First big outreach

Two weeks ago we had some guests from Singapore, four ladies and two men from our colleague How Chuang's home church. They had come on what they called a 'vacation with a purpose'. After a holiday in Hokkaido, they came to Hiragishi to help us for a few days. We spent some time prayer walking in the area and delivering leaflets by a well-known Christian author. Since a few weeks before we had been giving out leaflets and invitation cards for a special event to friends and contacts, as well as having aroujnd 4000 distributed via the local newspaper. In many ways this has helped raise the profile of the church in the area and simply make the existence of our church known. As we meet in our house, there is of course no obvious church building. The special event was a Singapore Culture Day when people could hear something of Singapore and its different cultures, enjoy traditional songs and dances, and taste some local delicacies. One of the team shared a short testimony. We had been praying for 50 to come. We didn't actually have 50 guests but on the day, including the Singapore team and church folks, we had exactly 50 there, which turned out to be just right for numbers. Most of those there were people we have got to know, through school, English classes or just folks we have met locally. There were lots of encouragements. For many of those who came it was their first time to a church event. We don't know what seeds have been sown but trust that this has been a significant, if small, step forward in the life of Hiragishi Izumi Church.