It is beautiful in Sendai right now. The cherry blossoms have mostly bloomed and fallen, but the azaleas, dogwoods and wisteria are now in bloom. The cherry blossom petals that remain are falling like snow.
Our English classes are going well. Altogether, we have 11 classes, some taught together and some separate. Please pray for stamina and good ideas to flow as we plan for and teach these classes. Also pray that we would have good opportunities for sharing the gospel in our classes. The kids classes that we teach at the churches have a 5-10 minute chapel time with the pastor either at the beginning or end of the English class, but it is on us to evangelize to the adults that we teach and any private lessons that we have. Please pray for our continued language study so that language at least would not be a hindrance for communication. Pray also for boldness to take opportunities that the Lord presents.
We don’t have any new classes this year, but our classes have been getting fuller with new students. Melissa also started teaching the adult English class at Nozomi Center on Saturdays; she was an assistant in that class up until about a month ago. There have been many good conversations with the adults there about the gospel. Also, the adult class at Eiko church has four new students attending. Up until a month ago, there was only one; she is happy to have other people there to take the pressure off of her to speak so much in English! Again, please pray for wisdom to know how best to introduce these women to biblical truth.
Megumi Chapel is gearing up to move into a new building after meeting at the Uomotos’ house for many years. We hope the move can happen soon, so we can start evangelistic outreach there, too.
Todd is taking his 3rd Greek class (Greek Exegesis) through RTS Global. It is a demanding class, so please pray that he would balance his time well as he continues teaching English classes and helping at Megumi Chapel. Although he feels stretched to the limit by this class, he is thankful for the practical things he is learning, especially in constructing teaching outlines for passages of scripture that can be used for a Bible study or, in the future, Lord willing, for sermons. Please also pray for his health, as he has been getting frequent headaches. It’s nothing new, unfortunately, but he does get increased headaches when he has more to do. His hope is to continue taking seminary classes one by one (roughly 3 months for each) for the remainder of our time here as MA’s with the mission. Your prayers for his endurance are greatly appreciated! Our hope is that Todd will be able to get through as many seminary courses as possible, so that once we return to the States, he will not have so many courses to finish before looking into returning to Japan as missionaries. Pray for wisdom as we continue to consider plans for future service.
Please also pray for...
-Proficiency in Japanese: speaking, reading, and writing (in that order).
-Understanding Japanese culture better, so we can, as Paul did with the Greeks in the Aeropagus (Acts 17), better connect with people here.
-Be comfortable living so close to neighbors who are a little wary of us. One or two of our near neighbors have been friendly, but most look at us haltingly before maybe saying hello (or konnichwa) back when we try to greet them. It’s also hard, especially for Melissa, to not let it get to her when she hears people outside gossiping about the foreigners (one downside of understanding more Japanese). Pray that we would forgive others in our hearts and spread the love of Jesus to everyone.
-Good cooperation within the mission. It is encouraging to see how the mission members work with each other to solve problems and plan for the future. It is so easy to each want to do things our own way, however, so do please pray for us to work well with the missionaries and with the others who are involved in the English classes we teach.
Todd and Melissa at the Christian grave where the RCJ churches met on Easter this year (March 27th).