Dear Praying Friends,
One of the biggest joys of working in a growing ministry is getting to see our teenagers involved in the ministry themselves. The fact that we have already started three other churches means there are a lot of areas for our teenagers to serve. Many of them help with the other church plants, and some work in more than one! The young people teach children's classes, sing
specials, go soul winning, work in the nurseries, take down names and decisions in the services, serve as ushers, and clean the facilities. On Saturdays during our soul-winning time, along with visiting around our home-church area, we have also visited at all of the new church-plant locations. One weekend we went to San Gabriel, and our group was able to see 26 people saved. Another weekend we went to San Genaro and saw 14 people receive Christ! It's amazing to see the young people get
excited about reaching others for Christ.
Several months ago we had Bryan and Kevin join us for a teen activity. Soon we realized that they weren't coming for anything, and we began to hear stories of their mom, stories of how she was unreasonable and warnings to just leave her alone. In an attempt to win Bryan and Kevin back, I went one day and spoke to her. Contrary to what I had heard, she was kind and explained that her boys could attend but that she was waiting for someone to come to explain to her what our church was all about. I had a lengthy conversation with her that day, and that following weekend her boys came back to our church and were baptized. Several weeks later, she wanted to come to church. Her brother is a faithful member at our and encouraged her to come. She came, was saved, and the very next week got baptized!
By this time we had also heard stories of their dad, an alcoholic. The boys started requesting prayer for him, and not long
after that, he came and was saved. He even came back to church that night! He has continued coming faithfully, along with his wife and two sons, to each service we have. We thank God for this family! But, the story does not end there. Several
weeks ago, we had two more boys begin to attend our youth classes, and they just happened to be the nephews of Bryan and
Kevin. Both of them were also saved and actually spend the weekends with their grandparents (Bryan and Kevin's mom and dad.) Yesterday at church Bryan and Kevin's older brother and his wife came to church. They both received Christ's free salvation.
Praise God for this "whole household" that has come to the saving knowledge of Christ! God truly does miracles!
My wife and I have settled quickly into our new apartment. It's now painted with American colors (AKA neutrals—no hot pink walls for us!) and feels like home. We love being closer to the people God has called us to serve. It's good to know that our teenagers and people can walk to our home if they ever need anything.
Thank you for your prayers and giving. We indeed are most richly blessed.
Serving Him,
Daniel and Heather Kokubun
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