JAPAN IS ON GOD’S HEART—AND OURS!

(Elijah House—part of God’s plan for healing the nation)




In the late 1990’’s a long-term missionary to Japan (Evelyn Owen) invited John and Paula and some of our Elijah House team to Japan. This was the beginning of Elijah House being established in churches in Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo, and all over the nation!Eventually we were able to establish an International Elijah House Japan (http://elijahhouse.web.infoseek.co.jp/top.html).We are so grateful for the"Japan Group of Twelve” who helped make this happen! EH Japan was officially inaugurated in March, 2006.




Over the next five years additional teams were sent to Japan, sometimes twice a year for three to five months at a time. The Basic 1 and 2 Schools were filmed, and EH video-facilitated schools began across the nation. Seminars such as"Blessed Family Relationships,” "Season of Hope, Season of Faith,” and"Foundations of Inner Healing” were also filmed, and continue to be used by Japanese churches and Christian organizations. Many pastors and leaders in Japan have opened their hearts and their churches to the teaching and ministry of Elijah House. Thousands of lives have been healed and restored!



On March 8-10, 2011, Robert and Kathie taught an Alumni Workshop on the Miura Peninsula near Yokohama. There were about 150 students and staff, all graduates of the four weeks of Elijah House Basic I and II training. To date over1,000 lay leaders and pastors have completed the schools. An additional thousand others have completed part of the school or attending one or more of the several hundred EH seminars that have been held over the years.



The goal of the March workshop was to equip,empower and release! The leaders of Elijah House Japan requested the following topics: "Hearing and Proclaiming from a Christian Paradigm,” "Prophetic Intercession,” "Brokenness (God’s purpose for suffering),” "Healing Burden Bearing People,” and "Healing Lands and Homes.”



On March 10, the last day of the workshop, we were asked to close the workshop with a blessing from the Lord. He showed us that, in answer to our prayers, we had been experiencing a type of Pentecost. The disciples were in the upper room for ten days (we were on the top floor of a 10-story building). They were all together in one accord (there was truly a spirit of brotherly love and acceptance among the 150 students from 50 churches gathered in the spirit of Elijah. They were all graduates of the EH schools; many were video-school facilitators, and 26 were pastors). The place they were in was shaken, and there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind. (a 7.2 earthquake occurred as we were praying in our small groups on the second day, and the wind was especially strong that day). We asked the Holy Spirit to be poured out so the students would have boldness like Peter and the disciples when 3,000came to the Lord in one day. March 31 marks the 5th anniversary of the inauguration of Elijah House Japan."Five” in Japanese is the Japanese word "go" that sounds like our English word "go.” We ended with this blessing—"God had been preparing you for five years—now is the time for you to Go Forth in power to bring healing to your families, churches, communities and nation!”



The Japan Earthquake—March 11, 2011

That evening everyone from the workshop went home, and we were taken to Diamond Chapel in Hongodai near Yokohama. The next day we did a one-day seminar for a group of about 60 people, hosted by one of EH Japan’s main leaders. The main purpose for the seminar was to film two introductory sessions for churches interested in Elijah House. Pastor Tsukii was a bit surprised when we felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit to end at 2:35 pm, a full 30 minutes before the session was scheduled to end. Pastor Tsukii started to make some announcements but was interrupted at 2:46 when the room started shaking violently, the electricity went off, and we evacuated the building!



There was no major damage where we were, about 170 miles from Fukushima, the epicenter of the powerful 9.1 earthquake. However, cell phone and electric service halted, and trains and buses stopped running. We were scheduled to fly out at midnight that night, so we finished packing and left for the airport at 7 pm. Traffic was jammed, and it took three and one half hours to get to the airport, where we waited until 10 am the next day for our delayed flight. But compared to others, we had an amazingly quick and easy trip home, thanks to the prayers of family and friends who were glued to the TV watching the devastation that we couldn’t fully realize until we got home and saw the news!


Now the prophetic word, "Go forth!”makes sense! Many churches, especially those involved with the cell church network and Elijah House, are now in a position to reach out to the hurting, lost and confused, to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ from a place of greater healing and unity than ever before.



There have been many prophetic words prior to and after the earthquake from top leaders from around the world. We agree with many of them. The Lord called intercessors to pray before the devastation occurred. Some had dreams, saw visions,or just felt impressed to pray for Japan.God LOVES the Japanese! Just as the Japan was literally shaken, God is spiritually shaking the nation by bringing down strongholds, bringing judgment on wickedness, but also in showing mercy to thousands whose hearts are ready to receive. We’ve heard testimonies of numerous people turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is going to be a time of expansion for the Kingdom of God. There will be an evangelism explosion! Christians from many nations are praying, and sending relief workers during this crisis.



