13/08/2026
One day, between appointments in Japan, my husband and I were enjoying a takeaway coffee while gazing at stunning pink azaleas outside a train station. A middle-aged Japanese lady struck up a conversation with us.
After admiring the flowers and commenting on the warm weather, she asked us where we were from.
We explained that although we were British, we lived locally and worked with the Christian church.
We asked her if she’d ever been to church, and she told us that she used to go to Sunday school.
When my husband asked if she could remember any of the songs, she sang one! We gave her a leaflet about church, with a QR code to find out more.
Pray for God to continue his work, begun so many years ago, in this lady’s heart.
On another occasion my husband and I took a visiting OMF guest up to the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
As we stood there, gazing down at the skyscrapers and vastness of Tokyo (37 million people), a volunteer guide offered to help us learn more about what they saw.
A few minutes later, the guide, Miwa (not her real name) asked the almost-inevitable question, “Where are you from?”
Once again, I replied that, although we are British, we live locally and worked with the Christian church.
Immediately, she asked, “What sort of church?” (by which most Japanese mean Catholic or Protestant).
Having told her we were Protestant, I mentioned a famous Christian Japanese author, Ayako Miura. Miwa exclaimed, “I love her books!”
She told us that her mother, who is a Christian, has dementia and finds the Bible hard to follow now, so Miwa is reading Miura’s stories with her.
As we talked, I had a strong sense that I should offer to pray for Miwa and her mum. She agreed and by the end of the prayer, she was crying.
We encouraged her to visit a church with her mum to find out more. Please pray that Miwa will come to know Jesus, her mum’s Saviour
— By Janet, an OMF missionary
