2017 July Prayer Letter

David & Sue Verwey

Dear Praying Friend,

Japan Mission was founded in 1957 and is now celebrating its 60th anniversary. We praise the Lord for faithfully sustaining us and enabling us to use various methods to sow the seed. We are deeply aware that this is also due to the faithful prayers and support of many. Thank you for the ways you partner with us to reach the lost for Christ.

As we recently reevaluated our methods and sought the Lord’s guidance, we asked Him to help us remain true to our original purpose of sharing the Gospel with the lost. The world has drastically changed over the past 60 years. The internet has grown to almost 4 billion users in the past 25 years! 2 billion people now make use of Facebook. We have often been reminded that we need to change with the times in order to remain relevant in a technologically advanced world.

Just as we returned from taking meetings in the USA and Canada, a team of 9 volunteers from a Christian media company (Lifted Creative Studio) arrived from Hawaii for 2 weeks. They came to help us make videos, revamp our website and advise us on how to communicate more effectively in an ever connected world. The fact that these working-professionals volunteered their time to help us at this critical juncture was truly and answer to prayer! Please pray that the Lord would clearly guide, as we explore more effective ways to reach people for Christ.

As we look to the future, the Lord has given us the following assurance: Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

Thank you for your prayers for us while we took meetings in the USA and Canada. We were able to visit many contacts and renew important friendships. It was exciting to see how the Lord blessed and did miracles to put us in contact with people of His choice. On March 26, we took a meeting in Santa Barbara (California), where I shared a message and showed the Kid’s Club video. We met the Moriyama family after the service, and were amazed when the mother, Megumi, told us that she recognized a mother and child in the Kid’s Club video and that they were good friends! We were surprised to learn that this unsaved family, with two small children, happened to be visiting from our area in Japan.

The timing was also miraculous, because this was the last Sunday that this family was going to be in Santa Barbara before returning to Ikoma – where we hold Kid’s Club! They have had minimal contact with Christianity, but seemed very interested to contact us. Weeks later, Alex wrote us from Japan to let us know that Megumi and her child had joined Kid’s Club! We praise the Lord for the way He enables us to sow the seed, even while in another country!

While on our travels, we were excited to learn of how the Lord was also working miracles through the lives of our workers in Japan. Sunette Hugo joined JM from South Africa in 2007 and has spent many years faithfully sowing the seed. Because of her age and struggles with back pain, the Japanese health services provides her with a care worker who comes one day per week to help her vacuum and clean her house. Miwa was recently assigned to this duty. As she worked, she shared with Sunette that her grandmother was a Christian, and that she was also thinking about becoming a Christian. Sunette encouraged her and told her, “This is the most important decision you could make in your life!”

A short while later, Miwa returned and excitedly shared how she had confessed Jesus as Savior! Sunette promptly hugged her and said, “Jesus is our Friend and you can talk to Him and pray to Him anywhere and anytime.” She then gave her a hymn book and wrote John 14:6 in it: Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

Miwa was able to see Christ in Sunette as she encouraged Miwa to put her trust in the Savior. Praise the Lord! Pray for Miwa as she begins her new walk with the Lord, and for wisdom for Sunette as she seeks to encourage her each week.

We are truly grateful to see how the Lord continues to help us impact the lives of so many people. Thank you for the ways you partner and share with us in this exciting ministry!

David and Sue Verwey
(On behalf of the Verweys and the Japan Mission staff)