A sad day in Tokyo

Not really any pictures to share today, as today was rainy day here in Tokyo. Today was our last full day here in Tokyo. We spent the morning prayer walking in Higashikoganei with the whole team and then we went to lunch with Jeff, the career missionary in charge of our team. We had our debrief time where talked about what the past month meant to us and what we are going to take away from this trip. It was a good lunch and we got some good feedback. This has been an amazing trip and God has used us in some truly amazing ways. One of the things that we learned during this trip was praying for boldness in sharing our faith means nothing if we never take that first step of sharing to begin with. God will never grant boldness to those who don't speak. We also learned of how spiritually dead Tokyo and most of Japan is. People in this city have tried to fill the emptiness that exists in every ones heart with material stuff, granted they think they're happy but its only temporary, the pain is still there.

We've also met some great missionaries here who we've become good friends with, you'll be hearing more about these folks as they are some of the very people your Lottie Moon dollars support. We've also made some great Japanese friends since we've been here, tonight we had dinner with T-san, a friend who we've met with a bunch since we've been here. It was very sad to say goodbye to her, however its comforting to know she's in good hands. We're sad to leave the country and the work behind, but at the same time we do look forward to enjoying America and our friends and family again. This trip has been amazingly quick and in the words of a former journeymen here concerning her time here, 'I blinked and it was over'. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us while we were here, God answered your prayers on an almost daily basis.

Our God is an Awesome God!

God is truly amazing!



For our last 5-minute English session today, God worked through one of the new interns to lead 2, yes TWO Japanese to Christ. He is super cool to let us be a part of that today. Wow! Please pray that R-San and S-San take hold of their new faith, that the missionaries here properly disciple them, and that they are bold in their faith.

Please pray for Matt and I as we meet with two of our contacts tomorrow for lunch and dinner. Pray that we effectively share the gospel message with A-San tomorrow and that she connects with Amanda so that Amanda can follow-up with her after we leave. Please pray for K-San that God continues to work on her heart and bring her closer to a relationship with Jesus. She doesn't have a faith at all, but her father would like her to choose a cult instead of Christianity. She is open hearing, but confused.

So, question for you: Can you guess what type of food Matt tried tonight?

Thank you all for taking time to read our blog and pray for us while we're in Japan!

Busy Busy

We've been very busy these past few days, who would have guessed that our last week in country would be so busy. Saturday we spent our last day doing park ministry again, we went to Koganei Koen which is in Higashikoganei, its a big park and had lots of people however we weren't able to share Christ with anyone. Everyone we tried to talk to didn't speak any English and our Nihongo isn't that good either. We spent the afternoon at the open air Edo-style museum which was pretty cool. On Sunday the IMB Tokyo team decided to get all of their churches together along the Chuo Line and have a big church fellowship at Musashino Koen. It was great as we got to fellowship with many Japanese Christians, eat some American BBQ, and have some great worship time together. We were also able to invite some non-Christians to come and fellowship with us and we were also able to share Christ with them. We would ask that you please pray for T-san and N-san as they are Buddhists and are quite confused about their beliefs. We had a good talk with them and I'm sure God's Spirit is working on their hearts. Oh, we've also welcomed three new interns since our last post as well, Jude, Whitney, and Amy have all just arrived and are going to be here for the next three months. We would also ask that you please pray for them, that their transition is smooth and they are open to God working through them. We are saddened that our time is drawing to a close here, we've made some great some new friends here and are sad to leave them. As I talk about the IMB missionaries here in Tokyo, I can't help but stress the Lottie Moon offering, this offering goes to support real people who are sharing Jesus Christ with thousands to millions of people who have never heard His name proclaimed. Please pray for these missionaries and please if you have the opportunity, support them through your local Lottie Moon offering this Christmas season.

A typical day in Musashisakai

Today was another full day of distribution, prayer walking, and 5 minute English in Musashisakai. Today was one of the new interns first days of doing 5 minute English so it was good to get her out at the station and get her working. It was a pretty slow day though, we were only able to talk with about 7 people total for our team, still that's 7 more people that we were able to share with. Friday is our last concert with Lion Tribe and we are also going to their friendship party in Kokubungi. Please pray that we are able to share with the Japanese who come to this party and that we are able to meet some people during their concert tonight. Thank you to everyone who is praying for us, God has been answering your prayers and ours on a daily basis here.

