70 by 21: Seventy New Laborers by the Year 2021

The following article written by Eileen Lass in the newsletter, FYI4, Feb 2012, vol 1.  To read the entire newsletter, click here.  You can reach Eileen at LassProofer@yahoo.com.

 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two [some manuscripts say seventy] others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  (Luke 10:1-2)

Jesus sent out seventy (or seventy-two) to go ahead of him, and told them to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. In 1881, Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland missionaries for China by the close of 1884; he got 76. 

It seemed good to us, and we trust to the Holy Spirit, to pray together for 70 new laborers (35 missionaries and 35 Japanese) to serve in the harvest field of Japan by the year 2021. We want to keep before you, our supporters, this 70 by 21 Vision. Each issue of this newsletter (beginning with the next one) will give a visual of how many new workers are identified, approved, trained, fully supported and on the field so we can see the progress as God answers our prayers. Will you join us in praying for the seventy?

*** Would you like to receive future editions of FYI4 and keep up with this story?  If so, send me an email.  I'll make sure you're added to the distribution list!

How God Called Us to Japan (part 3 of 3)

A quick review:  In my first two posts, I shared how God used two seemingly minor episodes to call Gina and me to pursue cross cultural missions.  In part 1, I described our move from rural Randolph County into the city - and how opportunities for ministry increased based on the increased needs in our community.  In part 2, I wrote about how God used a pastor in Lithuania to open our eyes to the need for Christian leaders in unreached countries.  Now, let me explain why we believe God is specifically leading us to Japan.

After our return from Eastern Europe in 2008, cross-cultural missions began to dominate our conversations.  For the first time, Gina and I began to seriously consider whether God was calling our family to go to the mission field.  This was a big change from how we'd previously seen our life-calling, so we invited insight from trusted friends.  The first place we turned was to our elders at Grace Fellowship.  I told them the whole story, assured them that we had not yet reached a decision, and invited them to join us in seeking God's will - both for our family and Grace Fellowship.

Wayne and Amy Newsome

With our elders help, we developed a plan to help us test and discern God's leading.  Part of that plan included attending a missions retreat where missionaries from all over the world shared about their respective fields.  That's where we met Wayne & Amy Newsome and heard about their work in Japan for the first time.  We loved hearing about missions in Japan, but we were especially struck by the Newsome's willingness to share openly about their failures on the field.  While Amy was speaking, Gina leaned over and whispered, "...if I could work with anyone in this room, it'd be that couple!"  I laughed out loud and replied, "Honey, you're never going to work with the Newsomes...I'm not sure where God is leading us, but I'm sure it's NOT Japan!"  I'm pretty sure God's throne room erupted in laughter at that moment!

As we sought God's face, two things became increasingly clear.  First, we grew very secure that God was calling us to leave Asheboro and become cross-cultural church planters.  Secondly, we grew confident that God wasn't leading us to work in Eastern Europe.  At first, we felt confused, because we'd assumed that if God were calling us to missions, He must want us in Latvia or Lithuania.  But slowly, it dawned on us that we were feeling drawn to a particular "job description" rather than a specific place.  We felt like our greatest contribution would be made on a field where:

1. A team was in place and had already established a healthy, local church.
2. The team was ready to plant a 2nd generation of "daughter churches" in the city.
3. There was a seminary (or equivalent) to help train future national pastors and leaders.

Nisshin Christ Church, Nagoya, Japan

We imagined that our "dream scenario" would be hard to find, and were surprised to learn that it actually exists in countries all over the world!  MTW plants churches and is committed to raising up national pastors and elders to lead those congregations.  The organization has been at this for several decades, so it wasn't hard to find a team at exactly the stage we were dreaming about.

Christ Bible Institute, Nagoya, Japan

Most notably for us, the above pieces all come together on the team I said I'd never join!  The Newsomes' team in Nagoya had already planted Nisshin Christ Church and founded Christ Bible Seminary.  They were ready to launch several daughter churches throughout the city and had been actively asking God to send new team members to do so!  There were also many other factors that made the team a good fit for our family, but space won't allow me to list them all here!  I finally gave in and admitted what was obvious to everyone except me...God was leading us to Japan!

