Dear Everyone,
We hope this will find you well. We are relatively well. Mari has been ill lately because she has now asthma. She sometimes coughs a lot in the middle of night, which causes the lack of sleep and easily makes her ill. She has been medicated well, though. I confess that I felt frustrated at it. Although my work as minister and evangelist has been sometimes slow down, I come to believe that taking care of my wife is as important as reaching out to people here in Japan. You may say, "you should have known that long ago." Well, it took me a while to realize this because I am so selfish and stubborn. I had to examine my motives once again.

In this report, let me tell you about the work of Japan School of Evangelism and the work of Annual Nation Wide Japanese Preachers and Missionaries Meeting. In Japan, April is the beginning of a new school year. Like any other school, Japan School of Evangelism begins in April. April 5 is New School Year Ceremony. We have one new student and two second year students, so three in all together. From this year, we have a new dean, Shiro Obata. I think this is a good change. We have to move forward to advanced education. I have been participating in part of changing school curriculum. I am one of the three members of Curriculum Committee. This has been very challenging because it is difficult to please everyone. Although all teachers are preachers for churches of Christ, they have various educational backgrounds. Some are much more liberal than you might think. After a long discussion with all the teachers in a big meeting, the new curriculum has been made anyway.

Every year in the middle of June, we have an annual nation wide preachers and missionaries meeting. It is scheduled on June 7, 8, and 9 this year. The topic of this year's meeting is the Bible. You may say, "What a topic!" or "Why is this topic?" As I indicate above, many Japanese preachers had religiously liberal education. As a result, we have a wide variety of views on the Bible. This has sometimes caused a lot of painful discussions. Therefore, some of us have felt we really need to discuss the authority of the Bible. I have become a member of the committee to prepare for this meeting. Although I am not a speaker, I have been chosen to lead one panel discussion. Although I have my own view on the authority of the Bible, I must not express mine but let other people express theirs.

This kind of meeting can be very fruitful, but can be very painful. We have to avoid misunderstanding one another. We have to try to understand other people's point of view. I have come to realization that it takes lots of prayers to control oneself in such a meeting.

You are in my prayers every day. I mention your names and ask God to protect you from Satan. I believe that God will more abundantly bless you. I always thank you for your kindness and love. I also pray that I will be faithful to God's all teachings. Only that way, I can glorify his name. May God bless you more richly.