Nakahara News  Nakahara Mission Fund — April, 2010 

P. O. Box 54842   Lexington, KY  40555 

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

As Paul says, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you…”, we are so thankful to all of you for remembering us  in prayer and partnering with us in our work here in Shizuoka, Japan.

 We are enjoying a beautiful spring with beautiful flowers blossoming after the long winter. As many of you know, April is a start of a new school year in Japan.  Kazuma, our oldest, passed his entrance examination and was accepted to the high school of his choice in March.  We are so thankful for his diligent work that he put toward this exam for the past 12 months, and how God blessed him with this great news.  What he shared with us after the exam was such a blessing.  After finishing his exam, he was praying and asked God to show him any questions that he may not have answered correctly, and God immediately answered his prayer by leading his eyes to the problem that he originally had answered wrong.  Kazuma said that was such a “strange experience” but knew and believed that God intervened!   When I asked him “What if you don’t get into this school?”  Kazuma replied, “I believe I did my best and that is what God asked of me.  That means if I don’t’ get in, then it is not where God wants me to go.”  (He also was accepted to a back-up school earlier in March).  When I heard his answer, I realized that Kazuma didn’t pray for God to show him any wrong answers because he wanted to get into that school, but he was simply asking for His will.  Tomoko and I are grateful that God is working in Kazuma’s spiritual life. and he is growing in the Lord with excitement.  We know that you have been praying for him, and we thank you for that! Our prayer is for “children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe” (Phil.2:5). 

As for our younger son, Lynn, he just started 7th grade, which is a junior high school.  It will be a while before he gets used to the demanding school work in junior high, but we continue to pray that our sons will grow to honor and love the Lord in all they say and do.  

Now, I would like to update you on the land issue.  As was mentioned in the last newsletter, the owner of the house adjacent to the church moved to a retirement home, and the house is vacant now.  However, he is not able to make any decisions.  We found out who the power of attorney is, but according the law in Japan, we are not allowed to contact that person.  The power of attorney is only there for the interest of the owner, and only if he sees fit to sell the property, he will make any necessary contacts.  As for our congregation, they are interested in acquiring this property, but a very few members are still not fully supportive of this divine venture.  We need to continue to pray for God’s timing and His leading, and that God will give courage to those who are afraid to step out on faith. One member who had been reluctant about this project sent me the following e-mail:  “As I was reading about Abraham and Sarah in Genesis this morning in my quiet time, I came to the passage where Sarah laughed when she was told that she would bear a son.  God showed me that I was that Sarah. When I first heard about this land project, I laughed to myself thinking, ‘how in the world a church this small could tackle such huge financial burden?’  But I was not relying on God.  I am now able to truly pray and ask God to help us to face this each step of the way.  I believe that He is able to lead, change the impossible situations, and even change the hearts of the people, if it is His will!  Nothing is impossible for our God!” 

You can’t imagine how encouraging this e-mail was.  Please continue to pray that we, as congregation will come to unite in our prayers and trust God in this journey.  

May you experience Lord’s blessings in a mighty way!  

With thankfulness,     Michiya & Tomoko Nakahara

April 2010 “Goin’ Fishing” Report by Paul Kitzmiller 

Crystal Hardin,  Dear folks,  Thought I’d share with you a little story from last week at our international school here in ——-.  Our faculty and Student Council leaders had to go to a government presentation on fire safety.  We were taught how to use fire extinguishers, how to treat different kinds of fires, and the safest ways to escape.  The presentation was complete with videos of people jumping from the 8th floor and landing in piles of bodies, a pile of over 200 people dead from smoke inhalation, and a charred corpse or two.  Some of them I couldn’t look at.