Below is a letter from Ronald Ho on behalf of our missions team to Japan. You can learn more about our partnership with Ibaraki Bible Church in Japan by watching the video here. You can also see videos of our teams trip this summer by clicking here and here.

Dear Tapestry

From sermon writing, lending books, fundraising support, engaging the congregation, puppets, newsletter plugs, announcements, and most importantly prayer, thank you for all the support! We truly could not have done it without your help.

We were able to work with ~20 kids each day, ages kindergarten to grade 5/6. What was really touching was that a lot of the kids enjoyed the bible station, so I thank the spirit in helping us with that activity and being able to speak to the kids!

On the second Sunday we had the opportunity to engage with the parents of the VBS kids as well, inviting them back for a ‘family time celebration’ allowing the parents to come to church. Some of the parents are not Christian and may have never stepped foot into the church before, so it’s really great to be able to connect with the broader community there. Wesley re-met with one of the boys from last time in 2019 (during VBS too). In the first photo you can see Wesley with the boy.

We also managed to squeeze in some time to meet with some other groups such as High School, College, and early career adults. We had a potluck with some of the older english students as well.

Finally we were able to host a short service, Becca and Lucas played piano and guitar, and I was able to give a short sermon about “Waiting on God”.

I can’t believe we did all that in one week!

One quote that stuck with me this time that Pastor Surya mentioned (which he paraphrased from Pastor Michito) was that Christianity in Japan isn’t like hunting, where you go out, aim, and get instant results. But rather it is more like planting rice: a very long, methodical process that takes many seasons to come to fruition. Some Christians who chose to later commit their lives to God had their first exposure to God as a kid in a summer camp, so the vision for the VBS ministry is that we are able to connect with the kids and provide a lasting impact later on.

We hope to be back next year to continue the work in the rice fields. Ibaraki Bible Church seems receptive to engaging in this ministry again as well!

Feel free to reach out if you’d like any more details!

Faithfully,

Ron