Updates

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  • Preparing for Christ Japan is interesting in the fact that even though less then 0.5% are professing Christians they LOVE to celebrate Christmas. The day after Halloween all the stores become filled with Christmas apparel and decorations. I was shocked when I walked into a l...
  • Matching Church Planting Funds - $25,000 = $50,000 This month we were informed MTW has a donor willing to match dollar for dollar up to $25,000 for the Church Plant being planned for the Nagoya Area. This is excellent seed money for a national pastor/worker and space for a church to meet. So far the team ...
  • Carter Ministry Update - September 2011 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jeal...
  • Carter Ministry Update - July 2011 The Persecuted Church When Japan ended its isolationist policies and opened the country to foreigners many came to Japan including the first missionaries. During this period Christianity grew and there was a revival happening in the hearts of the Japane...
  • The Persecuted Church On Tuesday we met a Japanese friend in Nagoya who took us to see firsthand where Christians were tortured and persecuted. You won't find this "attraction" in any English tourbook but our friend knew of the temple because her Jr. High class toured the mus...
  • Carter Ministry Update - June 2011 “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” - Thomas Watson This past week during one of our Bible Studies with a Japanese family the father commented, "Ten days ago I realized I am a not a good person inside."  Isn't this the truth, not just ...
  • Carter Ministry Update - May 2011 It is hard to believe we have been in Japan for exactly one month. The Lord has answered SO many prayers and we are blessed to report many good things from this past month. Relief Update Our first full day in Japan our team was loading its last truck...
  • Happy Easter! From Japan to the United States HAPPY EASTER! CHRIST HAS RISEN...HE HAS RISEN INDEED! The Lord blessed our day of worship in many ways. We began the day worshiping in our new church. (This was our third Sunday in Okazaki.) After church there was lunc...
  • Come, NOW is the Time to Worship This past Sunday we attended church for the second time in Okazaki.  (This marks our third Lord's Day in Japan.)  We are blessed to have found a church that prays, read scripture, and sings song of praise and hymns.  As peculiar as that sounds there ar...
  • Visas and Aliens Yesterday we were able to obtain our three year visa. This is such a blessing because now we can purchase cell phones, open a bank account and much more. The first step after having our new residency status was a trip to the town office. Our goal was t...
  • The Church Universal Yesterday we had the opportunity to worship at Nisshin Church. What a beautiful picture of the universal church. It was beautiful to stand side by side with our Japanese brothers and sisters and worship our Great God. Our Next Steps Very shortly we ...
  • We've Arrived! We are officially in Nagoya! We arrived around 6pm and were met by our team member Peter. After a lot of interesting packing we were able to load Peter's van and all cram in. Tight squeeze! We were exhausted and all went immediately to bed once arrivi...
  • Carter Update - We're Off This past week has been quite the whirlwind, but we have loved being able to meet with so many of our Virginia friends and family. We had a sweet time worshipping Sunday at Grace and a special commissioning time. We are so grateful for the ministry Grac...
  • Carter Update - Pre-Departure Travel Dates and Visas We are scheduled to leave for Nagoya, Japan on Tuesday March 29. Our first week will be spent setting up cell phones, insurance, bank accounts, etc. We heard back about our visas early this week from the Japanese office and they ...
  • Carter Update - Tickets & Visas We have bought our tickets for March 29, 2011. Praise God for his provision! Currently we are set to go on the 29th. We have not heard back about our long term visas. Although these are not necessary to still go on time they would help reduce a lot ...
  • Earthquake/Tsunami Update As many of you have heard Japan was hit in the early hours of the morning (EST) today by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Following the earthquake a tsunami hit the northern shore of Japan. As you can imagine this is a terrifying time for the Japanese and yo...
  • Carter Ministry Update - February 2011 All is in God’s Providence We recently spoke at a Mission’s conference in Athens, GA. At this conference there was a Japanese man presenting about Japan. This was a unique situation in that this Japanese man is not a Christian. In fact, he is traini...
  • Carter Ministry Update - January 2011 On the Mission Front... We continue to be encouraged by the stories from our teammates in Japan about how God is working there in the lives of the Japanese. There continue to be baptisms and people who come to outreach events and hear the gospel for th...
  • Carter Ministry Update - December 2010 From the Field... Michiyo*, a Japanese Christian in Nagoya, was diagnosed with a tumor on her lung this past summer. She is a young woman and everyone was shocked when she received this news. There were, of course, tears and sorrow, but she continued t...
  • September in Review From the Field… A Christian woman who attended the Nisshin church plant in Nagoya, Japan recently passed away. She was the only Christian in her family of devout Buddhists. In fact, there were two Buddhist priests in her family who attended her fu...
  • August in Review It is hard for us to believe August is already over!  We began the month in Washington DC visiting with friends after CCMI.  While in DC we had the blessing of worshipping with Washington Japanese Church.  After the service we were able to help members...
  • CCMI* - Week 4 (Final Week) Wow, we have survived a month in New York City!  Tonight we write this update from Washington DC where we are staying with dear friends for what they call a "detox" weekend. [caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="403" caption="Tobin F...
  • CCMI* - Week 3 PILAT* - How do you learn a foreign language? This week we went through PILAT training with facilitator Nancy Craig.  The goal of the program is to equip missionaries with strategies of how to learn a language through phonetics training and various te...
  • CCMI* - Week 2 Teaching ESL This week our field ministry team prepared and taught a week long intensive English program.  There were over 20 students from over 12 different countries.  Michael led the "beginner" class every morning for two hours.  Cathalain assist...
  • CCMI* - Week 1 The Adjustment We both were anxious about living in NY City for a month with a 6 week old.  At first Cathalain was quite overwhelmed with how physically exhausting each day was and learning how to buy affordable groceries.  We did not expect 103 degr...
  • Carter's Update - July 2010 Greetings from New York! We arrived safely today for the MTW Cross-Cultural Training in New York City. We will be here July 1-30.  This month we will spend half our time serving with a local congregation and the other half of our time in a classroo...
  • Carter's Update - May 2010 Greetings! So much has happened in our lives since our last update in February! Our New Addition On May 18 the Lord blessed us with our first son, Tobin James Carter. He was born at 8:38am, was 8lb 11oz, and 21.75 inches long. He has been a wonderfu...
  • Carter's Update - February 2010 Recently we have seen many mainstream news reports portraying negative aspects of Japanese culture reporting about economic, psychological, corporate, and societal ills. This is contrasted to the many reports we receive from the mission field about the gr...
  • Carter Update - Fall 2009 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 o...
  • Carter Update - Summer 2009 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...
  • Cathalain's Been Traveling 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 c...
  • Break In Response 1 of 2 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. "15See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to ever...
  • Living in Grace Conference Traveling To and Fro This past week we spent the week traveling to Brevard, NC to attend the Living in Grace Conference put on by the spiritual life department at MTW.  I have quite a few family members along the way and Michael and I were able to v...
  • May Carter Update Greetings!  Cathalain and I have been so thankful over the past few months for your faithful prayers, words of encouragement, and support.  It is a privilege to partner with you to reach the unreached in Japan. Speaking at Home As you might reca...
  • Training for Japan Happy New Year! Dothan, Alabama We started off the new year by traveling to Dothan, Alabama for a visit with the Newsome family.  The Newsome's are our team leaders in Nagoya, Japan and are spending this year on homestay.  It was fun spending time...
  • Graduation Michael has officially completed both his master's degrees!!!! He graduated with a master's in teaching English to speakers of other languages from University of Central Florida and a master's in biblical studies from Reformed Theological Seminary. We ...