The need to BE BRAVE

Sometimes we can imagine that pastors and missionaries have no fear as they embark in facing new challenges. 

That's not at all true.

As I look ahead to the unknown of this coming summer, I admit that I'm struggling with some anxiety as I anticipate my month of study in Asunción, Paraguay. While I have several ministry partners in that city, I will likely be less engaged with them this August as I undertake my language intensive. Where I have homestayed in the past with Pastor Koki and Mari of the Japanese Free Methodist Church of Asunción, this visit I will be taking up residence in Nikkei communal housing called the Hamanasu Center. The accommodations sound good, a clean room, a bed, a desk and a shower. But I don't know where it is situated relative to my school, and transportation in and around Asunción is a bit of a puzzle for me. 

I am spending a month in Asunción, not because I'm adventurous. I do this despite my sense of anxiety over doing something completely new and different, away from the relationships that I've cultivated over the years. As I've reflected about this new challenge over the last few days, many concerns seem to enter into my thoughts. "How will you get around?" "How will you cook?" "Can you figure out how public transportation works?"  "Will taxis be expensive?"  "What if you get lost?" What if? What if? 

As you might imagine, my heart needed some calm. I needed to hear the voice of the Lord speak assurance to my heart again. While convinced that this is God's purpose for me this summer, there is so much unplanned and uncharted. 

I heard a song tonight. It's a song I needed to hear. The lyrics go as follows:

I stand before You now
The greatness of Your renown
I've heard of the majesty and wonder of You
King of Heaven in humility I bow

As Your love in wave after wave
Crashes over me crashes over me
For You are for us You are not against us
Champion of Heaven
You made a way for all to enter in

Into Your love that's wave after wave
Crashing over me crashing over me
For You are for us You are not against us
Champion of Heaven You made a way
For all to enter in

I've heard You calling my name
I've heard the song of love that You sing
So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore
Into Your grace

(Bridge)
You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves
You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the love that made a way

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves
You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the promises You've made

- -You Make Me Brave; Amanda Cook (Bethel Music)

I do this ministry not because I'm brave.  I do this because I am walking with the One who makes me brave!  It is a ministry of faith and dependence on God.  It is a faith that may plant the seed for others to follow

Update:  April 23 
So it turns out that the Hamanasu Center in Asunción has changed their policy about travelers staying there and I will no longer be able to be housed there.  Please pray with me as I try to find other housing options.  The Hamanasu Center seemed to be ideal, pricewise.  It also was in the center of the Nikkei community in Asunción, which would have been a great contact opportunity.    

The local pastor (Koki-sensei) is working hard to find a suitable place for me to stay during my studies.  If worse comes to worse, there are some economy hotel options, but the prices are not as reasonable.  Let's see how God will provide for this summer!

Mahalo for a restful vacation

The simple joy of Hawaiian shave ice!

Thanks to great pricing on airfarewatchdog.com and the generous hospitality of my friends, Rick and Kelli, I was able to enjoy a weeklong vacation in Honolulu without a great strain on my wallet.  Without their kindness, this would not have been possible.  

With Rick and Kelli

It was a restful time much needed after two months in four South American countries.  

In addition to visiting with various friends, I was able to spend time with the Nakano family(s).  Machiko, pictured right, is a fellow Brazil alumnus, having served several years as a Honolulu Holiness Church missionary to Brazil.

Speaking of Honolulu Christian Church (formerly Honolulu Holiness), the church was kind enough to invite me to share in their morning worship services and with their college-young adult Sunday School class.

This was actually after church, at lunch with some young adults.

I was able to share a video designed for church presentations during their morning worship time.  You can watch it here, if you wish:



Thank you for your prayers for the ministry.  Prayers and planning are underway for summer of 2014.  This will include a three-week Spanish language intensive in Asunción, Paraguay in August.  Please pray for me as I undertake this challenge. I'm well outside of the language acquisition sweet spot due to my age.  But we serve a great God.  Amen?

