September Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,                                                                                

 

Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
God gave us this verse as a mission call to Japan.  Today as we write this, October 7th, 2013, by the grace of God, marks the end of the first 30 years of fulfilling that call here in northern Hokkaido, Japan.  I recall on that day as we boarded the airplane out of Los Angles and we watched the lights of the Pacific coast of the United States fade away in the darkness, I silently sang the national anthem and thanked God for His calling.  In the years that have passed, many things in the United States have changed:  Economic, politics and morals have declined greatly.  There is a great need for those biblical Christians in the United States to abound in taking a stand for the Lord in the grace of God.  We are thankful for each of you that do this so that we and many other missionaries throughout the world can continue to give the gospel to the people God has called us to.  You too have a calling of God.  It is the same one we have; only the location is different.  May God bless your witness this day for the Lord.

Memories abound of God’s goodness not only here in Japan but also in His training period through the years since we got married in 1974.  Little did we know that each step we took in obedience and all along the way were part of His boot camp training time.  Helping us learn to trust in each other, walk along with each other and know that God was leading and helping us making decisions (first 3 years); leading Ken back into some schooling to finish one degree (1 yr) and at the end of that moving us to Minnesota where we were quite content in the assistant pastorate work we were involved in (2 ½ years) when God moved on our own hearts to go into full time church planting on a foreign field.  That led Ken to go back to Bible school one more time (2 yrs) to get some more training specifically in missions. While there we were involved in AWANA and jr. church, all the while seeking where God would want us to go.  It’s not an easy decision when the entire world needs the Gospel!!  Here is what Vicki wrote about our call to Japan on our 20^th anniversary—

During his senior year at that time, a senior missionary from northern Japan, specifically the island of Hokkaido, came to visit on campus and tell the student body of his desire of reaching the northern rural area of Hokkaido, Japan with new missionaries where he had been ministering for quite a few years.  So many missionaries called to Japan stay in the southern larger populated areas.  His desire was to see more come north. And not only north to Japan but by a special program of new missionaries working with a veteran missionary for two years to lead them patiently through the ropes of everyday living, learning the language, and dealing with people in the difficult country of Japan. We praise God for that patient guarded teaching.

 Ken was on campus that day hearing the missionary speaker in chapel.  The campus chapel time was always broadcast on the local Christian radio station so I listened while at home.  When Ken walked through the door of our home that afternoon I don't remember which of us started talking first, but it was both of the same thing—what do you think about northern Japan?

We prayed, discussed the program, met with the missionary several times as well as several pastors that were working with him, got the counsel of our pastor and my Dad. What a blessing it was to meet and pray with him and when we asked him what he thought this was Dad's reply, "Your mother and I have been praying for several years now that God would send someone to help in this needy area.  Never did we dream our own daughter and son-in-law would answer that prayer." -----

After Ken graduated in 1981 we began our year and half of full time deputation with much fear and trembling but also joy that God had shown us his will.  God blessed and there is no way we can share all that He has done in these last 30 yrs. But this one thing we know: We fail, but God picks us up; We try and God works through us; We plant, water and pray that the seed will grow into true salvation and that the seed will not be plucked out.  That’s the way it was when we first started and that’s the way it continues. Japan is still a hard field to reach with the Gospel but we will patiently keep on planting and watering and waiting for the increase.  May we always be faithful for our God is Always Faithful and His mercies are new every morning.

 

Serving Christ Together,    

Ken & Vicki Mansell           Just A Prayer At Night – Your evening is our daytime!

September 2012 Newsletter

                                                                         

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it.                                                Luke 5:13     

Jesus used this parable to teach the hypocritical and self righteous Pharisees (verse 2) the value God places on each person's soul and need for salvation.  To a shepherd, each sheep is important.  Even though this man still had 99 sheep, he went looking for the one that was lost.  In verse seven Jesus interprets this parable: Lu 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.  So it behooves us to take the same attitude as our dear Saviour.  Yes, we need to rejoice in, care for and enjoy the fellowship of the 99 who are safely in the fold of the local church.  But there are those who are not saved yet.  There are those who have left that need to be brought back.  There are no lost causes in God's mind.  May we have our Lord's mind in this, too.  Let us seek the Lost!

  Fall is here and in beautiful colors…somewhere! But we are thankful for the seasons that help us also remember our God is in control!  And we are having a beautiful fall. We can still be outside and it has allowed Ken the opportunity to get all the winterizing done that needs to be completed. The men finally came to discuss the final process of getting the roof back on our carport/veranda.  We are thankful for their willingness to work with his designs and ideas while at the same time giving their own advice. The long and short of it—we will need to just temporarily fix something over the walkway to the house where the snow will come off the roof. Then next spring they will come in and finish the new roof design. There isn’t enough time on their list of things (from other places as well) to get it all done right before snow falls. God knows and we will work with the plan.

  Hitomi Tsuzuki came through her knee surgery well and is still in the hospital with daily rehabilitation.  It will probably be a month long stay and that’s just the way it is here in Japan. Her parents live an hour from the hospital so eventually she will continue rehab by commute from there but they wanted her to be doing it daily right now until she gets to walking with some ease again. We made the 5 hr. trip to see her the day after the surgery. As a result of her father coming here to Teshio to pick her up and her mother being at the hospital when we went, we have now met both parents and we trust that opens doors to making the decision to openly ask Christ to be her Saviour. We know family ties have held her in place—they are an extremely close family.  We also pray it opens doors with her parents and they have more peace about who their daughter is associating with.  We have to make an official business trip to the same city in October (18^th) so will try to see her again, then.  We are in constant contact with her via email to her cell phone.

  Vicki took a 3-day trip with a long time friend of the ladies chorus Vicki is president for.  This is always an opportunity for more witnessing and she also enjoys the area of Hokkaido she gets to see for the first time with these travels. The fall colors weren’t quite in bloom yet but still enjoyed some hiking in a forest with falls, a wood arts craft place and beautiful scenery as they drove.  Mrs. Kuwata comes to our Christmas program every year and allows Vicki to pray out loud for safety, etc when they are together. Her heart, though, seems to get more closed to even the ‘need’ for change in her life. She has always been healthy and happy so figures her gods are good enough. We know God can still show her the way and pray that we will be sensitive to that opportunity when it comes.

  Masataka Moriyama (age 30) has still been coming on Sundays he doesn’t to work.  We trust this will continue.  We are not sure how much he understands of the preaching yet but glad that we can leave that need to the Holy Spirit. In time, we can ask more questions of what is going on in his mind.

  Ken has to have a laser endoscopic surgery for some small kidney stones that have made it to the bladder but are too big to be passed otherwise.  This was just discovered and is not a situation to leave for possible further complications. There will be a few day (3-5) hospitalization attached beings we live so far away.  It will take place the last of October or first part of November. Thank you for praying that they can get the stones small enough to pass.  He is looking forward to this next round of hospitalization evangelism!!

Prayer Requests:

1.       Families of believers to be saved

2.       Baptism of believers

3.  Health of Mrs. Sonoda-she never knows if she is going to have a hard day or calm day—dizziness; discomfort

4.       Bible study with Miss Tsuzuki; healing of her knee

5.       New inroads to be found into people’s lives and hearts

6.       Yen/dollar values

7.       Ken’s surgery and passing of stones; witnessing opportunities

8.       Wisdom as we begin preparing for Christmas program evangelism

Serving Christ Together,    

Ken & Vicki Mansell                

Just A Prayer At Night – Your evening is our daytime!

Beautiful Island of Hokkaido