Thank you for praying as we look for a new building for the first church plant. While nothing is finalized yet, we have found a location that checks all the boxes for what we were praying for and have been able to take a look inside. We will need to pay to have some work done so it will be suitable for us to use, and we are currently waiting to get an estimate back on how much the renovations will cost. Please keep praying!
Along with having adequate space for people to be able to come, we are also working to prepare people so the church plant can be in a position to accommodate guests better. To do this, we held a volunteer meeting, explaining the importance of thinking about what we do from the perspective of someone who has never been to church before and remove as many barriers as possible to people believing the Gospel. The response we got was a tremendous encouragement.
On a slightly different note, an ad in the paper last year mentioned an opening for a parole officer. By God’s design, we “just happened” to live in a district with one vacancy. After meeting with the chairman of the parole officers, we realized that Rosie “just happens” to know his daughter. Because these volunteer parole officers are commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to help convicts on parole integrate back into society, we hope it will help serve a bridge to not only serve the community but also share the Gospel with more people.
For the summer internship program, the Lord has answered prayers and sent us good candidates. We have been contacting their references for further information and hope to make a final decision soon. We will need to find a meeting space for this ministry, as the location we had planned to use fell through, and also to find language tutors for the interns during their term here. Please be praying for these needs.
Please also continue to pray that 5 people will get saved and baptized this year!
Yours for Japan,
James Miyashita