Open Opportunities

Back in college we used to get printed Newsletters from missionaries and recently while Shelby was cleaning out our storage room she found one from January 2011. It was from Donnie and Ruth McDonald they have served in Japan for 38 years and they currently serve as the field leaders. In this letter they had a lot of news about their ministry, and they had a strong burden on their hearts for the people of Japan. They were praying for a change. This is a quote directly from that newsletter: “What is it going to take for the Holy Spirit to sweep across this land?  When will we see Christ glorified in Japan by more than just a few?”

Just 2 months later in March of 2011 the Great East Japan earthquake and 50 foot tall Tsunami shook the lives of Japanese people. Many of you may remember seeing this on the news. It took the lives of nearly 20,000 people many of which have never been found. This was an event that shook Japan. This is the open door. Any Japanese person over the age of 13 has a memory of the tragic event that happened 10 years ago. After it happened, missionaries flooded the area for relief and construction ministries.

We visited Sendai Japan, it’s the area that was hit the strongest. There’s something different about there, you can feel the deep respect that those people have for foreigners.

We met a lady and spoke with her, just some friendly talk about who we are and why we were visiting, she mostly showed interest in our children, but when we left she bowed to us, but this wasn’t a normal bow. Long bows beyond 45 degrees are only used to show deep respect, this lady was touching her toes and she stayed that way until we were completely out of her sight. You could tell that she was affected in some way by a Christian.

We were deeply moved by her and it reminded us how our regular daily encounters may not mean much to us but can have deep impacts on those we come in contact with.

The aftermath of March 2011 just two months after the McDonalds newsletter, has left the Japanese people with a sense of confusion and vulnerability.

Many evangelical groups report a new openness among the Japanese people. And to say that we’ve seen this openness doesn’t even scrape the surface of what we’ve personally seen. People are walking into churches, people are raising their hands accepting Christ, people are BEING BAPTIZED.

Pray for the people who still live in these areas and are still dealing with the affects of the earthquake, tsunami, and nucular meltdown in fukushima. There are still areas that many people can not enter because of the high radiation levels.