Mahalo and aloha!

Do you love to travel?

Do you understand that traveling is not just to see the sights?

Travel is about smelling the fragrances, hearing the sounds, feeling the heat, the rain on your face or the people jostling against you. 

 

It's touching the roughly hewn stone of statuary or the delicate texture of a flower petal. 

  

You have to be willing to smell the experience: the odor of unwashed bodies pressing up against you in a crowded and poorly ventilated train. 

The heavy scent of dung left in the road by a horse or cattle - and hopefully not on the bottom of your shoes. The pristine smell of the rainforest just after an equatorial thunderstorm. 

You have to be willing to feel the place. The humidity. The sun beating on your clothes and burning your skin through the fabric. And sometimes, quite frankly, it's about feeling the tiredness. The aches in the muscles and joints from a strenuous three-mile walk or sitting too long on that cross-country bus. 

You have to hear the sounds. The noise of the million cicadas that do a great imitation of chainsaws, the honking of taxis, the begging of the little children asking for a small coin or two. 

You have to get used to how people in other cultures view time. If travel included handing out tardy slips, I would have run out of them. In South America, they will get there when they get there and no LA boy is going to change culture!

Travel is to taste and feel the textures of food that you simply can't get where you live. The sickly sweetness of the jaca fruit that can choke you to death because it is also very slimy. 

The unusual flavor of the açaí fruit that has the color, texture and when unsweetened, has the taste of cordovan shoe polish. 

It's the robust experience of the Brazilian all-you-can-eat steakhouse (called churrascarias) with some of the best beef in the world! 

If travel was just about sightseeing, we'd be better off with a postcard. 

No problems with odors, discomfort or inconvenience.

That's travel! To love South America (or anywhere for that matter) is to take in the place with all of your senses. Memories come not just from what we can see, but what we experience and encounter with all five of our senses. 

Remember:

(reposted and edited from an earlier entry by Pr John)

Saudade means what, exactly?

If you are going to Brazil, be forewarned: when you come back home, if you do, you will have added a few special words to your emotional vocabulary. You will join us in the group that knows the feeling yet cannot explain the meaning of the word . . . . saudade. If you can explain it, you've made a poor translation. It has a place of its own, it changes you more than your vocabulary.

If you haven't been somewhere but yearn to see it, you may be getting a glimpse of saudade. It means longing for someone or something, more or less in the realm of "I miss you," in English. Yet it carries more than a longing, more than missing. Yearning . . . . a hole carved in one's heart, a feeling which stands on its own as much as it permeates one's whole being . . . . It simply cannot be translated.

A Brazilian person has saudade or feels saudade. Tenho saudades do Brasil or Sinto saudades . . . portraits of a melancholic yet sweet longing. It transports me there when I say it.

Credit:  Neise Cavini Turchin, "Longing for Brazil"

Dirty war and the "Disappeared"

One of the essentials of stepping into a new culture is to know the history of that community:  its traumas and struggles.  This is especially true of Argentina.  Her recent history includes a military dictatorship that shaped the perspective of that country.  One piece of that history that the JEMS volunteer worker or visitor must not miss are the stories surrounding the "dirty war" and the desaparecidos or "disappeared."  Today, March 24th, is their Day of Remembrance.

All of the shops are closed today. It’s a national holiday throughout Argentina. Thirty-eight years ago the country saw the beginning of the last military junta, or last dictatorship, in South America’s second largest country.

It was a disaster from the start . . . the military dictatorship under the leadership of General Videla, went on a killing spree. Over the next seven years, over 30,000 people would be made to disappear in Buenos Aires. Members of the opposition, students who seemed to be left-wing, even pregnant mothers, were picked up, and taken to secret torture camps. When the military was done with them, the victim was flown in an airplane over Rio de Plata and tossed out.

