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My newsletters (they always include prayer items) are in both English and Traditional Chinese.
July 2025 Update
Dear faithful partners,
Greeting from hot, humid Japan!
May this update find you energized!
“The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” (NRSV)|
“We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.” (MSG)
Proverbs 16:9
What’s Happening?
Thank you for all your prayers and the goodness of our LORD, I have some wonderful catchup time and being able to mostly stay in air conditioning. =P
Praise the LORD! The 55 Day e-learning PureHeart Challenge Course on our website is up. The 5-part bible reading plans in Tradition Chinese are now all done. (The last 2 waiting for approval from YouVersion.) Please pray that those who need to know that they are loved and forgiven, those who long for a deeper encounter and be satisfied by God will be blessed with these. (All plans are available in English and Japanese as well.)
So recently I had an experience of my lifetime... ok, it’s not so weird for parents. But after all these years of baby sitting, I never thought that I will get to "the beginning"! During my 3-day visit to former teammates I got to "witness" a baby being borned... It was late evening, and a member who hardly speaks Japanese had her water broke... (The due date was later that week). The one and only female team member was their official help but due to the need of her own young children she couldn’t accompany the couple to the hospital immediately... and then I happened to be there, right?! Logically then I went with them... thinking I will leave when "official" help comes. Due to late hours, the birth clinic was closed to public and i guess they rather have me in the delivery room than roaming around in lobby! So yes, I was there through it all... praying for it to be over quickly (of course for the sake of the labouring mother). Praise the LORD the labor was only approximately 3 hours, such grace for birthing a firstborn child. After some explanation of the stay, "official" help needs to return home to feed her own infant and I stayed until mother and newborn were settled into their room.
Side-note: Japanese clinics usually keep the mother and newborn for 4-5 days before they are released to go home. (It will be even longer if issues arises.)
I am grateful to be reminded of the “hardship” of mothers before visiting Mom. During my time with Mom, I was able to visit my former discipleship school and shared my testimony with the current students. Afterwards I also had time to talked to 2 of them, both lived in Japan (short-term) and have a heart for the lost in this nation. There are many who have burden for this nation yet finding it hard to find organization with the same vision and practice. Please pray for open doors to best-fit faith community for those wanting to come and are already in Japan.
As I came back to Japan at the end of June, I sudden found that I don’t understand as much... I don’t know if it’s a relapse, or the fact that I was immersed in my mother-tongue for too long?!? Therefore I have restarted my weekly Japanese lessons. Still figuring out what area to focus on but one way or the other I need the practice with feedback. For now I will work on both pronunciation and trying short translations.
I am so grateful that I am blessed with flexibility and capacity which allow me to meet up with visitors, visit former teammates, and make new connections. Although I must say I am not as youthful to run after toddles and/or hold infants.
What’s Next?
After much prayer and consideration, I have declined staffing a 3-month Japanese pilot school due to the extended away-from-home requirement. As I have that door shut, I was asked to help with another organization’s staff retreat. They have overseas speakers that would needs to be paired with translators. I will be helping with the kids’ program the third week of August. It will be a 2-day road trip to northern Japan with a few staff and another volunteer. Please pray for safety and also blessings for this retreat.
With one of my new connection, an older Australian worker who has lived in Japan for decades, who is burdened for her neighborhood and would like someone to pray and maybe do bible study with her on a frequent basis. To my surprise, we have quite a few things in common. For now we will start with praying weekly to see where the LORD leads.
A couple that I met on their seminary internship will be returning to Japan in September. I would like to accompany them for some of their ministries as they settle in. I have also offered to have them stay at my place while they look for their own apartment.
I have also been asked by the Osaka disciple school to translate for a few days. I am praying on if that’s something the LORD wants me to do. Please stand with me to do the “right” thing.
Mid-year reflection... It was very clear to me that I need to take this year "slow", meaning more casual schedule. The LORD has brought back many "old" people and as we chat I realized the growth and work the LORD has done for us. Many has been stretched/enlarged while others are switching gears. (Of course, struggles and hardship were unavoidable.) I am very grateful for everyone He connected me with and looking forward to see what the LORD will bring for the second half of this year.
One thing I am keeping in mind is when to visit Canada. It would be 2 years next April. But that doesn’t lineup with passport renewal (which will push it to June or later). Since last year, I am thinking to do a longer visit for health reasons. Recently I also have some online banking issues. Praying for wisdom in regard to timing and duration of the next visit.
Praises:
· Restful time visiting Mom
· Opportunity to reconnect with most of the former Kobe team members
Prayer Requests:
· Japanese language improvement
· Specific ministry guidance
· Timing to visit Canada and specifics
Blessings,
Christina
I grew up in a non-christian home but my older brother went to Christian school and became the first believer in our family. Since then he started to share Jesus and took my to church gospel events. One time, the message was about God willing to forgive all our sins; I was touched but thought that I want to know more before deciding to believe. The next day, the message was about how simple faith is, just like toddlers eating eggs. So I decided to trust this God who is willing to forgive even I don’t understand everything He feeds me.
In college retreat, I committed to served God full-time but has never thought of how. After working some years, and wanting to spend time with aging parents, God led me to a missionary school (Youth With A Mission). One step at a time, God called me to pioneer a team in Kobe, Japan. With prayer and getting to know the team, I responded by saying yes. Again trusting this good God even I can’t see what’s ahead.
My Current Role
At the moment I am a self-funded missionary involved with both international sender Youth With A Mission in Osaka and a local ministry near Kobe. This year we are pioneering a bilingual bible school which I serve as administrative and tutoring staff. Since everything is new, there are trials and errors. And this is an intense school, so yes, lots of reading and homework (which I need to grade). My prayer is that students and staff from this school will be infused with the passion for His Word and stay to staff the next school. The local ministry I have been working with for the last 3+ years is Onfire Japan. We focus on discipleship through bible study and mentoring. Since 2021, we have been doing LIVE morning worship everyday and a few other theme-focus hours throughout the week. I have been joining LIVE panel, providing technical support and training. We have team members who are very willing to jump in if there is a gap but we need more to be willing so we can expand to more hours and cover more themes. My prayer is to start a Chinese-Japanese hour.
About To The Nations Fellowship/OnFire Japan/YWAM
My Canadian Charity partner “To The Nations Fellowship” was founded to come alongside the Body of Christ to facilitate sending Christians on long and short term missions.
Onfire Japan, founded in 1995 to minister after a major earthquake in Kansai, is a Christian ministry dedicated to seeing Japan and Japanese Christians filled with the presence and power of God. We equip believers for discipleship and simple church planting through
online media, networking and training. We’re excited for the opportunity to work together to see revival come to the church and the harvest come to Japan.
Youth With A Mission, founded in 1960, is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world.