Go and Danielle Oishi Prayer Letter: We’ll Be Home Soon, Japan!

All glory to the King of kings! We had a wonderful month in Japan before safely arriving back to the United States on January 26 for our short document furlough. Though we are very anxious to return, we are excited to report what God did this month, both in Japan and here in the States.

We had a wonderful start to the new year with the privilege of taking one of the teenagers of the church out soul winning on January 6. His mother and sister come for the Saturday soul winning, but due to his school schedule, it has been years since he has been able to come out. I was able to get with him during his winter break, and we spent 2 hours in the snow, posting 318 tracts and making contacts along the way in our local area. We had great conversations about reaching the Japanese people, and he is already excited about the next time we are able to go out together. It is always encouraging to see young people excited for the Lord, especially in a land where less than 1% of the people know Him!

Before we left, many of the members of the Senri Newtown Baptist Church told us to tell all of our supporting churches “Thank you” for sending us to Japan. We are truly humbled to have been able to spend this year serving alongside and learning from these faithful people, and we are excited that we have the privilege of spending one more year with them to complete our training there. We flew out of Osaka to Tokyo on the 25th and then flew out of Japan on the 26th. Our last contact in Japan was with a homeless lady in Tokyo, an extremely rare sight in Japan. We were able to give her some food and talk to her about the Lord, which is almost unheard of in this land of very little mercy and compassion. Though she did not trust Christ that night, she seemed shocked by the love of Christ that we gave every effort to show. We trust that God will work in her heart. From there, God allowed me to sit next to a young Japanese man on the airplane, as well as meet a mother and daughter from Okinawa at the airport where we were making a flight connection. Praise the Lord for giving us Japanese contacts right up to our landing in the United States! Please pray for all of these Gospel seeds that were sown on our way here.

One of the greatest blessings that has increased my faith personally during our first year on the mission field is how God has given my wife the grace to adjust and learn the Japanese language so quickly. Once we return, she will continue to strive for her Japanese driver’s license and full language fluency. I am truly humbled by her dedication. We submitted all of our necessary paperwork at the earliest possible time on the morning of the 27th after our evening landing on the 26th. Please pray that this procedure will go quickly so that we can return to the field as soon as possible. After just two days of rest, we drove out to one of our supporting churches in Glendale, Arizona; we had not yet had the privilege of meeting the pastor or the church and thanking them personally. We went soul winning with their church on Saturday, the 29th, and God allowed us to bring a visitor named Kerry as a result on the evening service of the 30th! In that same evening service, another missionary family who was on deputation for Japan dropped by. No one knew that they were going to be there, but after sharing our burden for reaching the Japanese people, the church decided to add that family for support that night! Our hearts are still full of joy from the faith of this great church. We are thankful for all who have a part with us in His harvest! Thank you for your part in all that God allows us to do.

Danielle’s Journey

Language school continued after Japan’s winter holiday and has been going well since. A kind elderly lady approached me on my way out, and I was able to help her down the elevators and explain why I was in Japan, as well as invite her to church. In Japan, it is uncommon to have a total stranger speak to you, but God has blessed me with many opportunities where people do just that! While in line at the store by our apartment, an older man tapped me on the shoulder, thinking that he recognized me. Though I wasn’t who he thought I was, I was able to invite him to church as well! At the end of the month, we took our trip to America. Although it is so exciting to be here and see my family and friends, there are already so many things about Japan that I miss. As “Danielle’s Journey” records my experiences on the field, they will resume once we return. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Your friends and co-laborers to Japan,

Go and Danielle Oishi