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Mizuba

A church community that preaches the word of God, worships bilingually, and builds relationships in the Tokyo area especially for the youth of Japan for Christ.
Monthly Newsletter" Issue 1 - Fall October 2012

In this issue:

Mizuba Community, Discipleship, Jiyu Gakuen, Prayers, Support.

Planting
The Mizuba Community Church is located in Higashikurume, Tokyo, Japan and involved with reaching out to the families and the youth of Japan. Mizuba in Japanese stands for living water. The church seeks to provide living water through the word of God, worship, and a dynamic relationship with Christians to have a growing personal relationship with Christ. In a nation where Christianity has carried much baggage and national contempt, Mizuba seeks to reach out to a nation with less than 1% Christian population. It seeks to overcome existing barriers through relationship with the local community and faith in God.

Japan), teaches at the Central Bible College, and works at *Jesus.net, an online ministry that seeks to draw online seekers to Christ.

The Heart of Mizuba

The Mizuba community seeks to reach out and connect with Christian families in the area as well as present the gospel and a relationship with Jesus Christ to the community. Currently, many of the members are students from Jiyu Gakuen, a unique Japanese liberal arts school founded by Christians. With almost 1,000 students, impacting the lives of the young students is signicant for raising up leaders in shaping the future of Japan. Through prayer, obedience, and love Mizuba seeks to be the voice of truth and a breath of fresh air to the lives of those we come in contact with. -Steven Matsumura!! Team Serve Missionary

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Front view of the house by the river that will be used as a place of worship and community for Mizuba. We are very blessed.

Founders of Mizuba
Barbara and Masakazu Suzuki serve together as Senior pastors for Mizuba and are leaders in the local Tokyo community. Together with a diverse education background from Amherst College, Columbia University, Bangor University, and

Universities from Japan they hold 4 bachelor degrees, 4 Masters, and 1 Doctorate degree. However, they are very humble and relational, preferring to be called by their rst names. Barbara Suzuki currently works as a English Teacher at the Jiyu Gakuen, a Japanese Christian School from Kindergarden through College. Masakazu, after teaching also at Jiyu Gakuen, helped manage CRASH (A Christian Disaster Relief organization in

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Life worth living

Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. ! Albert Schweitzer

TEAM Missionary

Discipleship

Jiyugakuen School

I nd the importance in being connected while being out in the mission eld. The accountability, support, and wealth of knowledge and experience from other Christian laborers are pivotal for the health of any missionary. TEAM Serve was the natural choice for partnership as they were among the most reputable in Japan as well as my already having relationships with them from an Urbana Mission conference and previous Japan mission trips. TEAM was a great t as they were committed to reaching those who are least reached. For me, to be a Christian is to live missional lives and I wanted to go where the the body of Christ was scarce or struggling. TEAM had the same vision and strived to help provide holistic services that involved addressing real needs of people all around the world. Their service in Japan involved church planting, community service, healthcare, creative art, education, and discipleship. Amongst all the positive services TEAM missionaries have been a part of, their emphasis is on relationship with the local people, with each other, and with God. Join and partner with TEAM at www.teamworld.org.

My greatest desire during my stay here is to pour into and build relationships with future leaders to create disciples of Christ here in Japan. Everything that I do has been an attempt to build long term relationships with the local people who are committed to Christ and Gods Kingdom. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20) From building relationships with young Christians at Mizuba, teaching English at Jiyu Gakuens boys, girls, and college departments, as well as helping coach the high school basketball team, I have been blessed to be in a position to connect and build relationships with many young Japanese students. Every week presents many opportunities to talk about my faith, education, and culture to college students at Jiyu Gakuen over coffee and lunch. One new female student has accepted Christ as her personal Savior and is now preparing to be baptized, continually coming to Mizuba and daily seeing her passion and hunger for God grow. I have been helping equip her with tools to worship God and lead others to worship. (Continue to next page).

