March Newsletter

To Our Family, Friends, and Supporters:

After a long 14-hour flight from Washington DC, we have finally arrived in Tokyo, Japan! Actually, the precise address of where we live is Soka City, which is about 45 minutes north of Tokyo by train. We have moved into our apartment -which is not that small by Japanese standards, so we feel very blessed with our living arrangements. In fact, our apartment is a 5-minute walk to Dokkyo University, where we will be working with a small but growing group of students who desire to meet weekly to hear an English Bible study as well as join in prayer.

The conclusion of March and introduction of April is a special time in Japan because it marks a season of new beginnings. With Cherry Blossoms blooming, a new semester of school starting, and college graduates being accepted and introduced to the rigid Japanese workforce, many people use this time to reflect on the recent past and to look forward to the new things facing them in the year to come. The Cherry Blossom itself is more than a beautiful tree to the Japanese because it represents the fragility of life and how quickly it can pass.

In our short time in this nation, we have already found that an appreciation for life is a necessity, where time seems to move just a little bit faster. Since arriving on March 16, our schedules have been filled with meetings at Riverside Chapel, Japanese language classes, English conversation groups and Chi Alpha preparations. From the onset, we were immediately given the responsibility to lead worship during Riverside Chapel’s English-speaking service on Sunday afternoons -which comprises of a surprising number of Africans, mainly from Ghana and Nigeria. Thus, Sundays are fairly busy for us as we attend the main Japanese-speaking service in the morning, the English-speaking service in the afternoon and then a young adult service in the evenings called Youth Alive. We especially enjoy working with Youth Alive as they are mainly Japanese college students and young adults of the church.

Thankfully, we believe that we are adjusting well to this completely new culture, and we certainly have been enjoying our time here thus far. We are also excited to get our schedules for the Riverside International and English school and to begin teaching English for the upcoming semester that commences on April 10th. In our journey, please continue to pray that:

➢ The language barrier will only grow smaller as we interact and desire to build deeper relationships with both the many Christian and non-Christian Japanese we have already met and will continue to meet
➢ The Lord will protect our physical health daily while we are away in a foreign country
➢ The Lord will give us patience, strength, as well as innovative ideas in order to teach and develop the worship team of the English-speaking service

In closing, we cannot express how grateful we are for the financial and spiritual support that has been given to us. Each individual person and family that is supporting us is vital for fulfilling the mission of bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to Japan!


Always,
Jeremy & Kathy Taylor