John Livingston

We just returned from our trip to Japan which was full of visiting with 52 of those who are dear to us and the Lord, plus another 18 if you include their family members for a total of 70 people! Some of these 52 recently returned to Japan, the most recent just one month before us, while others go back 28 years to the very start of our ministry, with people from each of the years in between as well. Each of these experiences reminded me how important it is for us to keep bringing the good news to the Japanese people who God kindly brings for a period of time to be with us, who then like Kiyo can press into the lives of their family, friends and co-workers, the many lonely and empty Japanese people who will never know or have the opportunity to be exposed to Christianity as those who have this special opportunity do by coming to the states and hearing the Gospel. Yes, it is good to know that when we invest in their lives, we are also helping to reach many more of Japan’s desperately lost population and to carry the Lord’s great commission out among them. Thank you for praying for us and supporting us in this very strategic work of the Lord’s! It is such a joy and we are so thankful.

We worked hard to make sure that things would go well with our ministry here in Kentucky in our absence, and in fact I think it was good for us to be away once in a while like this, because as a result other people stood up to serve in ways which they hadn’t before, and were encouraged by their impact. We returned to find my 96-year-old mother well, thanks to the support of six friends from all over America. This month we will be catching up to get back on top of everything here! 

Please pray that all will go well with the outbound seminary couple that we were able to meet on our trip – that things will go with their visa application and interviews, and that they will not only be able to come but want to serve and reach out together with us at Izumi Community Church when they arrive in August. We believe they could be just the people we have been praying to the Lord for. Their names are Nozumu and Terra. The husband is Japanese and the wife American, who speaks Japanese well. We were so glad to be able to meet them in Japan and get to know them better. They really seem like they would be a perfect fit for us.