The majority of my time here in Japan has been spent at Jiyu Gakuen, a unique liberal arts education founded by Japanese Christian journalists and built by the famous American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The school contains about a thousand students from Kindergarden to College. I believe that the battle for the future of Japan starts in the school. Jiyu Gakuen, among other schools in Japan, is special in that it was founded by Christians. The name Jiyu (Freedom) is taken from John chapter 8, verse 32. The school is based on the premise that freedom comes from God. The students go to chapel every day of the week. There seems to be a respect for the Bible, yet not many of them regularly read or understand it. Many at the school are not Christians and and dont even believe in the existence of God. My desire is to show them an example of a Christian living out his faith and to spur others at the school to pursue God and to nd freedom through the truth. As my involvement ranges from different departments at the school, it is my prayer and desire to instill a passion for Christ in the hearts of the young students for the future of Japan. Please join me through prayer and support for the youth of Japan. May Gods will and kingdom come here on earth. (More on my involvement at Jiyu Gakuen).

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(On Discipleship) A few college students have been serious seekers of God and desiring to follow Christ. It has been a beautiful opportunity to walk with them in their journey to God and increasing their passion and desire for Him. There is a denite need for Japanese Christians to mentor young Christians and honest seekers of Christ in the Japanese context, but God has been ever so present in the yearning of the students. One Wednesday, I took Buntaro, one of the Jiyu Gakuen basketball players, (the biggest college student from Jiyu Gakuen) to the CAJ (Christian Academy of Japan) gym to play pickup basketball. He had injured his hand before, but when he came to play, a fellow Christian offered to pray for him. Within seconds after the prayer, Buntaros hand was healed

and he was so taken back. Acknowledging that divine healing comes from God and that I do not fully understand it but except that it is a gift from God, I found Buntaro

through this act of healing he was able to recognize God and on the walk home, I was able to minister to him and introduce him to a God that loves him.

I live in the college dormitory, living with about 30 college guys from Jiyu Gakuen. There indeed could be no better way to connect with the students, learn Japanese, but also build community and fruitful relationships than living in this Japanese college dormitory. There are denite sacrices to living in the dormitory as there are no janitors, kitchen, or regular maintenance which leaves the dormitory in a humble situation compared to my previous college dormitories. However, the opportunity to spend more time with the students and have heart to heart conversations outweighs the small inconveniences. We are now in the process of preparing small groups/bible studies in the dormitory with the college students.

Bonding with Japanese College dorm students over Takoyaki (squid balls) and public bath house!

beginning to praise God and challenge his own previous unbelief of God. It was a natural occurrence to see how

Everyday I nd opportunities to share my faith and provide conversations in natural ways about God. It helps that

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THE MIZUBA FAMILY

The perfect church service, would be one we were most unaware of. !Our attention would have been on God. ! -C.S. Lewis

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Church isnt where you meet. Church isnt a Committed to the mission of the church, it has backgrounds and reaches to both Japanese building. Church is what you do. Church is been an interesting pursuit in being part of and English speakers. Structurally a house who you are. Church is the human outworking planting a church in a very different context church, we have been building relationships of the person of Jesus Christ. Lets not go to through locals here in Higashikurume, Church, lets be the Tokyo as well as international students and Church.!-Bridget Willard workers from various places. Please pray for us as we are expanding our physical place of worship to allow more My time here in Japan has begun after a members to experience God and hear from request to come help plant a church in His word. We are currently in need of more Higashikurume, Tokyo. From a young age, volunteers and disciples to mentor and build I found the importance of the body of relationships with the local Japanese people, believers as an embodiment of Christ especially the youth. himself, as a living, loving, and serving Fellowship at the living room of the Suzuki family. community. The planting of the Mizuba church has been an endeavor requiring much prayer, perseverance, vision, discipline, than California. However, our community of commitment, and sacrice. believers is unique to those here in Japan as it reaches out to those from diverse
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N more about the sophisticated Japanese culture, but am also able to have more of an input into the dialogue for the lessons.

SUPPORT:
We are in current need of prayer, partnership, and nancial support. I would personally like to ask you to join me in my outreach to the people in Japan for the Kingdom of God. The work here in Japan is a team effort and we need prayer, volunteers, and nancial support in order to continue the ministry here in Japan. If you would like to pray for us, attached is a list of prayer requests. Indeed, the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. May the missionaries not be forgotten and may the body support each other. I write this to present the plethora of needs here in Japan and pray that God may raise up the faithful to come and serve. If you would like to serve from there by nancially supporting my needs as I serve in the eld then please go to TEAMs web site www.teamworld.org which shows different ways to give under Ways to Give through TEAM. Online: Go to www.teamworld.org, under the Give tab, select Give Online Now. Click To Give Online Now Click Here and to give to Steven Matsumura and his mission in Japan, click Steven Matsumura. I am currently in need of about $9,500.00 for ministry here in Japan and my basic daily living expenses for the upcoming year.

