Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Praise the Lord for commanding the church to love each other deeply (1 Peter4:8). The times were our real love is tested as believers is not in times of celebration and ease, but in the times of trials and strife. Our sinful nature makes us sometimes indifferent and uncaring about other believer’s suffering and struggles. Let’s encourage each other to be like Nehemiah, let’s be moved to prayer, fasting and action when we hear that other believers are suffering or away from our God.

This month we praise God because Akira, the young man with whom I was sharing the Bible for five years, started coming to church this last month and to our men’s bible study last week for the first time in years. Please help up praying for the salvation of this young man who is every time more attentive and interested in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Praise the Lord for blessing our church with a third year of sharing the Gospel to people in Philippines through Samaritan’s Purse ministries. This year we placed Gospel tracts and presents for children in shoeboxes that will be distributed with the Gospel by churches to needy children in the Philippines. This year our church was working very hard and praying for these children and families’ salvation. Please pray also for the pastors, missionaries and churches that will use this time to share the good news of our God.

We are finishing our foundational studies of the basic doctrines of Christianity as a church. Our challenge is now to have better intentional preaching in 2016. We are praying and planning in groups of two to have God’s direction about how to share better the gospel around our city. Please help us praying so God will help us to overcome language and cultural differences in our international area so more Spanish, American and Japanese speakers will be reached with the message of salvation.

This year, our leadership team had a blessed year serving in the church, studying God’s word, learning about prayer and also learning to disciple new believers. Please help us praying that God will continue growing us in the knowledge of our God, prayer, service, humility, holiness and passion to share His word.

This month we had some of our older children stay in for the church service and it was encouraging to hear them participating in the conversations after the service. Please help us praying that God will lead us in encouraging and building the faith of the children of the church, and for their salvation.

During the next two months, we are going to invite the community to a Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner. Please pray for God to prepare the hearts and open the eyes of all the people who will hear God’s gospel for the first time during these events.

In Christ,

Luis Ramirez
Tokyo-Japan