On Monday, we had the opportunity to pray at the Imperial Palace! This is where the emperor and empress of Japan live. Many would also consider this area the 'center' of Japan as many important government, news, and business buildings reside here.
Around the palace is about 5 kilometers of sidewalk, and every 100 meters there is a design of a flower and the name of the prefecture the flower represents. We were given a prayer guide with bullet points for each prefecture and prayed as we passed each one. Thus after about an hour of walking we had prayed for all of Japan!
After stopping for lunch, we traveled to a nearby popular buddhist temple and shinto shrine. It was very heartbreaking to see so many people praying to spirits and purchasing good luck charms. We learned that around New Year, about 80 million people visit a shrine in the span of about 3 days. Once we saw the temple, we stopped for some time to pray on the temple grounds that the Lord would open the people's eyes to see that these practices are empty and useless, and that Jesus name might be proclaimed in place of the shinto and buddhist beliefs.
Please pray:
- That our team members experiencing health discomfort would be healed (some back and foot pain mostly)
- For those who go to temples and shrines, that they would turn to Jesus instead of their current beliefs
- For the current long term missionaries in Japan, that they would be encouraged and see fruit from their work
Thank you for being our prayer partners as we pray for the Japanese. Your prayers mean a lot to us!
Praying for health problems. God is the great Healer but He has also given us great understanding for taking care of ourselves by partaking in rest, nutritious foods and mild exercises for relaxing muscles. Comfortable shoes help too! Difficult to walk on pavement for hours! You are all in my prayers and although we think that we should not complain of minor issues, He is mindful of all of our needs. Chrissy
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