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The purpose of our lifetime ministry in Japan is to encourage both the vision for church planting and the development of evangelical theology which gives rise to that vision.
Tokyo JAPAN

Church Planting at Tomioka City

In September, after returning from our summer home assignment, Ann resumed teaching the ladies outreach English classes at Tomioka. This is the second year of her classes. Thanks to a summer literature distribution team from Kodama church and two other nearby churches, Ann’s classes have five new ladies. The monthly home Bible study we help to lead in Tomioka also saw one new person begin to attend as a result of the literature distribution team. We are thankful for this healthy kind of partnership with local EFC churches. Several of the new ladies in Ann’s classes have either attended a Christian nursery school when they were children or their own children are attending the nearby school, so have heard Bible stories before. We are thankful for the foundation this other church has laid in their lives even though it has no apparent interest in evangelism.

Prayer Items

* Give thanks for the good supporting church visits we experienced during our home assignment in western Canada this past summer.

* Thank God for the five new ladies in Ann’s English classes at Tomioka. Pray for God the Spirit to draw all the ladies in Ann’s classes toward salvation in Jesus, especially during the 15 minute gospel centered Bible time at the end of each lesson.

* We are grateful to have one newcomer at the home Bible study in Tomioka. Please pray that we will see more people come to our study and that some of Ann’s English class students might also attend.

* Praise God for Bryan’s testimony and baptism. Pray for his (and Matthew’s and Kristy’s) continued growth toward maturity in Christ.

* Pray that our financial support posture will improve. We are experiencing about a CAD$11,000 (USD$10,000) drop in our year to date supporter income level compared to last year at this time. More information is on our website. We need to make up this deficit by December. (Click here for information on how to give.)

Bryan is Baptized (click here for Quicktime movie)

On Sep. 10, 2006, Bryan gave his testimony of salvation at the Kodama EFC and then was baptized by his Dad in a nearby river. It was the last really hot day of the year, but the scenery was beautiful. We arranged the baptism to be part of the life of the Kodama church, with the hope of encouraging other young people to also be baptized. Kodama church is the mother church of our church planting project at Tomioka City.

Thanks for Praying for our Family!

Thank you for praying for Kristy. In our last letter we asked prayer for three things Kristy needed after her graduation from university: a job, a car and a church home. (She had already found a basement suite.) We are happy to report that God has supplied all three! During our summer we helped her purchase a car (brother Matthew’s choice), she is working as a front desk clerk at a hotel for a year or so, and she is enjoying regular fellowship at a friendly nearby Evangelical Free Church. Even though life as an independent adult has proven to be a more difficult transition for her than adjustment to life as a student in a Christian university dormitory, God has once again proved his faithfulness to her and therefore to us.

Kids Korner

Snow in August? While on one of our home assignment trips in Canada this past summer we drove back to Vancouver from Alberta. On the way we camped in the Canadian Rockies for a few days. When we stopped at the Columbia Ice Fields we encountered snow, very similar to the wet snow we sometimes get in Tokyo in February! That evening Bryan was confused as he was trying to identify a bird in his reference book. When it snows in August, do you look for winter or summer plummage? Hmmm…

Dale and Ann Little