As part of our Gunma Harvest efforts we began going door to door and passing out some literature in the village of Nanmoku in 2008. I’m not sure how many trips we have made into the village since then. The town which adjoins Nanmoku to the north is Shimonita. We were aware of a church in this town when we began visiting Nanmoku. It is the Shimonita Christ Church and is part of the denomination which was begun here in Japan by the German Alliance Mission.

In the past year we have had several chances to visit the Shimonita Christ Church and Pastor Noboru Ichikawa and his wife Julie. Since they were the closest church to Nanmoku we have been passing out flyers and literature prepared by their church. Several of their church members have also helped with the tract distribution.

Fellowship with them has been a great blessing and one of the “fruits” which has come about because of our prayers for Nanmoku. Because most of the churches in Pastor Ichikawa’s denomination are far to the west (a day’s travel) we have been thrilled to have him begin to join with us in our Gunma area Covenant Pastors group. We pray for their ministry in Shimonita and can now pray together for God’s harvest work here in Gunma.

Today we all visited their church for a chance to share a meal, see their facility first hand (some in our group were visiting for the first time) and just get to know each other better. Shimonita is famous for its leeks / onions and so we enjoyed a “nabe” meal where we all boil vegetables and meat in a large pot and share around the table. Click HERE to see a few more photos.