Japan Day 9 - Sendai

Praise the Lord!

Hello, I’m Grace and I am so thankful that we can share yet another wonderful day with you all. Thank you, especially for walking alongside the team in prayer and support as we have been traveling and visiting churches and missionaries all over Japan.

Today we traveled from Tokyo to Sendai by Shinkansen and met Kent Muehlings. It has been very rainy during the past week, yet God blessed us with beautiful weather and we were able to enjoy a short hike up a mountain to get a city view! During the walk, Kent shared about his ministry and history with Japan and also explained the significance of the area we were visiting. There was a shrine and temple which we didn’t get the chance to see, a layout of a castle that used to stand there, and a statue of Date Masamune (the founder of Sendai).

Kent also shared a couple of statistics about Sendai which surprised me. The population mainly consists of younger people, many of whom are college students and young adults. The reality is that almost none of them know Christ and the need for more workers in college ministry is great. The Lord really used that time, setting, and history to move my heart and open my eyes to His love and desire to be closer to His people. We ended that time with prayer while looking over the city and headed back down to have lunch with some church members and Kent’s family.

After lunch, we were able to hear from Yuko (Kent’s wife) and Clifford (an elder from his church). My main takeaways from that conversation were somewhat challenging and heavy to think about, but so good in reminding me that God is the one who moves and we are his instruments. I learned that it is very difficult to form trust and relationships with the Japanese people which makes ministry very slow at times. Some people come to faith after years of coming to church, while others come to faith after almost an entire lifetime. Learning to be patient and loving in the Lord was my struggle and challenge today, and I am so thankful that God’s timing is perfect in all that He does.

The evening consisted of a team debrief and good conversations with the team regarding how we were doing and just catching up on a deeper level. I really enjoyed and appreciated that time to process a bit and talk with the team!

I was so blessed and thankful for today, and I am so thankful for everyone reading this and praying for us!

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Grace