By Milo Haskour –
When Mayuko Shono went to a Japanese church in America, she was flabbergasted.
“I was so shocked to hear people singing worship music in Japanese,” Mayuko says. “I thought Christianity was only for white people.”
When she was 9 in Japan, her parents got divorced.
Much older, Mayuko was given the chance to study abroad in America. Her host family was fun and funny. They were nice and incredibly united.
Eventually she asked, Why are they so kind?
“Because Jesus is in the middle of our marriage,” they responded.
“I want to know more about this God,” she thought, but she was nervous because no one in her family and none of her friends were Christian. Furthermore, the Japanese emphasize NOT being different.
But she accepted an invitation to church from a tutor. It was a Japanese church where people praised God in her language. She felt at home.
At a Sunday service, she sat quietly and alone until her pastor asked her a question that made her really start to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior: “Mayu, do you believe that Jesus loves you?”
“There was no question in my mind, the answer was yes,” she responded.
After accepting Jesus, Mayu’s father AND sister became Christians as well.
Once she returned to Japan, she decided to share her faith with other Japanese people. She even began a neighborhood ministry called “Friday Terrace” to other families during COVID.
“When we started Friday Terrace, a lot of missionaries came here to help,” Mayu says. “Sometimes Japanese people open up their hearts more to American missionaries.”
“If he lives in us, there is nothing to be worried about,” she says.
