Alright, so Brian and his family have made it. His daughters, Naomi, Sarah, and Susanna, they are in the young class giving updates there in the ministry. And Brian and Yoko will be in here giving us updates. Again, they were pioneers. We support them. They are doing their ministry in Japan. Brian has been here, what, two and a half years ago. And so he's come to give us an update again. He's going to be here in the States for a few months here. So he came to visit while he had a chance, while he's running from Dulles to go down to Lynchburg. So it's great to have you guys. And thanks for coming, Brian. And I'll open us up in prayer so that Brian can get started. Lord God, we give you thanks for the traveling mercy that you've given Brian and his family. Thank you for the traveling mercy you gave Sarah. She came from India. And thank you for that opportunity that she was able to go there and share your word amongst the people there, Lord. So Lord, we pray that through that work, you would draw more people to yourself, Lord, so that we can see the fruits of the ministry as we carry out your word. into this lost world, Lord. So Lord, we thank you for Brian and his family and their time to come and share with us, Lord. And pray that it'll be a profitable time while they're here in the States to be with family. Pray that they continue to grow in love towards one another. And Lord, we give you thanks for this opportunity that they can come and share with us the ministry in Japan. And we pray that you continue to work through them in Japan, again, draw your people to yourself. In your name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, well, it is always exciting for us to see you guys, see your faces, because we know you guys are one of the reasons why we're able to stay in Japan and do what we do. Your prayers. So it's our joy to be able to be with you. How many of you, two and a half years ago, did not see us, meet us? Okay, so we do have a few new faces. So some of this is like a family reunion. Some of you will be new, so you'll get a little bit of review, so you can kind of know what the ministry's about and how to pray. Some of you will be an outdate of people that you've been praying for the past two and a half years. and seeing what God is doing there. And we do want to close our time praying together. So just to be sure, we finish up at noon? Yes, sir. Finish up at noon. Okay. Can you come on back? Sure. Yes. Because I wander around just a little bit. Yeah. Alrighty. How many of you guys are originally from Virginia? Just so that you know, I'm originally from Virginia. I'm a southerner as well. I grew up down in Franklin County, Virginia. I had quite an accent when I was growing up. And my wife is also, Yoko, is also from the south. I have accent. She has an accent too. She is from southern Japan. So we share some few things in common together there. But why missions? Why is this church passionate and becoming even more passionate about missions? For the two of us, particularly, God gave us a gift when he was leading our hearts to fully commit, particularly for myself. My wife had a headstart of being committed to missions in Japan. But for me, about 24 years ago, it was a couple of verses in Isaiah. And again, when God gives you a promise, You hold on to that. When God reveals something about himself that should impact the whole way you look at life, you have to keep going back there. Because as you're gonna find out, Japan is not necessarily an easy place to work. There are challenges there. So why is it we do missions? What should motivate us? What should motivate us to reach out to our neighbors? I love being up here in Northern Virginia because you can see the world around you. God is bringing the peoples to our back door, in a sense. So the verse that has meant a lot to us, particularly, is in Isaiah 24. And why don't we read this together? From the West, they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore, in the East, give glory to the Lord. Exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth, we hear singing, glory to the righteous one. And the amazing thing about this verse is that it's right in the middle. If you go to Isaiah 24, it's talking about God's judgment coming on the earth. And it's woes, like evil. People are not even able to rejoice in their own evil that they've done up to this point because they see that there's no pleasure in it anymore. And right in the middle of all this, the prophet has this hallelujah chorus. So it doesn't matter how bad things get, because we know where things are headed, is that God is committed to His glory. And very clearly, It doesn't matter where in the world it is, God has committed that there'll be praise and worship from the ends of the earth in every little place, every little corner, even in the islands and the coastlands of the sea. Now that is a powerful promise and verse that in my wife's country, there in the islands, the Japanese people are not ignored. God is committed that there will be singing, glory to the righteous one, our Lord Jesus Christ, the one that we trust. Why else are we committed to missions? Why is this group, why should we all be compassionate about missions? Well, in Isaiah 45, I'll need your help trying to finish this up. God says, even in the Old Testament, turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is, what? There is no other. And God makes it very clear that he is to be the one to be worshiped. All the ends of the earth, all the peoples are to turn back to him. And then when our Lord Jesus came, and the apostles finally realized what God's purpose was through Jesus Christ, and they saw Him risen from the dead, they were given the Holy Spirit, and they encountered great persecution. but there was nothing that was gonna stop them. They had seen the risen, promised Messiah. And they proclaimed to the Sanhedrin and to all the leaders of that time that they must proclaim this Jesus. And so they said, and there is salvation in what? No one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which We must be saved. Can you get any clearer than that? It's very, very clear that Jesus, the message of the gospel, must be shared with the ends of the earth. And why is we must do missions? