Gary and Naoko in Japan

A huge hello to all of my supporters, my friends and family! Time for another monthly update! I hope all is well with you. It is now finally becoming warmer here which is nice! Though it snowed a few days ago which was weird. Also been a lot more earthquakes lately! But nothing big. Anyway... here's a summary of things of note from February: Cornerstone Things at Cornerstone Church have been going well this month! Larger numbers of people have been joining us at the Saturday, Monday and Wednesday meetings which has been really encouraging! Some of the regular people are taking more of an active role within the church meetings and becoming more vocal with what's on their hearts. It has also shifted from being half English, half Japanese speaking people, to a majority Japanese speakers which is awesome! And great practice for my Japanese! Internet & Communication Again I have been working on the Internet projects this past month and making good progress. I better integr...

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 ...

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