Today marks the Day of Remembrance for Argentina. The start of the terror and bloodshed which would define a country for decades.

Read more.

An interesting footnote in the historical remembrance of the desaparecidos is that the group included seventeen Nikkei Argentinians.  

JEMS South America Department takes very seriously the opportunity that has been afforded to volunteer in service to the Nikkei community in Argentina.  We have been able to partner with three of the major Nikkei churches in Buenos Aires.  We are also grateful for the new friendship we have with Centro Nikkei Argentino, one of the preemininent Nikkei community organizations in the country.  We look forward to continued partnership with these various groups.  We are also mindful of the cultural and historical context in which we serve.  Please pray with us for the opening of doors and new ministry opportunities.

Thank you,
Pr John

What exactly do I do?

We know the story.  Jesus engages a woman in conversation as she came to draw water from a well.  Not just any woman, but a Samaritan woman.  

John 4:3 tells of the encounter:  
"So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)" (The Message)

Let's look at this passage from a missional perspective.  It begins by saying that he left the Judean countryside.  This is how missions begins.  It begins with our leaving the places that are familiar, comfortable, that fit within our worldview, in order to go to a place, a community, a country, a people, whose perspectives and attitudes are different from our own.

It tells us that Jesus was worn out by the trip.  He was tired.  He was affected physically by where his ministry had taken him.  During the January mission project in Argentina, two of my team members, a Brazilian couple, sat down with me and told me how much they valued my presence there.

"It would be easy to excuse yourself 

and not do this."

They said, "Pastor John, we know that you could have just stayed home.  You have daily pain in  your back and legs.  It would be easy to excuse yourself and not do this.  Today it is almost 10o degrees and we imagine that you could be in your house or in your car (in Los Angeles) enjoying air conditioning.  But we are so glad that you chose to be here with us."

Yes, most assuredly the travel and ministry commitments are quite challenging.  I spent the last two months of ministry in four countries.  On average, I was sleeping in a different bed every third day or so.   While I can speak two languages fairly well (English and Portuguese), I found myself forced to use two languages that were probably unrecognizable to those who heard them (Spanish and Japanese).  

This is what it means to cross into another culture.  It's not comfortable.  It's not easy.  But God gives so much grace to enable me to recount my experiences with joy.  

Continuing in John 4:9-14
"The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)  Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”

What Jesus did was find a place of common ground. He identified a need and sought to offer an opportunity to have that need met. In the same way, my task is to find places of commonality. I look for what I call "bridge points." Places where I can connect with, not only with individuals, but with communities. To discover what can be offered as a means of meeting not only the perceived need, but to meet the underlying need for Jesus Christ.

This is not done in a sneaky way. People with whom I speak know that I am a Christian and that I am a pastor. They understand that my purpose is not simply one of offering programs with a hidden agenda. Our purpose to share the gospel, to teach the Bible - woven together with our camping, sports and English classes - are fully disclosed as I work with groups in different cities and countries.

As a church, we are not called to isolate ourselves from whatever Samaritan-culture surrounds us.  The Great Commission doesn't invite us to circle the wagons and be protective of what we've learned and accumulated.  Jesus still invites us "You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.  Those who believe and are baptized will be saved. But those who refuse to believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16 TLB).

The condemnation of which Jesus speaks remains a harsh reality.  In missions, whether in the ethnic enclaves of our own communities, or in towns and cities in other countries, we have a wonderful opportunity to see people move from death (condemnation) to life.  Jesus made a clear promise:  “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life."  (John 5:24 NIV)

My prayer is that God will continue to use us to "bridge" communities to Jesus.  And if that means going to places that are unknown or uncomfortable, I pray that God will give us the willingness and courage to do so.

You can partner with me through gifts to the following link:  John Katagi fund at JEMS or through the JEMS South America Fund.  Your gifts are always appreciated. 

God bless you!
Pr John

Que é o ministério do Pastor John?