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? So God's Word makes it very clear that missions is on His heart and that we have a responsibility in trusting Him and taking this message to the ends of the earth. So why Japan? Well, we have a couple of young people here. I guess everyone's young in here, right? Okay, so we want you to get a little taste of what it's like in Japan. This is actually some video taken by the mega metropolis, Fukuoka City, down in southern Japan. About 1.5 million, and we want to get you a glimpse of what it's like. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to astound you, the colors and the high-techness, okay, of Japan. But I want you to listen with your heart. God says, turn to me all the ends of the earth. What is it you see that breaks the heart of God? Like Paul walking in Athens, provoked by what he saw there. And I don't know about the volume. Oh! Was that intense enough? Amazing culture. Old, new traditions of thousands of years. Extremely high tech. Amazing. We see a huge gap within the culture of the older generation, the new generation as well. But you could also see there that even in the midst of all that, and that's one thing about the Japanese people, A lot of people here in the U.S. have never realized how much the gospel is needed there because our thinking sometimes is like third world country. That's lost. What do they need? They're okay. Isn't that so perverted in our way of thinking that materialism somehow that's Christ? Okay? So you need to hear these figures. You need to hear, you know, why is it Japan, missions in Japan? Well, here in the U.S., statistics would show that anywhere between like 30 to, if you had a group of about 200 people in a room, anywhere between like 30 to 60 people would know the gospel, could share the gospel with the other 200 people there. there could be a Christian close by that could share the gospel with them. But the facts are, in Japan, among that 200, you might just have one to share the gospel. And that's what we refer to in missions as an unreached or least reached people group. Here in the Joshua Project, the definition they give is there is no indigenous community of believing Christians, meaning there's no, for example, Japan, there's no Japanese group of Christians, believers, there with adequate numbers and resources to actually evangelize, to share the gospel with the rest. Now, That's looking from our perspective, our responsibility before the Lord. But in that same passage there in Acts 17 where Paul was provoked by the idols that he saw there in Athens, Paul had this to say, and we're looking at Acts 17, and we're looking at verse 26. And by the way, it's been exciting for us to watch, to get emails from the team that our daughter was with in India. India is another place with thousands of unreached people groups. And we've had the privilege when they were younger to support some orphans there. And our girls have been praying and watching. And so as Sarah grew a little bit older, that was a desire for her to go and to see what God's been doing there in India. There are supposed like 7,000 of these people groups that are unreached. Japan is the second largest unreached people group in the world. So when you start thinking about it, if you were to pray for one of those people groups every single day for 19 years, it would take that much time to actually pray for all those people groups. So often we refer to, okay, this area of the world, this is a large number of people that are unreached. So what does God think? What is God's perspective on this? Well, Paul says this, and this is an encouragement to us of our sovereign God and Savior. In verse 26, and he, being the creator, he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us." Now, do you hear how awesome that is? We look at our world, we look at Japan, we look at India, we look at these people groups, and they're unreached, they really are unreached. But from our sovereign Creator's perspective, what does He see? What does He see? They're close to Him. That's right. He, what does it say here? Yet He is actually not far from each one of us. And He's determined those places. It's not by accident they are where they are. It's not an accident. You were born where you were born to hear the Gospel. It was not an accident that my wife was born in Shimonoseki, Japan and that a missionary would show up at her house and that her mom would have a group of ladies studying the Buddhist scriptures and the Bible and all the rest and hear the Gospel. None of these things are an accident, right? Our Savior God, He is near to these Japanese. He is there, able to bring them to salvation. And that is where our hope is, even as we look at the Japanese people and other unreached people groups. You can see that the evangelical Christian population is 0.5%, so we're talking 99.5% are still lost. and