I hope you are doing well. The cherry blossoms are in full effect! Another wonderful part of God's beautiful creation! This time of the year tends to be a time of transition since it is the end of the fiscal year for schools. So, at the moment school is on break and we are gearing up for the new year to begin next week. Here is a little of what has been going on this past month.
Classes at Hiroshima Int'l Univ. are still on break.
Our Tuesday night prayer and worship meeting continues as usual. The focus of this meeting is to pray for the Hiroshima city. That being said, the need for prayer can be seen by the events that took place this past Tuesday 3/30 (the same day that the group met to pray for the people of the city). On that day it was reported that 160 people committed suicide throughout Japan; the most suicides in a single day for Japan. Locally, on lines that stop at the station near my home there were two separate suicide incidents, just hours apart, where people jumped in front on oncoming trains. This is one of the reasons why we gather on Tuesdays; to pray for the lost who have lost hope so much that they would take their own lives. Lord help us!
Our Wednesday night English/Bible class included the viewing of the Jesus video in Japanese. I was encouraged to see how the neighborhood girl who regularly attends the class (Natsuko) was captivated by the story so much that she watched nearly half of the over 2 hour film before she had to return home. Praise the Lord for this time and the various ways the Gospel can be shared!
One final note, I will be giving a sermon on 4/25 in Japanese. It will be my first time to do this exclusively in Japanese. I will be reading/reciting most of it. Nevertheless, I would appreciate your prayers for this and for the overall hopeless state of many in Japan. Please pray as the Spirit leads.
Thanks for reading! May the Lord continue to guide us each and every step.
In Jesus,
Tyler
