Only Believe

Hi All,

Well, we're back in Niigata. The weather has cooled and it has been raining. I LOVE this weather. I love this area of Japan.

When I made plans to come to Niigata a second time, I had hoped that I would be able to meet with groups of Christians here and start praying for evangelism. On the long drive here, I kept thinking "Is this really from God? Did I really sense His will, or was it just my imagination?" Then, as I thought about what it is that I want to see, my heart would get stirred with zeal all over again. I was going back and forth between these two basic thoughts. Somewhere along the way, the Lord spoke to me a phrase from the New Testament.

"Only believe."

One of the rulers of the synagogue had a daughter who was sick and he asked Jesus to come and heal her. Jesus agreed, but as they were on the way, messengers came and told the ruler that she had died and there was no need to bother Jesus with it any longer. Jesus turned to him and said "Be not afraid. Only believe."

What would happen if I only believed? How would it affect how I pray? ... how I talk to people about Jesus? ... how I make important decisions?

Another thing that has helped is some advice that I gave someone else. They were discouraged about something in particular, and I found myself reminding them that part of prayer is also to be watchful.

"Things are not now what they will be. The Bible tells us to watch and pray. We need to pray, and we also need to be watching for the Kingdom of God. Things change and we need to be ready for it - watching for it. Things are not now what they will be."

Again, I was praying and telling the Lord "I don`t have any physical evidence that what I have in my heart is what will happen here." Then the verse came to mind "Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen."
Faith is the evidence! If I have real faith for this, it is a gift from God, and that is the evidence that it is His mind and will and something that I can watch and pray for wholeheartedly, unreservedly, and unceasingly.

Well, the last two days have been spent packing pears.
My whole body is sore. My hands hurt so bad that I didn`t want to hold my fork at dinner.
It`s midnight and I am exhausted - but happy.

Wakayama

Wakayama is a prefecture in the southern part of the main island of Japan. We spent time with Yuko and her parents and did some sight-seeing. They treated us to one night in a Japanese hotel complete with an 11-course dinner and an hour of karaoke. AND I got to sleep in a comfortable bed!!! The whole experience was very fun and refreshing. Mari and Yuko and I also prayed together, and that was much needed for all of us. Sight-seeing is great, but nothing compares to time with God. "For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."

But, I'll admit, photographs of sight-seeing places are a lot more enjoyable to look at than photographs of prayer. :) 

Enjoy!

After driving on winding mountainous roads for a couple of hours, I was starting to get that pre-vomit taste in my mouth from car sickness.

This little foot onsen (hot spring) was surprisingly theraputic!

You don't see these at Rocky Mountain roadside stops.

Too bad.

:)

This is the longest rope bridge in Japan.

Yuko's mother works at a day care for the elderly. We sang Christian children's songs that have silly movements that go with them. They had so much fun! And so did we. :)

They asked me to sing a song in English, so I sang a simple song that I wrote. Afterwards they asked me all sorts of questions: What Japanese food do I like, What is the weather like in Texas, What do I think of Japanese guys, and lots of other questions. 

Funny people :)

Transition Update

Hi all. I`m at Yuko`s house in Wakayama right now. We spent the past two days traveling and visiting some really beautiful places in the southern part of the main island. It was great. Pictures to follow when I can connect my laptop to the internet.

We were able to share a little bit of truth with Yuko`s mother. She feels responsible to worship her ancestors - to make sure that they don`t feel neglected. I told her that when people die, they are judged by God. When we die, we will also be judged by God. I can understand the longing to continue relationship with them, but we have to let them go. They aren`t here any longer. Their work on earth is done and they have been judged for it. Their eternal fate has already been determined. But ours hasn`t been. We need to seek God while we are still here.

I wasn`t able to share all of that, actually. Pretty much only the part about people being judged when we die. It wasn`t much, but I hope it will have some effect.

Today we will visit a nursing home where Yuko`s mother works. We`ll sing some Christian children`s songs and do some simple activities with them.

Tomorrow we will begin our trek back up to Tokyo where Mari lives. We will try to meet with friends along the way, but none our plans are confirmed yet.

This coming Friday the 24th is my concert at a coffee shop. Quite a few people are going to try to come - Christians and non-Christians. We will spend the weekend with Yuriko (in Tokyo) and then travel to Niigata next week.

Anyway, there are still a lot of things to do and I`m getting really worn out.
Travel is tiring.
Lack of sleep.
Lack of personal time with Jesus.

That`s really the biggest problem. I think that I could handle the rest a lot better if I were getting refreshed in God`s Presence.

I keep thinking of the Rich Mullins song "You Did Not Have a Home".

