JEMS South America Missions Invitation

Serving on the mission field is an exciting place to be.  It's surely terrifying for some people, but it's a place where one learns to depend even more completely on a God who is trustworthy and unfailing.  

Do you have that experience in your Christian life?  

Do you long to have the heart-pounding, not-sure-what's-gonna-happen-next dependency upon God?  

JEMS South America department encourages people, young and old to step out in faith and walk with God on the mission field.

Take a moment to watch this invitation video:

Learn more:  bit.ly/jemsapp

Do I qualify?  bit.ly/jemsprep

Fill out application:  bit.ly/apply2jems

Deadline for applications:  February 28, 2014
Approximate project cost:  $2800

It's autumn and it seems that this year is coming to a rapid close!!

Autumn brings warmer colors as temperatures turn cooler.  The JEMS office is blessed as friends bring by bags of kaki (persimmons) for the staff to enjoy.

My time in southern California is a mixture of network development and various medical appointments.  More on that in a moment.

I was privileged to meet with Arturo Yosh----, over lunch in Monterey Park where he also resides.  We met at the COPANI conference in Buenos Aires this past September.  He is the incoming president of APN, the Association of Panamerican Nikkei, an international Nikkei community organization.   His longtime involvement with those of Japanese descent in Latin America may be helpful for ministry relationships that JEMS wishes to make in the future.  

Recruiting Begins for 2014

We will begin our recruitment for JEMS mission projects slated for July 2014.  More and more churches in South America are requesting JEMS teams and we are trusting God for workers to meet the short term mission needs.  As a practical faith step, I invite you and your church to begin praying about organizing a small team to serve for two to three weeks in July.  JEMS will work to match you with a host church in South America, as well as to provide training and preparation for you and your group.  



In case you missed those links indicated in the video, please visit the following for more information:

Learn more:  bit.ly/jemsapp
Do I qualify?  bit.ly/jemsprep
Fill out application:  bit.ly/apply2jems

Seeking Staff Support
Are you interested in helping us fulfill the Great Commission mandate?  

If you would like to be involved, please pray for JEMS South America as we seek to shore up our department with additional staff support.  

• We are looking for volunteers to assist in the office.  
• We are also open to creating fund-raised, paid staff positions.  

Do you have time or interest in working with us?  Perhaps weekly?  Monthly?  Show of hands?

As the opportunities to serve are multiplied with new areas of mission service in Argentina, Paraguay and perhaps, Peru, we are looking for those with a heart for missions and for these South American nations.   We are looking to staff our office in Los Angeles as well as build an administrative team of national staffers in São Paulo.

Speaking of staffing, please remember to pray for Rianna Wong, who continues to serve JEMS as a paid part-time staffer responsible for South America missions recruitment and training.  

Pastor John's immediate schedule

Please pray for me as I undergo a medical procedure on Tuesday, November 19th.  In an effort to address my back problems (I have been diagnosed with spinal stenosis), I will be treated with a spinal epidural, flushing the affected area with cortisone.  Please pray that the procedure goes through without problems and that I will have relief from pain.  

During Thanksgiving week, I am excited to visit my daughter, Tracey in Atlanta.  She and her husband have  been living and working there since their marriage in 2007. It will be nice to spend time with them and to have an opportunity to rest a bit.  

Pastor John in 2014
I am trusting that the medical procedure will give me sufficient relief to return to South America for six weeks in January and February.  My plans are to attend the pastors' retreats of the two major Nikkei Christian denominations in Brazil:  Brazil Holiness Church and Brazil Free Methodist Church.  Those two denominations alone represent almost sixty churches scattered throughout Brazil. 

Over these past three months, I have been working with Brazilian leaders to organize a Brazilian team to serve in Argentina in January. It appears that this project may not come together, but it is still my intention to visit Buenos Aires to continue strengthening our ministry partnerships there.

I am grateful for your continued prayer and financial partnership.  May God continue to bless JEMS with open doors and open hearts in South America!  I hope to see you very soon!

PJ

In case you missed it:
Pastor John at the COPANI conference in Buenos Aires (with cool video)

Pastor John at COPANI 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

What a great experience to be among almost five-hundred Nikkei leaders and young people at COPANI (Convención Panamericana Nikkei) in Buenos Aires.  It was an opportunity to network with Nikkei from 14 mostly Latin American countries.  I was quite relieved to discover that a number of people were able to speak with me in English, as Spanish was the primary language of the convention.

Upon my return in September, I was invited by Discover Nikkei, a community project of the Japanese American National Museum, to write a brief account of my experience there.  The article I submitted can be found here: LINK.

For those who are more visual in their orientation, I also created a brief video of my time during the four-day conference.


In addition to the COPANI convention, I was invited to speak at the Sunday morning service of the Centro Cristiano Megumi in Buenos Aires.  In this case, the pastor, Luis Yonamine, is tri-lingual, speaking English, Japanese and Spanish.  I was able to preach in English with his able interpretation into Spanish.

Thank you so much for your prayers for the three-month long ministry in South America.  It was a productive and blessed time.