Gary and Naoko in Japan

Here are a few reasons why the Japanese people desperately need to know God's amazing love for them and why Japan needs more missionaries: The population is over 127 million, but less than 1% know Jesus . The main religion is a mix of Shinto & Buddhism. Out of 692 large cities, 86 only have 1 church, and 10 large cities have no church at all . There is approximately one church per 16,300 people in Japan. The average church attendance is around 35 people . Japan has fewer baptised Christians than some Muslim countries. Christians find it hard to find time to study the Bible and focus on God because of pressures from society to work hard, long hours with little rest. Many Christians tend not to share their faith with friends due to a cultural pressure of not wanting to offend. New Christians can face the risk of being disowned by family due to the pressure of ancestor worship, a tradition that has been passed down through many generations. Though Japan is materially well ...

What a week! After many months of praying about the future and waiting to hear back after applying to serve with Youth With A Mission in Tokyo, I finally heard back. Last Thursday I was informed that YWAM would like me to join them! Praise God!! I also received my results from university on Saturday. They would like to award me with a 2:1 degree in computer studies! Now I must wait until July to be able to wear a flat hat and cape. Awesome. I will feel special indeed. Okay, so the plan is to join YWAM Tokyo in September where I will focus on Japanese language and culture training as well as spending time reaching out to young people in order to make Christ known. I’ll be involved in the setting up and running of various events such as worship nights, a coffee shop, English lessons, art lessons, music and dance lessons and Bible studies, as well as meeting Japanese students and building links between them and the church. I will also have an opportunity to use skills I ...

These countries are among the least reached nations in the world. When I say least reached, I mean that the majority of their populations do not know God and Jesus Christ who loves us and died for our evils. I have found the least reached countries that have the largest populations, so these are the countries with the most people who have never heard of Christ's love. Christ died for us all. He loves every person in the world equally. He is not a "Western" God. His love, peace and hope should be known by everyone. So many people haven't even had a chance at knowing this! Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations. Please pray that God will call and send his followers to these countries to share the good news in a bold and loving way! Ask God to reveal his love for these people to you too. India: 90.5% of 1,161,869,000 unreached. Mainly Hindu Pakistan: 99.1% of 177,218,000 unreached. Mainly Islam Bangladesh: 98.4% of 153,281,000 unreached. Mainly Islam Japan:...

These are the least developed countries in the world. There are many many more, but I just wanted to focus on the ten worst. This is taking into consideration life expectancy, education and standard of living of the people living in these countries. The countries below have people living without the luxuries that we have become used to and take for granted. Even necessities like clean water and food are hard to come by. These people tend to die at a very young age. Generally, they cannot read or write. They live in unhealthy or even unsafe conditions. The majority of the poorest nations in the world are located in Africa. People tend to be happy with little, which is humbling because our nations are unhappy with everything. Please pray that these nations become safer places to live, especially for young children, that people will have food, water, shelter and most importantly: love. Also pray that God reveals himself in a massive way, especially in the Islamic countries. Niger: Mainl...

These are the countries where people are highly persecuted simply for believing in Jesus Christ. They are forced to worship God quietly, often alone without sharing their faith. If anyone found them out, the government would arrest them, beat them, torture them and even kill them, and their families. This is only a small list of many such countries, but these have been the worst in recent years, particularly North Korea which has been most harsh on any religion year on year. Please pray that followers of Christ in these countries will stay strong and that the church does carry on to miraculously grow, even under this pressure. North Korea: Atheist state Iran: Islamic state Saudi Arabia: Islamic state Somalia: Islamic state Maldives: Islamic state Afghanistan: Islamic state Yemen: Islamic state Mauritania: Islamic state Laos: Buddhist state Uzbekistan: Islamic state Based on the 2010 Open Doors Report

Wow, it is already the end of 2009. Which means it is 2010! (Almost!) That's a whole 10 years since the millennium! Oh how time escapes us like the very breath that we breathe. As I just turned to the exciting landmark age of 24 Earth years, I will act my age and reminisce of times gone by. Well, 2009 anyway. My memory is a bit hazy before then! So much has happened!!! The year began with me in Reading for the second half of a year working as a computer fixerer at Clearswift (with the help of trusty Google searches). Being in Reading was a great time of making friends with some really cool people. I stumbled to a small church called Argyle Church at the end of my street and was met with so much love and hospitality that I just had to keep on going! Everyone was fantastic and I learnt more about God by just spending time with people. Their encouragement meant a lot to me during that year. I also worked with some really great people at Clearswift which made working there a complet...

I am around halfway through my time in Japan! Just three weeks to go! Time is going so quickly!! Sorry I haven't been updating you as much as I'd like! I guess it's a good thing that I have been busy though as that's why I am here! So what have I been up to over the past week? I guess the biggest task that the missionaries here are doing at the moment is getting a new church building ready to be opened in November. They have transformed a really old, filthy place that was full of all sorts of rubbish and animals etc as well as black walls (black with dirt), into a nice little church with kitchen area, as well as a house next door (which needs a lot of work) and an area for car parking. The past few weeks I have been helping with cutting grass and tidying up the car parking area in order to lay it all with gravel so cars can actually use it! I think it's pretty much ready for that now! I have also been cutting and moving large amounts (seriously LARGE AMOUNTS) of ...