the evangelical growth is actually decreasing. So all the churches that were planted started after World War II. They're getting older. Who is reaching the newer generation? If you look at the right, you'll see that pastors, it's kind of hard to see, but pastors over the age of 50, it's 70%. Most of the pastors that we know are in their 60s or 70s. So when you hear these figures, it's like, whoa, wait a minute here, 0.5%, fifth largest decreasing evangelical population, pastors, 60s, 70s, next 20 years, what's gonna happen to the church in Japan? But God. And if you look at the pattern of scripture, it's like Moses, God gave him the message to take to Pharaoh. and he gave the message, and how did Pharaoh respond? He's like, sure, yeah, I'll let the people go. Was that his response? No, he made it harder on God's people, right? It got worse, it got worse. And so Moses, like a true missionary like me, just falls on his knees and like, I did what you told me to. What's happening here? God, what are you doing? And what does the Lord say? Now I'm gonna reveal my glory. Now is when I'm gonna reveal my glory. So that's the reason we can be excited. Since 2011 with the triple disaster, earthquake, the tsunamis and all that, God has brought back before the church and the need for the gospel in Japan, and many have been praying. We're seeing him raise up more workers in the past five years. Even just within Pioneers, we have doubled the number of workers that have been coming to Japan. And so we are expectant, even when things look bad, that our sovereign God, the Lord of the Harvest, is actually working among us. He's always at work. As I said, my wife is a southerner. That's where we are, down south on the island of Kyushu. where we started back in 1998. There, there are some of the ladies around there praying for us that were some of the first believers in the church. So, Shimonoseki, Christ Bible Church was the first church that we worked in for 10 years. Then we went further south down to the state, I guess we would call it, the prefecture of Fukuoka, where you just saw the video of Fukuoka City. And so we've been there since 2009, and working with the Fukuoka team, which they, our team, has seen a, down there at the bottom, you see the church there, Fukuoka Bible Church, that was planted these 10 years, and that partnership just came to a close, because they've become independent. We, there at the top, have worked with Kudume Bible Church. It's been a revitalization work. A missionary had planted it years ago. It kind of almost was dying off. It was very unhealthy. And one of the members went off to seminary, an incredible seminary called Christ Bible Seminary. and came back, we had known them for about 15 years ago, and they invited us when the missionary, they got back within two months, the missionary had a stroke, they contacted us, we even asked them before they had gone to seminary, would you pray about the possibility of working together? They called us up immediately and says, Would you start coming down here and helping me out to get started pastoring here?" And so that opened the door for us to serve with this church. And the Fukuoka Bible Church and the Karume Bible Church are part of the same church association. So our teams were able to work with both churches at the same time. And we'll share a little bit about this in a second, but it may be a possibility that our time there, this past seven, eight years, is coming to a close, working with Kurume Bible Church as well. So what does ministry look like for us? Building trust, building relationships is key there in Japan, but more importantly, sharing the gospel, sharing Jesus with them. So preaching and teaching the word of God, conducting Bible studies. We have teams that come from Korea and also from the US. We were talking last night over dinner about maybe potentially in the near future of a team coming from this church, which would be awesome. Maybe combining with other members, I don't know how God may lead, but it would be great for you guys to come out and to experience and to pray and see what God may do with even this church on the ground there in Japan. And then also doing crisis, what we're calling crisis discipleship, biblical counseling. It's been so incredible what God's done the past couple of years. I believe you heard the testimony of one of the lives that was touched called Katsuko-san. How many of you, I think I sent you a video and that was shown through one of the services. Did you guys, how many of you remember a video about this lady? right at the top middle, right there. in a presentation, okay. I really appreciate this guy. He tracks with us, he really does, and makes sure you guys know what's going on and being praying. I really appreciate that. Well, Katsuko-san was just incredible. As soon as we got back in those first two and a half years ago, her life was radically changed, totally changed. But going into that situation, her situation was very complicated, a mess, And what a joy it was to be able to just say, Lord, we don't know what we're doing. Show up. We know that Jesus is enough and the Word of God is enough. And it was such a gift. Katsuko-san was a gift to us to remind us of the power of the gospel. Her life was totally, totally changed. She had her Bible all marked up. all marked up of all the places that she totally disagreed with what was in the scripture. And then through her reading about the Samaritan woman and then reading the Gospel of John, and she saw herself standing before Christ, having gone everywhere else