How Brother Eduardo Helped My Faith

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Yumiko Kanno: Dear Brother Eduardo Manalo,

My name is Yumiko Kanno. I was born and raised in Japan. I currently live in the city of Shinigawa. While I was studying in a university in Australia, it was then when I joined the Church Of Christ.

In the past, there were only a few places of worship for the Church of Christ in Japan, and many brethren had to travel long distances to attend worship services.

Because of your desire to care for the brethren in Japan, you sent ministers to care for us here, who also made great efforts in learning the Japanese language.

Learning an unfamiliar language and fulfilling the mission of teaching God’s words in a foreign land such as Japan surely required tremendous effort. Yet their dedication to serving God and their strong faith became a great source of encouragement for the Japanese brethren.

Now, in many regions all over Japan, the Church of Christ has been established, and we have also been blessed with beautiful houses of worship. God blessed the spreading of His Church in this country.

Minister preaching in Japanese

Listening to God’s words in one’s native language is a great blessing that strengthens our faith and makes us feel God’s love is near.

Because of your love and  guidance, I’m inspired to help Japanese people here grow in their faith. As an officer of the Light of Salvation, I support Japanese natives in their journey of faith in reaching the day of their baptism. As a teacher in the Children’s Worship Service, I teach children who speak Japanese as their first language the words of God in a way they can easily understand, guiding them to live according to Christian values. And as a member of the district multimedia team, I help produce and share the Church’s various content in Japanese, so that brethren who speak Japanese as their native language may feel a closer connection, and so that those who have not yet joined the Church of Christ may come to know the true Church and be led toward salvation.

Thank you so much, Brother Eduardo Manalo, for continually remembering the welfare of the youth in the Church. You Launch activities for the young people to strengthen us, such as the International Kadiwa Meet and Greet held here in our district, which I was able to attend. That activity further strengthened the faith of us youth here in Japan.

Brother Eduardo Manalo, you have never overlooked the desire of the brethren—no matter their country of origin or the language they speak—that they may understand God’s words and offer praises to Him no matter where they are. Instead, you have always taken these to heart and responded with sincerity. For this guidance, I am deeply thankful.

During a great milestone, the 50th anniversary of the Church of Christ in Japan, it was a tremendous blessing from God to have you lead in a special worship service.

In this special worship service, you once again reminded us of what God expects from us. The words, “God has chosen us so that through us people will come to believe in Him,” left a lasting impression on my heart. As someone born and raised in Japan, and as a native speaker of Japanese, I strongly feel that I must live out this teaching as part of my duty so that, through me, many more fellow Japanese people may come to believe in the true God.

I am sincerely grateful to God and to the Church Administration for entrusting me with each of these duties. I am determined to continue fulfilling the responsibilities given to me with all my heart.

Thank you so much for always encouraging us, the brethren, and for leading us so that we may receive salvation.

Your Sister in Christ, Yumiko Kanno