What a season this has been! After putting up wallpaper until 2:30 in the morning, lengthy training on how to make the perfect latte, and countless hours of researching, planning and preparing, the first ever Paz Coffee Shop is now open! I was tasked with the coffee shop design, and I gave my all to making it the most comfortable, warm and welcoming coffee shop around. Comments after our grand opening in September (pictured left) said Paz Coffee Shop is better than Starbucks, and that it is the best coffee shop in the whole area. A couple that visited thanked us over and over again for “dreaming of and setting up an atmosphere where Japanese can find healing from depression.” As I mentioned in our summer newsletter, the purpose of this coffee shop is to make it easier for the average
Japanese to come into a church setting. All week the space is a functioning coffee shop with one very special ingredient – God’s loving presence! We have little cards out on the tables to let people know our staff and volunteers are available should they need prayer for anything. On many occasions people have asked for prayer, and were even moved to tears at the love poured out. On Sunday, when we hold our church service, those who have visited the coffee shop are already comfortable in that environment and can hear about Jesus. Since our opening, we have new visitors every Sunday! This has been a season of stretching and learning, revamping what “church” means to us so we can receive people who have no notion whatsoever of what that looks like. The coffee shop is an easily multipliable method to plant churches throughout Japan. We are already dreaming of our next coffee shop/church plant, and we’ve only been at this for a few months! This is only the beginning!
Choose Life
After graduating 22 student volunteers from our biblical counseling course in preparation for the Choose Life Project, our suicide prevention system went online in August. Several people visit our Choose Life website daily. Some just need to talk or want advice, but others have shared gruesome details of their plans to kill themselves. We believe the plans of the enemy have been thwarted in many situations already, and this is only the beginning of God’s attack on the stronghold of suicide here in Japan. Many Japanese whose lives have been radically changed by Jesus’ love are stepping up to fight on the front lines. Once the people who contact us through Choose Life feel comfortable enough to meet, the coffee shop provides the perfect place where they can be accepted and loved.
He’s Got This!
As this year is drawing to a close, we look back on the many lessons we’ve learned. God has shown us above all that He is in control, He’s got this! All we have to do is trust and rely on Him, and He will come through in every situation. He is faithful and He is good, and that is all that matters! We pray this holiday season that your family also can reflect on how good and faithful God was this year, and every year, and with great expectation look forward to His goodness next year! God bless you all!
Jennifer, also for Josiah and Sofia
For more info about us or to donate online, please visit: https://www.projectamazon.org/missionaries/josiah-and-jennifer-huber/