Reflections: Brandon

Thank you for helping us and supporting us during our mission trip in Japan.  Through our songs, testimonies, ministries and through your resources and prayer we were able to meet many people of very different backgrounds and God was able to use us to speak to them.

I may not ever meet these people again and continue to build my relationships with them, encouraging them in their struggles (though I certainly do hope to do so).  Having supported others indirectly in their mission trips as you have, I understand that you likely feel even more disconnected from the lives of the people we touched.  I understand that it can be discouraging for us when we don’t see the results of our work, a lot like giving someone a gift and feeling bad if they don’t say “thank you” or if you never see them use the gift.  I encourage you now to not be discouraged or dismissive of your own efforts for each person’s relationship with God is obviously between the two of them so He will continue to take care them and use what we (you and me) have done our best to give no matter how small or poorly given.

Now was all that talk about encouragement, morale, and disconnection still a bit heavy and discouraging?  Let me remind you (and please remind me as well if you notice that I forget) that we can always continue to support the people of Japan through our prayers among other more difficult methods of support.  If you’d like something a bit more specific to focus your efforts on:

• That big earthquake and tsunami disaster was several years ago and people are beginning to forget about it so the majority of the relief efforts have long-since dissipated despite the fact that many of the survivors are still struggling to recover.  When our team served in the Sendai, Miyagi area, one of the sites at the forefront of the disaster, we heard from the locals that the only people who ever really visited and shared life with them were Christian groups and churches.  While encouraging to know that God is continuing to use His followers there and that the people there now have relatively positive connotations with Christ, it’s quite tragic how much they still struggle to survive.  Here’s a great opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives whether you’re a Christian or not.
• The Sakuragoaka church asked for prayer for their numerous summer camps they were having as we left to stay with the Koganei church.  I think by now they are probably done with them because summer vacation is very short in most Japanese schools but I’m sure the prayer request extends to the continued growth and effects of the various people who attended the camps.
• Whether you consider yourself to be in strong relationship with Jesus or not, it’s easy to forget here in the USA how diverse and open people are about religions, worldviews, philosophies, and beliefs.  That’s not to say that there aren’t still various forms of persecution, stereotyping, hostility, hatred and ridicule of them.  In Japan however, it is very difficult to be a Christian, one of the reasons being the lack of a supportive Christian community simply because there are so few.  Prayer for the churches and Christians there in general would be appreciated I’m sure.
• The Oecho church in Oue asked specifically for prayer for the spiritual growth and their ministry in the the town of Oue (we learned there that Oue has a long history of Christian persecution), for new pastors at their church, and for the youth of Oecho.
• The wife of Miyakawa-sensei, he’s the senior pastor at the Koganei church, got one of her fingers cut off in some kind of bicycle accident while we were there.  I don’t think I saw her or met her but I heard when she got to the hospital, they asked her where her finger was so she had to go back and find what was left of it so they could put it back on.  I’m fairly certain they’d appreciate prayer for her healing.

Thank you again for all your support.  Take care.