The building where the Matsudo church meets is rather old. It’s basically a repurposed house, with the downstairs set up as an assembly hall. It’s not much to look at, but it serves the church well and is a blessing to have. While there’s plenty that could use renovation, one feature I love about the grounds is a small grape vine that wraps around the front fence. It has been there ever since I first came to Matsudo, and I’m sure it was here many years before that. The branches usually produce a good amount of fresh grapes each year which you can eat, assuming the crows (or a few…
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One Of The Dumber Things I’ve Said
I could do an entire blog series on dumb things I’ve said over the years. I’ve got my fair share of cringeworthy remarks that I regret, and while I’d like to think I’ve learned to control my words better as I’ve grown older, I’m sure there are plenty mistakes yet to come. That said, there are certain remarks which, when thinking back on them, produce not only shame but also an opportunity to mature; words that come back and hit you square between the eyes, revealing to you important truths. In 2010, my family moved to Kojima, Japan, where I worked as a vocational missionary with a full-time job as…
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Nine Ways To Pray For Our Mission
Prayer is one of the most important disciplines God’s people can engage in. Jesus prayed and fasted regularly (Luke 4:1ff, 5:16, 6:12), and taught us to be people of prayer (Matt. 5:5ff; 26:41). We are also told to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) and to be “constant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12). Prayer really does matter to God, and it impacts the outcomes of events in the world. We believe this, and that is why our family has been praying frequently about our upcoming work in Japan. However, we both want and need others to be in prayer with us. We believe God listens to his people, and that even…
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Japanese Sermon Preparation
With our move to Japan only weeks away now (Lord willing!), I (Leslie) have been doing a lot of preparation work for sermons that I will preach when we arrive. Getting to Japan is only part of the process of moving. Once we arrive, there is a lot of extra paperwork to do, plus things that need to be set up like utilities, etc., not to mention the issue of getting over jet lag. I’ve been trying to prepare a buffer of sermons so the transition will be a bit easier for everyone, and allow me to focus on helping with those tedious odds and ends that need to be…
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February 2020 Trip To La Grange
With our family’s departure coming within the next month (Lord willing) our family recently took a trip to La Grange, TX, to visit our sponsoring church here in the states. Since we have been planning to leave soon, we knew this would likely be our last opportunity to visit them before beginning our mission to Japan. Our biggest desire was to spend some time in prayer with them and to receive encouragement for the work before leaving. That goal was certainly achieved! We arrived on Thursday night and then spent some time with Scott Elliott and his wife Laura that evening. We grabbed some local Mexican food together, and then…
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What We’re Focusing On In Year One
As the months have marched on towards our return to Japan, we have been considering our upcoming work and thinking about what our plans are moving forward. We want to approach this work with a vision supported by plans and goals. Nehemiah sets the kind of example we want to follow. He prayed for God’s blessing and provision (Neh. 1:4-11; 2:4), he set a vision (Neh. 2:5), he considered and prepared for the work (Neh. 2:6-16), he cast the vision before others and gathered help (Neh. 2:17-18), and he got to the work (Neh. 3-6). This is applicable to our upcoming mission. It’s useful to not only have a vision,…
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Moving Forward
With the new year well upon us and things moving forward for our return to the work in Japan, we wanted to take a moment to update everyone on what we are currently doing, and what the process looks like as we look towards our upcoming transition. First, earlier this month, sister Sanpei and brother Aikawa did us a huge favor by putting together our paperwork and submitting it to the immigration office in Tokyo so that we can receive our work visas. This first step actually only gets us what is called a Certificate of Eligibity (there’s a fun Japanese word: 在留資格認定証明書 [zairyushikakuninteishomeisho] – say that three times fast.…
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Sowing With Tears, Reaping With Joy
Over the course of this year, the importance of prayer has become ever more apparent to me. I think it’s safe to say that I have prayed more this year than I have ever prayed in my life. Of course, I still have plenty of room to grow in this spiritual discipline, but I have learned to lean on God in prayer throughout this year like never before. I am thankful for the challenges that have led me to that deeper relationship with him. Part of what has helped me focus in prayer this year has been reading through a daily devotional book on the Psalms by Tim Keller called…
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What We Are Thankful For
With this likely being our last Thanksgiving in the U.S. for at least several years, we’ve been trying to make the most of this year’s special day by tuning our hearts to the many things we have to be thankful for. There are so many blessings we have experienced this year and have much reason for gratitude, but there are a few special blessings connected to our Japan mission for which we would like to take a moment to give thanks. We’re Thankful For Our Partners We started raising funds for our Japan mission sometime around July or August. In less than half a year, we have already secured 83%…
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Excited For Service
Not too long ago, our dear sister Sanpei wrote about why she would like for our family to return to Matsudo. Here’s a translation of what she said: “Although the Matsudo Church has been around for over 50 years, at the moment we have no preacher and are relying on speakers from various other churches to help each week. We currently have less than 10 people on Sunday, and we hope from our heart that Leslie and his family will be able to return to Japan and to their mission work here. We feel certain they will be able to reach out to young families and children in this area.…