Since then, we've come to understand our calling in a much fuller way.  The Japanese people make up the world's largest unreached people group with less than 0.5% professing faith in Christ.  Unlike much of Europe, Japan has never been extensively reached with the Gospel, and missions tend to move very slowly.  Over the last decade, the astronomical cost of living combined with slow progress have caused many missions organizations to abandon Japan altogether (a 24% decline in Western missionaries in the 7 years prior to the tsunami).  In the meantime, MTW has been adding teams.

Last year's tsunami served to strengthen our sense of calling to Japan.  Unity among evangelical churches and opportunities for church planting have never been greater.  All of our teams are pushing out, and we're hearing good reports form the field.  We're amazed at God's wisdom and timing in calling in reinforcements a year before the tsunami.  Our trajectory was already set, and the need on the field has never been greater!

So, that's how God called has us to Nagoya.  It's not especially dramatic - no bright lights or booming thunder.  The experience has been more like the gradual change from darkness to light just before dawn.  Through divine providence, the Spirit has slowly and steadily turned on the lights for us and solidified our sense of calling to Japan.

And maybe God - in His providence - is leading you to partner with us in this journey.  We believe God has called us to move to Nagoya and plant churches among the world's largest unreached people group, but we can't do that on our own.  Our two greatest needs are (1) prayer and (2) financial support (in that order).  Right now, God has raised up an army individuals who are praying for us regularly.  If you'd like to join that group and receive regular prayer updates, you can register at www.news.grace4japan.com.  If you'd like to partner with us financially during our first term, you can communicate that desire by using this form.  As of this writing (April 20, 2012), God has already raised up financial partners who have pledged 80% of our budget, and we're prepared to move to the field as soon as the remaining 20% is pledged!  Thanks for your prayerful consideration!

Church Planting in the Wake of the Quake: Praying for a Tsunami of Grace

The following article was written by Eileen Lass in the newsletter, FYI4, Feb 2012, vol 1.  To read the entire newsletter, click here.  You can reach Eileen at LassProofer@yahoo.com.

     The greatest need of the tsunami-devastated area in northern Japan (called Tohoku) is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some 20,000 people were killed by the tsunami. This rightly saddens us so much. But 32,000 people committed suicide last year in Japan. This happens every year. 320,000 Japanese have killed themselves over the last decade.
     127 million Japanese people desperately need the HOPE of the gospel of Jesus Christ. More than 99% are non-Christian. Some estimate that fewer than 5% have ever heard the message of Jesus in an understandable, even brief, way.  Yes, the greatest MERCY MINISTRY we can do in Japan is bringing the gospel of hope. And, the best way to bring this gospel to Northern Japan is by STARTING HEALTHY, REPRODUCING CHURCHES!
     March 11, 2011 brought a triple disaster to Japan unprecedented in the history of the world with the 9.0 earthquake, huge devastating tsunami, and the resulting nuclear disaster. MTW Japan immediately responded together with our Japanese partners in a large relief and recovery effort that continues today. 2,700 Christians and churches have given more than $1.4 million through MTW to help us bring relief and recovery to the people of northern Japan (see below).
     Now we urgently need to follow this ongoing mercy ministry with church planting in the devastated region. God has used relief efforts to make many people more receptive to Christians, and some people more receptive to our Christ. We are developing a 10-year plan with our Presbyterian Church in Japan (PCJ) partners to plant a presbytery in North Japan as we pray and work towards a Biblical church planting movement (CPM).
     We need funds to send the first Japanese church planters north to begin more intentional evangelism and church planting ministry in tandem with the ongoing relief, recovery, and rebuilding ministry. Without funding it is very difficult to recruit for this effort that needs to begin immediately. Church planting soon in partnership with the ongoing mercy ministry and relief teams from Japan and abroad would be ideal.
     The earthquake brought devastating tsunami waves (many over 100 feet high) to 300 miles of the Japanese coast. We are now praying for an even more powerful TSUNAMI OF GRACE to flow
over this most resistant part of Japan that has so little gospel witness and so few churches. This wave will not come in one day like the March 11th tsunami. We are committed to persevering in this huge effort for northern Japan over the next ten years. But we do need to start immediately with the first church plants. 
     Often we hear of ministries that can't keep going due to lack of funding. We fully believe God will provide all the funding we need for this new ministry, but even with 100% of the finances, the ministry of church-planting in Tohoku can't get off the ground without MINISTERS. We are looking for people who will commit to pray DAILY that the Lord of the harvest will raise up church planters for this project, both missionary and Japanese. Will you join us?

