July 28-30, 2019 VBS Celebration at Yokohama International Baptist Church

The pews were packed tight with newcomers on Sunday as Pastor Ben Howard preached the gospel in between songs from the various VBS classes.

After a long, exciting week of helping kids get to know Jesus, we joined YIBC for their VBS celebration service on Sunday. Many of the families that had attended during the week also came on Sunday, since their kids were singing throughout the service. Pastor Ben's sermon tied together many of the lessons we had learned during VBS, finishing with a proclamation of the gospel and an invitation to believe in Jesus. Since most of the VBS kids come from non-Christian families, this was an amazing opportunity for dozens of people to hear the gospel for the first time! The kids also did an amazing job singing a number of praise songs in both English and Japanese, complete with dance moves.

Just as important as the service was the pizza party afterwards (and not just because of the pizza). One of the hard things about evangelizing in Japan is that on average, it takes nine years for someone to come to faith in Jesus after first hearing about Him. This means that relationships are extremely important, as sustained personal investment is needed to bring someone to believe. This pizza party was designed specifically to give the members of the church a chance to get to know the families who came to VBS, and to forge those initial relationships that, years later, might results in new life. Although we will be leaving in a few weeks, all four of us did our best to get to know the parents of the kids we had spent the week with, and to help them connect with members of YIBC. The party lasted some two hours, and a lot of relationships were made, so we are hopeful that some of the parents (and their kids!) will come to know Jesus through the church's ministry.

We spent one evening watching fireworks in Yokohama!

After six days of ministry, we had a few days to rest and prepare for our next church, where we will also serve at a VBS (only one day this time), as well as preaching and serving during the Sunday service. We spent some time just resting, but also explored parts of Yokohama and Tokyo as well. Most importantly, we met with our mentor, Pastor Tetsui, who agreed to meet with us individually each week in order to process our experiences and to pray with us. This week, he even treated us to lunch at his favorite Indian restaurant! We are truly blessed to have his wise counsel throughout the trip.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for the kids who attended VBS! Pray that the seeds of the gospel that were planted this past week would be watered and bear fruit. And pray that they would have a chance to share what they learned with their families and friends!

2. Please pray for the parents who came to the service and pizza party. Pray that the initial connections they made with church members would blossom into friendships that would lead to belief in Jesus.

3. We are mostly recovered from our week-long battle with illness, but pray that we would recover fully, rest adequately, and stave off any further illness this trip.