Sabemos da história. Jesus entrou numa conversa com uma mulher que veio para tirar água de um poço. Não é qualquer mulher, mas uma mulher samaritana. 
João 4:3 fala sobre o encontro:

"O Senhor saiu da Judéia e voltou uma vez mais à Galiléia.  Era-lhe necessário passar por Samaria. Assim, chegou a uma cidade de Samaria, chamada Sicar, perto das terras que Jacó dera a seu filho José.  Havia ali o poço de Jacó. Jesus, cansado da viagem, sentou-se à beira do poço. Isto se deu por volta do meio-dia.  Nisso veio uma mulher samaritana tirar água. Disse-lhe Jesus: “Dê-me um pouco de água”.  (Os seus discípulos tinham ido à cidade comprar comida.)"


Vejamos esta passagem de uma perspectiva missionária. A passagem começa dizendo que ele deixou a região da Judéia. Isto é como missões começa. Uma missão começa com a nossa deixando os lugares que são familiares, confortáveis, que se encaixam dentro da nossa visão de mundo, a fim de ir para um lugar, uma comunidade, um país, um povo, cujas perspectivas e atitudes são diferentes das nossas. 

A passagem nos diz que Jesus estava desgastado pela viagem. Ele estava cansado. Ele foi afetado fisicamente por onde o seu ministério ele tinha tomado. Durante o projeto missionário em janeiro na Argentina, dois dos membros da minha equipe, um casal brasileiro, sentou-se comigo e me disse o quanto valorizavam a minha presença lá.

"Seria fácil para desculpar-se

e não fazer isso. "

Eles disseram: "Pastor John, sabemos que você poderia ter ficado em casa. Você tem dor diária em suas costas e pernas. Seria fácil para desculpar-se e não fazer isso. Hoje é quase 40° graus e nós imaginamos que você poderia ser em sua casa ou no seu carro (em Los Angeles) desfrutando de ar condicionado. Mas estamos tão feliz que você escolheu estar aqui com a gente."

Sim, com toda a certeza os compromissos de viagens e ministério são bastante desafiador. Eu passei os últimos dois meses de ministério em quatro países. Em média, eu estava dormindo em uma cama diferente a cada três dias ou assim. Embora eu possa falar duas línguas muito bem (Português e Inglês), encontrei-me forçado a usar dois idiomas que foram provavelmente irreconhecível para aqueles que os ouviram (espanhol e japonês).

Isso é o que significa atravessar para outra cultura. Não é confortável. Não é fácil. Mas Deus dá tanta graça para me capacitar para contar minhas experiências com alegria. 

Continuando em João 4:9-14
A mulher samaritana lhe perguntou: “Como o senhor, sendo judeu, pede a mim, uma samaritana, água para beber?” (Pois os judeus não se dão bem com os samaritanos.)  Jesus lhe respondeu: “Se você conhecesse o dom de Deus e quem lhe está pedindo água, você lhe teria pedido e ele lhe teria dado água viva”.
Disse a mulher: “O senhor não tem com que tirar água, e o poço é fundo. Onde pode conseguir essa água viva?12 Acaso o senhor é maior do que o nosso pai Jacó, que nos deu o poço, do qual ele mesmo bebeu, bem como seus filhos e seu gado?”
Jesus respondeu: “Quem beber desta água terá sede outra vez, 14 mas quem beber da água que eu lhe der nunca mais terá sede. Ao contrário, a água que eu lhe der se tornará nele uma fonte de água a jorrar para a vida eterna”.

O que Jesus fez foi encontrar um lugar ou assunto em comum. Ele identificou uma necessidade e procurou oferecer uma oportunidade de ter uma necessidade atendida. Da mesma forma, a minha tarefa é encontrar locais de comunalidade. Eu olho para o que eu chamo de "pontos de pontes." Locais onde eu possa conectar com, não apenas com os indivíduos, mas com as comunidades. Para descobrir o que pode ser oferecido como um meio de atender não só a percepção da necessidade, mas para atender a necessidade subjacente para Jesus Cristo.

