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God has given the American church a tremendous opportunity to impact least reached peoples right here in the U.S. Every year, international students, professionals, and visitors from all over the globe come to the U.S. to temporarily work or study in virtually every city in America. Many of these Internationals are more open to the gospel here in the U.S. than in their own culture and become believers before returning home, where they become gospel seed to share their faith in Jesus with their own people. A large number of these returnees come from Japan each year. Because they are more open to the gospel in America than in Japan, hundreds return home as new believers each year. Since 2001, Cecil and Debbie O'Dell have worked with Japanese returnees in Long Beach, California, to lead them to Christ so they can lead others to Him.
- Pray for our current team to have a fruitful year of labor: Nao and Chiko Makino, Ken and Sanoka Kuroda, Junko Saito, John Ortega, and Cecil and Debbie O'Dell.
- Pray for Mr. Sano in Tokyo as he uses his cafe to reach people with the gospel, disciple them, and train them to do the same.
- Pray for Cecil's contact-making efforts as he volunteers at the California State University of Long Beach's Learning Center, where he meets with Japanese students to help them with their English skills.
- Pray for Junko Saito's Green Card to be granted so she can continue the great job she is doing in reaching out to and discipling Japanese women.
- Pray for new Encompass missionaries to join us.
- Pray for more partners in Japan who will connect and follow up with returnees.
- Praise God for open doors and opportunities for ministry at the university.
- Praise God for the tools of gospel music and choirs to help us lead many Japanese to Jesus.
- Praise God for Nao and Chiiko Makino's appointment to Encompass World Partners as Special Assignment Missionaries.
- Praise God for the surfing ministry outreach and the deep spiritual conversations that take place through this ministry tool.
- Each year about 1,600 Japanese people return to Japan as new believers.
- Each year more than five million "returnee" visitors come from Japan, one of the worldís largest least-reached people groups.
- Long Beach, California, with more than 4,000 Japanese returnees, was chosen for this U.S. based ministry.
- There are over 100,000 Japanese students studying in the U.S. each year.
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