In case you missed it, here is a link to the letter we sent out about how we will be proceeding with our mission board. Thank you so much for your prayers for wisdom and direction!
As we have continued to work and minister here in Nagoya, we have been trying to adjust as needed. Living and working here has given us insight into how people live and work, and these insights are helping to shape our church planting tactics.
One recent adjustment we made was to get parking for our church plant. While we originally were trying to cater to people within walking distance, we have been observing how many people drive in our city. There are of course parts of the city where people get around without a car, but many people who live around our church plant drive. Because of this, we decided to go ahead and rent some parking spaces (since our location does not have parking). We were able
to get a “bulk” discount on the parking spaces since we are renting 5. The very first Sunday the parking spots were available, we had a first-time visitor who came by car!
We are varying our methods in working to reach into the community. Beginning next month (August) we will be doing a 3-month guitar class. The flyers just starting going out this week and we have already had two people reach out to us about the class. Please pray for us as we prepare for this.
YouTube video to help get the Gospel out. People tend to check out things on the internet before coming in person so we thought a video that uses graphics to share the gospel would be a good tool to have as we work to reach people for Christ.
We have asked our friends to like the video on YouTube since this helps it reach more people. If you would like to help us out, please go to this video and give the video a thumbs up.
At the top of July, we traveled to Osaka for a few days to process some paperwork for our youngest son, Ezra. While there, we also took some time to do some sightseeing. The Osaka area is the second largest metro area in Japan and the 10th largest in the world. As you pray for laborers for Japan and our work in Nagoya, please be praying for laborers for Osaka as well!
Yours for Japan,
James Miyashita