December 2011 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent ours with just our family of four. We enjoyed sharing with each other what we were thankful for this year. We were most encouraged to hear our daughter Yuki point out and thank God for some positive things that have happened this year despite the difficulties she has experienced adjusting to Japanese school.

Our hearts were overwhelmed with gratitude that God has protected her heart all this time from growing bitter or angry about this life experience and allowed her heart to hold dear to some positive things. The Lord immediately pointed our hearts toward all of those who came alongside us this year faithfully lifting Yuki and our whole family in prayer. God surely heard those prayers and worked His wonders in our lives.

Noriko’s Prayer Ministry:

We had been praying for the Lord’s clear direction in Noriko’s specific ministry role in our church. We were seeking specifically a ministry in line with both her spiritual gift and our ministry vision: that TEAM missionaries and Japanese Christians will become more effective and efficient in establishing reproducing churches in Japanese by the support and encouragement provided through our God-given ability and gifts.

We believe He has answered that prayer.

Since our arrival, the Lord has continued to make Noriko aware of the great need for prayer support in the lives of both missionaries and Japanese believers. She also noticed that the kind of ministry opportunities that the Lord has brought into her life continually throughout this year were providing encouragement to others through the ministry of prayer. Even during the recent months God has increased her burden and passion for serving Him in this way by allowing her to experience in a greater way the value and power of prayer support for us when we went through very challenging transition and adjustment in our lives and ministry on the field this year. It was just when the Lord confirmed to her about her ministry role that our church leaders approached her asking if she could be involved in starting up a prayer chain ministry.

As Noriko is currently in the beginning stage of establishing this new prayer ministry in our church, please pray for the Lord’s continued guidance for her and that He will use this ministry greatly in our church to strengthen their walk and service in the Lord. Our church is fairly new (just cerebrated our second anniversary!) and the church leaders recently shared with the congregation the vision of our church. As the church goes through this important beginning stage of understanding and following to fulfill this vision given by the Lord, would you join us in your prayer that the church body will be united in prayer in seeking God in utter dependence?

TEAM Japan Website:

Chad and the office staff have been busy updating the TEAM Japan website with new stories and updated information about TEAM’s ministry here in Japan. Our goal for the website is for it to inspire and inform people about the different kinds of ministry opportunities and draw more workers into them to further the gospel in this very needy country. Please pray that this website will achieve its intended goal and purpose. If you are interested in knowing more about what TEAM is doing in Japan, please check the website at teamjapan.org.

Leviticus Study:

We are currently going through an inductive study on Leviticus. Throughout the book, the repeated phrase that you come across is God speaking to His people “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” God has directed our hearts to earnestly pray and seek Him for understanding and application of holiness that He calls His people to in our lives. Over the years the Lord has brought a perfectly fitting Bible study into a very specific season of our lives, so please pray that what we learned through this study during this beginning stage of our missionary career will adequately equip and prepare us for our future service to the Lord.

Prayer Requests:

1. As Noriko is starting up a new prayer ministry at our church, please pray for the Lord’s continued guidance for her and that He will use this ministry greatly in our church to strengthen their walk and service in the Lord.
2. As our church goes through an important beginning stage of understanding and following the vision of our church, please pray that the church body will be united in prayer in seeking the Lord in utter dependence.
3. Please pray that the TEAM Japan website that Chad and the office staff are currently updating will achieve its intended goal and purpose to inspire and inform people about TEAM Japan’s different kinds of ministry opportunities and to draw more workers into them to further the gospel in Japan.
4. Please pray that the Lord will adequately equip and prepare us for our future service to Him through our current Bible study on Leviticus.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas,
Chad and Noriko Snow

Please go to TEAM’s website at www.teamworld.org to get involved in the Japan Earthquake relief effort.