these and only He could be the Messiah.  Preaching in Japanese for the first time reminded me of the first message I ever preached in America. I read most of the sermon straight from my notes, I added a lot of Scripture to make it longer, and in the end  it was a lot shorter than all of  the times I practiced it.  I was nervous, I was excited, I couldn’t wait to get started, I had a hard time thinking what to say, I was glad when it was done, and I thought of a lot of things I “should have said” all that night and the next day.  Yep . . . just like the first one.  What a privilege to be in His service!

Prayer Requests
· Missionary daughter Esther Elliot – 6 y/o with stage 4 untreatable cancer.
· The Lord’s guidance and provision for the DVD project.
· Jared Boyd:  17 y/o family friend with cancer.
· Our Japanese acquisition. 
· Continued growth of the Japanese believers.

By His Grace Alone,