but to Him for living water. And she believed, and it was really like the scales came off. And she's having to deal with relationship choices and to write a letter to a guy in her life. And she's pouring out her heart in that. As Yoko and I, we listened to that letter that she wrote, all we could do was weep. It was so overwhelming. Two days beforehand, she didn't know what to do, and she just cried out, I just want to know what God wants. I don't know what to do. I've tried everywhere else. I've tried everything. What does God want? When you hear that, you get really excited. Holy Spirit's done a lot of work, okay? And the scales came off, and from that letter, we just heard the gospel. Here she's pouring out her heart, sharing the gospel. Only God can do that. And anytime you're wrestling with your neighbors or with your family, praying for them, just remember that each of us here are a miracle. That transformation, it's just what God does is amazing. So, but please continue to pray for her. Just before we came back, we found out, she shared with us, she found out she has cancer. And on the 21st, in a couple of days, she's going into the hospital for the surgery and everything, and her life was kind of flipped a little bit. It's like, okay, God, what are you doing with this right now in my life? You've moved in powerful ways. How are you going to use this? And her son started contacting her, who's also in medicine. and they have not communicated a whole lot. And she's like, God, if you use this to bring my family to you, use it, whatever it means, use it. So please pray for her, continue to pray. Her husband's been doing a Bible study with us. Pray that he would continue to be drawn by the Spirit and be transformed. There were others that were baptized along with her in these past two years. And we'll skip that since you've seen that video. But again, over these last two years, God has increased the opportunities and given us an increase in passion for seeing the church in Japan equipped to care for one another and to disciple each other well. As you know, here in the US, it's also true in Japan, people's lives are a mess because of sin and what we do in our relationships. And pouring out of four spiritual laws and just handing it to somebody, that's not the way to share the gospel. It's to sit down with people and listen. And they say, this is where I'm struggling. This is what's going on. Does your Christ have anything to do with my life? Because they're going to those temples, right? They want their businesses to be successful. They want to know what can a God or someone else, I can't do everything, I can't control my life. I need something in my life. And can this God do anything for my life? So yes, does Christ speak into your life and your troubles and your problems right now? Is He really changing and sanctifying you? Because that is the gospel. Are we preaching that to each other? Are we reminding? Are we being honest and real about what's going on? So much so that we can share the gospel in Christ so that we will experience that transformation in the real issues and relation problems that we have that come from our sin. And also from just the weariness of life and being sinned against, and all these complicated things come, Jesus is a mighty Savior. And that's what we can know and experience. The amazing thing is that Yoko and I have just begun to... people just keep coming, and at the same time, God has sent others to do training, and they've asked us to help go and visit different churches with them, and to train leaders, pastors, and some of the other church leaders in doing soul care in their churches. And that's been a new thing that God has opened up, and it's been a privilege to do that. We've asked you guys to pray for our family. The last time we were here, God, we just shared very openly, we felt like the worst parents in the world. We were just really struggling, discouraged, and God was doing a work in our own hearts. We were desperate. God was teaching us that Dad could not control everything. I wanted to. I wanted to fix everything. I needed a Savior, and my daughters needed a Savior, and only He could change us. And he did that. He's been pouring out grace on grace. He's put people in our daughter's lives. You see at the top right there, that's Matsuo Ken. He's a leader in Florence Campus Ministries. He's actually had the university students now discipling the younger people, the high schoolers. And this ministry is growing. We've had our teammate down there in the bottom right, that's Stephanie. She has continued to be a big sister and invest in our daughter's lives, and that's been a huge blessing. And also there's a small international Christian school that's been a huge help to us because our daughter, our oldest daughter, got so far behind in her studies. that she had to do remedial work. And so we're very thankful how God's given that grace. There's five churches there in southern Japan gathering for a summer camp, and God is multiplying. We're talking about the young people. God is working in young people's lives. We're very thankful for that. Other encouraging things just this past year before we came back, two special gifts of grace. One there on the left is Soejima-san. If you've been receiving the prayer request, that's someone you've been praying for. This was a lady that in elementary school, she had heard the gospel. She attended a church there. And then she was away from the church. Her husband was working all over the world. But God in his providence placed her again God knows the