Summer 2023 Update
- Timothy Burda
- Jul 3, 2023
- 4 min read
It’s about that time for another update, and I have a lot to share.
LANGUAGE SCHOOL
I have reached my one year mark of full time language study, and I have another year to go before I jump into full time ministry. Many of you may be wondering how this is going, so…do you want the good news or the bad news first? 🙂
As I mention frequently, this language is one of the hardest for native English speakers to learn. The sentence structure is essentially backwards to us, and it is also the fastest spoken language in the world (just google that). I am nowhere near being able to hold a conversation on my own in “real life”. However, I am now able to be conversational with my tutors and I am using Japanese more in real life ministry.
I need to put in quotes “real life” because the Japanese I encounter on a daily basis is either casual (how we talk with friends) or honorific (what I hear at church, restaurants, etc.). Most Japanese language students will learn and speak the polite form first, and then we learn to make it casual or honorific as needed. This takes time, and I hope to practice that more this year.
MINISTRY UPDATE
Even though my main priority is language school, my heart is for ministry and I make time for it when I can. The ministry I put the most time and effort into is called Friday Terrace, and I partner with missionaries from other organizations to build relationships with Japanese families living in Meguro Tokyo. Our main focus is on building trust with the community and sharing the gospel.
This ministry is only a year old, and it is growing rapidly. Since our focus is on loving and building personal relationships, we have been able to lay the foundation of the gospel with them. However, relationship building does come at a cost. Some of the families, who we have loved and shared the gospel with, have not come back. Though this hurts, we want to be faithful with this message, and as we are faithful we are finding that God is bringing even more Japanese to us.
Our opportunities are many, but there is a challenge brewing on the horizon...
THE FUTURE OF FRIDAY TERRACE?
Mayu & Levi will be getting married in July of 2023, and Mayu will become a missionary with OMF, which will require her to raise support. They will be traveling to America and England (Levi’s home) after their wedding to do this, which means the future of Friday Terrace is currently in limbo.
Friday Terrace takes place in Mayu’s home, and both Mayu and Levi are fluent in English and Japanese. This ability provides a necessary bridge to connect the Japanese community (who can’t speak English) and our missionary help (who can’t speak Japanese yet - like me!). Without them, things start to break down logistically. It’s hard to build relationships with the community when we can’t communicate with them.
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
Though this is Mayu’s ministry to her neighbors, we have developed a leadership team to help carry the burdens and provide direction, and at the moment this team consists of Mayu (OMF), Levi (OMF), Rob (SEND) and myself (SEND). Some of the options we are currently praying through are:
Option 1: The ministry is put on hold for 9-12 months. I admit that I am not a fan of this option, but I believe this is God’s work in this community and He knows more than us. This does give me time to improve my language ability, and the break can give us perspective as to where we want to take this ministry in the future.
Option 2: Assuming that Mayu’s family is willing, Rob and I can host FT. However, Rob would be the only bilingual missionary there and I can foresee a lot of problems with that if we can not secure more bilingual help. Also, we would be under additional stress to maintain trust with Mayu’s family. Just imagine being the homeowner and giving your home over to a couple foreigners that are essentially throwing a block party and inviting the neighborhood over each week.
Option 3: The option we don’t see right now and are asking for God to reveal to us.
VIDEO PROJECT
In order to help Levi and Mayu get fully supported, I have decided to take on a video project (~80 hours) so that other people can hear their story and see what God is doing at Friday Terrace. I’m trying to keep the video short (~ 6 minutes) to increase its watchability, but long enough to tell a good story. We hope to post this on YouTube and send it out to potential churches willing to support them.
I really want to honor this story with the creative talent God has given me, and I can definitely use your prayers. Additionally, you can help us out by watching it yourself and sharing it with others. If anything, I believe it will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me.
Mayu has a lot of hurdles to become a missionary. It is extremely rare for a native Japanese person to become a fully supported christian missionary. About 99% of the people she knows are not Christian, so she will need to look outside Japan for financial support.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray with us for the future of Friday Terrace. Where is God leading us? What should we do?
Please pray for this video project, that God would give me a creative mind to tell Mayu & Levi’s story well.
Language! Language! Language! Effective ministry is founded on effective communication.
Financial support. For various reasons, my support has dropped down to about 75% of what I need. I have cut my benefits to stay out in the field, but I can only sacrifice so much. Will you pray with me about this?
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Ministry in Japan is a marathon, not a sprint. The people here are a shy and cautious people, who fear what they don’t understand. Trust is fragile, and it is earned one day at a time.
Please, run this marathon with me. I can not do this without your love and support. I know that our sacrifice will be worth it in the end. By God’s grace, I will hear “well done good and faithful servant”.
And so will you.
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