In our last letter, we mentioned how things had begun to open back up in Japan. The media seemed to begin shifting away from being concerned with COVID-19 and moved onto other things. As cases declined and life began to go back to normal, we breathed a sigh of relief and began working to see if we could do more church activities to get people to under the sound of the Gospel. However, recent spikes in the number of confirmed cases in large have resurfaced some worries. We continue to have worship services, but we are continuing to make adjustments as we go. There are definitely times to be praying for wisdom!
This year, we also had a long rainy season, but it is finally over! The summer heat is upon us.
Speaking of summer, Rosie is currently on her summer break from language school. The school is providing optional classes that the students can take while on break, so she has been participating in those. On the last Friday in July, she met with several young mothers at the church and had the chance to share the Gospel with them. Most of them had never heard the Gospel before. Rosie continues to meet with ladies and practice speaking Japanese as well as make friends here in Niigata. So is doing a fantastic job.
In our last letter, we wrote about the small change we had made to our Sunday evening service times. At first, it seemed as if we had made a mistake, but we have begun to notice some positive effects recently. We are continually amazed at how the Lord brings people to the church, and we even had a gentleman from the local area visit the church one Sunday evening in July. He said it was his first time going to church. I quickly shifted from what I had prepared to a simple Gospel message. He didn’t get saved, but from our conversation afterward, the words seemed to have sunk into his heart.
With the corona virus uncertainties looming, please continue to pray for the Hill family. As of this writing, they are still in the U.S. working to get back to Japan, but they may be able to get back and out of quarantine by early September. Please continue to pray for their re-entry situation!
Yours for Japan,
James, Rosie, Silas, and Amos