News and Prayer Request, December 2025

Here it is! Finally my first ever Update on my missionary trip to Japan. There have been a lot of things going on to get to this point and I’m excited to share them with you!

First of all, I’ve had a couple meetings with James, from Reaching Japan, where we had the chance to prepare for this upcoming missionary trip and for me to get to know my next steps:

As some of you might know already, since November I have started to fundraise for this trip. I’m required to raise my entire economic support and thanks to many of you this is going forwards. I’ve had multiple meetings with people from around the world who are willing to help me in prayer and economically. I hope soon I can publish some more numbers on how fundraising is going.

Talking about fundraising I have managed to regain access to my UK bank account where people in the UK can donate monthly, so I’m thankful about that. Also I’m in the middle of getting my new ID in Ecuador which I need to set up a monthly giving platform that sponsors can use globally, which I really need because I plan on contacting multiple friends all over the world. Getting my new ID has been a lengthy process because I’m a foreigner but it is moving forwards. Hopefully this platform will be up and running before the end of December.

Since more than a year ago I have started to learn Japanese on my own, mostly on Duolingo and MochiKanji. I have accumulated about 250 hours and feel that I’m starting to get a grasp of the language. Though my time to practice Japanese has been reduced a lot due to schedule constraints, I do hope to arrive to Japan with a decent foundation.

Finally, this year I’ve had the opportunity to hold multiple meetings with Japanese friends which I have used to get to know all sorts of things about Japan, like culture, beliefs, traditions and more. Some are Christians and their testimonies about how they got to know God has been a huge blessing and learning opportunity for me. Also some are not Christian and their outside view has helped me a lot get to know the reality of Japanese people that have never heard the gospel.

I would also like to add that Reaching Japan is currently doing a big Fundraising Campaign in order to relocate the Church in Nagoya to a far more centric location and secure funding for themselves. This video explains more about their mission:

I give thanks for:

• My meetings with James and Reaching Japan that have allowed this missionary trip.

• For the multiple sponsors and prayer groups that are already supporting me.

• For the opportunity to share with Japanese people and learn about Japan and how to share the gospel there.

Please pray for:

• For more sponsors and people who are willing to support in prayer.

• For setting up a platform where people all over the world can donate.

• For Reaching Japan’s fundraising campaign and relocation of the Church to a more central area.

• For my friends in Japan that are not believers yet but are looking into Christianity and that I can continue to follow up with them.

This is where I'll be posting the monthly news and prayer requests. Even before the trip, there's already a lot going on, so the first update will be coming soon ;)