November 2002

 

NEWS FROM THE LOWLIES IN TOKYO!

The weather has started to turn cold a few weeks ago. And 7^th of Nov marks the official beginning of winter in Japan. According to the weather forecast, winter has arrived early due to the global warming effect. Please pray that having taken whatever advices given to us, we will be adequately prepared for our first winter in Tokyo! Thus far, we are just thankful that other than slight rashes, cough and running nose for Estella and Elisha, we are generally healthy.

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving items

 

1.         On the home front in Singapore, we received news from Estella’s only brother, Bernard that he has decided to make a stand as a Christian at home. Bernard came to know the Lord during his Polytechnic days when he attended a training camp for Christians. Subsequently, he faced family persecution, as he was the only son in the family. At that point of time, he did not see the need to make a firm stand. He later even chose to marry a non-believer… The break-through came recently when he faced a severe trial in his own family that has caused him to see the difference it makes to trust and rely upon God’s strength and grace. Since then, he has started attending church and has even invited his wife to go along with him. Surprisingly, the wife has become more open to the faith and has agreed to attend church service with him for the past few weeks! She has even commented to him that she finds it good to go to church! On the other hand, the initial resistance from Estella’s mother has also pretty much subsided and the latest we heard from Bernard is that she has finally agreed to attend the Hokkien service with him in the near future. (This is a sign of acceptance!) Please continue to pray for our loved ones that they will also in turn come to know our Lord and Savior! Please pray especially for Bernard that he will walk faithfully with the Lord from now on and through his testimony, he will be instrumental in bringing the other family members to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

* Please pause here for a moment of prayer… and thank God with us for the breakthrough!

 

2.         After a few months of visiting different churches, we have finally found a church that we believe is able to meet our spiritual needs as well as offer us the opportunities to serve the local community of believers. This is a Japanese Church with a membership of about 80 adults and we are glad that they do provide simultaneous English translation for the message on almost every Sunday. The other good thing is that unlike many other churches that we have visited, this church is within cycling distance! We are definitely glad for the fellowship we can receive in this church. Thus far, we have already met a few families who have lived in Singapore for at least a few years before. Having said all these, one of the strongest attractions for us to settle in this church is the church’s vision to reach campus students. The bonus to this vision is the strategic location of the church, which is nestled among some top universities in this area… We are so excited for the possible and potential partnership with this church! Please pray for the leadership of Pastor Yonai and his wife, Reiko who has served Kokubunji Baptist Church for the past 8 years or so that as a church, we will continue to mature in Christ!

Prayer pointers

Patrick has started with his language school. After an initial entrance examination and interview, he was placed in a slightly advanced class which starts mid way. However, at a recent major exam, he was found inadequate to proceed on with the next level. As such, he was asked to consider repeating the course. The good thing that came out of this was that the teacher, Nokiba Sensei was able to identify his weakness and has offered personal coaching after the regular class hours. She has offered to coach him on those lessons that he has missed since he was asked to jump grade! Please pray for those time when he is lost in class will be something of the past soon!

 

 

 

At this present moment while Patrick is still undergoing language training, we have not been assigned with any specific ministry responsibilities. Despite this, we have already seen how God has opened doors for us! Please pray that we will be sensitive to God’s leading as we seek to be the beacon of light to the very neighborhood God has placed us in as a family!

 

 By His Grace,

          Patrick & Estella with Elisha  & Megumi

                                                                                                           Serving with Japan Campus Crusade for Christ

 

Address :

Woodpecker #102 3-18-15 Higashimoto-machi Kokubunji-shi Tokyo 185-0022 Japan

Tel :   Email :

81 (042) 325-7732 (phone cum fax) 81 (070) 559-25255 (mobile)   lowlim@singnet.com.sg (unchanged until further notice)

 

***  For those of you who are not on our email list, you may not have heard from us for the past few months. Please pardon us. This is because during the period of transition, we were not able to send out the snail mail. As a matter of fact, we have just managed to put the past issues on our homepage - http://lowlim.sccc.org.sg/index.htm

Please kindly access our homepage if you would like to read the past few issues—Aug and Sep 2002—that we were not able to send to you.