Refreshment and Opportunities

I was recently struck by Psalm 51:13 which, after pleas to God for a clean and upright spirit, and the restoration of the joy of God's salvation, 

David says "Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you."  What a beautiful encouragement from the Lord!  May we continue in this kind of spirit before the Lord.  

Home Stay

   We have been enjoying having a young lady named Teresa Schimpf stay in our home for a little over a week now. Caleb had become very close to her family while at Bible College in Iowa, and we were excited when she asked to come to support, love and care for us here on the field. She has been visiting the nearby college to help us make connections with students, cooking, cleaning, helping with the boys, and being a blessing in so many other ways.  We are looking forward to 3 more weeks with her.  Please pray that the Lord would use her time in Japan to build up His Church.

Natsuho

   Last week, when Teresa was visiting the college, she met a first year student named Natsuho.  Since Natsuho was very good at English, they were able to quickly built a good connection and made plans to get together again.  On Sunday, Natsuho came over to our home where we played games, Teresa helped her with some English homework, we ate dinner together, and then she proceeded to stay on for our evening worship time.  Natsuho was very involved and participated in the songs, Bible study, and even wanted to try praying to God that night for some requests we had shared with one another.  We all rejoiced at her openness toward things of God and are praising the Lord for how He has obviously been at work in her life!!  To say the least, it was a very exciting Sunday for both Teresa and our family!!!  Please pray for Natsuho's salvation to be soon!

Leadership Summit in the Philippines

   We just came back last night from the Philippines for our annual leadership conference.  We dropped the boys and Teresa off at Caleb's parent's home in Tokyo before heading off to the Philippines.  One highlight of this year's conference is that Rin, the young man who has been working closely with our family, will also be attending the conference.  We were able to see God's hand at work in his coming because he had some family and visa/passport problems that seemed to make it impossible, and yet all the details were worked out just in time. We were greatly blessed and strengthen by our time there, the teaching, the counsel, the fellowship, and the refreshment. Please pray for the Lord's remind us of what we learned and that Rin and our family will continue in courage and vision to reach Japan.  

Kumamoto Training

   You may remember one of the college students who we worked a lot with several years ago, named Hazuki.  After college, she moved back to her hometown in Kumamoto (part of the southernmost main island of Japan) and has been actively involved in her local church and reaching out in her community.  Through her, God has opened the way for Caleb to come down to lead a discipleship training for the members of her church.  Caleb will there from the 10th until the 13th, helping to encourage and train the believers.  Please Pray for God's Spirit to work and move in these trainings.  

Other people to pray for:

• Charlis - a young Mongolian man who has an openness to and interest in wanting to know more of Jesus and the Bible
• Rie - a mother of two young boys (the older of whom has autism) who is beginning to read the Bible and wants to know more of Jesus.  Pray that she would find daily strength in Christ and that she would see her son begin to improve by God's power in their lives.  
• Soga - one of the bus drivers at Enoch's preschool that Caleb has been getting to know and sharing the Gospel with

Thank you for joining us in prayer and encouragement to see Christ's name proclaimed across this nation,

The Ebys