Tak & Chee Newsletter! Vol. 2 En

Konnichiwa (“Hi” in Japanese)!
It’s a good thing the harvest season is here, and we’ve been very busy!! But we couldn’t make time to give you any updates until now! Here are some of the latest highlights (Most of the names used in this testimony are not their real names):

The Coffee Bean Roaster

We are so grateful that many of you kindly sent us love offerings for purchasing a coffee bean roaster. We have a goal of raising $6,000 for it and have received almost 2/3 of the funds already! We appreciate your support!

A family of Three

We became good friends with Yuto in his early 20s. He has been working closely with us, teaching us about farming. As we spent many hours working side by side on the farm, we ended up talking about different things. And now we became close enough to hang out a lot after work and have meals together with him and his wife (and their cute little baby!) and sometimes go visit hot spring locations in Ueda.

One time he asked us why we chose to move to Nagano, so we shared with him about different experiences we had in the past and our dreams and visions for the near future. Then he came up to us after work and said, “I got something for you” and handed us some money! He said, “There was stirring in my heart when I heard about your visions, and I am dying to do something to support you!!” He doesn’t know the Lord yet nor have the idea of giving offerings like we believers do, but he was willing to give. We were amazed and moved at the same time by his spontaneous act of kindness and couldn’t help but sense the move of the Holy Spirit in the midst. Please keep him and his family in your prayers so that they’ll have a great love encounter with the Lord one day!

God’s Divine Connections

God has been connecting us with amazing people ever since we moved to Nagano. We applied for a 4-day-course to get a tractor driving license in a school of agriculture. But the course was full, and we couldn’t get in then. We got a call from the school a few days after though and were informed there was one spot open due to a last-minute cancellation. So Takeshi signed up for it. And to our surprise, we got a call from the school again the next day and found out there was another cancellation! So we both could join the course at the same time! Yay, God!
We and our classmates all felt connected after spending 4 days together and sharing with each other various information about farming as well as things in life; We’ve kept in touch with many of them and sometimes get together for meals. One of them drove over mountains just to come see us the other day! We’ve been blessed beyond measure by this new group of friends who can understand the joy and hardships we encounter in farming.

One time we were invited to Chikumachi Church in Iida City (located a few hours away from Ueda) as a guest speaker. What surprised us the most was that Osamu, another classmate of ours from the 4-day course, welcomed us at the church entrance!! We had no idea he was a believer when we first met, but it was his home church! He got saved a few years ago, and God moved his heart to go back to basics; The answer for him to do so was to work on a farm, so he moved himself to Iida City to start his new life with Him.

God always works in mysterious ways! If we hadn’t received the chance to join the course without those last-minute cancellations, we wouldn’t have had this kind of divine appointment! Those we met in this course are all incredible: Hiroshi who has started a winery; Izumi who had a long drive to visit us; Uncle Masato who works at a soba noodle factory; a brother who came all the way from Bhutan to work; and Osamu who surprised us at Chikumachi Church… Our hearts are filled with such excitement as we see our Big God unfolds His beautiful plans for us one by one.

Great Encouragement

When we spoke at Chikumachi Church, we found an offering bucket just for us to plant a new church in Ueda. Pastor Yumoto and his wife told us later that their church members initiated to make the bucket specifically for us, and that it was not for just one time we visited the church but for every church gathering! We stood there astonished by their love. We took a step of faith and moved to Ueda without any promised financial support, and their faith in God’s provision greatly encouraged us and strengthened our faith as well. There were many other believers joining from another local church, Iida Irihune Church that day, which made us feel welcomed by God’s family in Nagano. God reminded us through their act of love that He sure has gone ahead of us to prepare the way and orchestrated everything to connect us to this amazing Kingdom family!

Now we’d like to answer questions some of you may have regarding our dreams and visions. This time let us share with you why we are passionate about farming.

Cherry Tomatoes

One day we happened to discover some cherry tomatoes growing on their own on an empty ground right next to my home church in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. Even if we’d say those tomatoes were grown “on their own”, there might be their own reasons why they were there! The way they grew there somehow looked appealing to us…and we ended up growing our own plants and vegetables at home after that. As we researched on how to garden, our dream of farming has grown bigger. God then gave us the following word:

“After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land” (Ecclesiastes 5:9 AMP).

This word truly resonated in our hearts, and we thought we’d also like to “cultivate the field.” When we read Genesis 2:5 (AMP), we simply thought Adam was made by God for cultivating the ground:
“No shrub or plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground,[…]”

There are probably other interpretations for the verse though, these two passages deeply touched our hearts and led us to where we are now—our new journey to go back to basics: cultivating the field that belongs to God and producing crops for men to live. We can’t stop but take farming as such a biblical concept. This is how we get the idea of combining a church and farming/farm.
We have been dreaming with God about spending our Sabbath on the farm with our future Kingdom family, enjoying together not only the presence of God and that of each other, but also the meals we cook with crops we harvest. We would also love to create job opportunities on the farm for missionaries from abroad as well as for those who are simply interested in reaching out to the locals, if the Lord’s willing. We’ve noticed working on the farm doesn’t require much talking. This would probably enable foreign missionaries even with beginner-level-Japanese language skills to ease into their new life in Japan.
If you have any further questions about our dreams and visions, please feel free to contact us.

Lastly we’d like to invite you to pray with us for:

Yuto, his wife, and their baby so they’d have a personal encounter with Jesus;
the future opportunities to release the love of God and share the gospel with the locals as we are receiving more and more offers lately to open our pop-up cafe in various local events;
a friend of ours, who feels led by God to move to Ueda and join us in the ministry—No decision has been made yet, but pray for God’s open doors and guidance;
us two so that we’d always be sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit, love each other and those around us with the love of Christ.

Thanks again for your love and support always to expand His Kingdom in Japan.

To support them financially
https://forms.gle/AateB7Wgx6YDPnEZA

Instagram: tak_and_chee_journey
https://instagram.com/tak_and_chee_journey

Podcast: Tak&Chee Journey
https://open.spotify.com/show/6pOmFYiwiDlyNhFx5ebkEs