Oh, You did not have a home
There were places You visited frequently
You took off Your shoes and scratched Your feet
'Cause you knew that the whole world belongs to the meek
But You did not have a home
No, You did not have a home
...
Birds have nests, foxes have dens
But the hope of the whole world rests
On the shoulders of a homeless Man
You had the shoulders of a homeless man
And the world can't stand what it can't own
And it can't own You
'Cause You did not have a home

It`s hard not having a home, but this was part of the cost of following Him for His first disciples. It was worth it to them just to be near Him and learn from Him.

Just writing this has been a good reminder for me to spend time with Jesus!!! No wonder I`m worn out!

Now you know how to pray for me. :)

Osaka Plans

Osaka is turning out to be full of opportunity!

There is a small international church gathering here that my friends Asuka and Luke attend. We arrived Friday night - me with tired puffy eyes from crying - and had dinner with the pastor and another brother in full-time ministry. The next day we met a lot of people, had lunch, and again I talked with the pastor. Still at this point I wasn`t sure how much opportunity I would have here to teach and preach.

On Sunday at the end of the church service, the pastor says "Jayne, if you have something to share with us, please come forward."

I was really taken by surprise, but didn`t want to miss an opportunity. So I went to the front and just started talking. I ended up talking about how God created Japan and Japanese people for His own purpose and glory, and that He created each of them individually unique for His own purpose and glory. The Church is His treasure in the earth - He died to purchase this treasure. Though the Church in Japan may seem small, it is precious in His sight. I talked about Elijah being on the mountain, completely surrounded by an army sent after him. His servant was afraid, but he prayed for his servant and his eyes were opened to see the army of God also surrounding them. "Greater are those that are with us than they that are with them." I applied this to the Church in Japan and also mentioned the scripture from 1st John: "Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world."

Yesterday - Monday - we met with the pastor again. He said "Well then, let`s talk about what we can do."

Yay!!

There are a lot of really new believers here, and I love to teach bible studies, so we set up a bible study for the following day. Then he said "A couple of brothers are free this afternoon. How about having bible study in about 30 minutes?"

Oh, uh, sure! I`ll start preparing.

So we met with one brother who was just baptized a month ago and another brother who has been around a while, and an older sister who is recovering from the loss of her husband. I taught on forgiveness; the forgiveness that Jesus offers has transforming power and gives us the strength of a new life to "Go and sin no more". I talked about the need to recognize how bad sin is, to not make excuses, to confess sin to the Body of Christ, and also about receiving forgiveness by faith when we have asked for it. Through discussion afterward, I talked about other things in response to questions that people had. Later, the pastor said that the things that I taught are the same things that he teaches. He was happy with my explanations and answers.
I`m glad that he knows he can trust me. I`m happy to be his coworker. But I have learned that, around him, I need to be ready to speak at any moment!! :-)

Here is the schedule for the week:

Monday: afternoon bible study on forgiveness (already happened)
Tuesday: afternoon bible study on prayer
Wednesday: I will preach at their prayer meeting that evening
Thursday: still uncertain. I would like to have something in the evening for people who work during the day.
Friday: still uncertain. possible bible study in the morning. We leave at around 3 or 4 to go to Yuko`s city.

This gathering is mostly Japanese, but because so many of them speak English, they do a lot of outreach to international students at a nearby university. There are also a couple of brothers that go to the train station every Friday to share the Gospel. In general, this group is young and excited about Jesus! They are hungry to read the Word, talk about God with Christians and non-Christians, and work for the Lord.

Even before I came to Osaka, I thought that God really wants to use this group to win people to Christ. Since being here, I now realize that the Lord might just be responding to their desire. I hope to encourage them in this and see them "endued with power from on high".

Timothy

One of my closest friends, Timothy Sheaff, passed away last Wednesday. I was shocked when I heard the news. God had kept him alive through so much suffering already, and there`s so much work to be done, that I thought that He would sustain him and eventually heal him and that Timothy would travel again.
I loved him like a father. He was such an intricate part of my life, that it`s hard to imagine what life will be like without him around. I know that this is true for all of my closest friends in Denton. The well of sorrow over this loss is deep, and it won`t run dry quickly.

I found out as we were departing for Kyoto and a friend called to let us know. After that, I just followed Mari through the train stations weeping. I wept on the 3 hour train ride to Kyoto. Then I wept more throughout the day at random intervals. I didn`t care what anyone thought about it.

That`s the first time that I have really wanted to go home. I wanted to be with my friends, to hug them and cry together. I wanted to sleep in my own bed and spend time with my sister. I wanted to go to his funeral.
A friend even offered to fly me home for the memorial service, but these are my thoughts:

The devil doesn`t rest for my sorrow, and the Kingdom of God doesn`t pause. It sounds harsh, but Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:

"This I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though  they had none, those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess"

It`s not that those who weep should stop weeping just like husbands shouldn`t divorce their wives, but it means that our personal lives don`t stop the work that God has called us to. Though weeping, I work.

