CHRIST IS ALL
Winter (December 2005, January, February 2006)
Dear Friend in Christ,
Greetings in the Most High
& Holy Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In my 2 previous letters,
I talked about the 46 year-old Japanese woman with cancer, how she started
attending church, trusted Christ as her Saviour, and continued to attend church
each week she was able to come. Her name is Mrs. Sugiyama. On November 28,
2005, the cancer ended her life here on this earth. That was on a Monday. She
had been hospitalized for some weeks, but she would usually come home from the
hospital each weekend to be with her family at home. And she would attend
church services on Sunday morning if she were at all able. She attended church
the day before she died. After church, as we sat there in Pastor Hayashi’s
living room fellowshipping, she told of how she wanted to get well and do many
good things for other people.
I believe she was most sincere in putting her trust in Christ to
save her. So I believe she is now in Heaven with Him. I thank God that He led
her to put her trust in Christ, the Saviour of the World. I thank God for that
day, May 31, 2005, when she came to my house, listened to me as I explained to
her salvation in Christ from the Bible, and then she prayed aloud, confessing
her sins, asking God for forgiveness, and asking Christ to be her Saviour.
Thank God for saving her and taking her to Heaven. I look forward to seeing her
again in Heaven. To you who prayed for Mrs. Sugiyama, I thank you for that from
the bottom of my heart. To you who pray for me and to you who support me
financially as I proclaim Christ to these many lost Japanese around me, thank
you so much for caring enough to do that. May God abundantly bless you for all
you do. It means more to me than you can ever know.
Though Mrs. Sugiyama’s family
members are not Christians, they did allow Pastor Hayashi to conduct a
Christian funeral for her. Her family and several relatives attended it and
heard Pastor Hayashi talk clearly of salvation in Jesus Christ. Please pray
that her husband and 2 sons, and other relatives will trust in Christ and be saved.
In early December, I attended
Christmas services in 2 different churches in this area. Several unsaved
Japanese people attended each one. I pray that they will seriously consider the
Gospel message they heard and repent and trust in Christ. Please pray for them.
On December 13, I flew to
Guam and stayed there till January 12. It was so refreshing to be in the warm
tropical climate for a month. Also the Christian fellowship there was so
blessed. I preached several times at Temple Baptist Church and spoke 3 times in
chapel to the students of their Christian school. I preached one Sunday morning
at Pacific Independent Bible Church and one Sunday night at Island Baptist
Church. Christian friends in those churches listened so well as I preached, and
encouraged me so much with their many kind words and deeds to me. I cannot
thank them enough for all they did for me. The time I was there refreshed and
revived me greatly.
After returning from Guam to
my house in Japan on January 12th, I spent the next 12 days catching
up on things at home, and in getting ready to leave again. On January 24, I
rode the trains south to Mie Prefecture, just past the large city of Nagoya. There
in Yokkaichi City in Mie Prefecture is Mino Mission, which has 3 churches in
that area. Since 1975, I have heard about Mino Mission’s strong stand against
the idolatry in Japan and also about their bold preaching and evangelistic
outreaches. So I asked the Japanese pastor there, Bro. Isaac Ishiguro, if I
could come for a visit, and he agreed to let me. So I boxed up 9 boxes of my
Christian literature & sent it ahead by truck.
Upon arriving there, I
started going out most every day that the weather permitted and distributing
the literature, leaving it at each house as I walked the streets. I stayed
there at Mino Mission until February 13th, and during that time, God
enabled me to pass out over 3,200 pamphlets and 700 cassette tapes that I sent
there from my house in Matsuida. Also, I distributed about 3000 church
invitations (to regular church services and special meetings) and some tracts
for Pastor Ishiguro. I pray that God will bless the effort and that souls will
be saved. At times as I walked the streets in that area, a light snow was
falling. That was quite a change from the tropical weather I had recently left
on Guam. I attended services at all 3 churches while I was there and was
greatly blessed by Pastor Isaac’s strong preaching. Also, he had me preach on a
Sunday night at the church there at Mino Mission’s headquarters, and on a Thursday
night at the church in Ogaki City in nearby Gifu Prefecture. Also, I gave a
very short testimony at a service Pastor Isaac held in a nursing home. All the
Christians in the 3 churches were so gracious and hospitable to me, and thereby
blessed and encouraged me so much. May God richly bless them for their kindness
to me and may much spiritual fruit come from the time we worked, preached, and
prayed together.
On February 13th,
I said farewell to those dear Christians at Mino Mission and rode the trains
back past Nagoya to the city of Kariya in Aichi Prefecture, and joined up with
friends from the Bible Distribution League here in Japan and did outdoor
evangelism with them for almost 2 weeks. Early in the morning we would go out
to a busy highway intersection and hold up gospel banners for about 2 hours
during rush hour. Or we would go to a school and pass out tracts to students as
they went to school. Then we would distribute literature from house to house
for 3 hours or so, as the driver drove the van around and broadcasted the
Gospel from speakers on it. Then in the afternoon, we would again distribute
literature from house to house, or go to a different school and pass pamphlets
to the students as they left school. We “camped” in trucks and trailers parked
by a small river. We usually got up at 5 AM, had breakfast at 5:30, then Bible
reading, and left about 6:30. God enabled us to broadcast the Gospel and give
out literature to thousands of lost Japanese people. Please pray with me, for
God to work in their hearts and save many of them.
I said farewell to those good
evangelist friends in the evening on Friday, February 24th, and went
to Gifu City and spent the weekend with friends there and attended church there
on Sunday. Then on Monday the 27th, I rode the trains back home, and
now hope to be at home for a few months, Lord willing. I thank God that I was
able to go spread the Gospel in all those places I went to, from December 12th.
God has broken my heart anew with a great burden for the many lost souls who
are perishing without Christ. I pray that I will be diligent to do all I can to
win all of them I can to our Saviour Jesus Christ. Oh how tragic to think of people
dying and perishing in Hell. Thank you for praying for me, for interceding in
prayer for these lost ones I preach to, and for giving to help me. God richly
bless you for it all.
Christ’s unprofitable servant,
Richard Yerby
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