Missions Corner: Prayer Letter from the Schmidts

Saturday was a special day!  A Chinese couple got married at our church, both students at the University. James first came to Sapporo International Church to an International Welcome Party that our English Speakers’ Fellowship had put on.  Subsequently he attended that group for a while and also started going to the Chinese service at our church, plus attended the discipleship group that meets at the University.  In time, he decided to get baptized.  His mom is a Christian in China, and her prayers for his salvation got answered. In the cell group he met his wife, who also was baptized late last year.  With much joy we celebrated their wedding!  They are considering attending a Bible school.  How marvelous are God’s ways!

Since April began a new school year in Japan, please pray for the new students who attended our International Welcome Party, that the loving Spirit of Jesus was sensed by those who came.

English Speakers’ Fellowship:  We meet every Sunday afternoon and the group is going strong. The small room we meet in barely fits the 27 plus people who come, so we are again wondering if there is another space we could use.

Sapporo International Church: We are thankful for missionary Estelle who has joined the SIC staff.  She will mostly be working with the Japanese, but will also be helping Dieter with the Friday evening Easy English Bible study for working Japanese.

The snow has finally disappeared in Sapporo and the plants are starting to poke through the hard ground!  Now we await with expectation for God’s nature to bloom in full color, probably by early May!  The coming of spring means many people are moving in Hokkaido.  We have been busy helping internationals and missionaries in transition.

Health Issues: In January, Shelley started having chest pains.  This led to many checkups that led to the discovery of two narrowing arteries. On April 26 a SPECT scan was done which showed that the blood flow is still sufficient in those two arteries.  No further testing will be done at this time, but Shelley will be watched.  Thankfully, Dieter’s physical showed he is fine.

Rebekah’s Wedding:  The tickets are booked and preparations on Rebekah’s part are progressing.  Andrea and Hannah will be going, plus some of our close friends.  Pray for all the details to fall into place.  The date is July 8th!

Prayer Points:

Praise for:

Hannah’s renewed contract for another year of teaching English here.

Pray for:

Shelley’s brother Dale who needs continued prayer for kidney cancer treatment. He suffers from severe side effects of the medication.

An OMF coaching workshop we will attend May 20-23

Rebekah and Kevin as they take care of wedding details.

Appreciating your partnership in Christ!

Dieter and Shelley