Dear friends and supporters of Pastor John, My apologies as this news sneaks up on you, previously unannounced. Yesterday marked the first day of JEMS' virtual mission to Paraguay! We will be serving two churches in the cities of Asunción and Pedro Juan Caballero. (Below): Our first meeting with the youth and leaders today!!
Planning meetings have been held over this past month with the result that we kicked off our first meeting with the youth on Saturday, August 1st. Pastor Ichibei Honda, from the San Diego Japanese Christian Church, along with his wife, Yunike and two of their children, will be ministering for the entire month of August! They will bring Bible studies for adults and youth for five weekends.
Background: Remarkably, the Nikkei population in Paraguay remains about 92% fluent in Japanese. This is due in part to daily Japanese schools (Monday to Saturday) in subjects ranging from math, science, history, geography (all in Japanese) for children up through high school. Yeah, Japanese school isn't just about learning Japanese.
In addition to schooling, there is the relative isolation of the Japanese farming colonies, together with their relatively close ties with Japan through programs like JICA.
Because of this interesting linguistic quirk, Pastor Honda (who is fluent in Japanese) will be able to minister virtually to that community via Zoom. Please pray for the project which began today: Here is a screenshot of the first test meeting yesterday of the senior adults in Paraguay, many of whom were using Zoom for the very first time.
And our first worship service on Sunday morning, August 2.
Thank you for opening the door, Lord Jesus! A quick "Lord, please bless the Hondas today," would be appreciated!
Pastor John
