Greetings from Kurume Fukuoka Kyushu Japan!
We pray for you that the grace and peace of God will fill your hearts as you celebrate the season of God’s gift of Jesus Christ to the world. We rejoice in knowing the Lord of Life, and desire to proclaim Him to those who do not yet know Him.
Our language learning continues. We have class two days a week with Yuuko, a delightful young lady who teaches kindergarten children when she isn’t working with us! On Monday nights, we meet with Yoshi Kotegawa, an English professor at Kurume University. He is a believer, and he encourages our religious vocabulary as well as grammar. We appreciate these wonderful teachers, please pray for our relationship with each of them. .
Our Pioneers team was able to join with others at a retreat this month. We were introduced to the Pioneers teams in Hiroshima and Shimonseki, as well as several Christar workers in Yamaguchi Prefecture on the island of Honshu. The accommodations were wonderful: good food, comfortable beds, meeting rooms, and beautiful scenery all around, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Teaching was encouraging and challenging: Don and Sue Eenigenburg, Christar missionaries, spoke from both 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. We also had several sessions as Pioneers to build rapport and to strengthen our mission. We were encouraged by missionaries who had been in Japan for 20+ years and were still going strong and full of joy at what God is doing in this land.
Last week we were able to visit with Pastor and Mrs. Yamashita from Kurume Christ Church. A few weeks prior we had met Pastor at a prayer breakfast at Kurume Bible Church, and he expressed an interest in getting to know us. They came to our apartment, and we enjoyed hearing about their children, their faith in Christ, and their church ministry. Interestingly, before becoming a pastor, Koji ran a small civil engineering business! Perhaps God will provide more opportunities for us to develop a relationship with this couple.
Christmas is celebrated in Japan! Kurume Bible Church is preparing to do several outreaches to the community during December. Please pray that those that come will hear the message of God’s love for them and respond to Him. We will have a children’s party on 12/7, a ladies luncheon on 12/14, and a special worship service on 12/23.
As we continue to settle into a routine and keep track of finances, we recognize that God’s provision is enough. However, we also recognize that buying a car, medical payments, and language lessons are expensive. Please pray for us to be wise in using the funds God supplies through you. We know God will provide for all He expects us to do here. Please do not waver in praying for us! We are ordinary people, but we serve the Almighty One. Pray we will seek His face and hear His voice each day. And pray that our Mighty God would bring fruit, both in our lives and the lives of the Japanese people.
Thank you to all that have kept in touch with us these past few months. We are surprised to realize we have been in Kurume almost four months! Our first ‘blessing box’ arrived from Florida just the other day. We loved getting the Double mint gum, taco seasonings, and fully-cooked BACON! Best of all, we have pictures of our friends to look at as we pray for them! Would each of you consider sending us a picture? Attaching it to an email is perfect, but we enjoy getting ‘snail mail’ too.
Steve and Emma Franklin
PRAISES
- Language tutors
- God’s provision financially
- Encouragement/refreshment
PRAYERS
- transportation decisions
- opportunities to speak Japanese
- the people of Japan to know Christ
- that the Lord of the Harvest would send out laborers
Calvary Missions International 