Mid-June Newsletter
Summer Fun and Fundraising
It is the middle of June, and along with the summer heat comes Vacation Bible School! We had a great time being the resident missionaries at Calvary Baptist Church’s VBS. While teaching kids about missions, we also kicked off our fundraising efforts. We have a long way to go, but we are excited to be partnering with people to grow the kingdom. Lastly, we continue to prepare for Japan by learning Kanji.
Gifu Japan & Our Partners
Below is a picture of Nagara neighborhood. This is the neighborhood that we will be moving to and planting a church in. Nagara is part of Gifu City, a “smaller” city of only 400,000 people. We will be partnering with our friends Ethan and Michele Fisher. They have been there for 10 years and are starting to plant a church in Nagara.
Ethan is currently bi-vocational, teaching English and helping lead a small fellowship of believers and seekers. They are working to raise enough support for Ethan to quit his job next year and commit to full time ministry.
We hope to be able to join them by the end of this year or February 2025 at the latest. Once we have settled in, we will begin studying Japanese full time and gradually take on responsibility at the fellowship.
The fellowship (shown below) is still very small. There are two Christian families who attend regularly and about three seeking families that attend occasionally. I (Cody) will be a part of the teaching rotation along with Ethan and long time missionary, Don. As we learn the language, we will begin more and more community outreach and discipleship.
(NOTE: faces are blurred out of respect for others in the picture. We do not have a ‘security’ risk in Japan, but we do want to be mindful of what we post online.)
Calvary VBS
We had a great time at Calvary Baptist Church in Lubbock. We were the resident missionaries for their VBS and spoke about discerning between culture and religion on Sunday. Then, on Thursday, I talked about Christianity in Japan and our future ministry there. Below is a bit of my talk from Thursday night.
Japan is the second largest unreached people group in the world. Roughly 0.5% of Japan is evangelical Christian. Even with a population of about 125 million, they only have around 1,000 missionaries. The need is definitely great, but it is even greater in Gifu. The prefecture of Gifu is one of the most unchurched areas in Japan. We are excited to be part of what God is doing in Gifu City, joining those who are working hard to minister to the Japanese. We pray that the church would grow in Japan.
Fundraising & Kanji
Fundraising and, when we have time, learning some Japanese are now our main projects. Here is a quick update on how these projects are going.
Fundraising
This last week was the first week of fundraising! We have been meeting with individuals and couples who are interested in partnering with us. It has been a lot of fun getting to know these people better and to share about what we will be doing in Japan.
Our goal is to raise $10k of monthly support and also $50k for moving expenses. We truly believe that we are all working to build the kingdom together. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about our budget and partnerships.
Kanji
Kanji is the Japanese adaptation of the Chinese writing system. It consists of symbols that represent ideas and “readings”. The three Kanji above are read “ni-hon-go” and mean “Japanese”. Because there are so many Kanji that exist, the Japanese government had to standardize a small set of them for general use and for teaching children. The latest government list, made in 2010, has almost 2,200 Kanji.
In order to read (one of the best ways to gain vocabulary and grammar) we need to know all 2,200 official Kanji. Luckily, we have a book called “Remembering the Kanji” that teaches how to write the Kanji and gives English keywords for the meaning of the Kanji. This is just a small step in becoming proficient in Japanese. (This last week, I made it to 500 Kanji using this system!)
Prayer Requests
Luke 11:9
”And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.”
As we continue fundraising, learning, and preparing to go, please continue to pray for our needs, missionaries in Japan, and the Japanese.
- That the Lord would provide financial partners
- For the Fisher family to be full time
- For people in Nagara neighborhood to seek eternal meaning