[Seeds Of Grace] Seeds of Grace June 2008

[The WEC Japan field newsletter]

Please find June's edition of Seeds of Grace from us in WEC Japan at the
click of a button on this webpage:
http://www.wec-japan.org/files/Seeds%20of%20Grace%20June%202008.pdf

And below is a plain text version.

Yours
the WEC Media team.


---From the Editor---

Hello all! May has been a busy month, but an inspirational one!

We had challenging teaching at our missionary conference, the joy of 
welcoming a new missionary to the field, and the blessing of a 
short-term team from Singapore visiting our churches to help out. 
There’s very much a sense that God is doing new things here – we hope 
that He is doing new things for you as well!

Simon

---News and Prayer Points---

Kusatsu church had a special family service and ladies’ luncheon 
recently; please pray for the Gaubs as they follow up, and for their 
four children, especially Michi at his school and Simone who is 
recovering from a knee injury.

Julie Crowhurst will be returning to the UK for a few months to look 
after her father; Emma will go with her, and Hannah will join her when 
school finishes. Please pray for a good time with the family, and for 
Martin while they are away. I (Simon Cozens) am also returning to the UK 
for a few weeks next month.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Deborah this month; she has returned to 
Singapore. We will continue praying for her, and hope that you will too!

Peter Wilson asks us to pray for the preparation and publicity for 
International Fureai Camp on July 21st, and this is a good reminder to 
pray for all of our summer camps!

Thank you all for your prayers!

---The Long Way Around---
Our latest missionary, Carla Barros, first heard God’s calling to Japan 
eighteen years ago. We asked her to tell us about how her journey began...

  I come from a Catholic family. My mother didn’t like Christians 
because, she said, the priests preached that Protestants were false 
prophets.

I became a teacher at a primary school and asked the vice-principal, who 
was a Christian, about Jesus and about salvation. She explained to me 
about Jesus and His mission, and gave me some Bible verses.

I immediately read the verses; I liked them and decided to read all of 
the NT. While reading, the Holy Spirit showed me the truth about Jesus 
and His good news for me. I started to go to The Assembly of God Church, 
and at this time I received Jesus into my life. I was 18, but my parents 
didn’t know about my decision.

Two months after my conversion, my mother caught me in the Church. I 
almost died of fear! When I got home, she was already sleeping, so I 
could sleep peacefully, but when I woke up the next day she threw me out 
of the home, the family and her life. I took some personal things and 
went to the next city. Many people asked me about my faith and told me 
that my mother had been saying, “I don’t have a daughter called Carla”.

Six months later, my mother asked to see me. She opened the door and 
hugged me. I didn’t know but Jesus went before me and solved the 
situation between me and my family. Jesus is faithful! During that time 
Jesus also called me to serve Him in missions. Seven years later, my 
mother, grandmother and brother received Jesus as their Lord and 
Saviour. I believe that God will complete His work of salvation for all 
the rest of my family.

You can read the whole of Carla’s story on our website; please pray for 
her as she moves into her own flat and begins learning Japanese!