Charnwood Road Baptist Church

Pete & Edi 2008

December 2008 

Hello everyone. Thank you for praying for us this last year.

1. Fabian, a short-term worker from Switzerland, will be coming to help with our Christmas tracting (3000 tracts), 8th to 11 th December. Please pray for good results from the tracting, with somebody new coming to the church.

2. We are having a Christmas meeting for children on Sunday 14th December. Please pray for all the children we have contact with in the Sunday school to be able to come, and for a blessed meeting.

3. Some people are going to a special Christmas meeting on 23rd December, a public holiday. This meeting is hosted by several churches in a public hall and will be a presentation of the gospel message through bunraku, the traditional Japanese form of puppetry. Please pray for them to be touched by the gospel message.

4. Our Christmas meeting, a candlelight service, is on Christmas Eve. Please pray for all to go smoothly, and for Pastor Okumura and his wife who are coming to speak and sing.

5. Mrs. Maeda, who attends our monthly seekers' Bible study, is very tired emotionally as she is thinking of cutting off contact with the Jehovah's Witnesses. At the same time she still feels partly attached to them. Please pray for her.

May you all have a very happy Christmas.
In the Lord,

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John

November 2008

Hello again. Thank you for praying for us.

1. Joanna enjoyed her trip to Hiroshima and “found Jesus in the middle of Hiroshima City” (a letter in the “Peace Park” from a Christian school in Australia, which she was able to translate for her friends).

2. Pastor Sugawara will come for the last time to the monthly seekers’ Bible Study on 11th November. Please pray for a good positive end to his ministry to these non-Christian ladies. On previous visits of his they have sometimes just wanted to talk about funerals and family affairs.

3. We are going to tsake part in an evangelistic “Autumn Leaves Camp” at the WEC campsite on 24th Nov. Joanna’s friend is coming.

4.  We have a dedication service for Mrs Endo’s baby, Miko, on 30th November. We’d really like Mr Endo to come. He’s never been to church before.

Thank you for continuing to remember us.

In the Lord,

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John Wilson

 October 2008

The hot summer weather has passed and we’re moving into autumn. Thank you for remembering us.

1. On Sunday 26th Pete will swap pulpits with Pastor Matsubaru from Ishiyama Church, about 45 minutes away on the far side of Otsu City. Please pray for their respective messages in Kaori and Ishiyama. One big aim of our pulpit swaps is to provide exposure for our church folk to Japanese pastors. Pray for good fellowship between him and our church folk.

2. On Tuesday 28th we will have a Waku Waku Kai, one of our outreach meetings for women. This time we are orgsnising a trip to the WEC headquarters and another house nearby, which is very similar to our HQ but is preserved in its original state and open as a museum. Mrs Fukao, who works at the museum and is a member of one of the WEC churches, will be our guide and speaker. Pray for good attendance, and for hearts and minds receptive to hear of, and from, God.

3. Joanna will have a school trip to Hiroshima on 28th and 29th October. Please pray for safety in travel and for a good time for her.

4.  Please pray for the regular ser vices, Bible studies, mothers and toddlers club, etc in Kaori Church.

5. Mr Maeda comes on Sunday evenings to study the Bible. Please pray for him to believe and receive the Lord.

Thank you for praying.

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John Wilson

September 2008

Hello again. Thank you for praying for us.

1. The one-day camp Pete was in charge of on 21st July went well. 62 people were at it.

2. Mrs Endo's baby arrived safely. She has a little girl.

3. Please pray for Joanna, Andy, and John settling back into school after the summer holiday.

4. We will be getting back into the usual routine of church meetings, Toddler Group, English teaching etc. after the summer break. Please pray for the Lord's help and wisdom in all that we do.

5. Pete is preaching at the pastors' meeting of our group of churches on 9th September.

July 2008

 Hello again.

  1. Please pray for the summer camps coming up, Pete has responsibility for a one-day camp called International Fureai Camp on 21st July (a national holiday).
  2. Mrs Endo’s baby is due any day now. Please pray for a safe delivery.
  3. On the last Saturday in June we joined up with Kusatsu Church for a time at the camp site. It was exciting to be able to take six non-Christian adults and seven children from our area. Please pray for our ongoing contact with these.
  4. We would love to see the people who come to church once or twice continue to come regularly.

Thank you for praying

Pete, Edi Joanna Andy and John

June  2008

1. Pete is preaching at the Shiga prefecture pastors’ meeting on 17th June.

2. Edi is teaching English most Fridays at Ono Primary School (Joann’s and Andy’s school), and also doing English with each of our children. Teaching your own children can be the most difficult.

3.  Please pray for the preparations and publicity for a one-day camp (“International Fureai Camp”) on 21st July.

4. There always seem to be lots of little things needing to be done. Please pray for us to seek the Lord more in the midst of everything else.

May 2008

Hello again

Thank you for continuing to pray for us.

1.  The church picnic on 27th April went very well, with very nice weather. We had church people and some from Toddler Club, and also five husbands. Please pray for good ongoing contact.

2. The WEC Japan field conference takes place on 4-8th May. Please pray for good fellowship and for God's leading on all the discussions and seminars. Pete will be preaching at the morning meeting on Wednesday 7th.

3. On Sunday 11th Pete will be preaching at Kyoto Aino church, the church in Kyoto we are overseeing. Chiemi Sayama, just about to go to work in Mumbai (Bombay) will be in Kaori church on that day.