places where we should live. He places us there. He placed her right next door to the church. Move them right next door to the church. And being the very good missionary that I am, I would walk by that house, this new neighbor, and go to the parking lot and get in my car and drive off. And then I would come back to the church, and then I would go get in my car and I would drive off. And then I would just repeat that. And there was just like this prompting like, say, hello, just say hello, stop by." And I obeyed and said, hello, and she came. They shared the gospel with her, and she, at 80 years of age, was baptized. Okay? God doesn't, when he wants to finish the work, he can do it, okay? And we, God's the true long-term missionary. All of us get to have the privilege of being short-term missionaries, somewhere along, just even saying hello, obeying, keeping us up with the Spirit. God will do that. On the top right, back in my wife's hometown in Shimonoseki, I was teaching ESL, actually there, EFL classes, English classes, sharing the gospel with the students there. This is Yukiko-san. She was in those classes for a few years, ended up traveling all over the world, ended up in California. And last year, she had an almost fatal bicycle accident in California. Brain damage, was flown back to Japan by her family. And the gospel was shared with her again there in Shimonoseki, and she believed. And we went to see her, and she said to me, she looked at me and says, Brian, I want you to know I heard you. Years ago, I heard you, but I just kept pushing Jesus away, but I've given up. He pursued me around the world and he's got me. And so God continues to rescue people. And we just remind you, whether it's here, whether it's in Japan, God will bring people to salvation. And don't give up praying and know that God will use different people. And it's such great rejoicing when he does that. So question and answer. My wife here, she really, it's amazing how much she understands about Japanese culture much better than I understand Japanese culture. So feel free to ask questions, specifically about some things you've heard or some other things about Japan, and then we want to spend some time in prayer. So any questions about the things we shared or additional things, I'd like to know. What kind of government? We have quite freedom to share the faith outside of the public thing, right? Yes, the community, especially the south, southern or north part of Japan, the people doesn't move. the same people are staying, and the community is so strong. And like a small community have one shrine, and then everyone clean the shrine together occasionally. So people are, how do you say it, the community worship, and then community, the center of the community sometimes a shrine or Buddhism temple. So it's hard to, feels like Mormons starting the next door. That kind of feeling maybe sometimes they have to the Christian people. What is one of the tools they use to approach people that are not Christian? Here in the States, you go to a park, give out a flyer, Over there, is there a way to approach people, especially with the Buddhist faith? There is quite a lot of chance to approach. Like, we are teaching the English class. And people saw our family is loving the kids as a family. And that's not common in Japan. dad and mom and then kids, the girls are loving to them. So that's harmony. And then if people come from the outside of the church and then join our church, just experience how friendly and loving each other and supporting. Like one lady was in the English class. She was watching kids to learn, and she was pregnant. But her mom couldn't come early to help the daughter that time, the hard time. So I just offered, if the babies comes, I'm going to go drive up and then take you to the hospital. And those things, people normally hesitate to do that. But we have a privilege to show the difference. And we are so open. So that's a small thing. Yeah, we can find it and help. Maybe everyone is doing it here. Like if someone gets sick and then giving the food or anything. But Japanese, like inside and outside, more like a... How do you say? Very private? More clear groups. What group do you belong to? So if you have, if you're within the group, it's easier to share and build relationships. So get it within the group. Take some steps. And then many moms are very, how you say, have a good group. But the dad is different. So because of work and doesn't spend so much time. And the kids are also not so family oriented. So the church, the Christian family, look like looking Christian family from outside. So it's so attractive. Great questions. Any other questions? I noticed in the video, I didn't see any churches, like buildings or anything in the video. That's one of the things that got me. Yeah, as far as church buildings, yeah, especially being from the south, you know, you see like buildings on every corner. Yeah, it's rare. And when we do see them, you know, it's like you're all stopped. It's like seeing a foreigner. We're strange. We are strange. But especially in our family, they like to call foreigners gaijin, okay, which is like outsider and foreigner. So we'll be going down the street. street and the kids will point, like, Gaijin, Gaijin da, Gaijin da. But we'll be going down the street and we'll see another foreigner, we do the same thing. It's like, Gaijin da. So we have the same experience when we see churches, hey church, look there's a church over there. But that's exciting when we see them. That's really exciting. Particularly in Japan, there