Here are our most recent prayer letters. Enjoy!
Carter Connection May 2023
Some letters are easy to write. Some, not so much. This one definitely falls into the category of not easy to write. But even as I write it, I am confident in God’s care for us in the path we are getting ready to take. That being said, having you go to our Father on our behalf and asking Him for His help for us means a lot! The “C” Word About a week or two after I wrote our last letter, Bethany was at our local doctor to see about some pain she was having. The doctor did some tests, and when the results came back, he said, “I think you have cancer, but we need to take more tests to be sure.” It was the last thing either of us were expecting to hear. The results of those tests would take two weeks. People say that the waiting can be one of the most difficult things to deal with. They weren’t kidding. Those seemed like the longest two weeks of our lives. When the results came back, the doctor confirmed his suspicions. Bethany does have breast cancer. He recommended that we go to a bigger hospital to get treatment, so ...
Read moreCarter Connection March 2023
This morning on my way to a meeting, I noticed the cherry blossoms were really starting to bloom all around our city. It was something that I have been looking forward to for a long time. In Japan, this is a big thing. There are even cherry blossom forecasts on the news that announce weeks ahead of time when they estimate the cherry blossoms will start blooming throughout the country. You could say it’s the national announcement of spring and warm weather, where new life begins to flourish all around us. And by God’s grace, it seems to be a season of potential new life flourishing in our church family too! So Refreshing! Our church family has been excited to see a surge of new people who have been coming with a deep desire to know more about Jesus. Let me tell you about a few of them. Noriko hasn’t been saved for very long, and she’s still eagerly learning about what it means to be a Christian. A few weeks ago, in our Thursday Bible study at church, she mentioned that she wasn’t a Christian yet. So the next Monday, when Bethany and a few ladies were gathering for their morning ...
Read moreCarter Connection January 2023
Dear Praying Friends, Over the last several months, our families (the Carter family, as well as our church family here in Japan), have experienced several significant “new starts”. As we thank God for His grace to give us these new beginnings, we also continue to trust Him to help us and guide us in them, so that His goodness and faithfulness is on full display as He walks with us! A (re)start of community outreaches Since Covid started, our church family has had to focus our outreaches primarily on personal interactions with family and friends while we waited for the social fear of Covid to gradually subside. Throughout this time, God has continued to help us make new connections; to share with new people the good news of the Gospel. And while that continues, we’ve also been excited to begin to expand once again into reaching more of our community through different events to reach out to even more people. This Christmas, we had two major Christmas events, one specifically for children, and one geared toward families. In each event, we were so thankful to see many first-time guests, as well as those who had come to previous events before Covid. Over the two ...
Read moreCarter Connection September 2022
This summer, Japan had its biggest wave of new infections since the beginning of COVID. New infections hovered around 200,000 a day during the entire month of August. Now, as we head into September, we’re thankful that the infections are starting to die down. Though the surge of new infections has slowed down the easing of restrictions, we’re thankful that it hasn’t hindered the gathering of our church family. God has been very faithful to us! We’ve had a few infections here and there, but nothing serious, and our church family has continued to faithfully gather together throughout the summer. Summer Family Camp For many years our church has been part of a summer camp where Baptist churches in Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures (states) gather together for a few days of preaching and fellowship. Due to Covid, this was the first time in three years that we were able to have this camp together again, even in the middle of the wave of infections. God protected everyone who attended, and we were all thrilled to see brothers and sisters whom we haven’t seen for a while. God used a Japanese missionary serving in the underground churches of a nearby country to ...
Read moreCarter Connection June 2022
Lack of parking spaces. I hadn’t realized how much I’ve missed this problem. How thankful I am to have it once again! As the COVID restrictions have been gradually easing here in Japan, Sunday services have also been gradually getting fuller and fuller. New families, new believers, and those who haven’t been able to come in a long time are once again filling the seats, connecting with one another, building relationships, and working to reach those around them. God is good! Did You Hear!? In our last prayer letter, I got to share with you about one of the ladies who trusted Christ named “Yoko.” She was one who was saved recently through the Bible study of another missionary lady in a nearby city. The other day, Bethany was at a park with Asher, and Yoko happened to see them off in the distance. She excitedly came up to Bethany and said, “Did you hear!? Did you hear!? I trusted Jesus!” The joy in her heart was clear to see! God had graciously called us to be faithful in planting the Gospel and another to water that seed, as God produced the bountiful work of salvation in her soul. And in holding ...
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