Land of the Rising Sun





I’m glad to be home! Six of us spent ten days in Japan (seven days serving). The flight over was direct—14 ½ hours and 13 time zones. But I got much of that time back when I came home. I arrived in Atlanta 35 minutes before I left Japan. Think about that.

Though Japan is the 3^rd largest economy in the world it is very small in terms of land mass. Japan is slightly smaller than the state of California. The people are small of stature. Their cars are small. Their roads are small. Their houses are small. The doors in their houses are small. I nearly suffered a concussion from banging my head on doorways. Their hotels are small. The last 3 nights we were there I stayed in a single room in a hotel in downtown Tokyo. I could stand in the middle of the room and touch both walls. And my arms are not that long.

While there is a lot about Japan that is small, I can say from firsthand experience, their faith and their hearts are not. It’s not easy being a Christ follower in Japan. And it’s not easy to reach Japanese people with the gospel. Fewer than 1% of the people are Christian. Those believers we met are passionately dedicated to Christ and his church. You would love them immediately.

Thank you for your many prayers for our team. Our team was comprised of Keith and Anna Miller (team leaders), Fred and Sara Creighton, Bob McDuff (my roomie!), and me. We shared one small, three-bedroom apartment and one bathroom. We have become very close friends. Please continue to pray for open hearts among the Japanese people and encouragement for the believers there, as well as for the encouragement of our missionaries. Many thanks go out to Pastor Yoshio and the Shinkoiwa Baptist Church. I preached to this great congregation on October 30 (with Pastor Yoshio's smooth translation). Other team members shared their personal testimonies plus we led in Sunday morning Sunday School classes. In addition to this, during the week our team met with several small groups in members' homes in order to share our testimonies and ask and answer a wide variety of questions. We also did some prayer walking and passing out Japanese language tracts. Our team is planning a time soon to report on our trip and the wonderful ways we saw God at work.