Haruaki and Asami Odate, Japan
Japan is still in the mess of COVID, but thankfully we are protected and doing well. The vaccination in Japan seems to speed up recently, so hopefully Asami and I will be vaccinated within this year. I hope to visit the U.S. once I complete the vaccination to meet my friends, visit supporting churches, do more fundraising, and attend the presbytery meeting of the Presbytery of Mississippi Valley for my membership is there. I am looking forward to that time.
Church planting is going well so far. We are meeting at the house of a missionary family, the Chases, who are the core team of my church planting team. We have worship gatherings at their house twice a month, the second and fourth Saturday evenings. The Odates, the Chases, and Michael Flayhart are the regular attendees as the core team and its family. We have 2-5 visitors from my Japanese home church (Oyumino Christ Church) every time, also, one student from Chiba University occasionally. Because we have four kids and the Chases has five, I am trying to communicate with easy words when I preach. The missionaries understand Japanese, but not difficult theological/biblical terms. So, I choose the easy words and sometimes explain the specific term.
There is a lot more information concerning the ministry of the Odates. Please go to Praying for Missionaries to learn about the church planting work as well as how you can support their work and pray for their family. Contact Haruaki ‘O-Chan’ Odate at praisingguitarist@gmail.com or on Facebook.