making record

Every time I go on a mission trip, I find myself looking back amazed at everything the Lord accomplishes through us.  However, sometimes I get my facts mixed up or just a little fuzzy when I relay the stories after the fact.  So, I want to make a record beginning now of the challenges that we face, the goals we are trusting God to achieve, and the prayers we pray so that we can look back and see specifically how the Lord answered.

So, here’s what we have before us now:

*A lot of $ to raise!  Each member of the team needs to raise at least $3500. (airfare is steadily rising right now!) Fortunately, Mattie’s plane ticket will be pretty cheap. ($200)  However, that puts our family in need of raising at least $8,000.

*Big goals for our trip.  We are asking the Lord to enable us to see salvations during this trip.  He clearly answered that request on our last trip.  This is incredible, in and of itself, because it usually takes a non-believing Japanese person sometimes years to come to a place of decision to trust Jesus.  We are also experimenting with methods that could enable us to start now in laying a more permanent foundation in Japan.  Our specific goal this summer is to experiment in teaching Japanese believers, and/or super spiritually-interested Japanese students, (or “homegroups” by our terminology) to meet in home fellowships or “homegroups” per HopeFC terminology.

I will be sending out more detailed and specific prayer requests to our prayer partners in weeks to come that I will also record.

expectantly waiting on the Lord,

d