Isto não é feito de uma forma clandestina. As pessoas com quem eu falo sabem que eu sou um cristão e que eu sou um pastor. Eles entendem que o meu objectivo não é simplesmente um dos que oferecem programas com uma agenda escondida. Nosso propósito de compartilhar o evangelho, ensinar a Bíblia - tecido junto com nosso camping, esportes e aulas de inglês - são amplamente divulgadas como eu trabalho com grupos em diferentes cidades e países.

Como igreja, nós não somos chamados a nos isolar da influência Samaritano. Nós não somos convidados a circular os vagões e ser protetora do que temos aprendido e acumulado. Jesus ainda convida -nos: “Vão pelo mundo todo e preguem o evangelho a todas as pessoas.  Quem crer e for batizado será salvo, mas quem não crer será condenado."

A condenação dos quais Jesus fala continua a ser uma dura realidade. Nas missões, seja nos enclaves étnicos de nossas próprias comunidades, ou em cidades de outros países, temos uma ótima oportunidade de ver as pessoas passar de morte (condenação) para a vida. Jesus fez uma promessa clara: “Eu lhes asseguro: Quem ouve a minha palavra e crê naquele que me enviou, tem a vida eterna e não será condenado, mas já passou da morte para a vida."

Minha oração é que Deus continue a me usar para ser uma "ponte" alcançando comunidades para Jesus. E se isso significa ir a lugares que são desconhecidos ou desconfortáveis, eu oro para que Deus me dê a vontade ea coragem de fazê-lo.

Enfrentando o obstáculo da língua espanhola

Minha visita a Argentina, o Paraguai e o Peru me trouxe em conflito direto com a minha atitude para com a língua espanhola e sua importância como uma ferramenta para o meu trabalho. Em meus 14 anos de ministério no Brasil, eu fui abençoado para ser capaz de comunicar-se muito facilmente no idioma Português. 


Minha resistência para aprender espanhol sempre foi que eu não queria "poluir" o meu Português. A realidade é que, nos primeiros anos de ministério no Paraguai (um país de língua espanhola), eu estava sempre por perto as pessoas que tanto falavam Inglês ou Português, de modo que o sentido da minha precisando espanhol não era tão grande. Uma vez que Deus abriu as portas para a Argentina e, agora, para o Peru, os meus contactos têm sido menos versado em Inglês, Português e minha foi proferida nulo.

Depois de assistir à congresso COPANI (uma associação Nikkei comunitária) em Buenos Aires em setembro passado, fiquei impressionado com o número de Nikkei que falavam espanhol. Tornou-se claro como o meu Inglês e Português me deu tração limitada, que eu precisaria falar espanhol se eu ia continuar a servir como uma ponte para essas comunidades. 

Infelizmente para mim, eu mencionei que meus preconceitos me impediu de aprender espanhol. Mas Deus, em sua misericórdia, permitiu-me ver que o potencial para o ministério espanhol era imenso como eu conheci Nikkei da Argentina, Uruguai, Chile, Peru, Bolívia, Colômbia, Paraguai, o República Dominicana. Então, eu vou tentar. Mesmo com o meu cérebro em modo 60+, eu vou fazer o investimento em uma nova idioma.

Como resultado, eu vou estar fazendo um intensivo de espanhol, se Deus quiser, em julho ou agosto deste ano. Eu pretendo fazer um curso de idioma na cidade de Assunção, Paraguai, e, ao mesmo tempo cultivando parcerias com a comunidade nikkei lá. Por que Assunção? A maioria dos instrutores de língua concordará que a imersão é o melhor método para a aquisição da linguagem. Em LA, eu posso fazer uma aula de espanhol, mas assim que eu sair da sala de aula, eu posso voltar para Inglês. No Paraguai, uma vez que eu deixar a sala de aula, eu vou ter que colocar imediatamente de usar o que aprendi.

