Maine Report #2

Let me begin this post by mentioning how God is answering your prayers by demonstrating His faithfulness in our lives.

First, we are praising God because one of the churches that we have been visiting, Faith Bible Church in Vineland, NJ, decided to take us up as their missionaries. Not only do we feel so privileged to be able to represent such an exemplary church in their commitment to know God’s Word and live it out, but we are also utterly humbled by how they are going to provide 8% of our entire support. Praise the Lord. But more than their financial support, which is incredible, we are excited to partner with them because of the relational support which they provide for us. Over the months we have been able to develop great friendships with the people from the church, and we are excited to be able to keep in touch because of the new relationship we have with them.

Another demonstration of God’s faithfulness can be witnessed in how God chose to use our friends, Eric and Jill Holmes, as His choice instruments to minister to us by taking care of our problem-ridden vehicle. Perhaps some of you know that our main car, which we originally wanted to use for our support discovery trip, unexpectedly gave up the ghost suddenly last month. So, at the last minute we had to change our plan and use our backup vehicle, which we were planning on selling because of all the problems it had. When it comes to cars, after growing up for most of my life in cities, I simply don’t know enough to be able to talk about them intelligently. I said, partly joking, in the past that, “I know a lot about cars. I can usually look at a car’s headlights and tell you exactly which way it’s coming.” It is very ironic that I am married to a mechanic’s daughter.

Anyway, before we left Schroon Lake we set apart $2,000 to repair the major vehicle problems once we got to Maine. Before we went, I at least knew that the timing belt had to be changed, and I’ve heard of people taking about how expensive they are to replace. Well, to make the long story short, Eric, Jill, and their son, Timmy, who run their family-owned auto body shop, prayerfully decided that they would pay the whole expense to fix our car. We were aware of their financial situation to some extent, so we were definitely not counting on them to work on our car for free. Yet, in spite of their own needs, they decided to work on our car for us as a service to the Lord. We were simply overwhelmed by gratitude for God’s grace, which moved them to meet our needs in such a critical way.

Our experience reminded us that we are not commanded to give generously when we have enough for ourselves, but as God allows us to see the various needs of others that He brings into our lives. We were definitely joyous to see God’s people living out the faith and being part of God’s mission. Please pray that God would continuously meet their needs as they serve Him sacrificially.

Let me share a few more because there are so many things that God is doing that are astonishing. On the 14th, we were supposed to visit Machias Christian Fellowship (Machias, ME)  to share about our passion. However, on the night of the 13th, we were told that we had to reschedule our visit. Understandably, we were disappointed because we wanted to fill every Sunday with a meeting or two. We tried to get into other churches, but being so last–minute, nothing worked out for us. When the morning came, we decided to go to Faith Bible Fellowship, a church we had tried to get into before we came up to Maine but with which we could not schedule a meeting.

Once we entered the building, the pastor came up to me and asked me, “Are you ready to speak?” While I wasn’t expecting that, I responded affirmatively. I got to share my testimony, our ministry, and our passion. The people responded very positively, and Amy is addressing the youths of that church tonight . It is amazing how God postponed our original meeting so we could speak at a church that we were not able to get into originally. Our God is amazing.

That same night we went to Maine Coast Baptist Church to share. When we got there, we only saw a few cars in the parking lot, so we were somewhat discouraged, almost forgetting the goodness of God that we experienced earlier that morning. When I went in, we saw our friend from WOLBI, Ruth Siles, standing in the sound booth! What’s the chance of seeing someone we knew in such a random church in Maine? While the crowd as not as big as we expected, we gave everything we had. At the end, it doesn’t matter whether it is a crowd of 600 or 12. We still give all we’ve got regardless of the size of the audience because we believe it is our responsibility to minister to those whom God brings into our lives. After our presentation, we felt God’s work in people’s lives as we fellowshiped with one another. At the end, they took a love offering for us and on our way home we discovered that its amount was over $1,100. Again, how can one not see God’s amazing work in our experience?

Finally, this past Sunday (6/21), we visited Machias Christian Fellowship in the morning and Larrabee Baptist Church in the evening. The evening service was interesting because many believers from Machias Christian Fellowship came to join us to hear our fuller ministry presentation. People were friendly and very attentive to what we had to share. After the service, the pastor emphasized the effectiveness of sending “native” missionaries back to their country. We are returning to Machias Christian Fellowship tomorrow night to fellowship with those who are specifically interested in our ministry in Tokyo.

Overall, we are blessed to be in Maine and meet all of these people who are committed to live out their faith in these rural communities. Again, we were reminded that it is not the amount of people or wealth that makes a lasting difference in missions. What makes the difference is the same grace of God which is at work in His people, whether you’re in Tokyo or a rural town in ME which you never heard of. It is God graciously orchestrating people who are committed to serve God as missionaries with those who want to see God’s glory being manifested in places where the Gospel is not effectively preached.

Sorry that this post is rather long, but God has been doing so much in our lives, and we wanted to share everything that He has been doing. Please continue to partner with us through prayer, because you get to experience God’s faithfulness being actualized through us. It is exciting to be part of a ministry where God is unmistakably active.

By the way, this post will be incomplete without encouraging you to also partner with us through regular giving. While it is exciting to see God perform these works in the States, we need to get to Japan eventually. It will not be possible without the support of people who are interested in our ministry and who believe in our ability to make a difference through God’s grace. One of the great American writers, Gertrude Stein, once said, “Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.” In similar ways, silent support isn’t very much use to missionaries who are going out “for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles” (3 John 1:7).  If God has blessed you, and you are witnessing God’s work through us, please prayerfully partner with us. Thank you again for reading. By the way, subscribe to our website so you can be informed whenever we update our main content so never miss our ministry updates. God bless.

By His grace,
Kazu & Amy