How God Called Us to Japan (part 2)

Note:  This is part 2 of a 3-part series.  Click here to read part one...

During October 2008, Gina and I had the opportunity to join a team from Mission to the World on a "vision trip" to Sweden, Latvia, and Lithuania.  MTW has several church planters in that region surrounding the Baltic Sea, and the trip was an opportunity to see the works and pray for the missionaries in person.

To say the trip impacted us is a great understatement.  Over 10 days, we visited three church plants in Sweden, spent time with MTW church planters Carl and Becky Chaplin in Riga, Latvia, and heard a presentation by one of MTW's national partners in Vilnius, Lithuania.  At every stop, we were struck by the great opportunities for the Gospel as well as the recurring need for more missionaries.  Jesus' words in Luke 10:2 came to life in new ways:  “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

In Stockholm, I had the joy of leading a Bible study made up of young professionals who dreamed of planting a new church in that city.  I don't remember the passage I taught from, but I do remember the expressions on their faces - how open and hungry they were for God's Word.  I also remember their gratitude.  They were so grateful for our willingness to travel so far to spend an evening with them in God's Word.

The time we spent in Riga was especially memorable, and we were captured by the stage of the work in that country.  MTW partners with several Latvian pastors who'd already established two churches in the city.  They'd also founded a seminary called Baltic Reformed Theological Seminary to train new leaders for church planting throughout the whole region.  Although Gina and I weren't looking for a new job, we talked about how we could see ourselves contributing to the work in Riga.

On the last day of the trip, we visited Vilnius to hear about the state of the Church in that country.  Most of the Lithuanian ministers (at least those in our circles) are very old and nearing retirement.  A dear brother named Algamonte shared with us about the need for Christian leaders in Lithuania.  As he closed his presentation, he became emotional and said, "My friends, the fields here are so ripe for the Gospel.  If I had 10 men who would simply read my sermon manuscript before a group each week, I could plant 10 new churches next year!"  At that moment, Gina and I looked at each other, and I think we both knew that our lives were taking an unexpected turn.

On the flight home, we talked at length about our experiences in light of Algamonte's challenging statement - which was still ringing in our ears.  Algamonte was praying for 10 "manuscript-readers" and no one was willing to come.  I imagined that if I resigned my position at Grace Fellowship, at least that many men would apply to take my place.  In our own denomination, there are more trained leaders than pulpits and I was occupying one of those.  Was I really in the place where I could be of maximum benefit to Christ's Church?  More importantly, might God be leading us to move?

During the coming months, the trip continued to dominate our conversations.  Gina and I found ourselves wrestling with how over-staffed the American Church is when compared to the ones we'd seen in the Baltic region.  Here, we have the luxury of choosing a particular church based on the personality of the pastor and the style of music in the worship service.  In Stockholm, Vilnius, and Riga there are only a handful of Gospel-proclaiming churches in he whole city!  And those have limited resources and very few members who are qualified to teach or offer spiritual leadership.

We also took stock of our own ministry here in central North Carolina and thought about how small our impact has been.  Don't write that off as hopelessness or false-humility.  We know God has used us, and He's done some big things in people's lives through us.  We rejoice in that and don't take it for granted.  At the same time, the church in America will barely notice when we leave.  There are hundreds of Christian leaders who are ready, willing, and able to fill any small gaps we leave...that's just reality.  In contrast, the Church in a country like Lithuania (or Japan!) may be forever changed by our coming.  It's just another example of the same lesson God taught us after we moved from our house in the country (from part 1 of this series).  If Gospel-opportunities increased based on a relatively small into the city, how much might they increase if we went to a place with a much greater need?

As I shared all this with a friend over coffee one day, I asked him to pray that God would make his will clear to Gina and me.  His response jolted me when he said, "Brother, it sounds to me like He's already been clear.  And it sounds to me like you've already left."  I knew he was right.  I'm pretty sure we made the decision while Algamonte was sharing his heart with us that day in Vilnius.

I realize I promised to tell you how God called us to JAPAN and so far I've barely mentioned that country.  As I shared in my first article, the Spirit used several small, related stories to send us across the Pacific.  Ultimately, He used a trip to Eastern Europe to open our eyes to the need for Christian leaders to move overseas for the sake of Christ's Kingdom.  As we wrestled with that, we always assumed He was calling us to Riga or Vilnius.  In retrospect, He simply used that trip to loosen our grip on ministry in America.  He was leading us to Nagoya all along, but that part of the story will have to wait for now.  There's still one more chapter to go...