Since being here, I have realize that I could pour out everything that I have to give every day for the rest of my life, and it wouldn`t even begin to satiate the need that there is in this nation (much less, in the world). It would be like a drop of water on desert ground. The ground would soak it up and forget that it drank. I`m not being pessimistic - this is a reality.

As I`ve felt this, I have thought about Timothy - a man of God who has poured out his life, been used to work miracles, touched thousands of lives, and yet there is so much left to do. If you look at the larger picture, it`s as though he never came.

So I called him. I was telling him "I feel like I could pour out my entire life here and it would just be..."
He finished my sentence for me "...just a drop in the bucket."
It comforted me just to know that he knew how I felt. We talked for a while, but one of the last things he said to me in that conversation was "All spiritual ministry is death".
That is how he lived. He carried his cross to the end.

Comfort:

Timothy finally gets to rest. Over the last few years, I was happy for him if he was able to get even 4 hours of solid sleep without some painful interruption. There were nights he told be about where all he could do was pace the hallway and yell in frustration. He finally gets to sleep.

Timothy can do whatever he wants! Over the last few years, he had to stop every few mintues to cough for a few minutes before catching his breath. Now he can shout and dance in God`s glory with the rest of the servants who have gone before him. Has no swollen feet or shallow lungs or malfunctioning heart to hinder him!

Yuko, my younger sister in the Lord, joined us today, and I was so comforted to see her. I wondered why. Later, I remembered a promise in Psalm 45:

"Instead of your fathers will be your sons, whom you shall make princes in all the earth."

I don`t consider Yuko a child, so to speak, but rather a sister. But she is one who I have taught and continually served.

Although I have lost a father, there is comfort in the hope of new believers growing up after me - people who I will pour my life into, so that they can in turn pour their lives into others, and a drop of water becomes a small member of an unstoppable deluge.

Schedule Update

Guess which pair of shoes is mine

:)

Schedule Update:

A few things have been added to the schedule that could use prayer.
As you pray, please pray that I will be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit so that God is able to say and do what He wants at each opportunity. Pray that the people there will be affected by the presence of God. Pray for Mari and I to have boldness, wisdom and discernment. Other than that, pray as God leads.

*This week we will stay at Mari's house in Tokyo and continue meeting friends.

*On Friday the 10th we will travel to Osaka and stay with a friend for 1 week. There is not a specific plan yet, but I hope to have opportunity to speak to a small congregation there. I know the pastor and worship leader (some of you might remember Luke) and I think that I have some things from God to share with them. I'm sure that we will also spend daily time in prayer, bible study, and fellowship with Asuka (the girl we are staying with) and hopefully others.

*On Friday the 17th we will travel to Wakayama and go on a family vacation with Yuko's family. Yuko is the only Christian in her family. Please pray for wisdom and opportunity to share the Gospel in a way that will impact them.

*On Monday the 20th we will sing at a nursing home. Our plan is to sing Christian childrens' songs that have movements that the people can do. :) I think it will be fun, and hopefully a blessing.

*Plans to meet various people are still developing for the 21st and 22nd.

*On the 23rd we will go to Yuriko's house in Tokyo and I will give a short concert in a coffee shop on the 24th. I will perform songs I've written and we've made a program with Japanese translation included.

*On Sunday the 26th we leave Tokyo and go back to Niigata. I plan to have prayer meetings there that are focused on evangelism. I believe that God has something special in mind for that area.

*On Saturday October 2nd we will meet back in Tokyo and have a time of worship at the home of a woman named Mrs Nomura. She is a faithful servant to the Lord and to the Body of Christ, and her whole body is full of cancer. The purpose is to worship God, but also for me to minister whatever the Lord gives me.

*On October 3rd, it is possible that I will speak at a home church gathering in the Tokyo area. The pastor invited me to speak, but I have not yet confirmed that particular Sunday. I will see them this coming Sunday and hope to confirm it at that time. They are a new group of people who are excited about Jesus and who love each other. I hope to give them something from the scriptures and from the Holy Spirit that will empower them and establish them in the direction that God has for them.

*On October 9th we will go to the Iwate prefecture for a conference that Noriko has been helping to plan. The conference is specifically for people who met Jesus overseas and have returned to Japan. I have one hour scheduled on Monday the 11th during a time where there are multiple events for people to choose from: sports, crafts, take a break, or go to Jayne's bible study.

*Departure October 18th.