Sendai

After finishing the conference in Hakuba we traveled by car to the town of Marumori, where the Marumori Church ministry is based. It would be too complicated to try and explain all these saints are doing to spread the gospel, but it is staggering. They have 330 evangelists working in Japan, China, India and Burma. A man named Paul Broman came here with his brothers after WWII, learned the language, and literally began going door to door sharing the gospel. Now they send teams that hand out tracts outside schools, they broadcast the gospel on huge speakers on top of trucks (something that is legal and accepted in the Japanese culture), and post signs with Scripture references. These people are relentless in their mission to proclaim the gospel.

We worshiped with them on Sunday morning. I shared a few thoughts from a passage in 1 Corinthians, and Shannon sang a few verses of "Amazing Grace." Afterward we participated in a shared meal.

To support their work, they've started a hugely successful software company and private school. Today we visited their software company, Grape City, and their film production company. It's the biggest film studio northof Tokyo. It's so amazing. They pour all the money they make into gospel work. God has enabled them to make millions, and yet they live simply in Marumori.

Tomorrow, we'll visit their private school Mey Sen. There are 3,800 students there. Then we'll take the bullet train back to Tokyo.

Thank you for your prayers. We love you all, and look forward to being home.

In the mean time, below are some pictures from the conferences and from our time with the Broman family. Since we're having some difficulties with blogger, I'll give the captions up front, so they don't get all scattered around:

1. Me and my grandmother teaching the conference and old Japanese version of "rock, paper, scissors" that is sing-songy and fast-paced.

2.Shannon with a sweet Japanese mother that she became friends with.

3. Shannon greeting ladies after speaking. The women were really touched by her message. It was exciting to see how well attended her talk was.

4. My mom talking with a conference attendee. The women loved my mom and her teaching.

5. Shoes outside the kids classes in Hakuba.

6. The blue team during a tug of war.

7. JQ during a game time in the kids classes. During games they all wear these cool head bands to denote their teams.

8. Emma with Anna and Ayaka, two girls that befriended our family. They spent time hanging out in our room and we ate a meal with them. Anna's dad is an American so her English is very good.

9. The kids climbing the ski slope with Joy, Jane and Judith Broman. The little girl in the pink jacket the grand daughter of our distant relative.

10. Our "sayonara" picture with the Bromans in their home.

11. The kids on the playground after Sunday service at Marumori.

12. Me with Paul Broman, the man who came to Japan with $300 in his pocket over 60 years ago to proclaim the gospel.