July 2000

Dear Friends,

As we wind up our fifth year and look back on what God has been doing, we can see that God has been planting many seeds, even
though we might have been interested more in growing stability. So many of our regular people are only here for a short time and then go
back to their countries, but, on the other hand, God amazes us almost weekly with opportunities to be used by God in the lives of other
people.

Kumamoto City has an "International Center," and the second floor has a bulletin board where people can hang various notices. I look for
opportunities to develop relationships through which the love of God in Jesus Christ might be shown. Last October, I answered a notice
by two law students at Kumamoto University looking for a free English class. I called them and met them on the university campus. We
talked of many things, but eventually they suggested that I teach them the Bible in English (until that point our conversation had been mostly
in Japanese). I agreed, and we have been meeting about twice a month for Bible study on the Gospel of Mark. They drink in Jesus’ life
and teaching as if they had been thirsty for a long time. They recently brought another friend along, so there are three of them.

The other day I was waiting for someone to show up for a weekly appointment, and I was standing out in front of the church listening to
the birds. Some mothers who have kids in Oei Kindergarten (the Kindergarten related to the church where we work) came and started
talking to me. A few of them have been doing a Bible study with Hideko for some time, and nearly all of them have children in our English
classes. They asked me to do a simple worship service for them a few times a month. This is my first time to actually conduct regular
services in Japanese, and since it is simple, informal, and with people I know, I have a chance to "practice" doing church in Japanese with
them. We have had two services, and they seem to be excited not only about continuing but about inviting others.

We have many other opportunities like this, opportunities to show God’s love to people in ways they can understand. Everything from
fixing bicycles to teaching English to replacing a hard drive in an old Macintosh to speaking to older people at a community center. The
places where God seems to be working in people’s lives and calling them in their hearts is way beyond our abilities to respond. Truly "the
harvest is plentiful and the workers are few."

God has blessed us, and God has led us to bless others. This is the way the promise works. We receive something from God with the
opportunity and responsibility to use it for God and for others. Without really working at it, we have more than 100 English students.
Nearly every week someone quits and another person joins, but in almost four years, the number of joiners has outnumbered the people
who had to quit. Through these English classes and through performing weddings at a local hotel, we have managed to save close to
$100,000.

We came to Japan believing very strongly that God wanted to use us to build a Japanese church in the south part of the city where there is
no church. God’s way to get us there has been an interesting adventure. There is some land with a processed-sandwiches manufacturing
shop on it. The location is almost exactly in the center of the populated area with no church and sits in plain view of the most heavily
traveled road in Kumamoto City. It seems clear that God has been doing things behind our backs for a long time, and recently the
blossoms of God’s engineering seem to be blooming. The building itself is just a concrete and steel warehouse, but the walls inside are
almost exactly where one would put them if one wanted to build a church with a sanctuary, an office, other multipurpose rooms, and a
manse. It has adequate parking, which is critical for churches these days, and there is a signal to help people enter from all directions.
Realistically, we have about $100,000 saved; we can get about $100,000 from churches in Japan; and we have a donor who is able to
give about $50,000. We can easily make payments on a loan of up to about $150,000 without putting much burden on the church, so the
remaining $100,000 we need to raise from other sources and from supporters in the United States. We are looking for people who can
share our vision of seeing God expand the church of Jesus Christ in this city.

We need people to be active in prayer with us and for us. Anyone can subscribe to our weekly prayer requests on the Internet, either by
sending a blank e-mail to kiconline-subscribe@egroups.com or, if you don’t want to join e-groups, you can be sent the messages
manually. Send an e-mail to pray@kiconline.com and you will be manually added without having to sign up for anything.

Craig and Hideko Roberts

Email: craig@mtwo.com or hideko@mtwo.com