A Report from Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (5/12/2014)

　Thank you for continually praying and lovingly supporting our relief work here in the disaster area.
　　On Sunday the 11th, here at the Higashi Matsushima AG Relief Center we held Sunday worship and Sunday school. For this service we were blessed to have Teen Challenge Japan's director Tom Kisaki give the message as well as a testimony from center staff member brother Ryota Senoue. Ryota shared his great testimony of salvation and call to the ministry and then pastor Kisaki preached a message from Hebrews 4:15 entitled “Believing in Jesus who knows us well; let's be made anew!”
　That day was Mother's Day so pastor Ito read from Psalm 121, prayed a prayer of blessing over the ladies in attendance and then passed out gifts of small potted flowers to all the ladies in attendance.
　On that day a Russian believer named Oxsana Iwazaki, who lives in Ichikawa, Chiba, came and attended the Sunday AM service at Izumi and the afternoon service at Higashi Matsushima. She was responsible for inviting Mr. Kawakami and she gave a brief introduction during the worship service.
　Sister Oksana works as a television personality and has come many times since Christmas to do relief work. She has been consistently encouraging and contacting Mr. Kawakami, who lived in Omagarihama and lost his four family members, his house and his business in the tsunami, to be a part of the relief center worship gatherings. During her greeting she said, “All of you who live here in the disaster area, please, please, know the love of Jesus and be saved” with tears streaming down her face. I bless the Lord as I see these strange and marvelous ways in which He is stretching out His hand of love to the disaster victims.
Our upcoming schedule is to hold the second “Amazing Mama's Club” on Tuesday the 13th. Then we will hold the forty fourth meal distributions festival on Saturday the 17th with the prep day being held on that day before, Friday the 16th.
　We would truly appreciate if you would continue to keep is in your prayers.
All the glory belongs to the Lord!

To view more pictures of this event, click this link and scroll to the bottom of the blog entry.

A Report from Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (5/10/2014)

　Thank you for continually praying and lovingly supporting our relief work here in the disaster area.
　Here at the relief center on Thursday the 8th we welcomed a lot of attendees to the 26th “Tea Party” event even amidst a strong gale. We started off by playing a quiz game while eating snacks. That was followed by some songs of praise, then the DVD “A Hymn’s Story” and finally resident missionary Rhonda shared a message entitled “Let's fill our heart's with good things instead of bad things” (Galatians 5:22, 23). Lastly, Pastor Ito prayed for the healing of illnesses and the resolution of people’s problems. Right now at the relief center we are seeing various works of healing. Even on that day a testimony of God’s healing power was shared by one lady. Praise the Lord!

　On Sunday the 11th, which is Mother’s Day, we will have Sunday worship and Sunday school at the center. We will pray a blessing over the mothers in attendance and we are blessed to have staff member brother Senoue give a testimony and Teen Challenge Japan’s director Pastor Tom Kisaki give the message.

　Please pray for us and know that we truly cherish all of your prayers and support.

To view more pictures of this event, click this link and scroll to the bottom of the blog entry.

A Report from Pastor Okubo of Yonezawa Christ Church (5/6/2014)

Hallelujah! This is the flier for the May 17th (Sat) Soma Shinchi-machi relief event.
　The event will be held at the Gankoya Temporary Housing Area's public meeting hall. Upon entering the meeting hall, in the carpeted room on the right, there will be a musical performance by the members of the Niigata church. While in the Japanese style room to the left Professor Koji Kaneko will give a parenting seminar entitled “What is the key to happiness?” This event is being promoted by Professor Kaneko and the Fukushima Christian Alliance with the strong desire to plant the seed of the gospel in the hearts of families. Please pray that as many mothers and fathers can attend as possible.

A Report from Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (5/3/2014)

　Thank you for continually praying and lovingly supporting our relief work here in the disaster area.

　On Saturday the 7th of June we will hold the “Second Amazing Relief Center Festival” (10am to 3pm).
　This is an event started last year thanks to the support of the US Assemblies of God's relief organization Convoy of Hope who came and helped us immediately after the disaster in 2011. By God's amazing blessing last year's event saw many people come and also was a great force for spreading the gospel of Christ and the relief of God's love to this region.
　The purpose for this year's festival is to reach the lost and to see their lives and hearts renewed in Christ. We also hope that it will be an opportunity for even more people to learn about the center and for those who are already believers and are involved with the center that they will learn to be ministers. What's more, we hope that by the gathering and cooperation and many Christians that the love of Christ and the Glory of God will shine out to this region, bringing more and more people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
　The center staff is very busy preparing this year's festival's worship, booths, local vendors, food stalls, health consultation, counseling tent, etc.; please keep them in your prayers. We are also looking for help from groups or individuals as well as looking for performers. Currently we are planning to begin setting up the event space and doing various preparations starting from Friday the 6th. If you can come on that day we would gladly let you stay the night at the center.

　For more information, please contact the relief center at.
　　　(Relief center ℡・Fax0225-28-4254
　　　　　　　　　e-mail: amazing-gospel@church.email.ne.jp)
　　　Thank you for all of your support and prayers.

A Report from Pastor Ito of Izumi Fukuin Chapel (5/1/2014)

　Thank you for continually praying and lovingly supporting our relief work here in the disaster area.

　On Sunday the 27th, here at the relief center we held Sunday worship and Sunday school. At our church we held Easter worship on the 20th but here at the center we celebrated Easter one week late. For the service we were blessed to have a number of locals turn out and join us in worship. Also, Mrs. Abe who often attends the center's various events just gave birth to her third children in March and so we held a dedication for the baby.
　After the special worship song resident missionary Eric shared a message about how Jesus was resurrected and lives even now. Then Pastor Ito prayed in the name of the risen Lord Jesus for people's healing and for problems in their life to be resolved. We also had Sunday school on the second floor and many young people gathered to hear the word of God.

　On Saturday the 7th of June we will hold the “Second Amazing Relief Center Festival” (10am to 3pm) in order to reach the lost and to see their lives and hearts renewed. This is an event that both started last year and continues this year thanks to the support of the US Assemblies of God's relief organization Convoy of Hope. By God's amazing blessing, we saw over 1,500 people attend last year's festival.
　The center staff is very busy preparing this year's festival's worship, booths, local vendors, food stalls, health consultation, counseling tent, etc.; please keep them in your prayers. We are also looking for help from groups or individuals as well as looking for performers.

　For more information, please contact the relief center at.
　　　(Relief center ℡・Fax0225-28-4254
　　　　　　　　　e-mail: amaizinggospel@church.email.ne.jp)
　　　Thank you for all of your support and prayers.
To view more pictures of this event, click this link and scroll to the bottom of the blog entry.