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Prayer Items
1. Pray for the various planning
committees that are working on the next RJC regional conferences.
Coming Events
1. SimplytheStory Seminar
Dorothy Miller is coming to Seattle for a special seminar on
how to storytell the Bible. June 23, 24 at mercer
Island Covenant Church.
2. Southern California RJC Conference will
take place on September 12, 2009 at Gardena Valley Baptist Church. For more
details.
3. Midwest RJC Conference will be on October 9, 2009 at
Orchard Evangelical Free Church.
Check out their website: RJC
Midwest Conference.
A New Website
Check out 1Day Tokyo,
1Day Japan. This is a new website put together by James Xavier. I think you
will like it!
Still on the Move at 75!
Robin Adams continues to share fantastic stories of her travels
and God’s open doors in Japan. Let me know if you would like to read some
of her emails.
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www.rjcnetwork.org June
12, 2009
God’s
Miracle Timing- John Gibbs
I have a friend here in Japan,
let's call her T, a Japanese woman who is a connection from college. I had
only met her once before moving to Japan as a missionary, back in 2003 when
she did a one month study abroad program at Stanford with 11 other Japanese
students.
Shortly after my arrival here last August, I met her at a reunion
gathering. I did not remember her at all. Sitting across from me, and after
doing the standard "what have you been doing since then"
greeting, I explained to her what I was doing in Japan as a missionary. Surprisedly she replied, "I'm a Christian too!". This is something I did not know from my short
acquaintance with her back in college. And in this non-Christian country,
what were the chances of meeting a Japanese Christian by
"random"? Immediately I thought "God is at work..my first miracle
witnessed in Japan!"
However after
further conversation, sadly she said she was currently not in fellowship
with any body of believers, she could not tell anyone she was a Christian,
and that her faith was struggling. I prayed for her that night, that God
would re-ignite her faith, and use me to do so.
After months of
no contact, the chance to meet her came again at a birthday dinner. What
occurred was one of the many miracles I have seen since coming to Japan. By
chance, the only available seat at the table was right next to her. In the
course of our conversation, I told her that Ken Taylor, our team leader,
teaches and organizes gospel choirs. She said her mother sings in a gospel
choir in Sendai, a city several hours north of Tokyo where her family is
from. I said, "That's interesting, Ken led a gospel choir in Sendai
last weekend..". She immediately called her
mom on the phone, right in the middle of dinner. Praise God, it was the
same choir! Ken had taught T's mom just several days prior!
She viewed
this as a miracle and was touched by it. I was honestly very surprised to
hear how explain how moved she was by this
"coincidence"; she was so excited. She then explained other
miracles she had witnessed in the past couple of years, and how she
believed it was God calling her back to Him. You could see how her face
just lit up.
This served as a
catalyst for me to invite her to a church near where she lived, which
incidentally she had attempted to attend several times previously, but
after getting dressed to go and walking up to the church entrance, she
could not bring herself to enter. She couldn't go in. But since I agreed to
go together with her, she was finally able to go in. I introduced her to
the pastor and she talked to a number of people at the church.
Thank God, she
went again last weekend on her own, and is also now interested in joining a
gospel choir! I am praying daily that God would protect her faith, grow
her, and ultimately make her a maker of disciples. I have a feeling she
could be a blessing to many Japanese women.
Service
Opportunity!
Eri Donovan of Pacific View Baptist Church in Torrance, CA is
looking for some energetic workers for Japanese Children’s Bible Day Camp
this summer. The dates are August 10 through 14.
Blessing and Prayer
Stan left the following note on the RJC Website.
I have several Japanese friends I have been befriending,
mainly through volunteer teaching them English. I gave one girl a New
Testament and she became a Christian through others witnessing to her. She
is returning to Japan in a few weeks. I was wondering if you could
recommend some good resources . . . to help her grow as a new Christian.
She is also worried about not finding any other Christian youth to fellowship
with. . .
JoAnn shares this letter from her ELL student:
I like English,and
I'd like to study English after go back to Japan.
I enjoyed Bible study class,I didn't know about God
before this class, but I
feel I can understand a
little. It is good experience for my life.
Thank you! You are really great teacher,I think it is very
difficult to
teach about Bible.
Please remember to pray for the many who are returning to
Japan this summer, that they will grow in their
faith and connect well with Christians there.
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