Category — Announcement

Since our last update, we have made several additional progresses in our effort to bring hope. First, earlier this morning, we have agreed to partner with the US NAVY to collect and distribute basic items to the people in the affected areas, ranging from baby bottles to clothing/blankets. We will focus on collecting items that are needed and once we gather enough of them, we will take them to the Yokosuka Naval Base so that they can ship them directly to the affected areas. We will be promoting this clothing donation drive to other local churches in the area and also to our neighborhood community so please pray that people would act selflessly in order to be a blessing and an encouragement to others in need.

Secondly, we have contacted a top leader of one of the biggest Baptist denominations in the areas that were hit by the tsunami and radiation. And we have agreed to open up our church building to host Christian refugees from those areas. While we are still waiting to hear from them about the details, we need to be ready to transform our church to a place where we can house as many as twenty people. Your generous donation will be exchanged to Japanese Yen immediately to provide bedding and food for those people who have lost everything. Currently the biggest issue is the lack of gasoline to transport those people to us. In case they are unable to escape to Tokyo, we will donate a large part of our funds to a group of trusted pastors and allow them to use it as they see fit to help those in the areas. Please keep praying that your generous giving and our effort to use them effectively would bring hope to this country.

Currently, we are advised to where a facial mask to avoid radiation when walking outside. Japan suspended operations to prevent a stricken nuclear plant from melting down Wednesday after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain at the facility. If the containment at the nuclear power plant damaged by the earthquake fails, a potential radiation plume from a full core meltdown could reach Tokyo by nightfall. In such a scenario, there is not much we can do to escape from it. But we will remain in the city as long as possible to provide stability and spiritual assurance to those in our community. We will leave the city when everyone in our community is able to leave with us. This will also require a large funding to pull off, so please be generous in giving so that if this happens (and we hope it doesn’t), we can evacuate the city before it is too late.

We also have two members of our church community who have been deployed to the affected sites. Mr. Harada, who is a faithful attender of our church, is being deployed to the nuclear site, and Mr. Hagiwara is being deployed to Miyagi. Please pray for their protection, but more importantly that God would use them to bring hope to others and that their own faith will be strengthened through their experience.

Furthermore, many prominent mission boards are pulling out their missionaries and pastors from Japan. We do not disagree with their decision to protect their missionaries, but we are also saddened by many confused Japanese Christians who are left behind without spiritual leadership and assurance at a time like this when they are most needed. Please pray that many Japanese pastors and leaders will be strengthened to lead Christians in this country during this time. Also, pray for non-Japanese missionaries who choose to stay with their members in Japan. Please pray that God will provide them with strength and wisdom needed to stabilize believers across the country and help them to become single-minded believers who endure various trials of faith so that they can demonstrate the love of God selflessly wherever they have been placed by God’s sovereignty.

You can use our PayPal widget which you can find on the left of this page or directly send your check to our mission board FIM and make sure you designate it to us on the check somewhere. Any non-regular gift we receive will be used to assist our effort to provide both physical and spiritual needs of those who have been affected by the disasters.

If you are unclear on how to donate or have further questions, please feel free to contact me via email (kazu@fimtokyo.com).

Kazu and Amy

Dear friends,

A tide of bodies washed up along Japan’s coastline Monday, overwhelming crematoriums, exhausting supplies of body bags and adding to the spiraling humanitarian, economic and nuclear crisis after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

Millions of people faced a fourth night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures along the northeast coast devastated by Friday’s disasters. Meanwhile, a third reactor at a nuclear power plant lost its cooling capacity and its fuel rods were fully exposed, raising fears of a meltdown. The stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.

On the coastline of Miyagi prefecture, which took the full force of the tsunami, a Japanese police official said 1,000 bodies were found scattered across the coastline. Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, reported that 2,000 bodies washed up on two shorelines in Miyagi.

I am extremely excited to see so many of you who are eager to help out those people who have lost their family members and most of their earthly possessions due to the earthquake and tsunami. As we have been placed in the center of Tokyo by God’s sovereignty, we are also eager to be used by God to bring healing and hope, both physically and spiritually to the people in Japan.

It goes without saying our goal would be to respond to the current crisis in a Christ-like manner so that we can help our fellow humankind and ultimately allow them to see God and His truth through the way we extend our compassion. As many churches and Christians have different expectations of what that should look like, I have decided to inform you what we are capable and incapable of doing during these difficult times. Not everyone may agree with the approach that we are planning on taking, but I will say we are making important decisions urgently based on reliable facts and wisdom so that our limited time and financial resources, not to mention your sacrificial giving, will not be wasted. We would like you to trust our discernment and our assessment of the current situation based on the fact that we actually live here and have firsthand knowledge of what people are experiencing in our area.

So, before I explain our plan of action, I need to share what we are incapable of doing. This may disappoint some of you, but we cannot get closer to where people are being deprived of food and water at this time. This has nothing to do with our desire, but to do with the decision of the government. Currently more than 50,000 Japan Self-Defense Force soldiers have been deployed and many doctors and nurses, international rescue teams, the US military have also joined their effort to bring relief. Moreover, we have been informed that due to the extent of devastation and the potential secondary dangers from large scale aftershocks and instable building structures, civilians are told not to help without the approval of the authority. We want to rescue people but not end up being rescued ourselves.

