Hope for Japan

My interest in Haiti began back in high school. Moved after a concert to sponsor a child through Compassion International, I began to learn about the dire situation in Haiti, even before the earthquake struck. Over the past decade, Miho and I were able to see this nation through the eyes of a young boy named Amos Sital.

With the recent catastrophe, we have been moved with compassion to do something for these people suffering.  What can we do from Scotland though? Shouldn’t we be worried about our own fundraising for Japan? Yet, a passion was growing to do something.

Grant’s heart for running combined with an opportunity to raise money for these people. After talking with our friend, Eugene Cho of One Day’s Wages, we found our partner for Haiti Relief. Eugene is an ECC pastor in Seattle and founder of this non-profit. While new, they have already been featured in NY Times, NPR, and Relevant Magazine, among others. Find out more about their work here.

On March 7th, Grant will be running the Barcelona Marathon to raise money and awareness for Haiti. Our goal is to raise $2,000. While small, hundreds of families will be provided food and care, which makes a huge difference.

Please consider sponsoring this race by donating $1, 5, or 10 per mile (26.2). If 20 people give $26, 10 give $52, and 5 give $260, we will reach this goal. Please consider joining us and showing love to those hurting at this moment. To give online or find out how to give, go here.

Kuki Church Group Photo

Kuki Church Service

Last Sunday night, we visited our third service of the day. Kuki Grace Christian Church is an hour north of Tokyo and was planted off of International Bible Fellowship (where we visited earlier that day) a few years ago. Jay and Ellen Haworth, ECC missionaries, lead this church that began as a bible study with a few doctors. It is still predominately filled with medical professionals. We imagine that attending a church with your local OB-GYN might be a little uncomfortable for some 🙂 They currently are building relationships in the community through schools and clubs, with a desire to reach young people. With a general lack of young people, this is a key reason why they are eager for us to com and serve alongside of them.

We had the opportunity to share our testimonies and preach during the service. We enjoyed weaving our stories and the key verses of our testimonies. Grant shared from Matthew 6:24-33 about following God over wealth and how God provides and cares for us as we follow Him. Miho connected 1 Peter 5:10 to her testimony and how God used that verse to reassure her that God will bring her through her trials and restore her. As people are at different points in their lives, we hope that God used parts of either of our messages to challenge or encourage them.

House Church in Tokyo

Service at Grace Mission Church

Group Photo after Teatime

Last Sunday afternoon, we hustled from one church (IBF) to our second of the day. Grace Mission Church meets in Pastor Miyamoto’s home. It is a small congregation, yet strong in their involvement in missions. During the service, they showed a video from recent mission trips. One trip was to the Philippines with youth from Miho’s home church, Hongodai Christ Church. It was exciting to see our friends serving there, especially one of the teens Grant taught English to five years ago.

During the service, we had an extended time to share our testimonies and vision. They invited several friends who came for the first time. While Miho shared her testimony of meeting Jesus through her depression, a visiting woman began to cry. A few non-Christian teens showed up and expressed interest in being involved in a sports ministry with us in the future. They went on a missions trip with the pastor in the past, but never came to church. We felt privileged to sow seeds through our testimonies with this group.

The Miyamoto’s are going to be missionaries to Japanese in Detroit. They are currently waiting for their visas. Given that the congregation has relationships with internationals in Japan, particularly younger generations, they desire us to minister here as they leave for the US.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a wonderful skype conversation with a missionary family in Japan, the Carlsons. This allowed us to talk through all the meetings and church visits we will be having shortly.

On Christmas Day (due to cheap tickets) we will be heading over to Tokyo-Yokohama for 3 weeks. Miho, being pregnant with strong cravings, has been happily creating lists of things she desires to eat that we can’t find here in Scotland. This trip looks to be packed with important visits and meetings that will shape the context of our ministry come summer when we move over.

Since we plan on planting a church in the future, which church we work with and where we settle will be crucial for our plans. Our desire is that where we base ourselves will be the setting for where we plant. There have already been a number of Japan Covenant Churches indicating interest for us to work alongside them in our first two years. Each Sunday will be visiting anywhere from 1-3 churches (we heard that some meet in the morning, afternoon, or evening; making for one full day of worship). This will allow us to find out what might be the best fit for the mission, the church, and us.

We will also be a part of a Japanese pastors meeting and the Japanese evangelism committee’s meeting, which will allow us to get to know the Japanese leaders and for them to hear more about our vision and how we can best work together. Since we will be working with five other ECC missionary families, we have the opportunity to join their prayer meeting one day and be a part of a business meeting that will guide us in working through details and necessary plans we need to think about before we arrive.

Please pray that this will be a wonderful time for us as we gear up for our ministry in Japan. Pray that our meetings and church visits will result in a clear sense as to which location will be best for us. Pray also that Grant will be able to continue with his research and writing during this trip, as well as Miho’s well-being.

We recently came across this episode of a house searching show featuring Tokyo. You can watch the clip here.

Though most people know that Japan is both expensive and tight in space, this will give you a clear image of that. As we continue raising support for Japan, you will hopefully sense that this is not necessarily contributing to a lavish and comfortable home in Japan. For Americans, it might be challenging to imagine living in a 300 sq. ft. apartment (and paying $1,200 a month for it).