Mission Board Transition Process

    If you recall in our last prayer letter, the mission board of our sending church, Shawnee Baptist Missions has been discontinued, and so we have been in the process of finding a new mission board to go out under. Since our mission board is a VERY important part of our lives as missionaries, this transition CANNOT be done without due diligence, and prayer, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, both on our part AND on the part of the mission board that will be taking us in. That being said, we are very thankful for God’s provision and for his direction. There is a possibility that another great independent Baptist church in the area will take us in through their mission board, so please pray for wisdom, and guidance throughout this potential transition. We have been involved in weekly meetings with the pastor of the church’s mission board for the last couple of months as part of their vetting process. So we covet your prayers for the decisions that need to be made in the days ahead.

Because of this long transition process, it has taken a while to get this letter out. We are thankful for your patience and understanding. Our furlough has been going well, as we have been trying to compress the mission board transition, catching up with family, and trying to raise some much needed support in the time that we have in the States. God has been very gracious to us, and we have been able to see several new churches indicating that they will take us on, and have been soaking every spare minute with our families, knowing the much dreaded time to say “goodbye” is drawing near.

Meanwhile, Back in Japan…

    While we have been back in the States, the work in Japan has been going well as my parents cover for us while we are gone. Thanks very much for praying for them during this time, as their workload significantly increases while we are gone.

Before we left for the States, we were able to hold our annual church cookout, where we invite friends and family to spend time with our church family, and to hear the Gospel. In our last letter, we asked that you especially pray for the husbands of the ladies in our church. Praise the Lord, three of the husbands came, and we were able to continue to build our relationships with them and several other new friends and family members of our church folks.

Signs of Growth

    It has been very encouraging to see the spiritual growth of the members as they not only learn more and more of what it means to be a disciple of Christ, but also as they apply what they learn in their lives. Over the past several months, we have seen several members start tithing, which is a huge step of faith for them. Of course, it helps with the finances of our church, but also, it is an incredible testimony to the other younger members of our church family. Praise the Lord!

We also were privileged to have a Japanese missionary to an undisclosed location in Asia who came to present his ministry to our church people. God really worked in their hearts, and our church voted to take him on for support! Hence, we now have our first supported missionary!

It is refreshing to see our folks who have been on the receiving side of gifts of grace, also on the giving side as well. Please continue to pray for the growth of our church family, not only in numbers, but also in spiritual growth.

Serving Him,
The Carters to Japan

To download the printable PDF version, click here.

The First Ten Years!!

This April, we celebrated our first ten years of being in Japan. We are continually in awe of God’s grace as He works among the Japanese through us. Our church was kind enough to celebrate it with us, and it was such an encouragement to hear their testimonies of how God let us be an influence in their lives. We took some time to go through the past ten years, through the different transitions our church went through, and it brought back a lot of memories of how the church started, and how it has grown so far, and of the people that God brought into our lives. As I write this letter, I am so thankful the faithfulness of all of you who have been so faithful to us, by praying for us, and by financially supporting us these first ten years. Thank you!! After looking behind to see God’s grace and mercy in our ministry so far, I am excitedly looking forward to what God is going to do in the next ten years, as He allows us to be used by Him!

Summer Furlough

This summer, we will be heading back to the States for a 3 month furlough from mid-June until mid-September. One of the reasons for this is that our home church, Shawnee Baptist Church, no longer has the capability to operate their mission board, and have informed the missionaries that we need to transition to a new mission board. Please pray for wisdom as we seek God’s will for this next step in our lives. We will also need to raise a little more support while we are in the States. We are also REALLY looking forward to seeing some of you as much as we can while we are there! If you would like for us to schedule a meeting with your church, please email me at cartersjapan@gmail.com, and we will do our best to come see you.

Teen Camp

In our last prayer letter, I asked that you would pray for our teens during youth camp, which took place at the end of March. This was the first time for our teens to get to go, and we were excited to see six teenagers go with us to youth camp. It was a long trip; about 8 hours each way, but it was WELL worth it! Our teens were really encouraged to see so many other Christian teenagers. There were a total of 150 teens that attended camp this year from Baptist churches throughout Japan. I was privileged to preach in one of the sessions, and I am thankful for one of the teens that got saved during the service, as well as several decisions to serve God. Thanks so much for your prayers!

Upcoming Church Cookout

We are always trying to get create open doors for our Japanese Christians to invite their lost friends and family to church, and to hear the Gospel. One of these opportunities is our annual church cookout. This is especially an important event for our Christian ladies, as many of their unsaved husbands will actually come to help cook and set up! Last year, 6 men, including 3 unsaved husbands come to the cookout, and this year, it looks like most of them are already planning on coming back to help. This is a great chance for them to hear the Gospel, so please pray that for the Holy Spirit to convict them of their need for salvation! Well, the end of the page approaches, so I will close by saying how thankful we are of your faithfulness to us. God bless, and Lord willing, we will see some of you this summer!

Serving Him,
The Carters to Japan

To download the printable PDF version, click here.