David and Jenny Harris: February 2007
Family News
If you have been keeping up with us, you know that we are currently in the States for an abbreviated furlough until about the end of the school year. We will be returning to Japan, June 19. Until then, we are reporting to churches and allowing our second daughter, Juliana, to experience the last half of her senior year at our home church in the Atlanta area.
I just returned from about three weeks in Japan while the family stayed here. It was the first trip back since late December. I was anxious to see how the work was progressing. It was a great blessing to see our church family pitching in to make the work go forward. This is the first time that we have not had help to cover for us, but things are going quite well.
Jannah is now back at West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, CA. She is doing well in her studies. It will just be a few weeks until we will get to see her for her spring break.
Juliana and Jessica are enjoying their classes and do not seem to have any problem adjusting to life in the States. Josiah is doing fine after having come down with a nasty stomach virus.
During our time in the States, our home church is allowing us to stay in one of their houses just across the street. It is quite convenient and comfortable.
Ministry Needs
There are two special requests that we have during our time away from our work. The first is for our continued tract distribution and the second for the messages that I am preparing for our people.
As I have mentioned before, we are endeavoring to pass out close to 500,000 tracts before the end of August of this year. We started this project in September of last year. One of the reasons I needed to return to Japan last month was to continue working on this project. During my three weeks there, we were able to print close to 100,000 tracts in preparation for the next couple of months.
There are about 41,000 tracts going out throughout different areas of Aomori city and prefecture even as we are here in the States. Please pray that the Lord will help us to see much fruit from this project.
During my trip to Japan, I received a call from a man who had just received one of our tracts. He was visiting a church searching for the truth. Yet, at the same time, he seems to be under the impression that there is good in all religions. He is a practicing Buddhist (Sokka Gakkai) who believes in reincarnation and the teachings of his sect of Buddhism. Please pray for his salvation.
Since we doubled our output of tracts from this past September, we have been amazed to see the Lord constantly providing for the needs of this project. It was a step of faith in that we had no idea from where the funds would come to cover the cost of production and distribution. To date, the Lord has graciously met every need! Thank you for your prays and help!
As for the second request, I am preparing taped messages for our church family while we are away. This was an idea I learned from another missionary when he had to return to the States without help. This is going well and our people are using these recordings for the message time of our services. Please pray that the Lord will continue to guide and help our church to grow and that souls will be saved. Also, please pray that the Lord will bless our church with national leadership.
Unusual Winter
Aomori city has an annual snowfall of some 300 inches (25 feet) from November to March. It is common for us to have from 120-180 inches or more in the last half of January alone.
During the three weeks I was back in Japan, everyone was talking about how little snow had fallen. Reports are that this is the smallest amoung of snowfall our city has seen in over 100 years. Believe me, very few people in our part of the world are complaining especially since we have seen over 30 feet (360 inches) in each of the past three winters.
Please note that we are in the States until June. Our address is:
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Thank you for praying for us!
David & Jenny Harris
Aomori, Japan