CHRIST IS ALL
Winter 2013-2014 (December 2013, January & February 2014)
Dear Friend in Christ,
On 30 November 2013, I left my house in Matsuida and headed south
in
Early the next morning, Sunday, December 1st, I rode
the trains back past
From Monday, December 2nd, thru Christmas day, it was a
joy to daily do evangelistic work with the Japanese Christians in the 3 Mino
Mission churches. Several days, I walked from house to house, leaving their
Gospel literature at each door. I would also preach and sing in public. During December,
these Christians held Christmas services in about 22 different care facilities
for elderly people. I attended several of these services. At each facility, the
residents who wanted to attend our service would come from their rooms to the
dining hall or lounge where we held the service. Most were above 85 years old.
Several were in their 90s. One lady who attended was 100 years old. Most all of
them had lived their lives as Buddhists and Shinto believers. We clearly told
them of the Saviour born in a manger Who came to
eternally save them, while praying for our Lord to change their hearts to cause
them to trust in Him.
We had a Christmas service in one orphanage with about 50 children
(from 3 years old to 18 years old) attending. Likely none of their parents were
dead. But divorce, messed up home situations, and such like tragedies caused
them to be in the “orphanage.” O how my heart went out to
them, especially the precious little souls under 7 years old.
The Tomidahama church held a children’s Christmas service at the
church on Saturday, December 7th, and the Oogaki church held one the
following Saturday. About 50 children and a few parents attended at Tomidahama.
Most were souls who will not set foot in a church except for Christmas or
Pastor Isaac Ishiguro asked me to preach and teach several times
in the Oogaki and Tomidahama churches’ regular services. What a blessing! At
10:30 on Christmas morning, we had a service in the Tomidahama church.
Christmas afternoon, we went to 1 nursing home and then to a hospital. What a
blessed way to spend Christmas Day. I greatly rejoiced to spend most of
December with these fervent Japanese Christians at Mino Mission who spend the Christmas
season daily preaching Christ to as many precious lost souls as possible,
instead of daily gluttonously feasting on holiday cooking, typically most of
which is not healthy food and drink. I became so weary of such Christmas
feasting on Guam and in the
On December 26th, I arose about 4:30 AM, packed up my
belongings, walked to the nearby train station with my bags and caught the 5:24
AM train, the first train of the day. I rode it to
Two weeks before, while at Mino Mission I went to the nearest
office of
The next day, I put out tracts from house to house and preached in
public (and continued to do so daily). That evening, a truck delivered the 5
boxes of personal items, books, Christian literature, kitchen utensils, &
such that I had packed up in my house in Matsuida in late November & had a
Japanese Christian friend send them off on Christmas day. Only took 2 days for
the truckers to deliver my boxes here, 700 or so miles away.
I started searching out where churches were, and on Sunday
attended a Baptist church less than a mile from my apartment. During my stay
here, I attended 5 churches in town and 1 church in a town about 35-40 miles
away. The people at that Baptist church asked me to preach there on Sunday
morning, February 9th. By that time 4 people that had gotten my
Christian literature in their mailboxes had called my cell phone. None of them
were Christians. I invited them to church and 2 came that day, 64-year-old Mr.
Mizobe & 75-year-old Mrs. Kimura. One other, a young mother (Chiaki),
wanted to come with her 8-year-old son (Shoota), but she had already made firm
plans for the morning.
Praise God for working powerfully in hearts and bringing out these
lost souls to church. Thank you for praying for lost Japanese souls here. God
is hearing you and answering your prayers. On Saturday, February 22, I vacated that
apartment. While in Miyakonojo, God enabled me to distribute over 13,000 pieces
of Christian literature, preach and sing much in public, preach in church, and
witness to people personally. What a deep joy it all brought to me. Let’s
continue to pray for The Holy Ghost to produce much fruit from that labour.
During February, it snowed much where I permanently live in the
town of Matsuida, doing damage, causing injuries and taking lives in that area
(no deaths in my town of Matsuida). I thank God for letting me go south for the
winter where it didn’t snow.
The day I vacated the apartment (Feb. 22), I rode 2 trains to
I am so blessed of God to be allowed to do the work of an
evangelistic in many areas of
In Christ’s Love, Richard Yerby