are some house churches that are starting. The Japanese like to see something more permanent and that is more out in the open. Particularly in the past there has been some cult activity. I don't know if you remember, how do you say it, the sarin gas attacks in the 90s? That really changed a lot in the way churches were able to do ministry. Kids were not allowed to visit churches so easily. because of the concern about cults in Japan. And brainwashing. And brainwashing. So we have to be very public and very open about what we're doing so the trust can be built. Good questions. How hard is it for folks who speak only English to get around? Many, especially younger people, can't speak English. Many people didn't have a chance to speak, but everyone has to learn English junior high and high school and university. So they understand. And yeah, many are excited to see. Exactly. And then see the foreigners and can talk English. Yeah. That's right. Does anyone here speak English? I mean, some form of English. Seriously, it is amazing because there's not as many foreigners in Japan, there's Gaijin, a lot of Japanese are looking for the opportunity to speak English. That's the reason why we often use English classes to build relationships with the Japanese people. So you can come and be able to build relationships more quickly than a lot of the Japanese do. So that's a good opportunity. He often goes to Starbucks. Starbucks or McDonald's because they're looking for foreigners there. And then yeah, people can speak English there. That's right. So it makes for a good opportunity. All right. Well, one more question before we go to prayer. Yes. What is the condition of your financial support and do you have any specific needs? Okay. A very, very good question. Uh, well, we are very thankful that, uh, we have at least a hundred percent, um, of our support and God has amazed us through the years, even with the chain, when the change of the rates, there's new guests that come in and a new church or something like that. So we can give things that right now are support level. is doing very well. So we're very grateful for the gifts that this church gives as well, that maintains what we need each time. We do ask you to pray though, because our Naomi is 17, and we're visiting universities while we're back here. So the cost of schooling and all that, we've been trying to save up for that as well, but we're gonna have some increased costs. Also, we're out in the countryside, just south of Fukuoka City, we may be moving into Fukuoka city. So our cost of living will increase as we make that move. We don't know exactly where we're going to be at this point, but we will give an update when that time comes. Um, cause we will probably need an increase in support at that time. Okay. All right. For prayer, um, Again, just to remind you that we are praying about, is our purpose at Kootenai Bible Church finished? God has sent some other mature believers, possible new elders in the church. And our pastor and his wife, they've been doing this also for six to seven years and are not needing our help as much. You can see our girls, how small they were when we got started there. The other thing that's happened is we've got 10 graduates have gone through language training for two years and they're ready to join new teams. And so our supervisors asked us if we would be willing to lead a new church planning team. So that's what we're praying about, and there's 20 more that are on the way right now that God's thrusting out into His harvest. So keep praying for more workers. And we're asking for 1,000 prayer warriors. We have about 400 right now. So if you are not hearing things enough from us, would like to hear more, Everyone say this, this is a very difficult email address. Say it with us, brianandyoko at gmail.com, okay? Hopefully you can remember that. Send us an email and we'll get you on the mailing list. It's not more than a month. Sometimes it's quarterly. In this past year, because of some recent changes, it's only been quarterly. But we do give you a list that you can keep with you to pray for on a regular basis. So why don't we do this? Why don't we divide into, it might be easiest just to have people pray in pairs. You can pair off, or if it's easier or comfortable to do in threes, why don't we do that? We like to focus, we're gonna show you one slide on how to focus to pray for Japan. Some of this is a review of what we just talked about. The second slide is more personal. about where we are. So you may want to take some notes. As you look up this, as you hear this, as you look at this, as you hear this, whatever God burdens your heart to pray about, write that down. And then in these groups, we'll pray for the Japanese, and then we need your prayers for our family as well. So we talked about the 0.5%. That has been that way for a long time. So we're asking prayer that God's spirit would break through that barrier. As Paul asked for prayer in 2 Thessalonians 3, that the gospel would spread rapidly, okay, and be received well. So we'll be praying for that. And God would continue to thrust out new missionaries, even from this group. All right? I remember last time we were here, I shared about how Christ asked his disciples to pray, gave the command to pray to the Lord of the harvest, and then right after that, he sent them out. So it's dangerous to be praying for God to thrust out people because he may take you, and you will enjoy walking with him in that. but also new pastors, elders in the churches. We need more leaders and a lot of young people