Pray for Mitsuo and Akiko F. sharing their testimonies with non-Christians at a family retreat this weekend

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This weekend our church plant group is scheduled to travel to the mountains for an overnight retreat.

Many of the families who are attending this group are moms with their children.  As the time approaches more and more members of the group have had to tell us they are unable to attend. Yet we have been excited because...[one lady]...- who was recently baptized - has her husband coming.  It will be our first time to meet him.  On Sunday another family who has never attended but are interested in Christianity are coming out to be with us for the day.

 

Mitsuo and I will give our testimony on Sunday.  Since most of the husbands are not Christians, the group thought it would be an encouragement to the wives.  Please pray that God will speak and comfort the women through us.  Please pray that...[our friend's]... husband's heart will be softened as he interacts with all of us.  

Thank you for your prayers!

Mitsuo and Akiko

Missonary Nobby Tajima requests prayer for his family

Dear Praying Friends of the Tajimas,

We deeply appreciate those who have been praying and supporting our ministry and family. As we wrote in our last prayer letter, we are still in the middle of “the tunnel” and we feel we can not see a way out yet. Yet we believe that our Lord`s will is the base of all wisdom and He gives us a solution to any problems or troubles.

Now let us share what happened in the month of September and what’s coming up.

As I mentioned above, we had some serious family problems and I requested the church to pray and to decide what to do with us. They voted for me to stay as their missionary/pastor. Even though this does not solve the problems, at least Bev and I made a new commitment to serve in Koriyama continuously. The problems we have been facing have been hard on Bev. She has not visited the States or her family in the States for 6 years. I went alone to the States for furlough, visiting churches for a month, twice in the last three years. So I want to plan a visit for her to see her family for a short period of time this December or January of 2010. Christine is going to have her second child in early March. It will cost us around $2800. There is a possibility of taking our youngest daughter along. Would you pray for this need? If God so leads you to give toward this need, we would deeply appreciate it.

Now about our other need: We do not have pastors for two churches up here where we are (North East area of Japan). We have 9 BMM affiliated churches in our area but two of them are without pastors. We definitely need RE-ENFORCEMENTS and RECRUITS of soldiers of the Lord in the frontline.

One great blessing in the middle of all this discouragement was the salvation of Mrs. Kazuko Shiratori (Ms. Whitebird). She began to attend church about a month ago and she was faithful. At the very end of September, she called and told me she wanted to accept the Lord. We are now praying for her spiritual growth and that she may continue to be faithful to the church.

I received a letter from one of our friends. She wrote that she will send a special gift for the camp van. As the matter of fact, her father is also planning to send a gift toward the van, too. What a blessing it is!

Here are some new prayer requests:

1. For our family problems

2. $9900 for our camp van　(some came in in Oct.)

3. Our World Day of Prayer and Lunch Bazzar on Oct.12^th.

4. Our financial needs. Our monthly income dropped about $500 since the rate on exchange from dollars to yen went down.

5. Nov.1, our church special meeting, I am going to preach.

 6. Financial need for Bev’s trip to the States – about $2800.

We thank you for your faithful and sacrificial prayer and support.

Your missionaries in Japan,

Nobby & Bev Tajima

Pray for missionary Paula Carr, recovering from a broken heel

Dear praying friends and family,

 

Thanks for your prayers, cards, messages and notes of encouragement and assurances of prayer for us.  I know many have been wondering about Paula's condition as I haven't send an update since shortly after her surgery on Oct. 8.  The main reason for not sending an update is that there is not much to update.  She is doing very well and basically bored stiff sitting in her hospital bed.  I guess I could liken it to her being a high performance Carr with a flat tire.   She is looking forward to having her stitches removed on Friday which will allow her more freedom of movement.

 

Many were surprised at her needing to be in the hospital for a month.  With the health care debate going on in the States, I could make several comparison/contrasts but will refrain.  Basically, one often thinks in terms of a month (give or take) for a broken bone to heal depending on several variables.  The hospitals here want the patient to be able to put one's whole body weight on the broken foot before releasing him/her to return home.  Thus, a month to heal and the practice of being almost completely healed before leaving the hospital makes for more time in the hospital than we are used to in the States.  The silver lining is that she is getting far more rest in the hospital than she would if she were home.  For that we are thankful.

 

On the home front, we are getting better at living without Mom at home.  By no means do things run as smoothly but they are not quite as ragged as they were a couple weeks ago.  (The accident is already three weeks into history.)  Please continue to pray for the kids to adjust without Mom at home and for Tom to keep everything straight as to what needs to be done, when. 

 

We rejoiced last Sunday at the baptism of two boys.  Please pray for them as both sets of parents are unbelievers and they will receive at best minimal encouragement at home. 

 

Thanks again for your continued prayers.

 

Tom for the "Carrlot"

pray for SYME (School of Youth Ministries in English), for the leaders and the 9 students enrolled this session

pray for takasaki city and pastor kanai