Praise the Lord! What a great month God gave us of reaching milestones and strengthening the relationships that He has allowed us to form!
Last month, we mentioned a couple we met in the Chuo Ward of Osaka when first applying for my driver’s license, whom we had offered to help the husband, who speaks very little Japanese, learn the course for his upcoming test. We did this by reserving time at the actual testing site on the 2nd of this month. I took him step by step and spent a few hours on the phone with him leading up to his test on the 18th to try to give him the best chance of passing on his first try. We praise the Lord that he passed his road test that day! During that joyful phone conversation, I asked him if anyone had ever shown him how to know that Heaven is his destination and if I could have the honor of explaining to him what is eternally more important than the Japanese driver’s test course. We are now planning a celebration at our home next month on the evening of the 18th, where I will be presenting the Gospel to both him and his Japanese wife. Please pray that this get-together will lead to an eternally greater celebration in Heaven! He told me that, while he was at the testing center, he shared my contact with a few others that were not able to pass, giving me a wonderful opportunity to show the love of Christ to others in the international community here in Japan. Please pray that this will lead to more opportunities like the one with this couple!
We rejoice that on the 14th, we hit a milestone of delivering Gospel literature by foot to 10,000 homes since coming to Japan. However, on that very day, I damaged my meniscus, causing a very painful locked knee. This injury put me in a cast and on crutches; but, thankfully, as the damage was not as bad as we had feared, I was able to be mobile again, with caution, after two weeks. My cello special that was originally scheduled that same Sunday was rescheduled to the 14th of November, which is the same day that the couple from the Chuo Ward is scheduled to come over for dinner. Thankfully, the couple from the Kita Ward, whom we have been working with since we arrived in Japan and who was planning to visit our church on the original day of my cello special, has still promised to come as our visitors for our rescheduled day. Lord willing, November 14 is going to be a special day, where a couple will be witnessed to and another couple we have been working with for nearly a year will now visit our church for the first time. Pease pray that God will remove all of the possible hindrances and that He would prepare their hearts for the Gospel even now!
On the 24th, I was given the privilege to share my testimony and give a brief challenge to the teen Sunday school class and then lead a game at a special teen picnic with my wife afterwards. This was a wonderful time of connecting and fellowshipping with the teens! Starting next month, we will be entering a new phase of our ministry, where we will be regularly surveying unreached areas in Japan as we prayerfully seek the Lord’s guidance on where to plant our first church. There are three areas in particular for which we feel a great burden, and we have scheduled to survey two of those three areas next month. Please pray with us for the Lord’s leading in this very important decision, and look forward to our possible locations to be revealed in the next praise report!
Danielle’s Journey
This month I began taking lessons with Go’s mom to improve my casual Japanese conversational skills, as well as to begin learning Kanji. I took a short break from Berlitz during the month of September but resumed again at the beginning of this month. Praise the Lord, I was able to pick up right where I left off and begin my new textbook. This textbook is a bit more intimidating, though, since it is written in only Japanese characters, with no English alphabet phonetic guidance. This month, the youth department held a picnic that I had the privilege of attending with my husband. Thanks to your prayers, I was able to speak with the teens comfortably using the Japanese that I have acquired thus far. I would greatly appreciate your prayers, as I will be taking the test for my Japanese driver’s license on November 17. Thank you so much for your continued prayers!
Your friends and co-laborers to Japan,
Go and Danielle Oishi
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- Group photo at the teen picnic
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- Danielle preparing to play the piano for the Ladies’ Meeting
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- Driving instructor with a fitting name
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- Danielle, the master of marshmallows
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- Solo violinist during Go’s injury
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- Leading a game at the teen picnic
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- Ouch!
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- Danielle conversing with the teens at the teen picnic
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- Fall is upon us!
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- Danielle’s lesson with Mrs. Oishi
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- Needing extra seats for the church
