Tsushima Volunteer Mission Report – June 2017

Dear sister and brother in Christ,

Hello everyone!!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support every month for our ministry in Japan. We have much to be thankful for what you have done for us.

God opened a new door this month again to let people know about the love of Jesus. As you already know, we have a children’s nature school program every month, but starting last week a Junior high school student, who had been resisting going to school for long time, has been attending our program also. His name is Reiya. He is very fearful of people and cannot reply well to the questions we ask him because he closed his heart to others for a long time after he was bullied at school. At the same time he lost his grandpa whom he most loved and trusted. His grandpa committed suicide without saying good-by to him, so he was very shocked and disappointed with him. Please pray for Reiya.

The good news is that the Principal of Reiya’s school and the local Board of Education regard attendance at our school for absentees as legitimate study hours. So our nature school was accepted as a free school for students who refuse to attend ordinary school programs. But we had one problem. The Principal of the Education Board told us that we cannot teach the Bible to students because their parents are Buddhist and they are not happy about it. Also, it is prohibited to teach a specific religion in a free school program if it is to be counted for students as legitimate study hours.

I was very disappointed with her demand, so I prayed that God would provide a way for us to share His love by studying the Bible with students. Our God is so wonderful! He answered our prayer yesterday. The Principal of the Education Board came to our school and attended our program to observe.  After the program, we told her again that we would like to share the message of the Bible with the students even during their short study time because it is so important for their hearts to have new hope.  So we read the copy of the Bible message with her and student Reiya.  After she read the copy, God opened her heart. She told us that we could share and teach the love of God personally after the school program because she found it was such a good message to give students hope!!  She pasted a copy of it on Reiya’s contact book and sent it to his parents to get their permission to read the Bible after the school program.

Reiya’s parents also agreed to read the Bible with him and they asked us to encourage him as much as possible to have hope and confidence in his life. I was truly thankful for this great miracle God performed.

Please keep praying for our ministry.

May God bless you richly!!

Kimi Kurihara
JCSI Director
(Tsushima volunteer mission)

 

Prayer requests

• Please pray for Reiya, his parents, and the other students
• Also pray for the budget to run the school every week ($700 per month is needed for the utilities and school supplies.)

 

If you’d like to help

Make checks payable to:
Gospel Ministries International

Send checks to:
GMI (Gospel Ministries International)
P O Box 506, Collegedale, TN 37315-0506
(Be sure to specify donation is for “Japan Christian Service Int’l” (JCSI)

Online Donations:
You can donate online through paypal: http://gospelministry.org/donations/

Phone: 423-473-1841 Ask for Tim Tillman

Thank you for your prayers and support!