Since it is the end of the year and we are bombarded with various reviews of the previous year we thought we would write our own “fall in review.” Sometimes we don’t have the opportunity to discuss all that is happening with our team in Nagoya so here is our attempt to educate our readers about what has been happening on the field.

• The Wilson’s moved from language school in Tokyo to join the team in Nagoya. The Wilson’s are focused on music ministry with Tom’s specialty being choral ministry.
• November 1 the Nisshin Church celebrated its 10th Anniversary.

10th Anniversary Picture of Nisshin Church

• In November the Church Planting Institute Conference (CPI) took place where over 300 missionaries and national leaders gathered to become better equipped to church plant in Japan.

Picture Taken During 2009 CPI Conference

• [At CPI] there were 25 Japanese pastors and staff people who attended the special Japanese gospel track I [Bruce Young] led. The three national pastors all did an excellent job leading their sessions. And for the first time all 25 attendees continued on through all three sessions rather than leaving to attend other seminars! (Taken from Bruce Young’s prayer letter)
• Chubu Bible Institute seminary classes: This is the second year to teach the spiritual dynamics class with 15 vibrant, young and gifted leaders in attendance. We talked about the motivations for ministry and daily life with Christ driven out of a growing gratitude for the debt paid by Christ. The last day Susan and I led a session on cultivating a healthy marriage. I think this was a highlight of the three days for the students. They expressed gratitude for being prepared this way. Very little is said about Christian marriages and yet with divorce rates soaring in Japan the church needs to speak out to provide leadership in this area. (Taken from Bruce Young’s prayer lettter)
• On December 19, eight people joined the family of Christ in baptism at Nisshin Church.
• Over 200 in attendance at the Nisshin Church for the Christmas concert and candlelight service.

As you can see the fall has been filled with exciting news from the field. We are anxious to join the team and praise God for all the work he is doing. This last excerpt from Bruce Young really encouraged Cathalain and I to remember how active our God is in pursuing the lost!

I had the opportunity to preach [at the Nisshin Church] two Sundays to a “full house.” God is obviously working in the lives of many Japanese of all ages thru this church. One retired man said that he lost all purpose in life when forced to retire due to illness, but when he found value in Christ simply because he was loved by Him, this totally changed his life and gave him peace in retirement. A young college student committed her life to Christ the first week I was there and it was so encouraging to see other students huddle around her to pray for her and support her in this decision. Saturday night we met with three business men at Starbucks for a Bible study. One of the men is a new believer and it was exciting to see how he was trying to reach out to the quiet and introverted man in the group.

Starting in December 2009 MTW has launched on-line giving.  This is a convenient and quick way to donate to your favorite missionaries.

Super Easy Two Step Instructions:

1. Click button below.
2. Follow MTW directions.

One of the goals of our team in Japan is the growth of the church. This is done primarily through consistent word and deed ministry. Cathalain and I thought we would take a more organic approach. Therefore, we are working on growing the church by having our first child in early May! Although this will make travel and preparations for the field much more interesting, we are very excited to be starting a family and are very thankful to God for such a wonderful blessing.  Please pray for our child!

Aside from learning all sorts of new things about pregnancies, we have also been busy traveling and speaking to churches. We were back up in Virginia two weekends ago where Cathalain was leading a workshop for high school students at a conference in Harrisonburg and we both spoke about our ministry to Tabernacle Presbyterian in Waynesboro. There were several connections to Japan through the church so it was neat for us to share our ministry with them and to hear how they were connected with the ministry in Japan.

Our Virginia trip was book-ended by speaking to churches in Florida. We had the opportunity to visit with Grace Presbyterian in Arcadia once again. This church is one of our partnering churches and we were able to share more in depth about our ministry to the Japanese. We were also blessed to be able to share with a PCA mission church in North Florida last weekend.

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers as we continue to support raise! Although it has been slow going recently, we are nearing 50%. We are so grateful for the increase our home church, Covenant Lakeland, committed to giving.  What an encouragement!  We have been busy traveling these past several weeks, so please pray that we will continue to have churches to visit. Also, please pray for Cathalain’s pregnancy as she teaches and travels with me while dealing with all of the uncomfortable aspects of being pregnant.

If you know of any connections to churches or individuals who might be interested in partnering with us please shoot me an e-mail!  We appreciate all the assistance we can get!

Many Blessings,

Michael and Cathalain Carter

“All the nations you have made will come and worship before you O Lord; they will bring glory to your name!” Psalm 86:9

Please Continue Praying

• Pray the Lord would open doors at churches and we would continue to build church partnerships. Pray also as we talk to small groups in Lakeland that people would desire to partner with our ministry.
• Pray for our child, that truly there would never be a day where our child does not call upon Jesus as Savior!
  
• Pray for the ministry occurring in Nagoya, Japan right now.  Pray for hearts to be softened to the message of Christ being proclaimed at all the area churches!

A friend sent us a link to this synopsis of Dr. Howard Griffith’s time teaching in Japan this past summer. Dr. Giffith is currently a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary.   This is a great report to see a perspective on the ministry currently occurring in Japan.

Enjoy the read!

In our last update, we told you about our busy schedule for the summer and asked you to pray for our travels, support-raising and speaking. We made it through the summer and the Lord has certainly answered many of our prayers.

