Missionaries Japan Rusty and Brenda Carney こんにちわ。
Hello once again from chilly Hokkaido. The snow just keeps falling here, but the Japanese don’t let it stop them. In fact, right now they are having a 雪祭 (Yuki Matsuri)—“Snow Festival” in Sapporo.
Since our last update we, and our team here in Japan, have been seeking the Lord for wisdom and direction in light of the financial crisis Free Will Baptist International Missions is facing. The last week of January all the FWB missionaries in Japan met to strategize for how and where we should pursue ministry over the next 3-4 years. The original plan was for us to be in language school full-time for 2 years and then move on to a place where we can get our feet wet in ministry. However, because of the financial crisis, our budgets have been cut and many difficult decisions have had to be made. The biggest decision affecting us is that of Language School. Because it is so expensive, we’ve had to make a 60% cut in the language learning portion of our budget. This is a huge cut! Instead of taking 15 hours of classes a week, it has been dropped to around 4-6 classes a week. And our language-learning period has been extended to 3 years instead of 2. We know it is not impossible to learn a language without going to language school. We will continue to go through the courses required at JLC (Japanese Language Center), but also seek out other creative means of learning the language. The city of Sapporo offers some free conversational Japanese classes several times a week, and we may be able to get some language helpers.
As this comes as a surprise to us, we know none of this comes as a surprise to God. Maybe there are contacts He wants us to make with certain people that would not have been made otherwise had this crisis not come upon us.
We know we are not alone in this financial crisis. We hear the unemployment rate is at an all time high in the U.S. and many families and churches are struggling just to keep the bills paid. We praise the Lord He is with us! He will never leave us or forsake us. He is our rock. We can cling to Him. We look to Him for our hope and peace. May His perfect will be done!
In His Service,
Rusty and Brenda Carney