Ministry Updates and News from the Mehns
We had great vacation time in the US and arrived back safely last month. But we both feel like we have been thrown on a fast moving treadmill since we returned to Tokyo. This spring the speed will pick up even more with visitors coming, ministries continuing, new ministries beginning, and remodeling on our house and ministry center. PTL! Meetings with Japanese leaders have been excellent last month. Thanks for praying. John has begun sharing…
Read a NY Times article this last week. The summary of it is that due to the economy and the growing silver generation there is nothing hopeful for the young people to find fulfilling employment or achieving a success life for their families. As shown by many polls on religious value this generation is searching for peace and spiritual fulfillment. There are not enough people sharing about the good news that can be found in…
20 centuries after Jesus said “go into all the world and make disciples”, Satan remains in unchallenged control of 1,800 of Japan’s UNCHURCHED RURAL AREAS (URAs) where only 1 in 1000 are Christian. Japan has about 1,800 foreign missionaries plus the Japanese pastors associated with 8,000 churches, yet only a disproportionately small and oft-isolated fraction work in rural areas. Few Christ followers are even consciously aware of the widespread number of spiritually-neglected URAs remaining in…
2010 was a challenging year to be a missionary in Japan. The decline in the dollar has eroded what we need to live and work on. The dollar in 2010 went from 95 to 82 yen/$, or a decline of nearly 15%. When we came to Japan in 1985 we got over 200 yen/$ !!!! So practically a gallon of milk went from $7.79 to $9.02. Regular gas is now about $5.87 per gallon. We…
WE’RE GRANDPARENTS! Molly Elizabeth Melancen was born December 9th, coming two weeks early. Regretfully we arrived for vacation on the 13th too late to help out at the beginning. Both Beth and Molly are doing pretty well. Thanks for your prayers for a safe delivery. Pray for our very cute granddaughter that she would grow strong and learn to love Jesus. MORE CELEBRATIONS! This year, especially December, has been a year of real celebrations for…
We wish everyone a Christ-filled warm Christmas with family and friends. May each of us appreciate more deeply the baby Jesus and what he has done to give us joy, peace, love and acceptance.
On December 5th, we celebrated 25 years of missionary service in Japan. By the grace of God we have been able to serve the church in Japan through a quarter of a century. His Grace is sufficient.
1. Elaine’s Bible study for women has many deep discussions such as the difference between being a sinner and a criminal. One re-Christian member keeps inviting new ones to join. Pray for all of them as they learn more about the wonders of Christ. 2. Thank you for praying through important meetings with the Rengo and our Japan mission in November. Everything proceeded well along with good personal interactions. 3. On December 11, we have…
On November 29, Elaine held her annual Christmas Tea for all the women in her various classes. Usually there are about 20 ladies but this time 28 came! (And 10 more were unable to attend.) There was no place to put them in our small house. Mrs. Yoko Saito, originally from our Niiza church, shared with the ladies about the true meaning of Christmas. Pray for these ladies as they contemplate Christmas and also for…
The first CPI BootCamp for basic church planting training was November 16-18. About 50 participated from all over Japan, from Sendai to Okinawa. John thinks that the BootCamp was the most effective regional training CPI has ever done. At the last minute, a guest speaker from the Acts 29 Network cancelled so John and Dan Iverson had to do an additional session. For the first time publically, John presented some of his research and new…