Only 22 More Days in Japan…

The past few weeks have been hot, humid, and rainy, as it is currently the rainy season in Japan. We’ve been making good use of our standing fans, folding fans, air conditioner, popsicles, umbrellas, etc. to stay cool! Last week we hosted our last foreign guest (Logan’s brother Nick), making a total of 12 people who stayed at the ‘Foth Inn’ during our time in Japan! Hopefully the Japanese government isn’t getting suspicious about all the people who wrote down our address at Japanese immigration! :)

Everything here is beginning to feel very nostalgic. We’re often thinking to ourselves this is the last time we’ll eat this/see this person/be at this place. It’s going to be very sad saying goodbye to the home and many friends we’ve made here in the past year. Farewell parties have already begun - church members, English students, and friends are eager to take us out for sushi, okonomiyaki, and even sheep brains!!! We are so thankful for the many wonderful people we have met here.

This week, the ACTION team from MB Mission will be joining us for one of our teaching days. We are looking forward to meeting this group of 5 Canadian, college-aged students and hope to encourage them as they serve in Japan for one month. 

We only have four English-teaching days left at Osaka Bible Church - our last day is July 28th! Please pray that the English ministry would be able to continue at OBC after we leave and that more Japanese people would learn the Gospel message through OBC in the future. 

Regarding our budget, thank you so much to those of you who have contributed toward this ministry in Japan. Currently, we are still in need of additional funding and are trusting that God will provide all of our needs (like He always does!) If you are interested in supporting us financially, please visit this link:    Support Logan & Heidi

We would appreciate your prayers as we say goodbye to Japan and prepare to move back to Saskatchewan. We will be back in Saskatoon (Lord willing) on August 11th. We are so thankful that God has provided each of us with jobs back home. Logan will be returning to his position at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and I will be beginning my teaching career at Hague High School! Please pray that we will quickly find a home to live in (we don’t want to overstay our welcome in our parents’ basements!)

Blessings to you today!
Thank you for taking an interest in what has been going on here recently. 

Love & Prayers,

Logan & Heidi

Sushi party at one of our English student's home

Another sushi party with some church members!

Enjoying a picnic with Logan and his brother Nick, at beautiful Utsubo Park

June Blog Update

Hello friends, family, and supporters! Thank you so much for taking an interest in what’s been going on on this side of the globe lately!

Our return to Canada is quickly approaching, we only have about two months left of our one year term here in Osaka. How time flies! In The past while we’ve been happy to host more Canadian guests, including my brother and his wife, Eric and Gina, along with Gina’s mom, Lydia. This week we’re anticipating more guests, and next month Logan’s younger brother will be coming our way as well! It’s nice having a full house! 

In May, we had the opportunity to visit Northern Japan where the Great Earthquake/Tsunami of 2011 hit. We went along with several other Mennonite Brethren church members from the Osaka area, including the pastor of our church, who led the tour. We stayed at a church that began shortly after the Great Disaster led by a Japanese pastor and his family, along with a missionary couple from America. It was great having fellowship with them and hearing their stories about how God has been working in that area. We were surprised by how many victims of the disaster are still living in temporary homes. Please pray for this area, as after four year, there is still much work to be done - physically and spiritually.

This week we were very discouraged after one of our chapel times. For the devotional, we decided to focus on a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34) about worry. I’ve always found encouragement from this passage and thought the Japanese may feel the same way. One of our students, however, could not grasp the idea of trusting Jesus to look after his earthly needs (clothing, food, drink, etc.) His response is always the same to our chapel times: “That’s a very nice story, but I think it’s too difficult.” I was so heartbroken at his words. Yes, being a Christian isn’t for the faint of heart, but I can speak from experience that it’s the most rewarding relationship we can have on this earth. The Bible says very clearly that some will accept the gospel, and some will reject it. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will change his heart!

This past week we celebrated four years of marriage (thank you for your MANY prayers ;) by going to nearby Awaji Island. We stayed in a Japanese style hotel and experienced the beauty of the Japanese countryside. 

Praise & Prayer:

Pray that the chapel times in our English classes would challenge our students, and that the Holy Spirit would work in their lives

Pray for Logan as he prepares to preach his first sermon on Father’s Day Sunday, June 21.

Pray that we would stay present in our duties here for the next 2 months and not be distracted by the uncertainties of moving home.

Pray for Osaka Bible Church as they discern how to continue English classes after our departure.

Praise that we had five new students join our English classes this month!

Praise for the past four years of marriage.

Praise for continuing to strengthen the relationships we have with our students

Us with my brother and sister in law at Osaka Castle park.

This was our tour group that visited the 2011 disaster area.

Celebrating 4 years of marriage in traditional Yukata!

