Callum Kyllonen

Callum Kyllonen joined Japan Mission from Canada as an English Evangelism Teacher in January 2024. He currently travels to a number of churches to help them reach their communities for Christ through English outreach, helping with events, sharing his testimony etc… Many, who would not normally attend church, come to learn English and make friends with a foreigner. Each class ends with a Bible Time and a time of discussion and fellowship. This is Callum’s story about how he was called to Japan.

THE CALL TO JAPAN:

To give a bit of context how I’ve come to this point: I’ve been working with the missions committee here at my church in Canada for a few years now since being introduced to missions through our youth group program. My first mission experience was building a few houses with our students in Mexico in 2019 while documenting our time there.

After that I had taken a few trips with friends to places like Iceland and New Zealand, filming the process for leisure, though after each visit I had felt convicted: “Is that it? Is going and filming nice places all there is? Each location we visit has people that need the Gospel, and we are just squandering our opportunity for our own pleasure.”

When I returned after the Iceland trip, we began filming a video series with my church called “Treasures in the Trials” where we would feature testimonies of believers in our church and how God had been at work in their lives and testimonies. Sometime after the trip in 2020, I was invited to be a part of the Missions Committee at our church, as there was a need to improve the visibility of missions via brochures, slides, and videos shortly after. We had a group of missionaries visiting the church over the course of the year, from locations such as Namibia, Ireland, Africa, etc; in which we offered to film an interview with them to highlight them at our church, as well as provide the video to them to share with their other supporters.

After filming one more on-site mission interview in Kamloops with the local Indian Band, Aaron Wilson (a former teacher with Japan Mission) shared that Japan Mission could use some help with repairing their building. I felt it might be a good opportunity to help, as well as potentially film an interview while I was there; little did I know this was the beginning of something bigger.

After spending time working with the team, seeing the ministry, and engaging with the people and culture of Japan, when I landed back home, I felt that serving in Japan has and will become an ongoing pursuit moving forward; in whatever form that takes. Since the trip, I have been fixated on learning the Japanese language, learning about the culture, and looking for opportunities to meet with Japanese visiting for school or who live in my town. I regularly use online language exchanges to practice Japanese, and help Japanese with their English learning.

I have wrestled with the “why” for my passion for Japanese/Japan, and have discovered God has used this same experience when He had led me to start my work in videography five years ago. Back then I had concluded four years of work in animation and had no idea where to turn from there, but after praying and seeking His help, He gave me one stepping stone to work with… Make a video every day. I didn’t understand why; I didn’t think I’d be good enough to do it for a living, yet I followed through with what I knew at the time. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much…” Luke 16:10. Through that, He was faithful to use what I had learned in that time to bring me to do what I do to this day. So I am following through in the same way, trusting God will reveal what He is equipping me to do.

When approached with the idea of teaching English at Japan Mission, I was excited for the opportunity to continue working with the team and for the chance to connect with and help Japanese students towards their language learning goals—while sharing the gospel with them in the process! It challenges me to get my TEFL certification to best serve students in Japan or even here in Canada, along with growing my understanding of the Japanese language!

I trust God will continue to be glorified in His work in Japan and at Japan Mission. I’m excited to see the percentage of Christians in Japan rise over the years to come!