Decisions

MetroBeat

Volume 3, Issue 3

November, 2011

Walking in Obedience 

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  Soon after we started the study on Decision Making and the Will of God, one of our Asian Fellowship members made the decision to accept Christ and be baptized. From what she told me later, she had been feeling the promptings toward this for a long time. Yet her choice to do so near the beginning of our study gave us a wonderful example of what it means to walk in obedience to the Spirit’s calling. 

I’ve been to many baptisms and have done my own share of baptizing others, but I think sitting in the audience that Sunday morning with several of this young woman’s Chinese and Taiwanese friends (some saved, some unsaved, but all rejoicing) was one of the most moving baptismal ceremonies I have ever attended. It made me realize once again just how blessed I am to be a part of such a dynamic ministry as this one.

 

We continue to pack out the house every week. Love, laughter, and learning all come together in one tremendous time that everyone looks forward to on Tuesday nights. I am continually amazed at the hard questions people ask me as we open the Word, the transparency that many of them exhibit as they share their personal tales of struggle and failure, the tears of tender hearts touched by what God is revealing to them. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be vulnerable in front of 20 or more people, but so many of them are willing to do just that. 

Would you pray for us that the hearts and minds of our members will continue to remain open? Would you pray that others in the Fellowship that we sense are close to a decision for Christ will make that step of faith?

Prayer Requests

My father died on October 31. You may recall that we came back to the States in 2008 to take care of him and my mother. We are thankful for the years we had with Dad and are rejoicing that he is with Jesus in Heaven and finally at peace. Please pray for the family, though, as we heal from our loss.

We continue to struggle financially. Please pray for hearts to be touched to join our ministry team or increase their support. 

Please continue to pray for our work here in Yukon among the Japanese. The girl you prayed for has started to adjust more to life in America. Also, please pray for a young mother in our group to realize her need for Christ.

As always, please pray for Joyce’s heavy workload as wife, mother, and caregiver.

Yours By His Grace,

John and Joyce Roper and Family

Reliance on God

MetroBeat

Volume 3, Issue 2

July 2011

Learning to Rely on God

“Why aren’t more people coming to the fellowship meetings?”

A few months ago this was the question that always seemed to be looming in the background as our core group of faithful attendees gathered week after week for our worship and Bible study times. The Chinese Fellowship had dwindled down to just a handful of believers, and many of us were struggling to understand just what God was doing.

So we prayed. It sounds so simple, and yet how often do we try to come up with our own solutions to life’s dilemmas. Experience shows us that there is no better way to learn God’s will than to sit at his feet and ask for guidance. We realized anew during these tough months that only God can give the increase; we just needed to be faithful in what He had called us to do and to rely on Him.

God led us to change our format a bit, continue to trust Him, and to wait on his timing. The result has been dramatic. Three Korean families have joined the group, making us truly more of a Pan-Asian Fellowship than mainly a Chinese one. Visitors show up frequently, and several non-Christians come, as well. Our numbers now are always in the double digits, with people sometimes having to sit almost in the kitchen or entry hall. During special events like potlucks we have even had to move to the University Center to have enough room.

We have learned once again to rely on God. This is his ministry, and even if our numbers decrease we have to recognize that we are not playing a numbers game. We are simply being faithful to what God is calling us to do. Please pray for that spirit of submission and trust to continue in our group.

Prayer Requests

Continue to pray for our finances. God is ever faithful in providing for our needs. Pray that we will be equally faithful in our trust and sensitive to his leadings.

Please pray for our work here in Yukon among the Japanese. Sasha has been helping me with this ministry by amusing a little girl while her mother studies. We would also request prayer for a teenage Japanese girl new to America who is having family and adjustment problems.

The Bible study with the Haitian couple is still beset with timing issues. Pray that if the study is to continue that the Lord will provide the opening. 

Please pray for Joyce’s heavy workload as wife, mother, and caregiver.

Yours by His Grace,

John for the rest of the Ropers

Perspective

Metro Beat
Vol. 3, Issue 1

Ripples
If you toss a pebble into a puddle of water it creates ripples that radiate outward, eventually lapping up as mini waves on the shores of the tiny lake at your feet. Displacement of water causes this ripple effect to occur. The recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami offered us a much more disastrous version of the ripple effect, but in the case of this tragedy the resulting waves have spilled over from the strictly physical arena to impact society, as well. We hear the reports of thousands lost, of families shattered, and of livelihoods destroyed. We also view with alarm the looming specter of an ever-widening nuclear disaster. But despite how saddened many here in North America may be over the suffering of the Japanese people, the pain only goes so deep. After all, Japan is half a world away, and the horrors are happening to people you probably don't know.