Programa Missionário da JEMS em julho 

Falando do ministério de julho, um grande dúvida existe sobre o Brasil. Com a Copa do Mundo que está sendo hospedado pelo Brasil este ano, haverá um pouco de dificuldade em planejar viagens e logísticos. A maioria dos brasileiros não tem certeza que o Brasil será capaz de retirar este evento internacional sem problemas. 

A fim de ajustar o cronograma da Copa do Mundo, que começa em meados de junho e termina em meados de Julho, muitas escolas brasileiras mudaram sua programação de férias para as duas semanas antes de 15 de junho. Isso significa que os programas de acampamentos e VBS começará no primeiro de junho. Claro que você pode ver a dificuldade já que a maioria dos nossos obreiros universitários dos EUA e outros voluntários podem encontrar dificuldades para ajustar a sua agenda e deixar os EUA tão cedo. 

Temos um pedido definitivo para uma equipe JEMS para servir na cidade de São Paulo com início em 8 de julho. Nós também estamos explorando oportunidades de ministério na Argentina, assim como o Paraguai.

Preocupações com a saúde

Muitos de vocês tiveram a gentileza de perguntar sobre minha situação de saúde. Ainda estou sob a atenção de um médico sobre a minha situação renal. Minhas costas também estavam um pouco problemático durante as sete semanas na América do Sul . Eu encontrei-me de tomar Tylenol um pouco mais do que eu teria gostado . Tylenol para aliviar a dor é bom para mim. Eu não estou autorizado a tomar analgésicos AINE (como Ibuprofeno, Advil, Motrin, Aleve), no entanto, devido ao potencial impacto negativo sobre os meus problemas renais já existentes.

Eu pretendo falar com o meu médico sobre as minhas opções para minhas costas. A degeneração do disco criou uma condição chamada de estenose espinal. Isso coloca pressão sobre o nervo ciático o que causa dor nas costas e uma sensação de paralisia parcial pelas minhas pernas. Escusado será dizer que estou muito grato pelos amigos sul-americanos que tiveram a amabilidade de oferecer passeios e para me dar uma atenção especial como eu precisava viajar para várias reuniões, cidades e lugares para realizar o meu ministério com JEMS.

Ministério vai para a frente

Eu não estou míope por qualquer meio. Estive a investigar o recrutamento de pessoal potencial no Brasil para ajudar com a carga administrativa e ministério na América do Sul. Eu entendo embora e eu estou confiando em Deus para estender meu ministério por alguns anos ainda. No entanto, nesse meio tempo, JEMS e eu vamos precisar para orar e buscar a direção de Deus para convidar outras pessoas para ficar parte da equipe nacional assumindo a responsabilidade do ministério para as missões da América do Sul. Por favor, orem comigo para esse fim.

Obrigado por seu incentivo oferecido através de suas orações.

Pastor John

Spanish and other obstacles

(A re-shaping of my post-mission prayer letter)

My visit to Argentina, Paraguay and Peru brought me in direct conflict with my attitude toward the Spanish language and its importance as a tool for my work. In my 14 years of ministry in Brazil, I've been blessed to be able to communicate quite readily in the Portuguese language. 

My resistance to learning Spanish has always been that I didn't want to "pollute" my Portuguese.  The reality is that in the early years of ministry in Paraguay (a Spanish-speaking country), I was always around people who either spoke English or Portuguese, so the sense of my needing Spanish wasn't so great.  Since God has opened the doors to Argentina and now to Peru, my contacts have been less conversant in English, and my Portuguese has been rendered null.  

An example may be seen in how the two languages say "Good morning!"
Close, but no cigar.

