November Newsletter

                 November 15^th, the extended deadline for our papers to be processed, went by without word from Japan Emigration or reply to our liaison’s questions about the delay. We’ve been assured that our papers are going to be processed, but there seems to no longer be a timeline for what we can expect. All of this has led our Campus Crusade leadership to see a need for alternative plans. If our papers still have not come from Japan by December 6^th, my team will go to a different country. The decision of what country will be approached this week.
                For me this decision comes as both a relieving end to months of waiting and a disappointment that my desire to minister in Japan may not be realized. Reflecting on the time of waiting, it is so clear to me that God has used it. Since June, God has been telling me that this Stint year would be a refining process. Refining does not happen when things go as you want, but when you learn to want God more than your own plans. As a team we’ve been reading A. W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God; this quote stuck out to me, “We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One.” As I let go of my own plans, I am excited at the potential for these changes to give God glory. It’s going to be an amazing adventure.
                Your prayer as we go into this time is vital! My team is working to set up 24 hours of prayer on Monday; I'll post more on that soon. Pray for wisdom and an understanding of God’s will for Arijaan, Shane, and Cam, the people deciding where we will go.  Pray for Albert, my co-leader, and me as we shepherd the team through this transition. Pray for the people of whatever place we go: Tokyo or another city. Finally, pray that the gospel would go out in Japan; we are not the only missionaries with delayed visas. May God continue to call Christians to go there.
           I am newly excited for the things God has planned! By December 10^th I will post where we are headed.  I’m so thankful for your partnership in the things God has called me to do. God will be glorified.
                                                                                -Sarah