March Update

Dear beloved supporters,

We have crossed the halfway point in our term and continue to see God’s work among us and in the people of Japan. We are thankful that we that we had the opportunity to meet up with Logan’s aunt and uncle (Corinne & Ben Tan) in Singapore for 5 days this month. It was nice a time of refreshment and encouragement. The day we got back to Osaka, we hosted Heidi’s aunt and uncle (Martha & Darryl Neudorf) in our home for one week. Later this month we look forward to having Logan’s mom (Myrna Foth) come for a visit as well! We won’t be getting homesick this month! 

During our time in Singapore, we were surprised to experience elements of culture shock even in a country so similar to Japan. Most notably the ability to use English and to communicate freely with locals. We expect this small taste of culture shock is only a foreshadow of what our return to Canada will be like.  At this time, we feel God is calling us to return to Canada come August, however, we continue to prayerfully consider our future and ask that you’d do the same.

Our classes continue to grow and, more importantly, our relationships with the students continue to get deeper. We are grateful that a few of our students have accepted our invitation to come to a couple church services and are eager to see the way in which God is working in their lives. 

Finally, MB Mission has brought to our attention that our original estimated budget was not sufficient to cover the expenses of our year here in Japan. There have been very few Global Servants in Japan in recent years, making it difficult to compile an accurate budget. We have been asked to raise additional funds to cover the final leg of our time here. We have been humbled and encouraged by the generosity of so many friends, family members and our church in supporting us in so many ways. If you would like to financially partner with us, we ask that donations would be made via MB Missions website at: https://secure.mbmission.org/donate/us.php?code=C7898   We're project C7898! :)

Prayer Requests:

-   More students (as always!)

• Students would accept our invitation to church and have a curiosity for the Gospel
• English class chapel time would have an impact on our students
• We would feel peace and contentment about our future decisions

Praise Items:

• We have seen an improvement in our Japanese, especially communicating with church members
• We have been able to spend so much time with family
• Our MB Mission Japan team grew by 5 people with the addition of the Giesbrecht family from Manitoba!

Singapore: Ben Tan, Marie Tan, Corinne Tan, Heidi, Logan

One of the winter illuminations we experienced in February.

Exploring Kyoto: Darryl Neudorf, Martha Neudorf, Heidi, Doris Goertz

We got to see a sumo tournament this March in Osaka! Yikes!

Merry Christmas From Japan

Tonight we went to Universal Studios Japan to watch their Christmas show, “The Gift of Angels.” As you can imagine, this being Japan and all, we were surrounded by thousands of other spectators, snapping photos and enjoying time with their loved ones. The show was absolutely spectacular and the Christmas tree, with its Guinness World Record setting 360,000 lights, nearly brought tears to my (Heidi) eyes. In this moment, I imagined what it must have been like as a shepherd in the hills of Bethlehem on the night of Jesus birth. Yes, this tree was amazing, but can you imagine an entire sky filled with God’s angels, singing praises to the new born King? Wow!

We enjoyed the Christmas carols that accompanied the show. It seemed a little ironic that a country so spiritually dark was pumping praise songs to Jesus! This was a special moment of worship for me.

We are officially done teaching English for 2014! We are having a Christmas party for all of our English students on December 23, which is a national holiday in Japan (The Emperor’s birthday). Please pray that our students will come and receive the Christmas story with an open heart. 

We wish you a very Merry Christmas from Japan! Let us rejoice in the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! 

Blessings in the new year! 

Logan & Heidi Foth 

PS- If you haven't checked out our latest video, click here!

This is the amazing Christmas tree with 360,000 lights!!

Have You Ever Heard the Christmas Story?

When reading Paul’s letters, there are many things we have not personally experienced, for example: beatings, imprisonment, trials, etc., but we now have a new understanding of the joy he must have felt when reconnecting with loved ones. We had the privilege of hosting my (Heidi) parents for 10 nights during November. We were blessed and encouraged by them and thoroughly enjoyed showing them our new life in Japan.

Our English classes have been going well, and we rejoice in the 37 students the Lord has hand-picked. This week we had the opportunity to share the Christmas story with our students; the majority of them had never heard it before. After sharing the story of Jesus’ birth, it became clear that our neighbourhood is a Least Reached People group, meaning these people have never heard the Gospel. This fact hit home when we told one of our students, a 77 year old, well-educated man, the Christmas story for the first time.

