Cherry blossom season is the highlight of the year in Japan. It usually lasts for about two weeks depending on the weather. The picture posted here was taken this week at the river where Tim’s parents live. There are miles of cherry trees on both sides of the river. It is a sight to behold! If you would like to know why this season is so special to Kim, please click here. If you would like to learn more about the culture of the cherry blossom season in Japan, click here.
The quasi-state of emergency that we have been under was lifted on March 21. The number of pandemic cases in our area is going down and we pray that that continues. We had a wonderful bi-lingual service Sunday. We enjoyed a potluck and fellowship afterward. A few people stayed through most of the afternoon.
We will be having a baptism service on Easter Sunday. This is a big step for many of the nationals here. For some, it means the end of some family relationships. That doesn’t seem to be the case this time so we are rejoicing. When it was announced that one man would be following the Lord in baptism, a lady talked with my husband that she would like to be baptized. It is so exciting to see what God is doing here in Nagoya.
Spring is here even though it doesn’t really feel like it. Tim and Kim go for a regular walk at a park near their home. The pictures included in this update are from their walk this morning. The cherry blossom season is Kim’s favorite time of year in Japan!
You may have heard that we had an earthquake late last night. It comes shortly after the anniversary of the big earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011. The epicenter was in the same area as this earthquake as well. We live about 370 miles from that area, but we still felt it here. It was a long one. I just started to get out of bed thinking this might be the big one they keep telling us our area is going to get when the rocking stopped. The adrenaline rush made it difficult to get to sleep.
In this picture, we are the bottom blue dot. The prefecture where the epicenter was is at the top, north of Yokohama.
I have a link to a website that gives me information about earthquakes and other disaster warnings. I always check it when I feel an earthquake.
The first picture is a graph that shows where it was felt. Red is the strongest. The second picture gives the time location and magnitude. They later updated it to a 7.4.
You can read more about it here:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220317_37/
Your prayers for your missionaries matter!
Saturday was our monthly bilingual ladies Bible study. We had a good study based on a lesson from Claudia Barba’s book When Christ Was Here. Kim taught on Peter’s failure and what we can learn from it. It was a blessing to her to hear two ladies talking about the lesson the next day at church. God is working in the hearts of the ladies here and it is such an encouragement to see them growing.
Many of you prayed for Tim’s parents as they returned to Japan this past weekend. Their trip went well and they are now recovering from jet lag. The pandemic policies are constantly changing. We really didn’t know what to expect when they entered the country. Because they have had three vaccinations and they had a negative test before departure and a negative test upon arrival, no quarantine was required!!! This is so encouraging. It is a sign that Japan might start to loosen its borders a little. There are missionaries ready to enter as soon as they are able to receive a visa.
Thank you for your prayers for us and the ministry here in Japan. It means more to us than words can say.
We were scheduled to have potluck this past Sunday, but due to the high numbers of Covid in our area and the quasi state of emergency, we felt it prudent to cancel. We had our normal Sunday schedule and attendance was good. We also have begun practice for our Easter program that will be here before we know it.
Our normal Sunday schedule begins at 10:00 a.m. with Japanese Sunday School and the Japanese service at 11:00 a.m. There are a lot of foreign residents in our area with English as the common language. At 2:30 p.m. we have English Sunday School followed by the English service at 3:00 p.m. After that, we have a coffee/tea fellowship time. The foreign residents tend to stay longer for fellowship. Church is family here. We look forward to this time every week.
On the 4th Sunday of every month, we normally have a combined bilingual service in the morning followed by a potluck. It is a very international potluck. You never know what might show up. During our last furlough, the young man filling in for Tim sent the photo below to let us know what we were missing! There is always lots of good food and fellowship. The fellowship can go on for most of the afternoon. If the weather is nice some will move to the outdoors. This is a time that we all look forward to each month. As I said before, church is family here.
We had our monthly Men’s Bilingual Bible Fellowship on Saturday the 19th. We started it a few months ago. Attendance has been good despite the pandemic. It starts at 9:00 a.m. with breakfast. Bible study time starts at 10:00 a.m. We usually wrap it up around 11:00 a.m., but the men tend to hang around for more fellowship.
On Sunday, Tim was teaching the adult Sunday school on the Baptist Distinctives. He was talking about baptism by immersion and what it represented. He also mentioned that some denominations use sprinkling and should have used the word tekirei. Instead, he used the word tenteki which is an IV! Everyone had a good laugh over the idea of baptism by IV!
Tim made a video a while back of our facilities. I have included it in this update. Enjoy!
We have been under a quasi-state of emergency since the New Year holiday ended. Last week it was announced that it would be extended until March 6. We are still holding services and our people remain faithful for which we are grateful.
We read a news article recently that indicated Japan may begin to open their borders to businessmen and students in limited numbers. Please pray that the borders will continue to open and that new missionaries will be allowed to enter.
The plum trees are beginning to bud. They usually bloom the end of February or the beginning of March. The picture above is from a past year. We look forward to this sign that spring is on the horizon.
Welcome to the Melton ministry update blog! We decided to start this to help keep you updated with how things are going in the ministry here in Japan. Thank you for your faithful prayer and support.
Japan for Christ 