Ken and Kathy Young

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Higashi Hiroshima, Japan
November 11, 2008

Dear Friends:

Kathy has inherited a wonderful gift from her mother, Ruth Denhart: the ability to coin interesting phrases. Sometimes they’re by accident. For example, one day a few years ago, as we were driving home from church (Sengendai), Kathy responded out of exasperation to something that I had said with, “You’re going to live to forget this!” I certainly hope I do.

Usually, though, Kathy’s phrases are not accidental and describe exactly what we are experiencing. The other day after we spent some time discussing all the ups and downs in beginning Hope House wholistic ministries, Kathy said, “Well, you know what they say. ‘When God closes a door, He opens all the windows.’”

That is precisely what we are seeing.

When we moved back into Higashi Hiroshima in May of this year, we had various expectations as to how we would begin a ministry with the goal of helping and evangelizing common people in the region. (I’ll explain why this is so important in the next letter.) Among other tentative plans were:
1. Teaching medical English to nurses in training at the nursing school connected with the medical center;
2. Publicizing within Higashi Hiroshima through flyers and personal introductions the Hope House ministry which is geared towards helping families of patients in the medical center;
3. Utilizing the contacts that already exist through the house church we had helped last term in Higashi Hiroshima.

SLAM! I can still hear the echo of the door closing. The nursing school closed in April. The leader of the house church has come down with Alzheimer’s disease. And, there has been almost no response to the flyers and personal introductions of Hope House within Higashi Hiroshima.

BUT, “When God closes a door, He opens all the windows.”
1. God led us to a Christian couple – a nurse and an elementary school teacher – who are very interested in having us teach medical English at the hospital in their town and even help in the local public school.
2. God has led us to a Christian doctor who works in the type of area we want to reach. He has given us many potentially ministry-transforming ideas as to how to get Hope House started and how to build a network in the region among the real community leaders. He has even given us insider’s hints on who to talk with in hospitals so that we can really help doctors, nurses and patients’ families.
3. And on and on with other new avenues of ministry possibilities.

Almost every day I can hear the windows being thrown open by God. Actually, Kathy and I are both surprised: even though we are in our seventh four-year term in Japan, we are trying to work for the Lord in many new ways. Amazing and really fun!

Please pray for the following items:
1. Please pray for us as we introduce Hope House ministry to the real leaders of the communities and hospitals in our region and directly to those who need this help.
2. Please pray for us as we try to respond to the non-traditional, “out-of-the-box” opportunities in our region of Japan.
3. Please pray for our training ministry at the Alliance seminary in Hiroshima. God has led amazingly gifted people to the school to be trained for ministry.
4. Please continue to pray for our children. Janelle and David Ord (Anna, Ethan and Sarah) in the Seattle area still are desperately in need of work. Matt, his wife and children are working in a creative access area and need the Lord’s protection and guidance. Nathan and his family live in Ohio and are under extreme financial and personal stress.

Thank you for praying for us. If you wish to help us concretely with Hope House ministries, please send your gifts to us designated as “Work of the Youngs in Japan”.

Ken and Kathy Young

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