Hail to all, friend and family alike! It's been a long time since the last posting! Got many things to tell you all, as this month has been a busy one indeed! Let's jump right into the updates:
We have a new teammate here in Sendai! Joshua Flynn from Idaho! He applied back in 2019, but due to COVID, wasn't able to make it until now. He's currently staying at my tiny, cold apartment until we can both move into a larger apartment, so please pray that we can find a good place with plenty of room. We're very happy he's here to help us share the Gospel to the Japanese people!
The kitchen car is going well! We have a few regular customers that we serve each week, including some of the employees of the mall we're stationed at! We're also using our kitchen car in a monthly homeless ministry in Sendai! Once a month, us YWAMers, Praise Community Church (PCC), and Operation Blessings Japan help hand out food, supplies to the local homeless and poor. We also sing worship music, converse and professional volunteers provide consoling for those who ask for it. Our kitchen car is used to cook, package, and hand out over fifty bentos (boxed lunches) this month! We're grateful to the city for allowing us to use a city park and its facilities for this ministry. Please pray that this ministry can not only fill the stomachs of the hungry, but to fill the spirits of the lost, lonely, and desperate. Thank you!
Our team is finally beginning to plan for Discipleship Training School (DTS)! DTS's are basically a school for training missionaries, covering a variety of topics, such as Biblical teaching and doctrine, evangelism, spiritual warfare, mission-work, etc. Our prayer is that we can train not only international students in the ways of evangelism, but also local Japanese Christians to preach the truth to their own people. Thus, we desire to have a bilingual school in both Japanese and English. Please pray for us as we plan the curriculum, topics, speakers, ministries, etc. And for our language learning, as always. Lord willing, we will start our first school this Fall.
Valentine's Day was rough. As much as I'm thankful for the freedom of singleness, being able to travel and go wherever the Lord wills without the responsibility of being a husband and/or father, I admit I find myself feeling particularly lonely on days like those. Ever since I was a child, I desired to be married and have children of my own. To share the joys, sorrows, stresses, and wonders of life on this earth with a special someone, instead of only the company of myself. To see the sunrise over Japan on top of Mt. Fuji, holding a warm hand. Not just holding a cold walking stick. I wish I could say I haven't been frustrated in not finding that person yet in my thirty-three years, nor been jealous and of seeing the posts of friends' and families' engagements, weddings, anniversaries and baby pics.
Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy my time alone out and about, or at home chilling and working. Sometimes I don't know if I'm introverted or just picky about the company I keep. A flaw of mine, I admit. Still, it's one of my wishes to find romantic love with a woman of God, while I still have my youth, strength, and health. But I do know that only God can truly satisfy and fulfill us in all things. He's the one we can put all our hopes, dreams, and passion into without the threat of betrayal, sinful behavior, or misunderstandings. I still pray to meet my future wife someday, but until then or if He calls me to be single forever, I will nevertheless continue to seek and love God with all my heart, strength, soul, and mind, while loving my neighbor as myself. Amen.
On a plus side, my friend Megan from San Diego, CA came to Japan for a visit! We only hung out for a full day, but we had a blast visiting the lovely Matsushima, eating ramen, and playing arcade games! She's been spending the last three weeks traveling all across Japan! She bought a tourist train pass that allowed her to use almost any train, including the expensive Shinkansen, as many times as she wants for her visit! She has visited and I quote: Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Saga, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Kyoto, Kanagawa, a hotel in Fukushima, Sendai and Tokyo. Goodness. She's certainly been to way more places than I have in my four years here. Still, it was wonderful to see an old friend, and I hope to see more friends over here soon!
Thank you all so much for all of the prayers and support over the years, and God bless you all!
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
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