Dear Friends & Prayer Partners,

We’ve been enjoying the cherry blossoms this week as we walk, jog, ride our bikes and drive around town. The tree above is right near  our home… it’s a bit hard to see from this photo but there are three colors of blossoms – red, pink, and white on the same tree – stunning! Although we are sending this out on April 1 please allow us to include a few items from March along with our prayer needs for April.

March Report

• We had asked you to pray about a young man from our Isesaki Church who was struggling with cancer. He died on February 25th. Although none of his family members are Christian they wanted to respect his faith by having us do a Christian funeral for him. We gladly did so and were given a wonderful opportunity to both serve this family as well as to share the story of Christ and our hope for eternal life. His father, Mr. Igarashi, has been in worship every Sunday since the funeral so we continue to pray for God’s miracle in his heart and those of other family members.
• Our Japan mission team had a great time of fellowship and fun together last week during a 3-day retreat. Andrea led several sessions on spiritual formation as we sought to deepen our relationship with God and each other.
• We’ve been enjoying a wonderful visit from Barbara Lundquist (my mother-in-law) filled with talking, laughing, and eating. We’ve loved the time together and will be very sad to say goodbye this week.

April Prayer Needs

1. Andrea’s teaching – thanks for remembering this ministry as Andrea gears up for the start of a new school year (from next week) at the Gunma Prefectural Women’s University. May God use each of her contacts and relationships…
2. Mission Team from First Covenant Church / Seattle – although this team of 8 (from one of our supporting churches) will not be arriving until mid-May, please pray that our planning and preparations will go well. The present plan is for them to visit Covenant ministries in the Kanto area for about half their time and to volunteer in the tsunami-stricken area of Ofunato for the remainder of their visit.
3. Audio Bible Japan– last month we highlighted this ministry in our prayer bulletin. We’re approaching 1,000 downloads of our mobile App and are praying for 10,000 to download this app during the next 6 months. Thanks for praying with us.
4. Sam, Lilla, and Sky – thanks for remembering our children in your prayers. They’ve just finished a week of spring break (wow! that seemed short….) and started school again this morning.

Sorry about the quality of this photo but it shows a glimpse of us celebrating Sam’s 18th birthday at a nearby restaurant. A great evening together!

As always, thank you so much for your interest and care for our family and the work we are involved in. We really appreciate your prayer support.

Your partners in prayer and mission,