Furthermore, since Tokyo is somewhat distant from the actual center of the damage, even if we were permitted to go up there, it would be unwise for us to do so. First, if well intended people rush to the areas, we will create a greater food and water shortage for those who are already there. Secondly, we will use up limited gas and other natural resources the workers need to complete their jobs. Thirdly, we will contribute to further traffic/transportation chaos. And, fourthly, it would be an unwise way for us to use our limited funds that have been donated by generous people like you. Hypothetically, if a church provides $1,000 for us to use, and if we rent a van, and recruit four or five other volunteers to travel with us, that alone will cost about $800 and the actual money we can spend on people would be unjustifiable.

So, here are some of the things that we are planning on doing to make a difference.

First of all, we are getting in touch with pastors and churches around Miyagi area where the disaster struck the hardest and see if we can help out the Christians there by providing food, water, and clothing. Paul said to the Galatians that, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10). While it is still difficult to get in touch with those people in those affected areas due to lack of electricity and cell towers, we are utilizing Facebook and other means to get in touch with them. The majority of the support which we will receive will be used to provide them with these necessities. Our plan is to send boxes of water and dry food as soon as possible, but if it cannot be done (due to delivery companies not providing services to those areas) we will have to arrange a mutual meeting point to hand them directly into their hands. However, based on the condition of the roads, our plan-B might not even work. In that case, you can count on us to be creative somehow and help people before it is too late. We would like to spend a few thousand dollars to provide drinking water to those people so that through the demonstration of Christian love and their generosity, they would also be able to share the message of the living water which Christ provides.

Next, and more locally, we are providing physical and spiritual relief to those people in Tokyo who have been affected by the tragedy in one way or another. We have sent a letter to everyone who is on our church devotional subscription list, offering prayers and physical assistance to those who are in need or know others in need. So far we have received a few messages from people who have missing friends and family members. Your generous support will allow us to meet their needs as we can mobilize more people to be with them and comfort them.

We are also going to invest a limited amount of funds to upgrade our technological equipment to increase the quality of tools and resources we want to distribute through our media ministry. We believe that there are many people, both Christians and non-Christians, who are plagued with spiritual questions and concerns due to these events. The best way to provide hope to these people is to give comfort and answers from the Bible. And the best way to accomplish this is not to stand on the street corners, shouting our lungs out, but using social media and other means to spread them as widely as possible. We also want to present them in a professional way so that more people would be inclined to share them with others who are troubled.

While we are serious about meeting the physical needs of those in the affected areas now, we are also aware that we need to start focusing on long term issues as well. Many Japanese Christians are realizing the fragility of human life and how their wealth which they accumulated and rely on for security can be taken away in a moment. We need to continue to disciple and encourage these people so that they can be strong in their faith, in which will directly result in them sharing the Gospel with conviction. I believe many people are very interested in Japanese people right now because of the media attention it is getting, but as things are eventually going to be restored, many will stop thinking about them, just as many of us do not think and pray for all the southeastern Asian countries that were hit by tsunamis that took over 250,000 lives about seven years ago. If you truly care about the Japanese people and their spiritual needs, I highly encourage you to become our regular giver, as we are committed to spread the hope of Christ through continually loving them not only with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth (cf. 1John 3:18 ).

At the end, if you would like to contribute to make a difference in Japan through us and our ministry, I encourage you to do it with confidence that every donation that is sent to us will be used to assist people with both physical and spiritual needs. We will always strive to be both socially conscious and biblically driven. We are committed to be faithful and wise stewards of God’s resources and we desire to use all of them to bring people to understand, believe, and to enjoy Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you feel uncomfortable with our strategy to respond to the needs of people in Japan, please consider giving to any other relief efforts that are known to be trustworthy. However, if you feel like donating to our ministry can bring realistic benefits to the people in Japan both physically and spiritually, and short term and long term, please give generously so that we can have more freedom to serve and love people in need generously. Every donation you entrust us with will be used directly to help Bible believing Christians and churches in the affected area or be used to strengthen the effectiveness of the spiritual relief that we will continue to provide for the coming years. Please pray that though our effort, those believers who receive our resources will be encouraged and use them wisely to share the Gospel to those who are in need.

“And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matt 10:42

” Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17

Citizens of Tokyo evacuate the city on train tracks, after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011

Hello,

Many people have been concerned and praying for our family and safety so I would like to give you a brief update on what is going on with us in Tokyo. Firstly, my mother passed away on March 4th and we had a funeral service for her on the 6th. I was able to present the Gospel message to those who attended it. God is using her death to cause many people to think about their own faith and their standing before God, for which we are grateful. I would like to elaborate on this more on our next major update but I want to thank everyone who encouraged us and prayed for us at one point or another.

