FOR THE ONE. A Lesson from Japan.

After two plane rides and an overnight bus, our entire squad of 19 people arrived in the quiet town of Ishinomaki, Japan early in the morning, just as the first snow of the year was preparing to fall. We meet our hosts, Rich and Emi, and make our way into a small cafe on a street corner, J’s Cafe, where we would spend our entire month.

The 10 girls on our squad would stay in a house a quarter mile away from the cafe, while the 9 guys would all stay in a room above the cafe. We began each morning with a devotion, then we all would go about our day: teaching Conversational English to customers in the cafe, taking turns grocery shopping and cooking lunch and dinner for the entire squad, passing out flyers, preparing for a concert, and taking care of children upstairs at a daycare the cafe also provided.

That was the day-to-day, but throughout the month, we also hosted three concerts (we have such a talented squad!), three movie nights, and a day full of dance classes. It was so fun! And the coolest part was, the Lord privileged us to see the beginnings of a harvest in Ishinomaki, as a result of the faithfulness of God and also of Rich, Emi, and our other long-term friends, Joe and Cherry.

A little note on Japan: despite being an open country, it is actually one of the most difficult places to share the gospel in. Being one of the oldest and proudest cultures in the world, it really isn’t a surprise that it is the largest unreached people group on earth. While Japan is full of hospitality, amazing food, and extremely kind and fun people, it is also a culture that places tradition, family, heritage, and honor above all else. To walk away from any number of these would greatly affect one’s life.

So despite many missionaries living in Japan and despite being a country that is open to the evangelism of the gospel, there remains a lot of cultural barriers that take years of faithfulness to break down. And our hosts, Rich, Emi, Joe, and Cherry, all demonstrated to our squad what true faithfulness looked like. And let me tell you, it doesn’t look like organizing a huge event and having half of the town show up. No, true faithfulness is praising God for each and every individual that the Lord places in front of you, and investing in that person with every moment given to you.

That is what Rich did. If even one new customer walked into the cafe, or if one new student came in to attend daycare, He would praise God for moving and would faithfully invest in that one person in a way that I honestly had never seen before.

So, for the entirety of the month, with every person that walked in the cafe, I learned what it meant to be intentional and I learned what it meant to praise God for going after the one. Because that is where He begins to move. If even one life is changed, or if even one person is brought to Christ, there is a celebration in heaven!

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” – Luke 15:7

Yes, the same God who brought 3,000 to Christ at Pentecost is the same God who leaves the 99 to find the one. He is intentional with all of his children, and we are to be intentional as well.

While we were in Ishinomaki, the Lord blessed us in being able to witness the fruits beginning to reveal themselves in J’s cafe. At the beginning of the month, we actually were able to share responsibilities pretty well between the 19 of us. One child in daycare, a few people came in here and there in the cafe, a few people in attendance for our first concert. It was great! And we all got to display our gifts even with this schedule. But by our last week, we actually found ourselves almost unable to keep up with the amount of people coming into the cafe. Remember that one child in daycare? Well, on our last day working the daycare, we had a room FULL of children AND their moms attending. We had new people coming into the cafe almost every day as well.

The Lord is moving! Rich would tell you that it was because God sent 19 world racers to Ishinomaki, but I actually just see that we got the privilege of being a part of and witnessing God’s faithfulness in response to the faithfulness of Rich, Emi, Cherry and Joe for the years they have spent there.

Please be praying for J’s Cafe, that the Lord would continue to grow and work and move there and that our friends may have support and encouragement as they continue on in their ministry in faith. It was such an incredible honor to serve alongside these servants in Christ, and to witness firsthand what it looks like to go after the one.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” – Matthew 25:21