The Japanadian

 “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:6 

 Another month is almost over as we prepare to celebrate Easter Sunday. What a beautiful day it will be, celebrating the ressurection! 

March has been a very exciting month for me, as not only did I celebrate my 65th birthday on March 7th, but we had a prayer team come from Parliament Community Church, Regina, SK to pray with and encourage the missionaries, churches and students. 

My birthday week was great! The students are always so kind and generous and I felt so blessed and loved, but I ate far too much cake…😊 How can anyone say ‘no’ to cake? I guess I’ll have to find a way to cut down on the sweets over the next month or so but it really is hard to do with students always bringing snacks to classes from places they’ve visited. The Komaki evening class and Fujigaoka evening class gave me flowers which have made my room so much brighter! 

I always enjoy meeting up with former students, especially when we haven’t connected in a long time. March was no exception and I had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with some former Moose students who I taught way back in 2006 when I first arrived in Japan. Staying in touch with former students is so important for me as these relationships have lasted almost 18 years. One of the ladies started to come to class at Fujigaoka when I returned in 2022, but next week (April 6th) she will be moving to Itami City (near Osaka) with her daughter and son-in-law. She says she will come to visit every few months so we will look forward to having her drop in to class then. 

On March 17th Komaki Hope Chapel had their Fun Fun Easter for the kids. One of the girls from the elementary class came, along with her twin sisters and parents. Even though there were only a few of us, we had a lot fun hunting outside for Easter eggs, playing games, and watching a video about Easter. Please pray for Ayane and that she will continue to listen well during chapel times. 

Parliament Community Church in Regina, SK sent a wonderful group of 5 prayer warriors to Japan from March 19th – 27th. Allen & Marilyn Bien (who were former missionaries/teachers at Hoshida & Mukogawa churches), Garry & Rita Mae Braun (who are part of our weekly Multiply prayer group for Japan) and Kirstie Kline (Youth for Christ Regina Discipleship Coordinator). While this group was in Japan praying with our churches, leaders and students, there was a group back in Regina at PCC praying each day. This group included Ron & Betty Russell, who have covered classes for me & Doris Goertz in Amagasaki during our MINAs, Vicki & Kevin Clarke from PCC, along with many others. One of the highlights of the team’s time in Nagoya was during our prayer walk from Fujigaoka Christ Church up to Fujigaoka Station. There is a ‘musical clock’ near the station that comes to life every hour. There are 6 ‘doors’ on the clock that open and a puppet musician comes out to play their instrument. One of the doors is broken and the samurai warrior doesn’t close now. The local TV station, NHK, was talking to people about the importance of the clock and whether it should be fixed. Yamamoto sensei’s wife, Yuka, was being interviewed while the 7 of us stood around her so we may have been on the news last Friday night in Japan! I didn’t get to watch any news that evening as we were praying at the church, but how cool was that for the team to be on local TV in Japan?? 😊A special shout out to Cory Giesbrecht for driving the team from Osaka to Nagoya and back, and to Masami Giesbrecht for arranging the team’s schedule while they were in Japan. Thank you both so much. And thank you once again team for the many bags of Easter candy you brought to help make Easter more special for the students and choir members. 

The movie in March ‘Evan Almighty’ was well attended and we had some good discussions afterwards, especially about the ark. Although the ark in the movie was represented by the one the family built together, the word ARK was more important as it means an Act of Random Kindness. I tied this together with our chapel time from February and how we need to show love to everyone, not just our family and friends. By doing something unexpected for another person, we can have a huge impact of positivity in their lives. The students really understood this message. We will be watching ‘Risen’ on Easter Sunday at Komaki and in April at Fujigaoka. Please pray for many students to attend so they can hear the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the viewpoint of the Centurion who had him crucified. 

The Easter classes this past week went very well. From baking lots of cookies to Easter egg hunts (thank you PCC for the candies) to chapel time, all of the students enjoyed their classes, which was very encouraging. For a few of them, this was their first Easter. Choir practices were lots of fun too, and baking & decorating cookies and cupcakes kept me pretty busy this month. Thanks again Yuki for all of your help. I enjoy doing it all, especially decorating the class areas for each event. 

I want to send out a special thank you to Greendale MB Church for the care package they sent me this month. Thank you Grayson and Jamie for your wonderful note of encouragement. I appreciate you very much and it was such a joy to get a few Canadian chocolate bars and the daily bread! 

Some prayer requests: 

• Pray for the students who come to the movie afternoon/night each month. Pray they will want to know more about Jesus after watching the movies. 
• Pray for one of my friends at Toyota church, “J”, who is going through a very difficult time, emotionally and physically. Pray for God’s peace to fill her and that she would be able to find rest in Him. 
• Please pray for Kayo, a choir member, who had a biopsy done last week for breast cance:. Please pray there is no cancer! 
• Pray for the families of Alwin Wiebe and John Balzer who went home to be with the Lord this month. Pray for peace and comfort for them. 

Some items of praise: 

• Praise for the prayer team from Parliament Community Church, Regina, SK. Praise for the impact they had on the pastors, the churches, the students and the communities they did prayer walks in. 
• Praise for the goodies from PCC and GMB and the encouragement from both of these churches. 
• Praise for a lovely video message from the pastors at Central Heights Church…thank you for the uplifting words. 

Wishing you and your families a very blessed and Happy Easter. Jesus is Risen! 

Wendy 😊