I have been distributing harvested strawberries, peaches and pears with gospel tracts to people in the community for several years now. People were happy to receive the fruits every time, but the tracts did not make any difference to their hearts, and I honestly felt a sense of resignation and discouragement deep in my heart.

To make matters worse, the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe in Japan last month by a gunman with a grudge against a Christian cult has made it harder to hand out tracts as the public's view of religious activity has become more suspicious and less tolerant.

But the Bible says to preach the word in good times and bad, 2 Timothy 4:2, I obeyed His word and gave everything to God and continued to hand out fruit with tracts.

In the midst of all this, an elderly man named Mr. Kajiki moved into the house next door to mine last month. So I brought him also peaches with a tract as usual, and he was overjoyed and gladly accepted them, saying that I love fruit more than anything else. The next morning, Mr. Kajiki visited my house to thank me for yesterday's visit. But afterwards, he said to me, "My family is Buddhist, according to Japanese custom, the eldest son must inherit the religion of his parents, so I have to carry on the family religion. The Bible is certainly a good teaching, but I do not need such a tract from now on. Then, he returned the tract that I gave him yesterday.

I was very disappointed to be told this, and at the same time, I almost felt as if I had become accustomed to it over the years, thinking that it would always happen again. But on that day, I said to God from the bottom of my heart, "Why does the same thing always happen to me? I wanted to see your power, and I wanted to experience your miracles in people's hearts.

A few days later I went back to the beach to watch the children swim. Then my wife called me and told me in a surprised voice that Mr. Kajiki had come to our house again, saying that he wanted to study the Bible and learn about Christ.

I could not help but be convinced that the same power of the Holy Spirit that had worked on Mr. Takeoka at the beach had also worked on Mr. Kajiki. As soon as I finished work, I took the Bible and the Basic Bible Course to Mr. Kajiki's house and gave them to him. He gladly accepted the Bible and began reading the basic Bible course at home every day from that day on. At first, Mr. Kajiki put the tract back, saying he didn't need it, but through God's powerful work, he changed his mind to wanting to learn the Bible this time. What an amazing change! I was blessed very much again through this precious experience.