Email sent May 24, 2007.        Email index

Hi from Hieberts

Dear Praying Friend,

Support Level

We are grateful to God for His gracious provision and for the many of you who have prayed and given. We are very near reaching our full support level. There are still some people praying about and a church or two discussing our support so we are confident that we can return to Japan. Though we had a substantial amount of designated support from a good number of people and churches for several years already, it has been a stretching experience to trust God for the full amount. "Thank you Lord for your faithfulness!"

 

Departure Date

We plan to return to Japan on July 3. That means we only have about 5 weeks left! There are still a lot of things to do and people to see.

 

Concerns for the next months

We are looking forward to being with our church people again. There will be many things to catch up on and some adjustments to be made. We will have to work quickly to finalize the Day Camp ministry plans for August as well as firm up the fall and winter church schedule.

Please pray that our church people will not be weary, but will be eager to serve the Lord together! We want to focus on following Jesus as God’s people in Toyota City. Pray that we will seek God’s face and hear His voice and live passionate lives of love and witness in our city. Is God giving you some insights or visions of what He has in mind for the next year? We’d love to hear from you and pray for God to demonstrate His glory for the salvation of many in Toyota City.

An YMI Action team (MBMS International) will be coming to serve in the greater Nagoya area for 4 weeks shortly after we arrive. We will be spending a good bit of time orientating them and helping with the logistics of their ministry. They will serve in our church for one week in August.

Continue to pray for our 3 teenagers. We will be leaving Brandon behind. He has a landscaping/lawn care job in Calgary and will return to Bethany College in fall. Cambria and Trenton will miss their friends and need help adjusting back to Japan. Pray for Cambria as she will enter a new high school. Pray especially that Trenton will make exceptional progress in the last few weeks here and that his teacher at the international school in Japan will be suited for and sensitive to his learning needs.

 

Urgent Need

We are in great need of 4 workers for Japan. Only 3 weeks ago we had 5 applicants for teaching English as a second language (ESL) in Japan, now we have none. Each for their own reasons, the prospective ESL teachers will not be joining us in Japan later this year. One was to teach in Toyota City and join us in our ministry there and the other 3 were to teach in Mennonite Brethren churches in Osaka.

We have two requests. First, pray that God will provide the right people to do this vital ministry. We are calling out to God to provide within the next 3 weeks (middle of June). Without these workers, the ESL outreach programs of 10 MB congregations will be in jeopardy and the students who have been studying at these churches until now will likely lose their one connection to a church in Japan.

Second, please inform us (by email -  ) or the mission office (Call Teresa Born at 604-859-6267 or 1-888-866-6267) if you know of someone who is interested or you feel would be suited for this kind of service. We are looking for people passionate about serving Jesus, native English speakers, college/university grads, and are open to teaching children and adults. It would be beneficial if they had some experience and/or training in teaching ESL, but not mandatory.

 

Rejoicing in God’s goodness to us!
Laurence and Leona Hiebert
 

Mission Office
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