March 31, 2013 Dear Antioch Presbyterian Church! Happy Easter! I hope everyone is doing well. The weather here is getting warmer, but really fluctuates between warm and cold. It’s the cherry blossom/sakura season in Japan, but because of the strange weather, the cherry blossoms have been blooming in patches. This past quarter has been full of transitions and major changes structurally/organizationally. I guess it’s inevitable on a team like this, where whole ministries are started and then adapted to better cater to the Japanese and because of our changing team. Our ministry is a little different in that we require short-term missionaries to commit to a minimum of one year’s service. Even so, it seems like one year is too short; I’ve seen one person leave and two more will be leaving in May. But the main change is with Michael Oh. Effective March 1st, he accepted a position as CEO with Lausanne (http://www.lausanne.org/en/about/news-releases/1939-lausanne-movement-appoints-michael-oh-as-new-ceo.html). It's a great move for him and for our ministry as we now have more visibility globally, which provides more leverage in Japan. Not only will Michael be using his gifts/strengths more appropriately, there's going to be a new team lead, who is really gifted in leadership/management and day-to-day activities. I'm excited to see the changes take place. Michael will lead Lausanne while living in Japan and serving at CBI. To make things even better, some of the team members that he’s recruiting for Lausanne will move to Japan! Please pray for the new team lead, who is very young and has so many responsibilities. In addition to leading our team, he will be learning Japanese, begin working on his Ph.D., continue to teach seminary classes and Bible studies, serve our ministry’s church-plant as an appointed elder, and support-raise as he and his wife have decided to become long-term missionaries here. To check out their blog, go to: http://brettandtaylor.wordpress.com/ Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and our church will have a special service and potluck to focus on outreach. I’ll be bringing a non-Christian Japanese friend with me and I hope that she’ll want to visit my church again. Her English is really good and for whatever reason, she’s interested in church! Ever since she started her job in September, I haven’t been able to see very much of her, but I’m hoping that we can start meeting more often as she settles into her new work environment. In my last letter, I wrote about the psychology grad student in his mid-20’s, who accepted Christ. It’s been amazing how God has been using him to help bring others to Christ. One of our neighbors, a restaurant worker in his early 20s also became a Christian and has been attending church and studying the Bible with one of our missionaries and seminary graduates. One of the university students has also recently accepted Christ and was baptized. It’s kind of crazy to see how powerfully God is working here. This sort of eagerness and quick decision-making is so unusual. During our church-plant’s membership classes, there was a family of non-Christians who kept on attending. Ha, it turns out that they wanted to become Christians! Again, thank you for your prayers in sending me here to Japan! Until next time! Susanna Chung P.S. Here’s a photo that was taken on my birthday! (L the scooter isn’t mine…)