Well, here’s the story ...
Throwback
After years of drug addiction, violence, crime and jail, Eddi had an encounter with Jesus in his prison cell: "Give me your life, you should preach the gospel." Desiree met Jesus in the Wiedenhof and immediately realized: „It’s about for my WHOLE life, not just to get free of drugs!"
We are so thankful that we came to Jesus and the FCJG in the 90s. It was the time of the "Toronto Blessing", we experienced a lot of healing and liberation through the Holy Spirit. And it was also a time of mission. In the Wiedenhof we prayed for the outreaches in Mongolia, for the new HELP teams in Asia ... and we felt ready to go: "Lord, here I am, send me!" ... Yes, God is a God of Nations, and even then He put His heart into our hearts!
When dreams die ...
After doing the the Revival School it wasn't about Siberia, China or even just the Ruhr area, but ... Ludenscheid! "Eddi, I need you here as staff in the rehab Wiedenhof," said God. Desiree was able to discover and contribute her photographic, writing and design talents to the FCJG public relations.We went through periods of character training, letting go of dreams, even letting them die, being founded deeper in God's love ... and suddenly, when we least expected it, God put Japan in our sight again.
Yes, we did a few outreaches there as Revival School staff. Every time we prayed that the students would form a long-term team for Japan. That didn't happen. And now: we?
Why Japan
Japan is not a country of obvious poverty like so many other Asian nations. But it is a country of heartbreaking loneliness, broken families, lack of prospects, horrendous suicide rates even among children and adolescents. In short: a country that needs the Savior.
In times of prayer and worship, often in the Prayer House for the Nations, God gives us share in his heartbeat of love and grace for that nation. And now we feel that it is time to start moving.
Learning by going
What does it look like? We recently moved from our 4-room apartment to two small attic rooms in the Prayer Mountain community house. A good step to prepare for Tokyo living conditions ;-) Living together is perhaps the best preparation for missions: we “grind each other”, grow and learn from each other.For questions about visa, international health insurance, raising supporters, etc., we are extremely grateful for tips and help from the HELP Germany team here. None of this would be possible without them.
And finally: where better to prepare for missions than in a mission setting? Learning by going, so to speak ... Before we go to Japan in early 2022, we will be with the HELP team in Manila for one year from November. Yes, we did outreaches, but were never longer than 3 months in Asia. In one year you can simply learn more, deal with culture shock, be more deeply connected with our international family etc. Great that this is possible! We are looking forward to it!
Sure, no one knows exactly what will be in November. Are we throwing all these plans overboard? Nope!
“Stay focused!” Jesus said to us, because: “Unto ME has ben given all power in heaven and on earth. THEREFORE go to the ends of the earth and make disciples of all the nations…” That is the reason we stand and walk on and do not draw back.
Eddi & Desiree Fuhrmann