|
Dear Praying Friends, October 2006
This greeting comes to you a little earlier than usual this month but we had a couple events and people we wanted to
share with you as soon as possible. First of all, after almost one year of praying and waiting, we have a permanent home church! We praise God that He has lead and the people eagerly accepted His leading.
Bethel Baptist Church (http://www.bethelaz.org) of Tucson, AZ, has voted unanimously to be our new home church. We praise God for this step and look forward to getting to know
Pastor Stertzbach and the dear believers of Bethel as the Lord allows. Dr. Kikuchi with Ken We also want to again thank First Baptist Church of Laurel, MT for the for the many years of support and services provided
as our home church and pray our friendship with the dear folk there may continue as we pray for each other. Also, Pastor Richard Mansell and the folk of Parkdale Baptist Church
have our gracious thanks for the services provided with loving care as a temporary home church. Without them, this past year would have been much more difficult. As the Lord tarries, we
just desire to be your servants providing the Gospel to the lost of Japan, specifically in this region. The prayer support and
finances we receive are important to us and we cherish the relationships we have with each of you and our supporting churches. May God bless each of us as we carry on where God has asked us to minister.
We were very happy to have Dr. Kikuchi (key-koo-chee) from the hospital join us again for the morning service this last
week. We noticed that Ken didn't have to give the Bible page numbers to the books of the Bible. Dr. Kikuchi went right to
each one. When asked how he knew them so well, he replied that from the age of 9 to 14 he went to a Sunday School on his
own. There he learned the books of the Bible. He is not willing yet to begin the 6 week Bible study but we are thankful that he
keeps coming to Sunday services. Ken desires to find some type of activity that he can do with Dr. Kikuchi when they are
both free. He has no particular friends in the community having just arrived this spring. So pray for wisdom and the opportunity to reach out to this man both spiritually and physically.
Two contacts have been furthered recently through English teaching—Mr. & Mrs. Hirono (He-doe-no) and Mrs. Kurumiya (Koo-doo-me-yaw)
. One of the schools Ken goes to is a country jr. high school. He has been team-teaching there with Mr. Hirono
. Mr. Hirono got married this last month. He and his wife accepted an invitation to come to dinner this last Saturday
evening. After enjoying a sweet and sour pork dinner, we sat at the table and visited with them. Opportunities not only arose
to mention various concepts of a marriage relationship but as a result of that, various things taught in the Bible concerning
marriage. Mr. Hirono told Ken afterwards that his wife liked the fact that we acted like partners in our marriage relationship
and that she wanted a marriage like the Mansells. Ken told Mr. Hirono that it is because of Jesus Christ's love in our hearts
first that we have a give and give relationship rather than a give and take relationship. We pray we will have more contact with them. Mrs. Kurumiya is a nurse in Enbetsu
. She came to us for help with English phrases before she visited her daughter in New Zealand last month. Her daughter is finishing up a student exchange program there. When Mrs. Kurumiya came back from
her trip she stopped by to give us a thank you gift, show us pictures and ask us to help her write a thank you letter. Through
that we were able to glorify the Lord's name several times and invite her to church. Vicki also offered to have her over for tea
or to cook sometime. Mrs. Kurumiya called out of the blue last week and just stopped by for a visit for about an hour. Vicki
was able to calm some fears concerning church services beings she has never been to one and assured Vicki that she
wants to come soon when she isn't working as a nurse on that day. We are thankful for these continued new outreaches that come as a result of English and being involved in the community.
Tim will be returning to Teshio this week (25th)—his rehabilitation at the hospital has been cleared to change to just home
exercises! He desires to help us as much as he can in the few short weeks left before returning to the States on the 17th of November. Thank you for your prayers for him during his surgery and recovery time. Serving Christ Together, Ken & Vicki Mansell |
