February 2004
Greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun!
In our newsbrief last month, we listed three prayer requests,
and there has been movement on all three fronts. It’s a
combination of good news and bad news. We were disappointed to
learn that the government will not issue a visa for Vilmar Martinez,
who we had hoped would be able to help with the work here while
also teaching at a mission school in Tokyo. No specific reason
was given, and we cannot appeal it. We trust that although this
door has closed, God will open another for Vilmar to serve through.
Please keep her in your prayers.
On a different front, however, the trip planned in May has come
together very nicely after a slow start. We even have a person
on the waiting list, and so all of the spots were filled. With
only two of the ten reserved a month ago, we were getting a bit
concerned. Tim will be leading the group in visiting two supporting
churches on the Sundays, visiting some other church-related sites,
and also doing a lot of sight-seeing, including the three-day
trip into the Grand Canyon.
The third request for help in finding Labrador retriever breed
dogs for the Guide Dogs for the Blind association here in Japan
has led to several contacts that we hope will be fruitful, though
there is nothing definite yet. Please keep this in your prayers
as well.
I (Tim) will also be going to the United States in March for
a couple of weeks. I will be making a presentation at a conference
sponsored by “CPR”, that’s Cal-Pac Renewal (United
Methodist Church, California-Pacific Annual Conference), together
with Dr. Hugh Ross, of Reasons To Believe. My talk will be entitled
“Darwin and the Problem of Evil.” I will also visit
my 92 year-old mother in Phoenix for a few days as well as check
up on our two daughters. And while there, I will do some scouting
in preparation for the May trip.
We have been hearing a lot about the movie to open this week
in the United States, “The Passion of the Christ,”
and we’re looking forward to a chance to see it ourselves.
It is apparently coming to theaters in Japan in June, and so we
pray that God will use that mightily to reach Japan.
Tim and Juji Boyle
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
92 |
