Parents to arrive Next Week

Cherry and I have had a cold and that has stretched Kazumi a little. I scratched our car yesterday and need to have some touch paint done on it or it will get surface rust. I also got a response to an advertising inquiry with The Australian Presbyterian. It is the magazine of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. The denomination has about 55,000 members and is a member of the Reformed Ecumenical Council. It is my hope to coach individuals who could be part of a team here through the tentmaking process of becoming an Assistant Language Teacher.

My parents arrive next Monday. I will teach 2 classes in the morning and then off to Nagoya International Airport to meet them. It will be nice to see my parents and show them our lives here in Japan. I wish it was a little warmer while they are here. It will be in the 50s for high and our house does not have central heating so it is a little chilly. I am kind of done and will listen to a John Piper sermon now, I think.

Update for Wednesday

Well a reply came from the local board of education. 3 companies were up for the contracts. I had ties to all three. The company who won the bid offered me a job. I have accepted the position. I praise God for the job and the chance to plant deeper roots in this location.

I have contacted some Christian Magazines in Australia about advertising to recruit tentmakers to come here. One of the companies I have ties with has strong ties to Australia. I have heard back for the The Trowel and Sword, which is a magazine tied to the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia.

I have been listening to John Piper on the links found on this page. I recommend listening to Desiring God Radio to those of you who have never heard him preach.

Blessings as always,

John Van Farowe

This Sunday's Praises

1. There are 2 things to give thanks for this Sunday. One is that the elders at Ena have approved a plan to raise support directly into the church and oversee any program that could be started from that support. It means I will contact some supporting churches and try and set up direct wire transfers to an account at Ena church.
2. Today Kazumi and I had a great time visiting with a Japanese woman who is soon moving to the states and upon moving there seeks to be baptized in a local church. We hope to provide her with some beginning instruction. We talked casually for over 4 hours. It was a great time for us all.

A new thing I have been working on at home: creating a youtube channel for Cherry. The channel shows Japanese children animation along with Christian songs and bible stories. The animation runs in less than 10 minute segments and in between each segment instead of a commercial has a Christian Song or Bible story of about 2-3 minutes.

The challenge for the weeks ahead is to start networking with groups in the states. I think that recruiting tentmakers is a way to develop both support and bring coworkers. I will be looking at advertising in certain reformed magazines in the next few weeks. I will probably look at the Banner, the Herald, and World Magazine.

Keep us in your prayers.

Ongoing requests

There are 6 reformed churches within an hour commute of us. Many of these churches are struggling. Rather than try and start another struggling church it is our vision to work with existing churches.

1. This coming week I need to talk with some of the elders of two of these churches about setting up English Evangelism Classes in them. These classes will also need support from America to have viability. The Japanese churches often only have 30 people or so. The resources are stretched. The pastors do not have full time incomes and often work in such jobs like newspaper delivery etc on the side. So pray for a support system to be set up and support to be raised so that we can freely serve without competing for resources the pastor desperately needs. It takes about $150 a month to support one class.
2. Pray for a good result on contracts submitted to the local boards of education. These contracts are very competitive so there is a chance that no work will come from it, so prayers are greatly appreciated.
3. Pray for anyone in America who wants to join our team here. We can use our contacts with different English Conversation Companies to help them through the application process. Upon getting a contract with one of these companies they would come to our area as tentmakers.

One day - 150+ contacts

Well today I taught one private lesson with a kindergardener and his mom. Cherry and Kazumi also join this lesson. Then I handed out 100 flyers at the local elementary school 2 blocks from our home for the English School we have. We currently have about 70 students. While I did this Kazumi had a class with 6-8 1st graders. Then I walked back to the house and Kazumi and I taught a lesson together with about 7 preschoolers in it. Two of them came with their mothers for a trail lesson. The moms were very young in their early 20s and enjoyed watching the lesson. Now while I work on my blogs and stuff Kazumi is teaching a class with 4 junior high students in it. In total I would say we had brief contacts with about 150 people today.

Oh my non-christian brother-in-law stopped by today too. It is amazing when I look back on the day and think of all the contacts one day can bring. Pray that contacts will lead to deep relationships based on trust allowing for effective witness. While non of these contacts was based on direct evangelism we do pray for those opportunities. My father-in-law is in the hospital with cancer of the throat and we have given him some Christian books to read. We are praying for him to come to faith.