“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.'” ~Amos 9:13

The photo above shows us harvesting carrots to support a local soup kitchen. The day before a friend had spoken Amos 9:13 over Japan – calling forth a supernatural harvest. We were amazed to see this scene of the plow catching up with the harvesters the very next day!

A lot of planting and harvesting happened in Osaka during December including a discipleship seminar and several Christmas outreaches.

The discipleship seminar was lead by Mr. Ohigashi who Jesus has used to plant a disciple making movement (DMM) in an Asian restricted access nation. He shared how God has worked to multiply disciples and church groups in that country so that they now have over 700 churches and several orphanages in the slums. A lot of their disciple meet outside so he was very excited to hear about our park church in Osaka.

A donor gave towards our park church Christmas outreach so we put together 1,000 gift packages including snacks and gospel booklets and handed them out on the streets downtowns. Some friends from Ishibashi church came to help do we get to introduce them to our park church friends. We also got to work together with some Catholic brothers and sisters who were there for an outreach!

A man named Matsumoto came to help with the outreach. He told us that a year ago one of our team members had given him a Bible and told him to read the whole thing in a year. He came back to tell us that he had done it! Let’s pray that he will continue seeking the Lord.

While singing carols and greeting people in a park, some officials came up to us and told us quite abruptly that we were not allowed to do that there and that we had to go. This was a humbling experience but a great outcome was that we for to see the maturing of our disciples. One disciple (also called Matsumoto!) has often had issues with fighting in such situations and it was great to see him responding with humility and patience. One of our brothers reminded us that Jesus suffered humiliation even to the point of death without complaining. Also, one of our evangelists leaving the group in the midst of things reminded us of the ups and downs of following Jesus and carrying our crosses.

The Ishibashi church young men’s group had a Christmas outreach as well and it was a great chance to be looking outside the walls of our church building. We got to sing carols at the local train station and preach the good news to those passing by.

We held a Christmas service downtown on Christmas day and had more than 50 people show up to hear the good news and worship together.

While doing outreach in the park with the Roses Church, God brought a man named Morokawa who just hung about near our group. When we talked to him, he said that this was very unusual for him because he never talks to people and that he is nearly deaf. He said that he hadn’t slept in several days because of tingling caused by a stroke. We started sharing with him about Jesus and he said that he had never heard before but wanted to believe. We laid hands on him in prayer and as we continues to share the good news with him he said that the tingling had gone away. He shows us how he could move his hands normally. Then he said that he was hearing us clearly as well! He gladly prayed to receive Jesus as his Lord and to commit his life to him. We got to see four miracles happen all at once! However, the biggest miracle is repenting and believing in Jesus. He was so thankful that the next week he brought a wool sweater for me to keep warm in the park in winter!

When I wear this sweater, I remember Morokawa san’s thankfulness and now I pass on the thanks to you! Please join me in praying for him and the other disciples, that we would truly learn to follow Jesus in multiplying.

Thank you for praying,

Cory and Masami

Soul Care

We are excited that the process of making a Japanese version of Soul Care book has begun! The book impacted both Cory and myself in our identity in Christ and helped to drive out our fear and anger. Please click here for more information on Soul Care by Rob Reimer.

We still need to raise another $3,500 to complete the translation and publishing. If you feel that God is calling you to give to this project, please make a donation here.

Thank you for praying on behalf of our family. We are thankful that God has provided a place to live for our family in Winnipeg. We look forward to moving back to our beloved old neighborhood and being a part of a share-house with four other people (1 nephew, 2 Mulipy-ish friends and 1 new friend!)

Praise Items

• Praise God for providing a house and a car for our time in Winnipeg.
• Praise God that our son Joshua, 16, got baptized and Masami’s parents witnessed his new beginning.
• We thank God that Masami’s travel visa to Canada came, and that we now have tickets to Canada!

Prayer Requests

• For the translation of the Soul Care (book) and The Radicals (movie).
• For God to bring people who are ready to receive Christ to Roses’ Church and Ishibashi Christ Church.
• Okinawa Mission Trip (February 2nd to 6th) for Cory and Sola.
• For our family as we provide respite care for a 1-year-old boy (February 7th – 11th).