October 25, 2009
Hi,
It is fall. The leaves are looking very colorful and it is getting cooler. For me that is good, but for some it is too cold. Most of the cherry tree leaves have been raked up and the tree is bare. It rains little this time of year, mostly when a typhoon comes through. We had one a couple of weeks ago with a lot of rain and quite a bit of wind, but we weathered it very well. Only the shed at the church building lost part of its roof.
We had a good church retreat in October. Dwight and Josephine Albright, the preacher and his wife from Park Avenue church in Memphis came by, as they were in Japan, and Dwight taught three lessons about Romans chapter 8. This is one of my favorite chapters, especially verses 1 and 2. Verse 28 is our theme for this year at Tomobe. Dwight brought Mike and Debbie White and their son, Jonathan. It was a pleasure to have them all stay with us. We had some good fellowship time.
The next week, we had the annual overnight preacher’s meeting for the Ibaraki area. The subject this year was discipleship. We had a good time and had some good discussions. I spoke at the last worship. Next month, we will have a one-day meeting with all the preachers in Japan.
We were informed by the rest homes we usually visit at this time of year that, because of the flu, we cannot come. We will bake some cookies and give to them. We have gone for over 10 years, so this is a sad time for us. Our Bible classes have dropped off a little and worship has also been affected.
We have started a new work at camp. We tore down an old cabin and will rebuild it. The new one will be a little larger and sleep 6. The one we built last year sleeps 20. Our building methods have changed over the years and the new cabins, we hope, will last much longer than the old ones. We have only one more to replace after this year. That is good as I am getting older and building new cabins is a lot of work. I have simplified it much, but walking up and down the hill is work enough. I have included some pictures at the bottom.
I went to Tsukuba University Hospital today to check out my heart. I have had an arrhythmic heart for many years, but lately it is getting worse. My medicine is not working so well. The doctor wants to go into the heart and cauterize a nerve. It sounds scary, but I have no choice. I will go into the hospital Feb. 2 and be operated on the 3rd. I will stay there for about a week. The doctor said it is about a 70% chance to correct the problem the first time. If not, he will do it again and the success rate is about 90%. Please keep me in your prayers. The Lord has given me fairly good health over the years and I appreciate it. I do some very dumb things, but He protects me. I trust that He will protect me until He calls me home.
Thank you all for your prayers and support you give us. We really appreciate what you sacrifice for us to be here. All of the nurses that worked on me were born after I came here. It is with your help that we are still here and many more Japanese are hearing the gospel because of you. We have not had any baptisms for a couple of years, but we keep teaching, hoping and praying.
Serving Him in Japan,
Marlin and Jean Ray
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