have not been stepping up into that. So pray that God would raise up and give that burning, that calling. And then more partnerships as we see teams planning new churches, we wanna work with Japanese churches in doing that and seeing those churches multiply. And then, as we've already shared, gospel, strengthen the church with gospel, Christ-centered discipleship, and soul care. The churches that are healthy, living out the gospel, are the ones that multiply. So there are some requests. I hope that wasn't too quick. Just write down something that's on your heart. And we will look at the next slide. So pray, pray that we as a family, by the way, if you don't, you don't have to write this down. You're going to see this again. Okay. Just catch, because this shows up, this first request is almost every newsletter we send out. Okay. Pray that our family abides in Christ, treasures Christ. Okay. If we don't do that, There's no gospel flowing out of our lives, okay? And that we're filled with and keep in step with the Spirit, faithful in the small things. It's not easy trying to figure out when it's so different than, particularly for me, U.S. culture. You don't do kids events. You don't do Awana. And people are like, oh, unbelievers, like, oh, yeah, that would be a cool thing for my kid. That would be a positive thing. you don't do things the same way. So we have to be really creative, really listening, looking for ways to be faithful in the small things. And that would be overflowing with thanksgiving and love, not discouraged, living out the love that Christ has for us and devoted to prayer and the ministry of the word. Our girls, We love, it's exciting now, there are girls over there, sharing with your kids here. We want our whole family to be doing ministry together, and that takes them being born of the Spirit, and them growing in grace as well. So be praying for them, for the school needs. Pray for me, I'm finishing this master's degree in biblical counseling, this last step. I just have not been able to justify walking away from people and focusing on my thesis paper, okay? It's been really, it's been the hardest thing in my life right now. So I would ask for prayer that before we go back to Japan, I get this thing finished, because I want to just be able to go back and be able to use this. Japanese like to see the certificates that will open more doors as well. So I pray that I'll be able to finish that. And then more leaders to train others in this discipleship and counseling. And then the last thing here, which is big during these three months, our church back in Japan is praying about this, is for us to discern what's the next step. Are we finished there in Kurume? Does he want us to be leading a new church planning team? What should that look like? So please pray for that. Also pray for my mother. Her eyesight is not doing well right now. So we are specifically praying for, does she need to move out? Do we need to get her settled in a new place even during the months we're back here? So that should give you enough fuel for prayer. Why don't we go ahead and just focus on that and give it to the Lord. And then in a minute or two, Dale, would you close the time of prayer? Father, thank you for Brian, Joe, and all of your three daughters. Thank you for the commitment to Jesus Christ, for the love of the people of Japan, for the desire to read the gospel, for the motivation to reach people with the truth of the gospel. Lord, we pray for Japan, We ask that this number would completely reverse. Pray to 99.5 with no Christ. Pray for a miracle of the Holy Spirit. We pray for a great moving. You would move in the midst of that country, touch Christ, convict the sin, convince of the truth. Open blind eyes to see, deaf ears to hear, hard hearts to believe, dull minds to comprehend. Do the work that only the Holy Spirit can do, that is to draw men and women to Jesus Christ. Father, do a great work who will proclaim the truth of the gospel, that there is only life in Jesus Christ, there is no other name under that, for now we must be saved. By the good work of their country, bind Satan, the demons of hell, and those who oppose the gospel. May we fall by the wayside, the truth of the gospel, the light of the gospel, penetrating the darkness of Japan. Lord, we pray that you would be with Brian and his family, guide them as they discern what to do next in their life. Give them your direction for your meeting. If they should move into the city, move on somewhere else or stay, let them know for sure that you're in their will. We know you'll guide them and direct them for your sovereignty. We pray that you do that work in their lives. Pray for your girls, that they continue to grow in Christ, that they'll live for you all the days of their life and never wander. In the gospel, we're serving the Lord Jesus. May they be the second generation Lord, thank you for what you're doing in our life. I pray for Brian's mom. I pray that you'll touch her eyes, help her to see. I pray that you'll give her the wisdom that has to help his mom to be there for her, whether they're countries away from her or not. I pray for a lot of them to meet her needs as well. Bless the family, protect and keep them. Give them health, strength, vitality, vigor. Give them spiritual wisdom and discernment. And I pray that their great work will be done in these next few years. Lord, may it be the most fruitful years of their lives. And I pray that in the name of Jesus Christ, in your glory. in the kingdom, and in power, and in glory, through our Lord Jesus name. Amen.