March/April Prayer Letter

Various things have taken place recently, that we just trust God to use it for our good and His glory!
   Two months always sounds like a long time from the Japan side of things but as usual, our nine week time in the United States has gone by in a whirl of meetings and times with family.  We concentrated on trying to get some new churches here on the east coast and it was a blessing to be in each of the churches we were in.  As a result, one church has taken us on for support for which we are truly thankful.  We appreciate and need the prayers from those we meet with and each and every one that remembers us in that way on a regular basis is such a blessing. In one church, one of the pastor’s daughters said she would make us ‘her’ missionary and she would pray for us every day!! What sweet dedication and we know there are many who support us in this way. Thank you to each one.
   We have checked in on a couple of occasions with Mrs. Sonoda who has been holding a ladies’ Bible Study on Sunday morning while we were gone. We praise God that the high school nurse who has been studying with us on Sunday evenings for two years now has come almost every Sunday and studied with Mrs. Sonoda. We are looking forward to hearing what God has been teaching them both through this time! Like any pastor or missionary, we will be stepping right back into the ministry once we arrive back in Teshio on the 27th of this month.  Please pray for safe travels on the 25-27th (lose one day on our way back over the international date line).  After a one night stay near the airport, we will travel 6 hours back to Teshio by car once we return to the island of Hokkaido. We do have a week before we have to be back in full extra activities because there are some holidays, one right after another, right after we get back.  That will allow recovery of mind and body which will be needful. We praise God that Ken has had no ‘hospital required’ flare-ups with the remaining kidney stones while here in the USA.  God is gracious!  Vicki had a pretty good bout with asthma due to allergies but again God was gracious and was able to overcome it with over-the-counter medicines.  God was also gracious to allow us to have around 3000 miles of safe travels on this trip. Compared to a couple years ago when we did just around 10,000 miles that is very short, but we never take any of the safety we receive for granted. We also want to thank Joshua and Alicia Appel for loaning us the use of their van for this furlough. It was a blessing!
When we left Hokkaido, winter was still in full force and clear until just before Easter Sunday, our area experienced blizzards.  It has been an unusually heavy winter of snowfall and we received twice the amount of snow.  The roof over our deck, which serves as a roof for our car port, collapsed due to the weight of the snow. The back part of the car port also was damaged.  This was all built by one of our summer intern groups about 13 years ago and covered in cost by one of our supporting churches giving a special love gift!!  We know God has a reason for all things and continue to trust Him.  We will be meeting with an insurance adjuster right after we get back to see if our insurance will help cover some of the cost in the rebuilding of this needed area!  We appreciate prayers for this needed project.

 from in front of the church entry area of the road

 the car on the right is Vicki’s; the one on left is our

neighbor’s.  We always let them put one of their

extra cars in that space while we are gone. Up until the 

day before, Mrs. Inafune had parked her car further back.

God prevented her from backing it that far so even

though the back part of the deck was broken through 

and things crashed down, her car was not damaged 

in any way!  God is Good all the time!

 some of the snow and ice that came down with the collapse

 part of the roof that allowed the snow to go over the side

 the deck broken through–lt side–our picnic table hanging there

 That is all ice!  And this and the snow had no where else to go as the side

area where it all went was all full.  With us gone there was no one to

check and make sure the snow was taken shoveled off some where.

We have one young man coming for the summer internship this year and we are still seeking and praying for one or two more.  If there is anyone in our churches or you know of a young man who could come join us for 8 to 10 weeks, especially in the upper teens and older, we would love to hear from you. It is not too late to get this arranged to have someone else come.  They do not have to be called to missions per se, but come with a heart to learn and have their mind and hearts broadened in the area of missions.  For someone from any of our supporting churches we have a small internship scholarship to put towards the trip.  For further information please write us at mansell@worldtell.com or the address this letter is sent from.  Thank you for prayerfully considering this opportunity.

For the last 10 days of our stay, Vicki was able to visit two of her aunts in Portland, OR area and also shared the work in Teshio with a seniors’ Golden Heirs group as well as residents of a senior self care apartment building.  While she was gone, Ken started a partial garage add-on room to give the Appels a ‘school room’ for this fall when Alicia, our daughter will be teaching two.  Ken always enjoys designing these projects as well as building them. He just wished that they went up as easily as they are designed!!  But it is coming together well and he will be able to finish it enough that all they need to do is the flooring and the final coat of paint!