“And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death, until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” (Mark 9:1)

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ,

Warm greeting to you in Jesus wonderful name. We praise the Good Lord who is always with us. He is Emmanuel. He will never leave nor forsake us until the end of the world. Halleluiah!

Praise God for all the wonderful works of God the Holy Spirit in all nations.

Sorry for the delay in sending you our newsletter, the explanation is written below! We shall appreciate your continued prayers for us to be in the center of His will.

As we shared with you in our Feb. newsletter, on Feb. 28^th Pastor and Mrs. Ricardo from Brazil together with Esther went to visit 3 Brazilian, Egyptian and Iranian men in an Ibaraki prison. By God’s grace the first two nationalities received Jesus into their hearts and were saved. Esther shared much about Jesus with the Iranian man in Persian and gave him the address of A.G. church in Tehran-Iran, which he said that he would visit. It was his last day of stay in Japan as he was to fly back to Iran the next day. He said that it was the first time he had had visitors in the past one year. According to the Lord’s leading sister Adriana encouraged him to always remember what God had done for him and Pr. Ricardo prayed with him. We are grateful and praise God for using brother Ricardo and Adriana to open the door again for the prison ministry in Ibaraki prefecture.

On the same day Yousef left for Okinawa to visit the YWAM base. By God’s grace, there he also had the privilege to visit Okinawa Bethel -a Japanese church-Pastors Emilda and Rafael Miranda from South  America. When he entered, he was asked to speak what the Lord would lead him. The Lord used him to heal his people spiritually and physically. This way God blessed him even though things did not work out well in his visit to YWAM. We shall appreciate your continued prayer for God’s leading in our life, unity, strength, humility, wisdom, and financial provision… 

Few days later, the Lord told Esther, “I’m giving you the nations. Are you ready?” And He commanded her saying, “Get ready.”          

The Egyptian and the Brazilian brothers went back to their countries a month later but were very active in telling other prisoners about Jesus while still in the prison. They introduced several Philippine no ladies and an Iranian man who asked Esther to visit them. By God’s grace, we visited them and slowly but surely the Lord has been blessing the prison ministry.

Since that day, we have been visiting the prison almost 2/3 times a week and so far 4Philippine no, 1 Pakistani, 1 Myanmar, 1 Hong Kong and 1 Chinese ladies and 4Philippine no, 1 Mexican, 1 African (from Uganda), 4 Iranian, 1 Sri Lankan and 3Brazilian men, and 1 Philippine no bisexual have received Jesus into their hearts and were saved. Praise the Name of JESUS.

Esther has been giving the English speaking brothers and sisters teachings on the" Holy Spirit and His gifts” by Gerald Rowlands & JoAnne Sekowsky, which have been VERY MUCH welcomed and appreciated by them. One day as she was praying again that we would be allowed to hold Sunday services, Bible Studies, Renewal Meetings in the prison, the Lord told her, “Let them do it!” So by God's leading she encouraged them in women section for 2 weeks to get together specially on Sundays) and sent in the Sunday messages and the procedure for Sunday and prayer meetings. Last week of April Jane from the Philippines proudly informed Esther that they’d started meeting together on Sunday and also pray together every day. Hallelujah!

Sometime they have 18 people who join them. Hence by God’s wisdom Esther divided them into two groups. Among them there are Russian, Indonesian, Mongolian, Taiwanese…

Yousef has been meeting with several Iranians as well who have been asking lots of questions about Christianity. He gave them each a copy of “How to Pray" written by Dr. Cho, which Esther had the privilege to translate it into Persian. They found the book very helpful even though they were not born again yet. One Iranian showed Yousef the list of his prayer requests and said that he was praying for each item regularly every day (based on Dr. Cho's teachings in this book) and on the same day he and two other Iranians gave their lives to the Lord. Glory to God. By God’s grace they are also undergoing the ICI Bible courses –all in Persian. Praise the Lord for all His mighty works.

In ladies section Jane, Leonora & Marcelita from the Philippines and in men'section Geoffrey (Uganda), Marin (Philippines) and Abraham (Iranian speaking fluent Japanese, English and Portuguese) are being used by God to lead their fellowship. The Lord showed Esther in dream that one of the Iranians too wished to start a church in their section. So, after he was saved Esther shared the dream with him and encouraged him to go ahead and let God use him. The Lord led her to have the leaders in men’s and ladies’ section make their prayer lists and exchange so that they can pray for each other and as the result God has so faithfully allowed us all to see some prayer requests already answered. This has been of great encouragement to us all to ‘Pray without ceasing’.

