We had a wonderful Easter at the Nishi Okamoto Church.The children had been practicing a song called "Celebrate O Celebrate", written by Makito Matsuda, a young pastor here in Japan, who grew up in the Nishi Okamoto Church.As the worship service began, Masami, a first grader, leaned over to Tomoko as said, "I am so excited to get to sing in church today, my heart is going, 'doki-doki"!Masami's parents were both in church; it was the first time her father has been to our church.There were 14 children who sang, and we were all blessed.

The adult choir also sang. I think they were also a blessing to the Lord and the worship service.But the best part was some of the people who sang in the choir.About 6 weeks ago a young lady stopped by the church one afternoon to pray.After a time of prayer and some sharing, we invited her to church.She has been attending since then, and purchased her own Bible.She has enjoyed being a part of our choir.In addition, Mr. Maruo joined us to practice and sing on Easter.You may remember that a few months ago we wrote about the Maruo family.They are not Christians, but have come on occasion over the last couple of years.The choir director invited Mr. Maruo to join us for our Christmas song, but then Mrs. Maruo's mother suddenly passed away, and he was not able to join us at that time, but said, "maybe next time."We were so glad he joined us this 'next time'.Pray with us for these with whom we are sharing the love of God.

But there was more good news for our Easter.We welcomed into the membership, Koichi and Yoshiko Bano during the worship service.How we came to know them is a fun story I would like to share with you.We had been living here in Kobe for one year, and Alisen, our second child, was just starting first grade.Her Japanese language skills were not real great at that time, and sometimes got things mixed up.One day she came home from school and said, "My friend is coming to church on Sunday!"We said, "Oh, what is your friend's name?"She said, "Anna."Well Alisen had made a really good friend named Mana, whose family went to a different church and we thought she had gotten something mixed up with 'who' and 'what' was happening.But the next Sunday a little girl came running into the church for Sunday school and Alisen yelled, "My friend is here!"It was Anna Bano.Mr. Bano was a member of a church across the city, and the family had just moved to our neighborhood that spring.Anna, her mother and baby brother came to our church because Mr. Bano was in the hospital having his appendix taken out.Our families became friends at that time, and later that winter Mrs. Bano called Tomoko to tell us that she had accepted Jesus as her Savior and was getting baptized.

This winter, two years later, they began to attend our church a few times, and Mr. Bano told me that he felt their family needed a church closer to their home.When the traffic was bad, it took over an hour to get to their former church.We talked with his pastor who told us he would miss them, but understood, and sent a wonderful letter to our church offering a prayer of blessing for the energy this young family was bringing to our church.

Please continue to pray for each of these we have mentioned.Pray also for Pastor Takahashi, our associate pastor.He is a man the Lord is using in wonderful way here in this church.Pray for us as we are preparing for our return to the U.S. this June for our one-year U.S. and Puerto Rico Assignment.Also, if you would like us to visit your church, please contact your regional Minister of Mission Support.

Looking forward to seeing you soon... and thanks for always remembering us in your prayers!

Grace and Peace,

John and Tomoko Armagost