Izumi Christian Fellowship

Please pray for our trip to Japan.  Pray for the salvation of those we meet and our family members there.

Eric

Due to a Japanese pastor’s meeting in Waco this Saturday 10.7, Mr. Uehara has scheduled the next bible study for 10.14.

As always, the meeting is at the Ashford Methodist Church on Dairy Ashford from 10 to 11am.  Afterwards, some people like to go out to eat and fellowship.

Your continued prayer for this ministry is greatly appreciated.

Pastor Sato’s old house when he was here in Houston ministering was initially sold owner finance, and that couple finally refinanced the loan and Pastor Sato got the entire amount back.  Seeing as he bought the house for $80,000 and sold it for $90,000 on owner finance, and then had the principle remaining paid off by the refi of the new owners, he made out a little.

Praise God for small miracles.

Please remember to pray for them and their continued ministry to those they ministered to here who have gone back to Japan.

Hello Everyone!
Thank you all for your concern and prayers for us and the nation of Japan. We have had a very busy summer.
IF you would like to see a few pictures of what is going on around here, we recently put some pictures on http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericdebk/
It is a photo posting service that is through Yahoo. Check out the pix when you have time.

Since May or June people that had left our church at various time’s have been contacting us.
It was surprising but the LORD has been encouraging us that the people still see us as spiritual “parents”.
Pray with us that as these relationships rebuild we will only follow the leading of the LORD and not “take on” anything HE is not leading us into.

On August 8th we took the baby Juri to her adoptive family and got a baby boy named Masa.
It has been a little difficult because Juri was quiet and easy to please, but Masa is very sensitive to his environment and has a LOUD STRONG voice…and he doesn’t sleep through the night like Juri did. We all seem to be adjusting. All prayers are appreciated.

August 12-13th we attend our church summer camp. Strangely enough, they asked Ricky Gordon, our good friend, to preach.
The messages were timely words from the Lord AND we got to fellowship with the whole Gordon family.

August 14th Eric did “fishing of men while fishing for fish” with an English student friend. I really realized that one of my biggest mistakes in the last 17 years has been not taking time to relax. PRAY that we will be able to do that regularly.

August 15th took part in the All Japan Revival Mission Nationwide Praise. This has been an annual event for several years, BUT this year, since we are not having Sunday Service, we didn’t even think about it. However, the woman who used to head it up every year called us and said “Let’s do it this year too!”. Another of the LORD’s encouragements.

The 16th the father of Erise’s close friend came to have dinner at our home. His wife and 3 girls were away for almost 3 weeks. PLEASE pray for the Iwakiri family.
(Their daughter is the one we prayed for earlier this spring.) We enjoy their company and really want see them come to the LORD.

The 21st-23rd we got to get away to the mountains as family. We had a great time. One special report is, Masa went with us, of course. And he really touched the heart of the campground owner, who happens to be a Buddhist priest. The owner gave our family a special lunch because of our “volunteer work”. Please pray that the Good News of Jesus will penetrate this man and his family. They live in a small mountain village and their conversion would turn a lot of heads.

Uzuki finally made it back to Japan. She had a good time but was ready to come home. There are 3 couples that seem to be interested in her(one possible here). We need the LORD’s wisdom as we, Sarah Gordon (Loving Decision’s leader), and the other leadership seek the LORD for Uzuki and her situation.

>From September we are going to be visiting some “churches” and “fellowships” to see what the LORD is guiding us into.
We have some “ideas” and “feelings” but again do not want to rush ahead without completely seeking the LORD.
At this point in time our heart is still toward Japan. The need is so great and the workers are so few….

We COVET your prayers during this time…
We having nothing to offer you except the promise of eternal reward in HIS Kingdom!!
Let’s ALL fight the good fight and keep the faith until our individual race is done.

In Christ, for HIS Kingdom,
Eric, Deborah and the Kids

P.S. I almost forgot…a Christian brother from another church blessed us with an air conditioner for our home. He says he is “sending the invoice to the LORD”.
To be honest we had absolutely no hope of getting an air conditioner due to the expense. But the hot humid summers have been pretty difficult especially
with the babies here…and best of all, when we got our first electric bill it was only $30 more than the previous month!!!!!!! Now that is a miracle

BLESSINGS!!

Starting in Beta today, FaithHouston.com attempts to fill the gap in the social networking website arena for Houston Area ministries, churches, non-profits and individuals to connect, be empowered, and impact Houston and the world.

Listed in the “Pages” on the right are our connections.  Please lift up our missionaries.

Izumi has been introduced to a extremely unique source of way more than enough funds for our ministry and other ministries round the world.

If you would like them to contact you too, please write me at eric.standlee@gmail.com.

This Spring Izumi Christian Fellowship (ICF) celebrated the birthing of a Japanese Fellowship here in Houston, Texas now called ICC - Houston.  Now ICF focuses on raising funds to meet the needs of missionaries such as the Satos in Ibaraki Prefecture Japan and the blessed ministry of Brother Marvin as it branches out into Japan.
As such, ICF’s website got a new updated look thanks to the team at Crusaderx International. Be sure to visit their blog and their supporters advertising on that site as that supports ICF as well.