Story from Japan

I'd like to share this with you all! It was posted by Christine Huber-- she and her husband Tim are the original missionaries there in Japan. I'll be working with them and another couple, Mark and Yuiko Blakely working at planting a young adult church. This is what's going on currently over there!
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Our church was packed out--people everywhere, in the chairs, on the floor, standing--to witness the testimonies and baptisms of two teen boys today. They both told their stories that impacted everyone. Many tears of joy were shed today!

One of Yusuke's comments: "2009 years ago, Jesus Christ died for me, and so now I want to work for Jesus! So I decided to consecrate myself to Him!" He is an example of a kind, smiling boy who attends to the needs of the little children, and he wants to be a servant of Jesus Christ.

Naoto doesn't know his real father, and his mother abandoned him as a young boy. But Jesus was with him and protected him, and provided people who have loved him through all his trials. He is excited about servng God!

We are soooo THANKFUL beyond words for how God is saving the youth of our church. ALL our youth were present for this special event!! (This took special effort from each one--Japanese youth are super BUSY students!!) We took tons of pictures and it was quite a celebration!

We are praying and believing that NONE of our youth will leave God's path! It's not so difficult for the younger children to come faithfully to Sunday school and spend time alone with God. But at the junior high and high school age, the schools require them to participate in sports or music or other clubs on Saturdays and Sundays. The teens become sooooo busy and tired, it is VERY hard for these young people to continue to put God first. It takes a miracle for them not to fall away. That's why it is such a JOY to everyone to see a teenager making such a difficult stand for Christ!

We thank God sooooo much for our dedicated youth staff who treat these kids as if they were their own. This takes a a super amount of dedication and sacrifice! (Japanese are known for giving their all and their best, and the Christians do this for God! We love working with these amazing Christians!!)

When Japanese youth get baptized, it takes a lot of courage and self-denial. Two other teens were baptized last August, and now today, two more! May God continue to bring revival to our youth, in Jesus' Name!!!