By Carson Foushee
Before meals, Japanese people bring their hands together and say “itadakimasu” to express gratitude. However, a longer prayer is unusual. This is what stuck out to me about a family of three sitting nearby in a cafe one evening. 
Upon hearing them exchange a few English words, I started a conversation with them and found out they were Chinese and had actually become Christians while in the United States during COVID through online gatherings with a local Chinese church. They shared that they had been unable to find a place to worship since moving to Kanazawa nearly a year earlier. At the same time, our small English worshipping community had seen several friends move in recent months and had been praying for new friends to journey with us. I quickly offered an invitation to worship with us.
That was over a year ago and since the Sunday after we met this family has become an integral part of our community. The husband and wife inspire us with stories of witnessing to family members in mainland China, their middle school son has become like an older brother to the church’s children and they also offer their time and talents to prepare lunch with other internationals for the whole church.
A longer prayer brought us together. We continue to pray at length for more to know the love of Jesus in Japan and beyond.