Dear Fellow Christians,

Greetings from Osaka, Japan!  We are writing this letter as a way to show our support for Bethany Hall, Tim Natale, Tim Rogers, Leah Shy and Cass Tallon in their desire to come and share Jesus with the people of Japan.  We have been serving as missionaries here since August of 1998, but have been praying to God for teammates for over four years now.  Japan is less than one percent Christian and the need for Christ is incredible.  For many reasons, we believe that the harvest is ripe, and yet the workers are few.  We are thankful for the willingness of these four to submit themselves to God's calling and join His work here in Osaka.

Bethany, Tim N., Leah and Cass have all served with us here on Let's Start Talking projects over the last two years and we have seen God develop in them a passion and desire for the people here to come to know Christ.  We are very excited about their commitment to return for a longer period of time.  We have seen God use them in just the short time they have been able to be here with us, and we are confident that He has great plans for them as we all work together to share God's love with people here.  All four have made a tremendous effort to get into the culture here and make friends, and they have made a tremendous impact on the lives of so many people.  They have also continued to keep in touch with many of their friends here - hardly a week goes by when someone here doesn't tell us of some communication they have had from them.  These four have poured their hearts and lives into the work here and we are eager to have them here full time!  We were able to spend time with Tim R. recently and we greatly appreciated his sincere enthusiasm for the Japanese culture.  During his visit here, Tim realized how much he wanted to join the ministry in Osaka.  He has shown dedication to the mission and the Japanese people and we are so blessed to have him jump in and join the work. 

We have shared with these five the need for more workers here and have challenged them to think about returning to Japan.  We know that a lot of thought and prayer has gone into this decision and we trust that God will reward the sacrifices these four are making to follow through with this commitment.  At this time, we are overwhelmed with the number of people who want to study the Bible with us.  We are using English as a method of attracting people, but we are excited to see that as time goes on it is the Word of God that keeps them coming!  We have only been here two years, but we have more people coming than we can really handle.  LST projects offer people one-on-one studies, but we have to follow-up throughout the year with group classes.  There is a lot of potential for deeper and more serious study with many people, so we are excited about having more teammates come so that we can have the time to really deepen relationships and share Christ in a more personal way.  With the different gifts and talents that having a team affords, Lord willing, we will be able to reach out to more specific groups such as children, young mothers, young professionals, businessmen, women, college students, etc.  We want to continue spreading the seed of God's word to as many people as possible and we are very excited about having help!

We wholeheartedly recommend Bethany, Tim Natale, Tim Rogers, Leah and Cass and would ask that you prayerfully and seriously consider supporting them in their desire to come to Japan.  They are committed servants of the Lord and He has given them a passion for the Japanese to know Christ.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Let us as the body of Christ encourage them and support them in this decision and may our God bless us all as we work together to share His love here in Osaka!

In Christ,

Chad and Jennifer Huddleston
Shin Senri Minami Machi 3-7-D3-107
Toyonaka-shi, Osaka   JAPAN   560-0084 
Tel:  011-81-6-6835-3448
E-mail:  [email protected]