After attending the COPANI (Nikkei community leadership) conference in Buenos Aires last September, I was struck by the number of Nikkei who were Spanish speaking.  It became clear as my English and Portuguese gave me limited traction, that I would need to speak Spanish if I was going to continue to serve as a bridge to those communities.  

Unfortunately for me, I mentioned that my preconceptions had kept me from learning Spanish.  But God, in his mercy, allowed me to see that the potential for Spanish ministry was immense as I met Nikkei from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, the DR.  So, I'm gonna try. Even with my brain in 60+ mode, I'm going to make the investment in a new language.

As a result I will be doing a Spanish language intensive, God willing, in July or August of this year. I plan to take a language course in the city of Asunción, Paraguay, while at the same time cultivating partnerships with the Nikkei community there.  Why Asunción?  Most language instructors will agree that immersion is the best method for language acquisition.  In LA, I can take a Spanish class, but as soon as I leave the classroom, I can revert to English.  In Paraguay, once I leave the classroom, I will have to immediately put to use what I've learned.  

Of course, I will not simply rely on the three-week intensive course, but will do some independent study in the months leading up to the summer ministry.  You can partner with me in this project by supporting the language study through gifts to the following link:  John Katagi fund at JEMS or through the JEMS South America Fund.  Your gifts are always appreciated. 

JEMS Summer Missions Program

Speaking of the summer ministry, a big question mark looms over Brazil. With the World Cup being hosted by Brazil this year, there will be quite a bit of travel and logistical difficulties. Most Brazilians are uncertain that Brazil will be able to pull off this international event smoothly.  Many cartoons like the one below are now appearing:

The first man says, "Wow! The stadium is packed!" The second guy answers,
"Are you kidding? We still haven't left the airport!"

In order to adjust to the World Cup schedule which begins in mid June and ends in mid July, many Brazilian schools have changed their vacation schedule to the two weeks before June 15. That means that the camps and VBS programs will begin at the first of June. Of course you can see the difficulty already as most of our US students and other volunteers may find it difficult to adjust their schedule and leave the US that early.

We have one definite request for a JEMS team to serve in the city of São Paulo beginning on July 8. We are also exploring ministry opportunities in Argentina as well as Paraguay. Please pray about your own participation. We recommend that you plan for about 24 days of travel. Leaving on July 8 and returning on the 31st.

Health concerns

Several of you have been kind enough to ask about my health situation. I am still under a doctor's close attention regarding my kidney situation. My back was a bit troublesome during the seven weeks in South America. I found myself taking Tylenol a bit more than I would've liked. Tylenol as a pain reliever is okay for me. I'm not permitted to take NSAID pain relievers (Ibuprofen, Advil, Motrin, Aleve) however, due to potential negative impact on my existing kidney problems. 

I plan to speak with my doctor about my options for my back. The degeneration of the disc has created a condition called spinal stenosis.  This puts pressure on the sciatic nerve which causes pain in my back and a sensation of partial paralysis down my legs. Needless to say I'm very grateful for the South American friends who were kind enough to offer rides and to give me special consideration as I needed to travel to various meetings and services to conduct my ministry with JEMS.

Ministry going forward

I'm not shortsighted by any means. I've been investigating potential staff recruitment in Brazil to help with the administrative and ministry load in South America. I understand though and I'm trusting God to extend my ministry for some years yet. However, in the meantime, JEMS and I will need to pray and seek God's leading for other staff people to take on the responsibility of ministry for South-America missions. Please pray with me to that end.

Thank you for your encouragement offered through your prayers and support gifts.

May God bless you!
John Katagi
JEMS

Video: JEMS Missions Study - January - February 2014

Recounting with thanksgiving, God's provision and grace during the mission ministry in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Peru.  

This slightly longer of two videos provides a bit more insight into my work. I am showing the shorter video when I am invited to visit churches.  The short version has also been posted on my Facebook account (effective Sunday, March 2).

Thank you for your prayers and financial support that made this mission study possible.

Blessings,
Pastor John