Starting off 2022
Hello friends and family. Much of the country of Japan has been drawn back into a “quasi-state of emergency”, scheduled to end tomorrow as the number of Covid cases hit another peak at the beginning of this year. We still carry on, we trust God with His plan, and not what this world says. We trust that if we see injustice, He knows more, and His good purpose will prevail. If you need any encouragement in this like I (Becky), listen to this song. It helped me as I was trying to write to you all about our life here, and the Covid mess that we all muddle through! As the song says, "farther along we will understand, by and by".
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Last week I made a brief video to share about our mission to Japan with a Heritage Girls group from one of our supporting Churches, the Christian Church of Anchorage. In the video I shared the one percent statistic. In the country of Japan only one percent of people are Christian; that’s 1 out of every 100 people. As I sit in a cafe and write this update to you, there are less than one hundred people here, and I wonder if I am the only Christian among them. Please pray for us to be more spurred on by the message of the Gospel that the Japanese desperately need, than burdened with the cares of this world! If we are feeling oppressed from the state of the world, imagine what that burden must be for the soul who has no saving hope!
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Since mid-January, we have had many church and social gatherings altered. Travis and Tim Turner’s English Bible study was canceled for the month, but they will pick up again soon. Naomi and Maye have both had school events and school preparation events (respectively), altered or canceled. At Machida Church of Christ the kids’ classes were switched to online instead of in person. All through this upheaval, we can see around the globe, the clouds lifting and we are hopeful for this year that we can push this burden off and redouble our outreach and discipleship efforts!
Travis and Tim will again be teaching English at Izumi Junior College beginning in April. Since Travis began two years ago, his classes have been altered to accommodate for Covid restrictions, but the staff had planned for this next school year to go back to business as usual. We will see if they continue in this effort as case numbers are now higher again. They have begun to fall, and we are hopeful they will continue to do so. Please pray for connections that Travis and Tim can make with the students, and that they may be able to pick up student events at the church again as we were trying to host before the pandemic.
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Although social interactions have been strained these two months, we have had many family celebrations. February is the birthday month for us, with birthdays for Daniel, Travis and myself. We have made memories, and LOTS of birthday cards from our sweet daughters for all three celebrations. I have looked back humbly at how hard Daniels' first few days were, with his lung trouble landing him in the NICU for the first three days of his life. At that time I prayed that I would look back on those days as just a blip in his little life. That is just how those days seem to us now. Praise God, we have a healthy, happy, one year old to celebrate and enjoy each day. He has, not just the normal two teeth like his sisters, but no less than six teeth growing in at once! He is crawling, standing and walking along furniture, eating little by little at the table, and then after the meal any delicious crumb (or piece of lint, or pebble) he can find on the floor. Never cleaned the floor so much in my life!
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Naomi is just finishing her kindergarten program. We can’t believe how she grows bigger each day it seems. Several weeks ago she began swim classes, and she LOVES them. She is not afraid of the water, and in three lessons she has already made two new friends and moved up to the next class level with those friends from March.
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Maye and I (Becky) attended her school entrance informational meeting and she played while Mom attended the meeting. She was the most energetic and outgoing of any other event we have attended. These last few months she has also begun to speak Japanese little by little, so in God’s perfect timing, she seems to be ready for kindergarten!
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As we said in our last update, Lord willing, we will be visiting the U.S. this fall. We have begun to make a tentative itinerary and we look forward to seeing many of you! Please continue to pray with us as we plan, and fundraise for our trip. I approximate around $2,500 for each or us to fly around and visit various states. We already have $2,650 dollars of designated donations for our travel fund. We are always thankful for each of you, and your partnership in ministry with us here in Tokyo. Thank you for your faithful donations, extra gifts, prayers and encouragement that you send our way!
Blessings dear friends!
The Kilsons
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