Japan Earthquakes, Tsunami, Children, Workers Prayer
Schesser Christian Missionary News

From: Scott & Leah Schesser, Missionaries to Japan <scott.schesser@agmd.org>
Date: Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Subject: The First Three Months
To: Friends of Missions

Update on Japan

Many of you seem to receive news before us here in Iwakuni. As you know, there have been many more earthquakes and at least two more tsunami warnings since the major disaster on March 11th.

The Assemblies of God along with many other organizations from around the world have responded. The road to recovery will be long with much needed help for a year or two. Here is a link to to the Japan Assemblies of God relief efforts blog - scroll through to find some great stories of God's work through the pastors and missionaries here.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/saigaihonbu/c/92741554571d5d9ee169ae5283b7c0d4

Please continue to pray for so many in shelters, children without parents, the plant workers, and also for the relief efforts.

Our church in Iwakuni has had the opportunity to bless one of our church member's family in Northern Japan that has lost everything. We were not only able to send some funds, but a rice cooker, toaster oven, cooking pot, vacuum cleaner and kitchen supplies.

We have not yet scheduled a trip to be a part of the relief efforts, but hope to after our family has moved later this month.

We Have Found a House

Thank you to so many of you that have been praying for our housing situation. God always works in ways we do not expect and understand (see the story below about Manabu). In Japan, there are neighborhood realtors that only handle a small area, so we visited about 17 realtors to find a rental home. To make things even more challenging, the military has moved a great deal of people off-base to allow both for remodeling and also in preparation for another base merging with this one. The military have the funds to pay the highest asking price, so not only are there very few houses left to rent in Iwakuni, the houses that are available cost significantly more than the surrounding towns. Each time we walked into a realtor, we were told the same thing, "Sorry no houses."

We did have the opportunity to look at only a few houses in Iwakuni. The ones we turned down were either by a factory, which was not good for Katelyn, or we simply could not fit our small Japanese van down the road or in the driveway.

With two months of searching it came down to two houses in Iwakuni. The first house was smaller, cheaper, older, not well maintained, in a neighborhood and had no parking for even one visitor. The second house was in a business district, bigger, had parking for visitors nearby, but more expensive. We decided on the second house with more parking. Although our kids will not be able to run outside and play with neighbors, we thought it would be better for the ministry to allow for visitors.

Please pray for us as we pack up once more, move our things and settle into a new house and neighborhood. Although our struggles do not compare to the disaster up north, it has been a long road and we look forward to having a permanent home. I also thank God for a patient wife that doesn't complain about packing up all the things she just unpacked and put away.

God Please Send Us People

As I was taking a shower to get ready for church my wife knocks on the bathroom door to tell me to hurry up. Although Leah has told me to hurry up several times before, I heard a concern in her voice as she told me there was a man at the door. Leah said that he was here for church. I laughed, because our church is 30 minutes away. I was eager to talk with him. I rushed to finish my shower and greet our friend at the door.

I opened the front door to find a man maybe in his late thirties. I could tell he had not had a shower in a long time. He went on to tell me he was homeless and had found our church name in a phone book (somehow our house address was listed.) Manabu had lost his factory job about six months prior and slept in the city park the night before. Our new friend seemed to be just a regular guy that had come on some hard times.

Needless to say, we invited him in. We found out that Manabu was a Christian and he was on his way to Osaka. He did not ask us for much, he just wanted to go to church. I told him that he was welcome to take a shower and have breakfast with us. My girls were so funny - they were amazed that there was a homeless man in our shower.

Leah cooked a big breakfast for our brother in Christ. I think it was the first time he had ever had a smoothie, because he was really impressed by Leah's cooking skills. It touched our heart when Manabu said he was hungry and had not eaten in a while. I instantly thought of Matthew 25 when Jesus said, "I came to you hungry and you gave me nothing to eat."

With a shower and a full stomach, we all headed to church. I was concerned about Manabu's time when I invited him to church 30 minutes away, and then I said to myself, "Where else does he have to go?" We arrived at church and begin to introduce Manabu as our guest and pointed several of our Japanese members his way. A Japanese Christian lady in our church had an incredible time of prayer with him - we were all very excited and felt God was doing a good work in our brother's life.

I was humbled during the offering when Manabu put some change in the basket. Again, my mind went to the story of the widows mite in Mark 12. Manabu worshiped the Lord during the service and afterwards said that he enjoyed coming.

After church we took Manabu out to lunch for some Japanese curry. He ate the largest plate on the menu and we were happy to see him enjoy it. During lunch, we talked again about how he was getting to Osaka, a city about five hours away from Iwakuni by bullet train. Manabu replied that he was going to walk there. Obviously, he needed some help. We decided to buy him a train ticket to his parents house in Osaka and also give him some spending money for the trip. We prayed with Manabu and sent him on his way.

The car was filled with conversation on the drive back home with the kids. They asked, "Did he really sleep in the park? Do you think God sent him to us? Was this the answer to our prayers for God to bring more people to our church?" I asked the question, "What if we had moved?" The thought of Manabu arriving to an empty house was difficult to imagine. Not only did our Japanese neighbor become a Christian recently, but God sent us a homeless man. God's timing for our move to Iwakuni is perfect. Our minor inconvenience of not being settled in a home seemed so minor to these victories.

One last thought is that we have been asking the Lord to grow our church. We think of families that could help the church be self-supporting again. Although this is important for Iwakuni AG, it seems God had a different view of who we needed to minister to. I have been praying that God will send us who He wants to and that we will be faithful to all that come to our door.

Thank you to so many of you that allow us to be here through your prayers and support. Lord, send us many more that need a physician!

Our First Baptism

We have three Japanese and five Americans that have shown interest in baptism (one is our daughter, Katelyn). This Sunday we will baptize our first new believer, and the rest will follow in a month or two. Please pray for one Japanese boy in particular. He has been told by his father and grandmother that he is allowed to go to church occasionally, but cannot be baptized into the Christian faith. His mom is the only one in his family that knows he has made a decision for Christ. Everyone is very concerned about the reaction of the family. Pray with us for God's wisdom.

Prayer Requests

• We shared many times on itineration that the stress on a military marriage is so great. In our first three months, we have seen this to be one of the greatest prayer needs for our church and community. Please pray for us as we care for several couples.
• We ask for your continued prayers for northern Japan and for the churches in how to respond.
• Please pray for our transition to our new house. Since we are not in a residential neighborhood, we hope to have the kids involved in activities and also language classes in the area.

Scott, Leah, Emily, Lily & Katelyn Schesser

Web Site: http://www.schesser.com
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