A day of ministry in Japan and America

Today was an interesting day as we were able to minister in two different countries, Japan and America. We spent our morning distributing the Hope DVD offer to people in Mitaka and then went to another concert by Lion Tribe at the station in Mitaka. They were great as usual and put on quite the show, the first picture is of them (C-flo, Big Head Ed, and Big Mike) as they like to be called. We were able to get some good contacts from their concert, which is a good thing. We then proceeded to Yokota Air Base in Fussa, Japan (about 45 min west of Mitaka) to take the journeymen and ISC'ers we've been working with to American soil again. They had a great time as they got to experience American culture and food again. We even had Chili's for dinner! It was just like America with giant portions, refillable drinks, and English menus, we all enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to minister to the missionaries here as their time away from America and home does wear on them. Through something as simple as taking them to an American military base it brought them such great joy. We would ask that you continue to pray for us, please pray for our protection from Satan, our health, and our boldness in proclaiming God's Word. We would also ask you to pray for our group as we are having a cookout/worship time this coming Sunday at one of the parks. We are inviting the Japanese to come and experience an American cookout plus some worship time. Please pray that they are open and receptive to the invitation as well as the Word that is presented there.

Throw your hands up!!

Today was quite the interesting day for us here. It started with the usual stuff, distribution in Higashikoganei and some prayer walking after lunch, but then it got crazy. IMB Tokyo had been expecting the arrival of a Gospel rap group, they consisted of three guys from CA (Ceasar, Eddy, and Mike). They had planned to put on a series of four concerts at the larger train stations along the Chuo Line. The other journeymen and ourselves were to go to these concerts and sort hang out in the crowd and look for those who are interested in this and try to talk to them. Well the time came when we were to go to Tachicawa station for the first concert! Needless to say many of us were nervous (this is something new for all of us). After meeting the guys we proceeded to get set up and then they put on the show. It was much different than what I thought it was going to be like. They do rap about Godly things and are probably some of the nicest and most outgoing Christian men you will ever meet. We were able to talk to some people however it was limited. The neat thing about this style of ministry is that it attracts the very people who won't pay us a bit of attention when we do 5 minute English, so that's a good thing.

It was also interesting that as soon as these guys turned on their equipment to begin, Satan showed up to attack. Sharon (an ISC'er) got a major migraine, fear and nervousness attacked a couple members, a cult showed up and wanted to pass out their material in front of us, and "Jesus cat and dog" were there to distract Beth and I (yes Chris I know)! Japan is a battleground for people's souls and sometimes it seems as though we are outnumbered, but we must prevail as God has already won the war.

We would ask that you please pray for the Lion Tribe (the rap group), pray that they are bold in proclaiming God's Word. Please pray for Y-san, a young man I met during the concert, pray that his heart is opened to the Word. Please pray for Amy, a new intern, that she makes the transition smoothly. And continue to pray for our protection here. Also please pray for T-san and her friend as we go and meet with them today, pray that they are open to God's Word and that we are bold in speaking it.

Japanese Holiday

Today was the second day of a four day long Japanese holiday here, no one is really quite sure what the holiday is all about though. Each of the Buddhist temples though will carry a small version of their shrine/temple around through the streets of Shibuya chanting and singing. We saw at least half a dozen different ones today being carried around the streets. They usually attract quite a following of people as they go as well, so the already busy city of Shibuya becomes extra busy and crowded on a day like today. We of course know that what they are worshipping is nothing more than sticks and stones, however we would ask that you pray for the Japanese people here, that their eyes are opened to the truth of what they're doing. We spent our afternoon doing some prayer walking and 5 minute English though in Musashisakai, because of the festival it was like a ghost town there and we really weren't able to meet any new contacts. We were however able to have dinner with a Japanese man that I met a few weeks ago, H-san. It was a difficult time at dinner though as his English isn't that good and my Japanese is even worse. He said he would like to meet again soon, so that's a good thing. Please pray for him that his heart is opened to the Word and that we are bold in proclaiming it.