(To be continued)

Post-Tsunami Update (1 year later)

The following are highlights from Bruce and Susan Young's most recent prayer update that we received this week.  Bruce was born in Japan while his parents were serving as long-term missionaries, and the Youngs have focused their whole lives on church planting in Japan.  Note that words in parenthesis are mine.

Dear Friends:

On March 11 it will be exactly one year since the catastrophic 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan, causing massive destruction. Looking over these past 12 months we see the terrible effects it has had in four areas—physical damage, emotional damage, nuclear damage and economic damage:

1. The tsunami which was at some places 90 feet high, killed over 15,000 lives! And there are 3,320 still missing; it will take 245 billion dollars for reconstruction;
2. Emotional damage that resulted in increased suicides, depression and emotional stress (throughout 2011 earthquakes continue to shake Japan—there were over 19,000 earthquakes in the 3.0 category and 2200 5.0-5.9 magnitude quakes!)
3. Exposure to nuclear radiation and the shut down of the power plant which resulted in the loss of 20% of Tokyo’s electricity and the scare of contamination of food, water and the air.
4. It was a blow to the all ready hurting Japanese economy by the loss of production and increased debt from having to pour money into repairing the infrastructure and care for the affected people.

Could there possibly be anything positive come out of such a tragedy? Yes, (here are) four ways God is using this:

1. The evangelical church has become unified in their efforts to work together to reach the affected areas.
2. Our Presbyterian denomination has committed to starting several (new) churches (which will form a new presbytery) in one of the least churched areas of Japan!
3. The reputation of Christians in Japan has taken a turn for the good. Many Japanese are impressed at the unconditional help and concern shown by Christians to those suffering from the tsunami.
4. Local churches have become visible in their community. Neighbors have entered churches for the first time to bring contributions to be sent north for relief work!

How You Can Pray:  Pray that God will use the one year anniversary of the terrible tsunami in the ways listed above—that the testimony of the church would be a means for many to hear the gospel and turn from fear, apathy, loneliness, discontent to the Lord Jesus Christ!


Bruce and Susan Young
MTW Spiritual Life and Japan

To see the whole prayer update in its original, unedited form, click here.  If you'd like to get in touch with the Youngs to ask questions or partner with them in their work, you may email them at Bruce.Young@mtw.org .

How God Called us to Japan (part 1)

To tell the whole story story about how God called us to Japan, I'd have to start all the way back in high school even though foreign missions wasn't a blip on my radar screen at the time.  For now, share a few of the most recent threads that the Holy Spirit has been weaving together to call us to cross-cultural missions.  Maybe I'll tell the earlier story at a later date - like George Lucas did with Star Wars.  :-)

The truth is, Gina sensed God calling us to missions long before me, and I became very skilled at diverting the subject whenever she brought it up.  My favorite technique was to patronize her by implying that she was naive and hadn't counted the cost of foreign missions.  Gina is definitely not a "bugs, snakes, and mud-hut" sort of girl, so it was helpful to inject those images into the conversation as soon as possible.  Truth be known, I had no intentions of entertaining the idea of serving as a missionary outside the U.S.

Not long after moving to Asheboro, God opened the door for us to purchase the sort of home we'd always wanted.  The house wasn't especially big, but it was private and sat on 4.5 wooded acres out in the County.  There was plenty of room for our boys to run, we had a couple of big dogs, and when the leaves were on the trees, we couldn't even see our closest neighbors.  For an introvert like me, it felt like a taste of things to come in glory, and we imagined being happy there for the long haul.

The house's one drawback was that it had three floors.  The children's bedrooms were upstairs, and the washing machine was in the basement.  Given the ages of our boys and the prolific amount of laundry, Gina climbed stairs all day long...and her knees started to bother her.  In 2007 we realized we needed to move.

It's hard to remember exactly how the Holy Spirit got the drop on us.  Of course, we were praying about a new house - which is to say we were asking God to provide a similar house with fewer burdensome steps.  Then, at some point, one of us injected a new idea into the mix.  Maybe we should ask God where HE wanted us move instead of telling Him where WE wanted to move.  At the time, that seemed very spiritual and rather harmless, so we went with it.

