GospelRest

Pray for our neighborhood

As you can see from the picture we live in a hilly area which provides a great deal of exercise climbing up and down the hills on our way to the bus and the stores and as we walk through the neighborhood and parks. But as I look out over the houses I am reminded of Jesus as He looked out over Jersusalem in

Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”

Japan is known as a country with hard spiritual soil but God can and does touch hearts with he power of the Gospel. Please join us in praying for the people in our neighborhood.

Since moving to Machida in September of 2006, we have been busy getting to know the new neighborhood and making new friends. We are working hard at putting down new roots in the rich soil of this new neighborhood. This is true both figuratively and factually. We have a small front yard that needed a lot of tender loving care. We had sod put down and the trees cut back. We had total strangers come up to us to thank us for the work on the yard and how much they appreciated it.

Elaine started a cooking class, a needlepoint class and a Bible study. The beginning classes were quite discouraging as the cooking class had one lady and her 2 year old son, the needlepoint class had one lady and the Bible study on marriage had two Christian ladies (one of them is single). But God took my very small beginnings and has grown them. There are now 2 cooking classes: Monday has 8-10 ladies, Thursday has 5-6 plus one little boy, the needlepoint class had 2 ladies, the Bible study has 3 with one non-Christian. There are also two craft classes. One is for the area churches to send people to learn the craft so they can go back to their church and teach it to others as an outreach. The other craft class if for the neighborhood ladies. All of these activities are with women so we have planned BBQ parties during the summer to get to know the husbands as well. Join us in praying that whole families will be added to the Kingdom of God.

John, Although he is exceedingly busy, is getting to know some of the men in the area. He takes shogi lessons, Japanese chess, from a man whose wife comes to Elaine’s cooking class. Mr H. enjoys practicing his English and drinking root beer. Getting to know men in Japan can be very difficult as the men work extremely long hours.

Each summer the neighborhoods in Japan have neighborhood festivals. Our old neighborhood did not have them but our new one does. Often there is a spiritual aspect to these in which the shrine from the local temple is paraded through the streets on its way to the festival site. We avoided that part of the festival but decided to go to the evening activities of games for the children and lots of booths with food. We were so glad we did as it let us meet more of our neighbors and show them that we want to be a part of the neighborhood – not just live in the neighborhood.

Each afternoon in all of the neighborhoods across Japan a bell rings to tell the kids it is time to go home. The time varies depending on when it gets dark. In talking with a friend, I was challenged to take time each day when I hear the bell ( it is right next to our house) to pray for my neighborhood. As you can tell we are busy making relationships with our neighbors but relationships alone are not enough. We need to see God do a mighty work. For this to happen we need your prayers for us and for the dear people we are getting to know.

John and Elaine Mehn
BGC Japan Mission
JEMA Church Planting Institute