Praise God! Though we can confidently say that very little went according to our plans this month, our Father planned it all, and He deserves our praise for guiding our steps as He wills! With all the twists and turns that took place this month, we once again have so much to praise Him for.
Though we were looking forward to our last full month of meetings, complete with three Missions Conferences and three individual meetings, my wife and I ended up catching a very bad cold at the beginning of the month. At the time that we got sick, we were in the middle of completing our final cross-country drive, and we were nowhere near any of our home bases to quarantine ourselves in if we were to have tested positive for COVID-19. We decided to power through our drive from Michigan back to our home base in Southern California. Understandably, half of our meetings were taken off of the calendar. Praise the Lord that this is only the second time that we have ever had to cancel meetings due to an illness out of 2½ years on the road! We are thankful for most of these churches either giving us an open invitation for furlough or an opportunity for a virtual meeting.
Several victories were won during the first half of the month of fighting off our unknown illness. With the extra time that the Lord gave us, we were able to complete the booking of all of the flights for our delegates embarking on the 2021 FBMI Japan Olympic Outreach! In addition, God allowed us to complete rebooking all the necessary lodging except for Tokyo. Please pray that God would direct us to the right places to complete the Tokyo bookings for 2021. During all of this, all of our visa paperwork for long-term stay arrived safely in Japan and has been submitted to the Japanese Immigration Office after nearly a year of paperwork and communications with Japan! The next step is for Japan to approve all the paperwork and issue the Certificate of Eligibility (COE), which will be received and mailed by my Aunt Mayumi, our amazing sponsor. Once the COE is in our hands, we will be able to exchange it directly for our visa for long-term stay at a Japanese Consulate here in the U.S. The visa is not expected to take long—the real battle is obtaining the COE. We have done all we can for this vital document—please pray that Japan will issue us the COE quickly, as once this document comes in, we will be exchanging it immediately for the visa and leaving for Japan without delay! Unfortunately, our one-way flight ticket to Japan originally planned to depart on November 17 was abruptly canceled by the airline this month. We are still planning and praying for a November 17 departure—please continue to pray with us that God would allow us to arrive on the field as soon as possible and that we would be able to find another ticket that will actually fly.
My wife and I made it safely back to California in the middle of the month. We both took the COVID test, which came back negative, giving us clearance to continue with our meetings! With that, we were back in business, beginning at a Missions Conference in Mesa, Arizona, where we had the privilege of spending over eight hours out soul winning. By the time we left, God had allowed us to sign up 12 visitors for their church and lead a lady named Christina to the Lord! From there we revisited our home church in Wildomar, California, where we participated in their Saturday Bible Clubs. There we had the privilege of inviting a young man named Levi, who also ended up getting saved! In addition, God allowed us to gain new supporting churches in Temperance, Michigan, and Pinon, Arizona, this month, as well as a new supporting individual! With only three meetings left, we are beginning the process of selling our Prius. November will definitely be a crucial month—we greatly covet your prayers!
Your friends and co-laborers to Japan,
Go and Danielle Oishi