Jiyugakuen:
A day in the boys department class. A class full of eager 1st graders equivalent to 7th graders in the American middle school system. Half of my week is spent helping teach English at classes like the picture below. Every day brings different environments, students, and projects.

About Me:
I have been in this journey of nding what it means to be a follower of Christ in the 21st century as an Asian American raised in the small coastal town of Pacic Grove, CA. The pursuit of my spiritual identity began at a young age when I experienced a near death car accident and continued through many years including the loss of my biological father. I realized the niteness of this physical life and that there must be a God who has gifted me with this life. It has been my desire to know God more fully and to follow His commands with the little that I have which has brought me around the world through diverse service ministries to express my love for God and for humanity. From serving at an orphanage of North Korean refugees in China, working in a medical/dental team in Ensenada, Mexico offering free clinics to the poor indigenous people groups and disabled children to partnering with CRASH, a Christian Disaster Relief Organization in Japan after the March 11 Tsunami, I have learned to appreciate life and to continue to bring life to those around me. My journey has presently brought me to Japan for the next year after having served in two projects with CRASH as well as with Westmont College serving the tsunami victims in Fukushima and touring the tsunamiinicted area through dance and music therapy. I wanted to live with the people I served, to learn and become more intimate to the needs of the complex people of Japan and learn to love them more fully. Having seen the physical devastations from the tsunami, the increasing rate of depression, and the high suicide rate among the youth has moved me to stay and listen to their silent cries. The journey has brought me to pray and seek healing and church planting for the people of Japan. Education: Westmont College (Christian Liberal Arts College); BS Kinesiology (Pre-med). Life Enthusiast. Team Missionary. Jiyu Gakuen School Staff. Mizuba Youth/Worship Pastor.

My main aid goes to the boys department ranging from 7th-12th grade. Below is a picture of 12th grade boys after teaching and playing a vocabulary review game. The classes are often lled with excitement as I have taken it my mission to keep the students engaged at all cost. They know that as an American I seem more animated, expressive, and maybe a bit more out of the box in my teaching methods!

Girls Department: I also help out at the Girls department which is a very different experience than at the boys department. A lot more conservative and strict, the students are better behaved and a lot better in English. Here is a picture of a class in the girls department.

-Steven Matsumura

Recently, I was able to sing and share the Lords Prayer to the Girls Department. An opportunity to share my faith as a Christian as well as the context behind the Lords Prayer found in Matthew 6. College Department: This group is where I am able to develop more friendships as many of them are closer to my age and more procient in English. I help with a lot more dialogue and cultural exchange classes which I nd very rewarding. I not only learn

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Prayers . . .
To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing (MLK).

Prayer Requests:
Personal Needs: Please pray that I may be focused and obedient to the will of God here in Japan. That I may not be too busy to miss the opportunities of ministry every day. Despite the language barrier, that I may connect and communicate the love of God to the people I meet as well as learn enough Japanese to also use words to communicate the love. That I will not be burnt out, but rather renewed to continue to serve and love the people around me in Jesus name. That I may reach new capacities to lead others to worship as well as to discover God in a new context. Pray that I will not fall into temptation nor be deceived by the evil one. That I may run the race well in order that my love for Christ will be conrmed by how I live my life. Also pray that I may receive the needed support to stay for the full year here. Mizuba Church Needs: We are in need of more Christian bilingual disciples with various talents and gifts to reach out to the youth in the community. We are also in need of more support from the greater Christian community. Please pray for the health of the current church leaders as they are planting the church. That the current congregation may continue to grow in their faith. That the church remain pure and Jesus be the center of our worship. For growth as support increases, that we may equip and disciple the youth for Gods Kingdom. Jiyu Gakuen School: That the students will be able to develop their identity and mature in their faith. Japan: Please continue to pray for the tsunami victims, revival in the youth to bring hope for the future of Japan, and to pray against the forces of darkness that is increasing suicide and depression here in Japan.

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