Jon's first "Talk" at Church

Well, I gave my first official "stand up before the congregation" talk at our current Church - Karuizawa Christ Church. I gave a 10 minute testimony based on Psalm 23, and then sang a song "Reassure & Comfort Me" that I wrote several years ago (also based on Psalm 23).

The video below includes just the final minute of my testimony (since it won't mean much to you anyway!) plus the final verse and chorus of the song. It took me over a week to put it together with the help of my Japanese teachers, and I didn't really have much time to practice it. However, I really felt God's presence as I spoke and it went better than any of my practice attempts!


We were blessed that our good friends, Minako-san and Manabu-san, came to church worship for the first time to hear me speak. She attends Sarah's Bible Study, and he has had various spiritual discussions with Jon this last year. We pray that God will continue to use us to show them His love.

I got dressed up with a tie since I would be speaking, and I thought this photo was funny because you can see that I'm in my socks! No shoes in the church building, and the slippers don't fit my feet so well. :)