Secondly, and more urgently, as many of you know, we have been hit by one of the largest recorded earthquakes in the world. The magnitude for the devastating quake was revised upward the same day from 8.8 to 9.0 according to the Japan Meteorological Agency . When the first earthquake hit us, Amy and I were both in our home. It began as a light tremor, something that one becomes oddly accustomed to when living in Japan. But then the deceptively gentle tremor kept going… and going… and going. Until the entire house shook violently and things started to fall off the shelves like it was a scene from an old Poltergeist movie. The quake lasted a very, very long time. Not unlike an animal’s howl, the quake went from a deep rumble and gradually built up to a thunderous and sustained wave of rhythmic, humming and physical chaos. It lasted about five minutes by my guess. And if you’ve ever experienced an earthquake, you know that five minutes is an eternity compared to the run-of-the-mill quake. It was scary. Currently, I am very glad that the earthquake happened after my mother passing away, for otherwise, it could have killed her instead.

While we only had to pick up broken items off the floor and endure one day without heat, the rest of Japan was not as fortunate as we were, as you can read it here.

Furthermore, as we are trying to cope with the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami, a nuclear power plant was crippled, forcing thousands to be scanned for radiation exposure. 140,000 people have been evacuated already but it is not looking any good as another reactor at Fukushima nuke plant (150 miles North of Tokyo) lost cooling functions today.

We will try whatever we can to bring the hope of the Gospel to these devastated people who have both physical and spiritual needs. You can also be involved by donating generously to some of the trusted relief efforts.

Dear friends,

We have an urgent request as the end of this calendar year is approaching. This is the time we need to really ask you to consider partnering with us financially so that we can fulfill the Great Commission together in the least evangelized and un-churched city in the world.

The 38 days I (Kazu) spent in Tokyo this summer encouraged me in the ministry God has given us.  In Tokyo, I had many opportunities to make positive changes at the church where we will be starting our ministry. I spent most of my time there preaching, sharing the Gospel, networking with other workers, counseling, planning, and praying. I individually met with struggling church members to encourage them, and rebuked some who were causing issues within the church. I carefully, yet openly, challenged the currently practiced culture of our church, providing them with new values from God’s Word and casting a new vision of what we could become by God’s grace.

After returning to the States, I have received many e-mails of encouragement from our church people in Tokyo, including news of people being reconciled to one another, people reading the Bible more consistently, and people repenting from their personal sins. We could not be happier than this — being used by God in a full-time capacity to reach and train fellow believers living in Tokyo, for these are the results of God’s grace at work

However, not all news is encouraging.   For the past 6 weeks or so since I (Kazu) returned from Japan, we have been traveling extensively, covering six different states (NY, NJ, PA, OH, IN, MI), raising our support.  Yet many churches are unable to support us since they are struggling to fulfill their commitment to their current missionaries.  We also had two major contributing churches drop our support due to a lack of resources.

Can you be a part of God’s work in Tokyo through us?

Our target date is still November 12, 2009, as my current visa expires two days later. Yet, due to our setback, we still need $3,940 in additional monthly commitments.  That sounds like a big amount, and it is a big amount if you ask one person or few churches to provide it.  We cannot foresee the five churches we will be visiting over the next two months will be able to commit $750 each.  But we are looking for 158 people who can give $25 per month (fewer people if some can give more generously). Your monthly commitment of $25 will get us to Japan before Thanksgiving Day so that we can effectively reach the lost in Tokyo with the Gospel of Christ and train the believers unto spiritual maturity and leadership. You can confidently partner with us because many of you have witnessed our faith, life, and ability while we were with you.

Mark Twain once wrote: “Simple rules for saving money. To save half: When you are fired by an eager impulse to contribute to a charity, wait, and count to forty. To save three-quarters, count sixty. To save it all, count sixty-five.” However, I dare you to count three hundred and consider the importance of a lost soul turning to Christ by faith from God’s perspective. Just imagine how God can use your openhanded giving and allow you to effectively share the Gospel to the lost and train the younger generation to become future leaders in Tokyo through us. Allow God to let you glimpse that the spiritual compensations are so real and lasting that you come to see that giving up for His cause is inevitably receiving.

Please share the many blessings you are enjoying as God continues to bless you beyond your needs. Help us get to Japan for the work of the Gospel by making a monthly commitment today. We need enough pledges, not the actual money, before the end of October in order for us to leave on time.

To support us, all you need is:

• A voided blank check (for a checking account) or a deposit slip (for a savings account)
• An envelope and a first-class stamp (44 cents)
• A completed Authorization Agreement Form
• An email indicating that you are capable and willing to support us regularly for our organization’s record (VERY IMPORTANT),

Thank you so much for being willing to help us. Your support will allow us to effectively serve and build up the body of Christ in Japan. Please don’t hesitate to ask us questions.

Please accept our sincere thanks,

Kazu and Amy Kato

P.S.  If $25 is too much for you to pledge at this time, would you consider pledging $10 or $15 instead?

We just added a link to our new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to the left side bar so you can find out answers to questions you most likely have. Are you interested finding out how much support we need to raise or how it is being spent? Do you want to learn about our sending church or why we chose Fellowship International Mission as our mission board? Visit our new page and find out today! Feel free to ask us other questions if they are not listed there by sending us an e-mail. Thanks for your continuous support.

Kazu & Amy