Dear Friends,

"...Some seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than what was sown." Luke 8:8

Life continues to be full of activity here in Yokohama.  Just yesterday, a group of nine students from our Sigma Society, a Kanto Gakuin University student volunteer group, returned from a two-week mission trip to Akha villages in Thailand, and next week, the Fellowship student group heads out for a summer retreat in Osaka...

But in the midst of the bustle, God reminds us that seeds of Good News are never sown in vain.  A few months ago, I received a note from a Japanese young woman named Yasuyo.  The message was short--she wrote, "Davidson-sensei--do you remember me? I met you in America at Calvary Baptist Church.  I'm in Yokohama now and I'd like to come to the mission house and meet you again."

Frankly, I was lost.  Who was this person?  And which "Calvary Baptist Church" did I meet her at???  That's not exactly a rare name for a church!  (Have you ever had this kind of experience?)  But I sent her back a note giving her directions to our home and one week later, she arrived on our doorstep, Bible in hand.

It turns out that during a trip to the US in 2002, I had spoken at the church my parents attended in Ohio.  An exchange student at that time, Yasuyo had been invited by a friend who knew a missionary to Japan was giving a presentation that evening.  When she explained this to me, I finally remembered meeting her!  "Oh--you're THAT Yasuyo!"

After the presentation, we had spoken together for about 20 minutes.  She had told me that she didn't really understand the point of Christianity but that she was interested in learning more.  I remember having told her to read the Gospel of Matthew and to focus on Jesus's teachings in chapters 5-7--The Sermon on the Mount.  I think I said something like, "If you want to be a Christian, just decide in your heart to follow Him and let Him make you new."

In fact, she did--two weeks later, unbeknownst to me, she decided to become a Christian and was baptized.  My mother had given her her first Bible--a bilingual Japanese and English version--with an encouraging hand-written message on the front page.

Seven years later, over dinner at the mission house, she told us her story--she had returned to Japan, she'd become involved in a local church, then in college had become a leader of a Christian student group on her campus.  During her years in college, she'd decided to devote her life to teaching in a Christian school.  So after graduating, she made the decision to move to Yokohama even though all of her family lives over 400 miles away, to take a job at one of the strongest Christian schools in Japan--Meiji Gakuin--the Reformed Church's equivalent to our Baptist-related Kanto Gakuin.

"I just want to tell others about the joy I've found."

The Bible she held in her hands when she arrived at our doorstep in Yokohama was the first Bible she'd ever received--the one with my mother's note of encouragement to her written on the inside cover.  We pray that she'll continue to use it to be a blessing to many others during her life of service in Christ's name in Japan.

Continue to pray for us and for all our American Baptist missionaries and partners working to share the Good News around the world.  God is still changing lives and renewing people's hope and strength.  Sometimes we know how God is working; but sometimes we don't, until years later.

Maybe God wants you to join in the ministry too.  We may never know exactly which seeds we plant will blossom into fruitful trees, but we do know that seeds of Good News grow in good ground, and that God promises to provide a bountiful harvest!

God bless you as you continue to share the Gospel of Wholeness and Peace.

Dwight & Kari Davidson

ABC/USA Missionaries
Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama, Japan
MPT Website: www.davidsonjapan.org