As we prayed in that way, our priorities began to change, and we grew convinced that we should be looking for a house in the city(*) rather than the country.  Probably, this doesn't sound like a big deal to most of you, but it was huge shift for us.  And like God loves to do, He used that seemingly insignificant course adjustment to lead us in a drastically different direction for the future. 

To make a long story short, we settled on a house in town.  It was overgrown and run down – a real project.  Our "dream house" wasn't hard to sell, and we accepted an offer less than 12 hours after putting it on the market!  We had to find a home for one of our two dogs, because we no longer had space for two big animals - and the boys complained about losing the woods.  But the move was a great experience for our family.

We didn't have many close friends out in the country.  Our neighbors were all very nice and had values similar to our own.  They were glad to help out if you were in a bind, but (like us) they valued their privacy - that's why we all chose to live out there.  If we volunteered to help with an event at the boys' elementary school, they were happy to put us to work...but there were plenty of people available to help and the needs weren't all that great.

By contrast, our home on Holly Street is only a few blocks from Donna Lee Loflin Elementary School.  I walk to school with my boys every morning, and we always stop to talk to someone along the way.  There are a lot of needs in the school and community, and teachers celebrate when parents offer to help.  We know our neighbors and count them as good friends.  They're ready to help if we need it, but they also stop mowing the lawn to talk about life.  Things are louder here than out in the country, and they're certainly not private.  But we regularly interact with people who look and think differently from us.  People want to interact with one another, so there are more opportunities to build friendships, to serve, and to share the Good News of Jesus than we ever experienced in the privacy of our previous home.

It probably sounds like we're thrilled to live right where God has us (and we are).  Maybe you wonder why we'd move again when God is obviously blessing us in our current location...

We've come to realize that this move wasn't an end in itself.  Rather, it's been an intermediate step in God's larger purpose for our lives.  Instead of finding ourselves "satisfied" with life on Holly Street, the move here has only served to whet our appetites for more.  Living on Holly Street has led us to ask this question:  "If Gospel-opportunities have increased after a simple move into the city, what if we moved to a place where the need for the Gospel is even greater?"

Asheboro is full of people who need to hear the Good News of Christ, but there also are a lot of Christians here.  Statistically there's a church in our county for every 400 residents!  What if we were to move to a place like Nagoya where less than 0.5% of the population knows Jesus and where there's only one Christian church for every 22,000 people?  What if we relocated and lived the remainder of our lives among the largest unreached people group on the globe?  I wonder how Gospel opportunities would increase just based on our new zip code (assuming they have those in Japan)!

Of course, it took some time to even start asking these sorts of questions.  We were content following our move into town, and we expected to spend many more years leading Grace Fellowship.  But God was also weaving some other strands into the tapestry of our lives...

(to be continued)     click here to read part 2


(*) - city is used here in the loosest possible sense.  Yes, I'm referring to Asheboro, NC rather than New York (or Nagoya)!  God used a move into a city with a small "c" as a stepping stone to a city with a big "C".

The "Sew Busy Ladies" are still at it!

 A year ago, I wrote an article about a sewing group here in Asheboro that was using their talents to support Christian missions in the community and around the world.  The group meets at the home of our friend, Emily, who founded the group.  Besides loving our family really well, The Sew Busy Ladies are supplying blankets to several crisis pregnancy centers and shelters, they've made countless dresses for little girls in a poverty-stricken country in Africa, and they've recently sent a shipment of items to some MTW missionaries in Haiti.  Just like our friend Mary Spaar who founded "Gnomes 4 Japan" in response to last year's tsunami, God is using this group of ladies (+ one notable gentleman) in marvelous ways to expand Christ's Kingdom and care for the poor and orphaned.

 A couple of weeks ago, Emily called to invite Gina and me to come by on a "sewing night" because the ladies had a surprise for us.  On that evening, they presented us with this beautiful quilt.  Each group member made two of the squares on the quilt - and they even used a couple of Gina's squares that they somehow acquired!  The quilt will have an honored place in our new home in Japan.  Of course, we'll cherish it because of the friendship it represents, but it also reminds us that God loves to use ordinary, weak people to accomplish his purposes around the world - and that means there's hope that he'll use our family in some big ways, too!