Please join us as we continue to pray for the nation, for the churches and for Elijah House Japan. The leaders ask that we pray for wisdom so they will know how to meet the tremendous needs for healing in their suffering nation.



Expecting Miracles,

Robert and Kathie Fetveit

Executive Director

"God sees you!"

By Kathie Fetveit
Before we left for Korea, God told us to tell the Korean people that He sees them. El Roi, the God who sees, wanted them to know how much he loved them and knows them. He is calling them to return to their first love and to serve him out of a deep knowing that they are loved. We shared and demonstrated that message in five churches from Seoul to Pusan.
We have never seen such sincerely hungry, enthusiastic people. They really know how to pray and worship! From Seoul to Pusan, we encountered young people in their 20's and 30's, some with young families. It was so refreshing to see their eagerness to lead the people in experiencing the Lord as the “heart healer.” Many of the young leaders expressed their deep desire for a mentor or spiritual father. They want and need to be shown by example what godly leadership and relationships look like. These people are so hungry for healing. And, best of all, they believe that God has called them to get healed and be prepared so that they can fulfill a call of God to heal the nations (especially North Korea when the border opens). Already they are ministering to a few N. Korean refugees who manage to get across the border. They want to take prayer and healing to Israel and the Islamic nations as well.

In Busan on the Southern coast of South Korea, a group called Busan House of Prayer (BHOP) hosted us. Several churches (including the YWAM base) came together to seek God and pray for renewal and healing. It was their first time to host an Inner Healing seminar. Each night we spoke to over 200 people - all crowded into the church and sitting cross legged on the floor! Such eager faces in the crowd - beautiful and precious people! Many of the people received a touch from the Lord and were able to release bitterness, unforgiveness, and shame and to receive the Father’s love.
At the Wagner Leadership Institute in Jang Yu, we spoke to about 50 leaders from 20 different churches who attended the Inner Healing Seminar from Monday-Thursday. Wow! What a move of God! The Holy Spirit’s presence was powerfully felt in the five-story retreat facility where we met. The second day of the conference, something remarkable happened to one of the kitchen helpers who the church had hired to help prepare and serve the meals for the students. The first day she came to work she didn’t do a very good job, so the person in charge was not going to pay her. But then the next day when she came, she was overcome by the Spirit of God, repented and accepted Jesus! From that day on she was one of the best workers they had!

We taught and ministered to the people from early morning until late at night, but many of the students stayed up praying and ministering to one another all night! The glory of God was in that place and it seemed to be an endless day for the people. Our interpreter had brought along a friend of hers to volunteer and to sit in on the classes. She was not a believer, had recently been divorced and was at the lowest point in her life. On the second day of the seminar, during one of the small groups, the other ladies in her group led her to Christ. The pastor prayed for her too and she was saved, delivered and filled with the Holy Spirit! After that, she didn’t quit smiling (or crying for joy) for the rest of the week!
Although our schedule was packed (preaching or teaching 40 times in two weeks) Robert and I literally felt like we were being carried by your prayers and felt the Lord's covering and protection over our health and hearts! Thank you! It was our great privilege to be sent out to share the love of God, to teach, to pray for and to learn from a remarkable group of people whom God sees! After spending two weeks with them, we are beginning to “see” them too and can’t help but love the courageous Koreans!

To God be the Glory

In February of this year, Sandra Sellmer went to the Philippine Islands to mentor the folks who have been pioneering an International Elijah House in their country and to teach the Healing Trauma Seminar. Today I received this email from Sandra:
“ I think this will be an encouragement to us in the area of investing time to train and mentor our internationals. Vermi Nery (Elijah House representative in the Philippines)and I worked together (for 20 days) in the various Healing Trauma seminars that we did, and now she is taking it out on her own.
Here is what Virmi wrote: “I was in Northern Samar province, particularly in a small town called Palapag to run a healing trauma seminar. The town was only accessible by banca (a small boat)...People were very poor and we had to do a lot of translating... But what a ride it was, in every way!!! I knew it was just God who gave me the courage to do it and I give him all the praise and honor!!!!
The good fruit doesn't get much sweeter than this...Thank You Jesus! (The Kingdom expands.... yea!)”