We shall appreciate your prayers for God’s wisdom, strength, unity and miracles to make His works through us more and more fruitful.

Some of them are waiting for their court hearing as they have children in Japan but have been asked to go back to their own countries by Japan immigration bureau based on the law passed few years ago. Some who have no money, are waiting for the air fair to be provided so that they can go back to their countries.

God can use YOU to bless them. Please pray and ask the Lord to show you how he wants to use you in this regard. Through your:

Regular prayers

Visiting them

Financial help

Provision of Bibles and sound teachings in their languages, English, Chinese, Tagalong…

Meeting their personal needs like clothes…

In February end we had the privilege to do ministry in a Brazilian church in Nagano prefecture –Pastor & Mrs. Ricardo God has blessed their work and their mission has already several other church branches in different parts of Japan, Canada and China. Both of us were given sufficient time to share what the Lord put on our hearts. The Lord set His people free from fear, un-forgiveness, and rejection…and gave His people burden for His work. One brother testified that when Yousef was sharing his testimony, he saw Yousef's head was in heaven and during the ministry time when Yousef was praying for him, he saw that some thing like a package was given to him from heaven, which he received.

After the ministry time was over, the Lord compelled Esther to share some more with them about what God had put on her heart before -that He wanted them to love Him above everything else, even above ministry. So she asked Yousef to give her time to speak just as he was about to close the service. The church was very active in evangelism and had been growing regularly. But as an act of obedience, she shared what the Lord had put on her heart and encouraged them to respond to the call to love God above all things. God honored His word and the whole church came forward to renew their love for the Lord. Few days later the Lord showed her through dream that as the result of that call, certain number of people had been awakened spiritually. Glory to God for all His wonderful deeds. The Holy Spirit is the true MINISTER and we are just vessels in His hands.

In mid-March we were invited to a Spanish speaking church celebrating their fifth anniversary in Kanagawa prefecture. There were more than six South American churches in attendance. The Lord had showed Esther through dream that there would be no time for them to share the word of God this time unlike before and she prayed that the Lord would use them for His glory and to minister to His people. We enjoyed the praise and worship time and several dear Pastors shared very shortly on what the Lord had placed on their hearts. Then Pastor Ricardo the main guest speaker from Brazil based in Nagano Prefecture (please refer to the above ministry news) brought us the word of God. The team accompanying him &his dear wife Adriana, were the students of theology trained by him in Nagano and included two sisters as missionaries to China. Each one was given some time to share what the Lord would lead them. Praise the Lord for each one of their lives that ministered to all of us. One sister shared that she’d been brought up in her very wealthy family in Brazil but after meeting the Lord, God had changed her heart and the Lord had given her compassion for the poor and the needy and His mission. One day the Lord asked her to give away all her money for God’s mission work, and she obeyed. Praise the Lord. That day More than 15South Americans and one Japanese came to the Lord after Pr. Ricardo shared the message and many came forward to receive the baptism and fullness of Spirit.

After the meeting a sister from Bolivia, came up to Esther and shared her dream with her. Through dream God had showed her that Esther was to teach her some Bible study. The Lord showed Esther that her daughter’s heart was full of sorrow, which she admitted. While she was praying for her Yousef came and said that she felt lonely, which she admitted again and as we prayed for her the Lord touched her and set her free. By God’s grace, it was then that her mother opened her heart and shared with Esther about her family problem. The Good Lord gave Esther the wisdom to counsel her and to encourage her to grow in the Lord and also to teach her on “Praise and Worship”. With that the dream the Lord had showed her, came true. Our God is wonderful. Praise His wonderful name. In the meanwhile a Japanese sister –a theology student from Osaka and her dear mother asked Esther to give some counseling about her future. She shared with them what the Lord put on her heart and encouraged her to seek and honor the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and His gifts more and more every day and also about how the religious system which has unfortunately influenced the church, can destroy Christian faith and lifestyle. We appreciate brother Aldo who interpreted for us so faithfully and are grateful to God for using him.

We love and appreciate each one of you. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Yousef and Esther –Eisa Khani