NC and GA

We began the summer in Asheville, North Carolina at a Living in Grace Conference. This was part of our missionary training with Mission to the World. This was a great way to start off the summer because the conference was a full week to be reminded of God’s grace and love. It was certainly a blessing for me and Cathalain to be a part of it. We stayed a few days in Asheville to speak at two church services held at a retirement community there. Not only did we get to speak about our ministry, but I also got to deliver the message to the congregation which was a first for me. We truly enjoyed being there and were glad to have the opportunity to share our ministry with them. We got back home only to turn right back around and head to General Assembly, held in Orlando. I saw some old friends from Japan and we spoke with pastors whom we had met before at various presbytery meetings. I also was able to speak at a presbytery meeting in North Florida. I had not previously met any of the pastors in this presbytery and had no connections with them, but the Lord really blessed my time there. I was able to not only meet many pastors, but talk with some in depth about our ministry and vision for Japan. We will also go back to some of the North Florida churches in the fall to talk to them more about our ministry, so it was a very fruitful time.

On to Virginia

We finished our summer by spending two weeks in Virginia in July speaking with churches and also taking some time off and relaxing.  We were able to speak at a church outside of Richmond on the first Sunday. The next day, we drove over to Lynchburg and met with the missions committee of a church there and we spoke at a church in Blacksburg on the following Sunday. The church in Blacksburg was particularly enjoyable because a Japanese family from Nagoya, Japan attends that church. The mother and all but the newest child were baptized by our future team leader in Nagoya, Japan, so it was exciting to talk to them about ministry in Japan and discovering mutual friends.

Support Update

This summer we learned that Holy Trinity Presbyterian in Tampa would partner with us in our ministry. We have been blessed by many relationships with members from Holy Trinity and are excited to have them as partners. Our support level is increasing slowly but surely. We are at approximately 40% of our needed budget. We have a long way to go but we are certainly thankful to God for what he has provided and we are faithful that God will provide the rest in his time.

Please Continue Praying

• Pray this fall the Lord would open doors at churches and we would continue to build church partnerships.  Pray also as we talk to small groups in Lakeland that people would desire to partner with our ministry.
• Pray for our partnerships with churches, for doors to open with additional churches, and churches would be able to add us to their budget.
• Pray for the Newsome family, our team leaders, as they returned to Japan last week from a year long home assignment.  Pray for the family adjustment and ministry as it continues to grow in Nagoya.

I will be back posting a few things to catch up from the summer. We have been lame in updating the site. If you see something below that wasn’t here before that is why!

Greetings from Virginia! Michael and I have just arrived and wanted to post a quick update along with prayer requests. We have quite a busy schedule ahead of us. (Our itinerary is below so you can check the specifics.) Please pray that we would be faithful to our calling and churches would be moved to pick us up at missionaries!

We do not have any additional news on the break in at out house but would like to express our gratitude for everyones prayers, cards, meals, etc. We are so well cared for by our Covenant family and VERY grateful!!!

VA Trip Itinerary:
Sunday – Speaking at Knox Presbyterian in Richmond, VA

Sunday Night – Small group meeting in Lexington with group from Grace Pres.

Monday – Meeting with missions committee at an EPC church in Lynchburg

Wednesday – Friday – Trip to DC

Sunday – Speaking at PCA church in Blacksburg, VA

One of the benefits of teaching is definitely summer time.  I was able to fly to Lexington, Va for 4th of July weekend and spend the weekend with my old roommate and in-laws.  We had a blast on the river and watching the fireworks at VMI.

After coming back from the quick trip to Lexington I took part in the Covenant Youth Road Trip as a leader. Seven Nights and Eight Days with nineteen youth…CRAZY! What a blast and wonderful time with the 9 female students who went and the other female leader. The Lord has really blessed the Youth Ministry at Covenant and it was a privilege to serve this week.

I even was able to visit with Grandma again!

Home for a day…Michael and I are off to Virginia to speak at a few churches and have a week of vacation at the in-laws!

Many have asked us to send our response to the break-in that occurred at our home on July 4th.  This is the second e-mail we sent out on July 7, 2009.

Thank you to all our friends and family for praying for us over the last few days.  God is a gracious God and we have been immensely blessed by him and through our wonderful community who have provided meals, assistance, and most importantly prayers!  Thank you to all of you.

I arrived home yesterday from Virginia and was nervous about what the evening would look and feel like.  I think God has given both Michael and I so much peace over the situation and hearts of thankfulness…trust me we would never have this on our own.  Today has been extremely difficult as we’ve gone around to pawn shops giving them a list of unique jewelry that might come their way, working with our internet service company to restore the equipment, and replacing necessary items for the house.  It is tedious and our lack of patience is revealing quite a bit of our own sin.

A wonderful blessing that happened an hour after I sent the last e-mail was the discovery of Michael’s laptop and my watches.  Michael was taking pictures of everything and saw a cord hanging out of a laundry bag by the door in the back room next to the door.  The police and he had missed this the night before and here it is late Sunday afternoon and he discovers yet again a wonderful treasure.  (We use his computer the most and it has all of our everyday files…including MTW stuff.)

If anymore information comes about we will update everyone, but I imagine it will mostly be putting our home in order and working with our insurance company…who has been excellent.

Please do continue to pray as Michael and I try to work through the fear and violation of this situation.  Both of us have struggled sleeping and seem to be much more on “edge.”  Pray we would acknowledge the fear, but also not be slaves to fear and remember that the Lord casts out all fears… that we would understand and reflect upon how he is still and has always been in TOTAL control and rules over all that happens.  Pray we find our home inventory.  I am so detailed and have everything beautifully documented with photographs but can’t find where I put it. (Typical me…unfortunately )  Prayer for Michael as I am away next week with the youth on the road trip.  As mentioned before please continue to pray for those who broke into our home…that they would come to know Christ’s forgiveness as Michael and I have been blessed to know.

Thanks again for all of your support and kindness.  We are blessed to be in such a loving community of believers who are advocating to the very throne of God on our behalf!  Thanks be to Him!

Cathalain Carter (for Michael too!)

Many have asked us to send our response to the break-in that occurred at our home on July 4th.  This is the first e-mail we sent out on July 5, 2009.