If you live near Asheboro and would like to get in touch with the Sew Busy Ladies, feel free to send me an email.  They're always looking for new members, and previous sewing ability isn't required (they love to teach).  They're also looking for some space that would allow them to expand their efforts.  They'd be happy for you to ask God to provide that!

How to Parter Financially (the nuts and bolts)

Recently, several of our friends have expressed a desire to partner with us financially, but they weren't sure about how to do so.  Since the same information may be helpful to others, I thought I'd post it here along with some links that may be of help.



First - a few words about pledging:
     Gina and I will be joining an established team in Japan.  The group has 20+ years of history on this field, and so they have a good understanding of the financial needs we'll face when we arrive.  Different missions agencies approach finances and fundraising in different ways, but MTW requires that we have pledges in place for 100% of our projected monthly budget prior to moving to the field.  They make no exceptions on this (and most of the time, we're glad for that)!
     In light of the above, our #1 greatest need other than prayer is for God to stir people to make an ongoing financial pledge.  Our hope is that those people will see themselves as real partners in this work.  We're partners in the sense that we have a common goal to see the Gospel permeate the country of Japan, and we're working together to see that happen.  For new churches to be planted, there will need to be church planters on the field (i.e. the Sinks) and "senders" at home.  Without both of those groups of people in place, new churches won't be started.  So, we're partnering together to make that happen.  Making a pledge is a way to partner with us to plant new churches among the world's largest unreached people group.
     What a pledge means:  making a pledge is registering your intention to send a weekly, monthly, or annual contribution to our account at MTW.  Everyone realizes that situations change with time, and in these economic times it's hard to know where we'll be next year.  In a real sense, a pledge is a promise made by faith that God will provide what you'll need to honor that pledge.  It's also a sacrifice - we know that, and we've signed up to make a real sacrifice, too.  The gospel almost always goes forward via the vehicle of personal sacrifice.  The good news is that the Father sacrificed his Son - once for all - for our salvation.  And that same good news goes into the world through the sacrifices of God's people.  The Gospel was born and is carried forward through sacrifice...just something to think about!

How to Make a Pledge:

• Email:  You can send us an email with your name, address, and phone number along with the amount and frequency of your pledge to grace4japan@gmail.com.  We can then forward that on to MTW.
• By Mail:  You can print a copy of our donor card by clicking here.  Simply fill in the blanks and mail it to the address indicated on the card.  We've also created an electronic version of our donor card that you can fill out by clicking here.  When you fill out the e-version, we will receive an email with the details of your pledge.  When that happens, we'll touch base with you before forwarding the pledge on to MTW..
• Credit Card:  You can set up a recurring contribution using a credit card by following the directions in the next section (below).  Setting up a recurring credit card payment automatically registers as a pledge, so there's no need to also send in a prayer card.

Options for sending in contributions:

• Personal Check:  You can mail personal checks to:  MTW Donations, P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284.  Always include "Sinks, acct #17143" somewhere on the check or memo line.
• Automatic Draft:  It's easy to set up an auto draft from your checking or savings account.  Simply print out MTW's e-giving brochure by clicking here.  Fill in the blanks and send it to MTW along with a cancelled check.
• Credit Card:  You can set up a one time or recurring contribution using your credit card by going here.
  

FAQ's

What if I'm unable to keep my pledge?

You can change it.  Ultimately, we'll trust God to raise up another donor to take your place.

How long will my pledge remain in effect?

Until you change it.  We'd love for you to think in terms of partnering with us during our first term in Japan (4 years).

If I don't feel comfortable making a pledge, do you still need contributions?

Yes!  We have significant one-time expenses associated with our move, language school tuition, plane tickets, etc.  When that money has been completely raised, we will be able to use extra money for ongoing financial support.

Will I receive a bill each month?

No, but you will receive a receipt - which can also serves as a reminder to send in the next month's contribution.

Are contributions to MTW tax deductible?

Yes!  All contributions are tax deductible.  You will receive an official receipt for your taxes during January.

I have another question...

Please feel free to contact us directly at grace4japan@gmail.com .  You may also visit the donor section of MTW's web page, which is located here.

Tsunami Victims say "Thank You"

Our December Newsletter is Online...

Our December Newsletter is hot off the press.  If you'd like to read it, you can do so here:  http://eepurl.com/hDFB6.