Mike & Jackie Hall

Just returning from Japan, where we spent a week in some of the disaster areas greatly hit by an earthquake and Tsunami. The pictures cannot express the devastation and loss that happened nearly 8 weeks ago. The enormity of the work ahead will keep the Japanese people working for years to come. We believe that in the heavy workload, ourselves and many others can partner with communities while having countless possibilities for relationships, loving and praying for the people. In just a week, we had many opportunities to pray for healing, share the gospel and get our hands dirty. Working side by side with the beautiful, resilant and joyful people of Japan was an honor and a greater vision of God’s love and plan for this nation!

While staying in a city called Ishinomaki, we were also able to pray for two Japanese college students that were spending a week there to help clean up and get vision for future planning. As a team, God began to show us how he is stirring the hearts of Japanese youth for their nation, and they are responding! We believe that when outreach teams go into these devastated areas, there is a great possiblity we will be taking Japanese students and youth with us! Every person we met in the costal cities of Ishinomaki and Kamaishi had a story of loss and survival, it was unreal and to see and hear the details of what they experienced on March 11th.

In the midst of great loss, there was a joy from the people and our help was not only welcomed but we were treated like family with open hearts, sharing their homes to host our team of 10! We were humbled by the kindness of the people and how they wanted to feed us, work side by side with us, and share their stories with us. The team was Pieter Heres from Kona, ourselves, and YWAM, Tokyo leaders, staff and 3 young, passionate Japanese friends…our team of 10 was such a unique and perfectly planned team! When we met up with 2 other Kona friends Jason and Jack it was amazing to see how God had used them to build relationships the weeks prior to our arrival full of joy although they had already served tirelessly. We are excited to assist in preparing teams connected to YWAM Kona or Tokyo to serve in the devasted areas and in the city to evangelize and take part in exisiting ministries. We also had the privilage of debriefing and vision/planning for future outreach teams with David McDaniel- Director of YWAM Tokyo, and John Summer-Harris: a relational blessing of YWAM in Japan over 25 years!

Our hearts were stirred to be in Japan once again and seeing not only the city but traveling 8 hours north and seeing great openess to hear about Jesus. We were blessed to meet up with our dear friend Pete and his bride, Hege. We laughed, prayed, shared meals, walked and got stirred up with God’s heart for Japan! This was a long awaited divine meeting and look forward to bringing teams back to work with them in Tokyo and beyond.

We have only a few days in Kona then fly to Seattle, New York and back to Seattle/Tacoma area for 10 days . We will be teaching in a business DTS, and speaking in a 2 day seminar in New Jersey and celebrating our 20th anniversary in New York. Upon returning to Seattle, we will be meeting with supporters, pastors and youth sharing on mission opportunities in Japan and the United States. We will also have an opportunitiy to spend time with family and friends in the Northwest, we are so grateful for your continued prayer, support and love. Many have taken part in this mission to Japan through giving and prayer and we are honored and excited to be a part of how God uses many to reach the nations, with his love and truth! Thank you, thank you!

Overflowing with Hope,

Mike and Jackie