One of the results of being missionaries for over twenty years and working in different parts of the world is that our personal network of friends and acquaintances is on a global scale. Living in Japan enriched us but also left an indelible connection to its land and people. Interacting with Japanese in our current ministry here in the OKC metro has had an effect, too. As I was praying about what to share with you in this letter, what kept coming into my mind were the stories of friends (Their names have been changed to protect their privacy) who have been personally affected by the catastrophe.

• People like Sachiko, one of my former students, who continually updated us on Facebook after the tsunami about how frightened she was as she waited with her packed bag before having to evacuate... and how scary the blackouts were.
•  And Midori, another student, whose mother and bed-ridden father live in Sendai, the major city in the center of the disaster. Thankfully, they survived.
• Or Takahumi, a friend whose family lives in Fukushima in the shadow of the troubled nuclear plant.
• Or the Yamamoto family, part of our extended church family living in the affected area, who after a week or so of uncertainty were thankfully discovered to be safe.

The list could go on, but I think you get the point. I wanted to share with you not the facts and figures of the tragedy but the faces of the people. I wanted you to meet, at least on paper, some of those directly touched by the tragedy so that you could pray specifically for them and their families. Please stand with us in the gap for them, and praise God for his protecting hand over so many during this time.



Other Prayer Requests

Our mission once had offices in Sendai, and some of our association's churches are still in the area. Please pray for the members to be salt and light in their communities and to be comforted in the midst of their losses.

My Chinese continues to improve, but I still need your prayers. My final is on the 28th.

Two Korean families and an Indonesian man have started to attend our Chinese fellowship, making us more of a Pan-Asian Fellowship now. Please pray that God's Spirit will speak through my teaching.

Pray for Joyce and the multitude of tasks that come with being wife, mother, and manager of two households while I'm out and about.

Please continue to pray for our support needs, and a big thank you to those who have recently increased their support of this ministry.


May God fill you with His joy until we talk again.

Yours By His Grace,

John for the Rest of the Ropers

Black Friday and Beyond

 

Metro Beat
Vol. 2, Issue 5

A Time of Discovery
Black Friday was a source of fascination for many of my international students this year. They were full of questions before the event as to when to get to the stores, how many times had I gone in the past, was I planning on going to several sales, etc. They were absolutely stunned when I told them my biggest plan this year was to stay home and miss the shopping entirely. Didn't every American go to Black Friday sales?

This experience serves to illustrate one of the most interesting challenges of ministering to people from other cultures: the battle against misconceptions. Just as we sometimes have preconceived notions as to what people from a foreign country are like or find important, so, too, do visitors to our country often have false ideas about us on their arrival here. For example, some internationals believe that the majority of Americans are Christians. We know from experience that, sadly, this is far from being the case.

A related challenge is the fact that so much of the teaching about Christianity in their home cultures is vague, at best. Even some of the believers from these other countries have had little solid teaching, resulting in huge gaps in their knowledge of the Bible and how God works in our lives. Although the teacher in me enjoys shedding light on these areas during our Bible studies, at times the task seems very daunting.

Would you pray for me as I attempt, in God's strength, to teach truth in a way that all the people I work with can understand? Language and cultural barriers can be formidable, but with God's help they can be overcome.

A Time of Giving
 One thing that seems to be extremely important to many of the people I work with, no matter the culture, is the spirit of giving. The gifts are sometimes fairly expensive, but more often they are small things, tokens of friendship that serve to brighten my day. I wish I could learn to put into practice the habitual generosity my students are teaching me. But more importantly, I pray that the gift that I do share with them, the Gospel, will be accepted for the life-changing present that it is.

As we move closer to that time of celebrating God's phenomenal gift to us in the person of His son, Jesus Christ, may we truly learn to embrace that spirit of giving by offering more of the hope we have in Him to others in the year to come. May we learn to share the love of Christ daily with a world that is desperate for the Good News.



Other Prayer Requests

Continue to pray for my father. The new medicine has helped Dad a lot with his pain, and his appetite has improved. Pray for even better days for him.

Continue to pray for my progress in Chinese. I did well on the mid-term exam, but my final is next week.

Pray that both Joyce and I would be the best possible parents to our children. With all of the craziness associated with balancing two households and maintaining a ministry, our family life often suffers.

Please continue to pray for our support needs. God continues to meet our needs in miraculous ways, but more support would definitely help ease some of the pressure on us.


May your Christmas and New Year be filled with the joy of His presence.

Yours By His Grace,

John for the Rest of the Ropers