Dear friends,

At the end of this month, we will have been here at the Nishi Okamoto Christ Church in Kobe 8 years. To remind you of the story, the church had been without a pastor since the Kobe earthquake in January 1995. Their pastor, Rev. Hata, was one of the more than 6,000 victims of the earthquake. They asked us to come to do ministry with them in April of 1999.

Of course in the first years much of our ministry was related to healing the wounds of the earthquake. Also building relationships and trust, after all it isn't easy to have a foreigner as a pastor. As I reflect on these years I think of many of those relationships, some short and some, now 8 years old. Some have led to baptisms, one to a call to ministry, others to an exchange of love. I have never hesitated to say that there have been miracles. I could tell of our Summer Bible Club, one year over 130 children attended. This in our church with 50 members. Or the Gospel concert where 115 attended. We squeezed in about 100 seats, and some of us squeezed in standing. Well perhaps some would say those are not miracles; but they are great stories. Then there are stories of faith.

A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Kazuko Kambe shared her testimony. She spoke of the church as her home. Her walk from the train station each week as she sings hymns to herself, or as she thinks on the lesson for the children. Then she arrives home, that is to the church.

Last time we told about Mrs. Omoda, and asked you to pray for her. Thank you for your prayers, at this time Mrs. Omoda is preparing for an Easter Baptism.

*Keep praying for the Jr.- Sr. high youth group. There will be four 6th graders joining the group when they graduate this month. There are some young people with deep hurts in their lives and need your prayers.
*Pray for Rev. Akira Takahashi, pastor of Nishi Okamoto Church. I resigned from the work at Nishi Okamoto Christ church (not as a missionary with International Ministries.)

The Lord has richly blessed us in this work. We came when they had no pastor, now they have a Japanese pastor. It has been a good experience of leadership, leadership development, partnership, and letting go as others take hold. We do plan to return to Japan after our year of assignment in the US, but we will tell more about that in newsletters to come.

*Pray for our family as we prepare for our return to the US this summer for our one year assignment. We will tell more about that in our next letter.

Thank you for your prayers and support. You are an important part of these stories.

Grace and Peace,

John and Tomoko Armagost
International Ministries, missionaries in Japan