4.  From Monday 26th we have a team of four girls from universities in Singapore with us for a week. Among other things they will lead an outreach meeting for ladies on 27th and teach lessons with Edi in the primary school.

5.  Joanna has just started her final year at primary school. Her ballet club's performance at the beginning of April went very well. John is now in the final year at kindergarten. Andy is in year 4 and mad keen on football.

Thank you for praying for us.

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John Wilson.

April 2008

Hello again. Thank you for continuing to remember us.

1. Thank you for praying about Edi continuing to teach at the local primary school. Shiga prefecture council has agreed to the school's request and Edi will carry on teaching there.

2. Pete's role as deputy chairman on the local neighbourhood association starts on 1st April. Please pray for him in this new responsibility.

3. Rita Feldt will be coming to preach in Kaori on 13th April, when Pete will be in Kyoto Aino, the church we are overseeing in Kyoto.

4. Jocelyn comes back on 26th April. Please pray for her remaining time in New Zealand and for her settling back into life in Japan and working in Kaori Church.

5. On 27th April we have a church picnic. Please pray for good weather, people to come, and for good fellowship between church and non-church people.

Thank you for praying.

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John Wilson.

March 2008

Hello everybody. Thank you for continuing to remember us.

1. Kaori Church will be celebrating Easter a week later than the rest of the world this year.  On Friday 21st we are planning to watch "The Miracle Maker", an animated version of the life of Jesus, then on Sun 30th we will have our Easter service. Included in that will be a special time of praying for the children in the church, coinciding with the end of the school year in Japan.

2. The reason for our Easter being late is that we booked Keiko Ogami, a Japanese WEC missionary, to come and preach on 23rd March. She is a member of one of the WEC churches in Kyoto and has been working in Mongolia for several years. She also spoke to non-Christians at our ladies outreach meeting (Waku Waku Kai) in January. We are hoping that some of those ladies will come to the Sunday service to hear her again.

3. Pastor Sugawara will come again on 11th March to the beginners' Bible study. The Ladies had an interesting and helpful time with him last month.

4. Two years ago Mr Maeda asked to be baptised. Although a bit doubtful of his faith, we began a course of studies with him, but shortly before the end he told us he did not believe in God. He is still coming regularly to study the Bible. Recently he said again that he would like to be baptised. Pete is going to start another foundational course with him. Please pray that this time he will believe and we will be able to baptise him.

5.  Joanna's ballet club has a recital/show at the beginning of April. It is Edi's turn to be one of the organisers for the ballet club this year so she has work to do for that.

6.  As usual Edi will not know until early April whether the Shiga prefecture government will agree to her school's request for her to teach again for the next school year. Pray for the right decision.

Thank you for praying for us.

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John Wilson 

February 2008

Hello again

Thank you for praying for us.

1. The visit from Pastor Sugawara to the non-Christians' Bible Study was so well received that he is going to come back again each month until May. The Christian ladies particularly liked being able to talk to someone from their own culture and are looking forward to asking him lots of questions.

2. The church annual general meeting went very smoothly. On 24th February we have another meeting to share with the non-members some of what was talked about at the AGM. We hope to introduce a family service once a month.

3. For the next twelve months we have been asked to oversee a small church in Kyoto, while the Korean leaders are away. Seong Jae Yu, who worked with us here for a year, is there and she will do almost all the work, but we will officially be the people in charge. Pete will go there once a month to preach, with other people covering for him in Kaori on those days.

4. After twelve years of enjoying the job of co-ordinators for short-term workers, we felt it was time to stand down and so we stood down at the end of January.

5. Last month we asked prayer for Pete's forthcoming role (from April) as the representative of our group of houses in the local residents association. He went to his first meeting and drew a lot, making him the deputy leader of the whole association. This will be for twelve months from April. Please pray for him in this role. It doesn't sound too demanding, but will mean two planning and discussion meetings a month instead of just one.

6. The children are all well and enjoyed building a big igloo when it snowed. Joanna has a one-day skiing trip with her class on 1st Feb. We have a new addition to the family, a little hamster who has no name as yet.

Thank you for praying.

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy & John Wilson

Update - 25 Jan 2008

Hello everyone. Thank you for praying for us.

1. The Christmas children's meeting and the Carol Service both went well, with more people than we expected at both. Pastor Sugawara spent the whole evening, after his message, talking to people, and in particular he answered questions about the difference between Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians. Mrs Maeda is a seeker who has had connections with the Jehovah's Witnesses and comes regularly to the monthly non-Christians' Bible Study. Pastor Sugawara is coming to this meeting on Tuesday 8th January.

2. On Sunday 6th January the message will be about the verse for this year. It is Edi's turn to choose the verse this year and she was greatly encouraged, while preparing, that God will "watch over our coming and going, both now and for evermore."

3. Mrs Ogami, a worker in Mongolia, will be coming on Tuesday 22nd January to speak at the ladies' outreach meeting. Please pray for many non-Christian ladies to attend.

4. We have a meeting, after the service on Sunday 20th January, that will be a chance to share information and plans with the people who attend church, and to hear from them any ideas or suggestions they have.

5. The church A.G.M. will be on Wednesday 30th January.

6. It is our turn to be the "leader" for our group of houses within the local neighbourhood association next year, and the first meeting about that will be on Saturday 26th January. Please pray for Pete's understanding of the meetings and for his witness within the group of other leaders.

7. Joanna, Andy and John all go back to school on Monday 7th January.

Peter, Edi, Joanna, Andy and John Wilson.