Tsushima Volunteer Mission Report – October 2020

Seeds Are Sprouting

Sometimes we can feel that the work we are doing is not bearing any fruit but Pastor Paul puts it this way:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” 1 Cor 3:6-7

Thank you so much for your prayers and support for our ministry. We had some damage to the fruit farm and our house-church by the massive typhoon last month. Thankfully we were able to repair most of it with the Lord’s help.

Please keep in prayer a friend who lost his home. He has been learning more about God through the literature we give him monthly.

The Lord has blessed our ministry for almost nine years since we moved to Tsushima Island as volunteer missionaries. Our Lord has kept His promise these past years to provide for our needs from His abundant resources. Although we do not have a regular monthly stipend, we can help students and local people through the Nature school and Agricultural mission project.

Last week our little missionary Miu, my first daughter, brought a wonderful message to us. She was playing with her friends at the park on Sunday afternoon, and a few hours later, one of our former English students joined them.

Haruto (not his real name) is now in Junior High and has been very busy with his after school club, so he had stopped coming to our English school.

When he did come to class, he was not very interested in studying English and would play around a lot. However, I remembered that he was very interested in the daily Bible stories we read for our students.

It has almost been five years since Haruto left our English school. So I thought he forgot about Jesus and was just busy spending time with school, but I was wrong!!

That day while my daughter played with her friends, she did something wrong to one of her friends, so her friend got angry and hit her.

She almost cried. However, right after she was struck, Haruto came to her friend and said,

“Do not hit people. Jesus made us; no one should hit another who was created because Jesus loves us.”

My daughter was very shocked at what he said. She was more surprised than when her friend hit her. After returning home, she excitedly shared this story with us because Haruto still remembered who Jesus is. Furthermore, he witnessed to her friends who do not know about Jesus yet.

Sometimes teaching English to our students felt pointless because I thought no matter how many times I talk about Jesus to students, they quickly forget about Him after leaving our school, but I was wrong.

Telling the story of Christ to students in our school is very meaningful.

Most of our students are raised with a Buddhist influence. So they can become confused when I teach the Bible to them.

Haruto was raised in a devoted Buddhist home, but he chose to believe in Jesus in his heart. Please keep praying for him and our students to never forget about Jesus even after they leave our school. Pray also for our daughters so they can share Christ more with their friends.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” Ecclesiastes 12:1

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How to Help

The most important area of support is prayer. This project needs lots of prayer for hearts to be open to the gospel. Pray that God will help Kimiyoshi and his family to continue meeting the needs of people on Tsushima and that He will give them more opportunities to share Jesus.

Pray that the project would be able to obtain (either rent or buy) 30A Farmland (1A = 10 meters X 10 meters). This size would enable to project to be sustainable and maintain viability for the future.

The next project being pursued is to obtain a tractor and start cultivating the harden soil in this area of Tsushima which has not been in use for many years. The hope is that it will provide another means of teaching about God’s love and creation while providing a tent-making way to help this ministry to be more sustainable. The cost of the tractor is between $8,000 – $9,000

God answered this prayer. Please read about it here.

Between now and then, financial support to help meet the expenses for Nature School program (lighting and heating and gas expenses and school supplies for students) as well as living and other project expenses are needed totalling about $800 monthly. Any donation would be greatly appreciated and very helpful.

You can give directly to Kimiyoshi via PayPal which enables donations to be received more expeditiously.

Or if you prefer, you can donate via Gospel Ministries International which will provide you with a tax deductible receipt. You will find the contact information and links for these two options below.

To give directly to Kimiyoshi for the Tsushima Mission Project via PayPal please click here.

OR

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