As we learn more about Japanese culture we realize that they are inclusive toward many religions. The average Japanese person has a Shinto birth, a Christian marriage and a Buddhist funeral.Therefore the idea of one religion, and one religion only, is extremely foreign and goes against Japanese culture. Please pray that the Japanese would not see an exclusive belief in Christianity as a hinderance, but would experience the joy from a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We also ask for your prayers in the following ways:

-Continued Japanese language comprehension

-Sustained interest of community children in weekend programs

-Interest in our students to accept our Sunday morning service invitations

-That our students would hear the Christmas story as Truth, not fiction

-Emotional stability as we prepare for an unusual Christmas

Thank you for your prayers and letters! We love hearing from you!

Logan & Heidi Foth

My mom (Donna Neudorf), me, Maki and Yuko Okada enjoying the beautiful fall colours in Kawanishi City.

Logan surprised his father-in-law with tickets to the Japan All Star Baseball game!

Logan & Heidi in Shukkeien Gardens in Hiroshima City.

A trip to the Onsen

This weekend our pastor, Abe-sensei, took us to his home in the neighbouring prefecture of Wakayama (about an hour and a half drive from OBC). During our time with the Abe’s we experienced amazing hospitality and generosity. We felt so at home spending time with them, it felt like we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

On Sunday we had our first Onsen experience. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it is a Japanese natural hot spring. At the onsen, men and women separate into different areas and bare all in the name of relaxation! I was quite nervous, being well aware that a city boy from Canada would stick out like a sore thumb! However, after sinking into the first of six hot baths, all my fear and nervousness melted away.The sixth, incredibly scenic, bath was so hot it felt like I was stepping into a pool of lava in the mouth of a raging volcano. After settling in, I could literally feel the marrow in my bones begin to heat up. It was at this point, looking out over a picturesque landscape, that an overwhelming sense of peace overcame me. This feeling of peace brought John 14:27 to mind, which says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” 

Most Japanese people visit the onsen regularly because of the peace and relaxation it brings. However, Jesus offers us a peace that is free and continuous; it is a deeper peace than any hot springs could ever give. Please pray that the Japanese people would come to know the Peace we have in our Lord and Saviour. 

In regard to our English classes, we are now up to around 30 students! PRAISE THE LORD! God has been faithful in responding to the many prayers for more students. As we settle into our weekly routine, we now realize an unexpected challenge and duty here in Japan: empowering the local church leaders!

At the moment, only our Wednesday class has a “chapel time,” lead by the pastor, Abe-sensei. Since he is not at the church everyday, we need other church members who are willing to share the Gospel with our English students. We feel it is important for the Japanese to hear the Word in their own heart-language. Though we do have church elders present during our lessons, they do not feel qualified to lead a devotion because they do not have the ‘Pastor’ title. Please pray that our church elders would feel a sense of duty and joy in sharing the Gospel, and that God would provide them with the confidence to do so.

Thank you again for your prayers!

May the LORD bless you and keep you all,

Logan & Heidi Foth

Outside the Abe's home in Wakayama

One of our students dressed us up in Kimonos!

Moi Samte (OBC's previous English teacher from Japan Mission), Mr & Mrs Abe - Adventure World

New Beginnings

Hello to you!

It's hard to believe the month of September has already come and gone. We happily welcomed the month of October, as with it came our new teaching schedule. Instead of only teaching one day a week, we will now be teaching three days a week. Thus far, we have had about seven new students register! Praise God for his faithful provision! We've enjoyed meeting these new students and are encouraged that some people have actually noticed the English flyer in their newspaper or mailbox. Please continue to pray for more students to join our class and that Logan and I would have patience as we wait. We find peace knowing that the Lord has already hand-picked each student He wants to join our classroom.

We are continuing to settle into Japanese daily life; our apartment is starting to feel more and more like our home. We began private Japanese language classes in mid September, which have been going  so well! Our teacher lives in the neighbourhood and teaches both English and Japanese; we are very fortunate to have such a great resource so close nearby. We aim to study at least one hour everyday, as the language barrier continues to be our biggest challenge in sharing the Gospel.

Somedays we feel very useless and we ask ourselves, what's the point in us being here if we can't even tell someone about Jesus in his/her own language? However, John 13:34-35 has been a strong reminder and encouragement. It says "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." Our main duty is to demonstrate God's love and the fruits of the Spirit to the Japanese people.

Thank you for the many prayers and words of encouragement many of you have sent our way. We appreciate your support so much!

Praise & Prayer:

-Praise God for our new English students, as well as fellowship with local Japanese people and our MB Mission team this month
-Please pray that Logan and I would be able to demonstrate God's love through our daily living
-Continue to pray for our Japanese language development/communication
-Pray that we will keep feeling more at home here in Japan, and also for our marriage as we adjust to spending every waking minute together... :)

Thank you!
Logan & Heidi Foth

This photo is from a baseball game we attended Sept. 27th; Osaka's Hanshin Tigers!