All About October

October was a blessed month, mostly full of regular, routine things, but I still would like to try to share some of the highlights and the ways that I could see God working here.

At the beginning of the month, I took and passed a language test at the community center in our neighborhood. It was only a short test to determine whether or not I could handle moving up to the intermediate level class, but I was encouraged by some kind of landmark to help me see that I am actually making progress as I study Japanese. I also decided to join another language class at a community center downtown -- I am thankful that I was able to pass the test to enter into the intermediate level class there as well. I am also very thankful for so many free resources to help me to study Japanese.

This month I celebrated my birthday, and I am reminded of how grateful I am for my friends here. (Also I can now say, from experience, that being 26 feels very much like being 25.) Our Monday night cell group threw me a birthday party. Debi took me out to Matsushima Bay and, of all things one can find in Japan, a Belgian music box museum. And Joel treated me to dinner at one of Sendai's especially delicious Italian restaurants. Hooray for birthdays!


On the 19th and 20th, Joel and I attended the monthly regional ministry workers' meeting. Usually the meeting is on Monday mornings, but once each year the meeting is an overnight retreat-style meeting. I was very blessed by our time together. In addition to the regular business, we discussed discipleship training, after hearing a recap of things presented at Mito Church of Christ by Rich Little, a recent guest speaker, when he visited the congregation to share on that topic. And the highlight for me was a meditation on Psalm 62.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
his is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge."
Psalm 62:5-8

We also visited the church in Hachinohe on the 24th and 25th. As usual, on Sunday, Joel preached. Then after eating lunch with the church members, we helped them with their LST follow-up, by leading a short English lesson and Bible study with two of the this summer's LST readers, one of the reader's high school aged daughter, and one of the church members.

At the end of the month I was blessed with the opportunity to help with the Halloween party for Debi's kindergarten class. The kids were extra cute in their costumes, and I was so thankful for the opportunity to be able to bless Debi with an extra pair of hands during the festivities.

Free time in the last week of October was spent preparing for our travels. The main reason for our ten day trip was to attend a Church Planting Institute conference, but we decided to stop by a couple other places along the way. More on that in my next update . . .


Please pray with me . . .

~a prayer of thanksgiving for the ways that God communicates his love and grace through us and our lives without words. Also please pray that as I continue to learn Japanese, that God will give me wisdom as I learn about how to express my faith and God's truth in another language and culture.

~a praise to God for the gift of the church -- let's praise God for his wisdom in giving us a community in which we can worship him together, seek his truth together and partners with whom we can work for his glory. Please also pray for the church in Japan -- pray that we will cherish one another and work together to be a blessing on the nation of Japan.

~for wisdom and faith -- as I start to reflect on this year, please be praying that I will see God's perspective on the things that I have done, and that I will be able to recognize the Holy Spirit's guidance as I start to think about how to continue serving God and the people of Japan in this next year of my apprenticeship.

~for the Sendai church family -- we have had struggles and joys this year. Please pray for the brothers and sisters here, that we will be brave to listen for and follow the Holy Spirit's leadership, and that we will be able to find a shared vision for our church.

Sumptuous September

At the beginning of September, my Mom came to visit. It was so good to see her, and really fun to show her around my life in Sendai. I think that she enjoyed seeing some sights, and meeting a few of my friends here. And I know she enjoyed the adventures in food, although she didn't fall in love with everything I convinced her to try. While Mom was visiting, one of my language teachers invited us to have lunch with her and her husband. I feel like it was a really great opportunity to take that relationship a little deeper -- it was a bonus blessing, the icing on top of the cake that was time with my mom.

Fortunately, Mom's visit fell on a pretty quiet week, and then things picked right back up again. The Monday after she left, our church hosted the monthly preacher's meeting. We don't host the meeting often since Sendai is a little bit farther away from the other churches that participate. We tried very hard to make the trip worth their while -- Mawatari-sensei made his famous curry, I baked some homemade treats and Joel put together some very tasty salads. Joel was also able to share about the August mission trip to Cambodia with the group, which I think was interesting and encouraging to everyone.

The following weekend the three Churches of Christ in the Tohoku region (Sendai, Morioka and Hachinohe) got together for a weekend retreat. "Family" was the theme of the retreat, and everyone was encouraged to invite their families along for the weekend. This was an important opportunity because many of the members of our churches are the only believers in their families. We invited Kushida-sensei from the church in Hitachi to share a few messages with us, but everything else was planned by the members of each of the churches.

I was so encouraged by the way that everyone contributed something to the planning and leading of the activities, devotional times or children's classes. I think that the whole group was blessed by the opportunity to worship and learn together, and especially the chance to relax and enjoy some great fellowship. I feel that God was glorified in the way that each person contributed something unique to the weekend -- for example: for one of the evening devotionals (just before bedtime) one of the members of the Hachinohe church planned for us to listen as a few people read several chapters from Genesis. Now honestly, I think that most people would not plan that sort of activity for a group of people who have all just had a long day and a hot bath -- unless the goal of the activity was to get those people to fall asleep. However, it was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. God spoke to me through the way that Joseph showed mercy to his brothers, and I felt refreshed by the simple plan of taking us into God's Word. His Words are so powerful and so good!

Another excellent September blessing was welcoming Gaku into our Christian family. Gaku has been thinking seriously about becoming a Christian for a long time. And during the month of September, Gaku decided to commit his life to Jesus. He chose to be baptized on the 22nd, which worked out really well for several friends to come up from Ibaraki to celebrate with us, because that day and following day were national holidays here in Japan. Gaku's mother, father and younger brother also came -- since they don't know very much about Christianity, they were understandably a little concerned about his decision. However, I feel like God blessed their time with us, and it was really wonderful for them to be part of the celebration -- I hope they could see how much we all love Gaku.


One last September bonus was a visit from one of my Wyoming Bible Camp friends. Tara has joined the Navy and is stationed at Yokosuka (near Tokyo). She came up with her friend, Kyle, to visit for the weekend. I really enjoyed seeing her. It is always nice to run into an old friend on the other side of the world. They came during a pretty quiet weekend, so we were able to visit Matsushima and going out for a dinner of cow tongue (one of Sendai's famous foods, and also one of my favorite treats). Then Tara and Kyle joined us for worship on Sunday morning, before heading back.

Please pray with me . . .

~a praise to God for giving Gaku the precious gift of faith in him. Please join me in praying for Gaku's continuing spiritual growth.

~a prayer of thanksgiving for my friendship with Sayuri, one of my language teachers. Please pray that God will work through that relationship to bring Sayuri faith and hope in him.

~that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in our hearts and bring us together with those who are ready to hear the gospel.

~that God will continue to strengthen his children in Sendai -- that we will grow together in unity and desire to seek and share his love and grace.

August 2009

August was a quiet month, especially in contrast to July. Joel was in Southeast Asia for most of the month, but, since I was unable to attend this year's Asian Mission Forum, I held down the fort here in Sendai. With help from all the members of our cell group, we continued to meet each week through August for dinner and Bible study/discussion time. At the end of the month, we had a fellowship night, and we all went to sing karaoke together.

From one of our cell group discussions in August

Because August is summer vacation in the Japanese school calendar, most of my language classes where also on break. However, I did continue to meet with my volunteer tutor, who is teaching me how to read and write. She also helps me to practice conversation -- her help is such a blessing to me, and I am so thankful for our growing friendship.

Also in August Joel, Toshiko (a church member) and Akiko (an LST reader and our neighbor) went to Siem Reap, Cambodia to minister to the street kids there, with others from Japan and Singapore. They also checked in on the 11 children that church members and others in Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are sponsoring to go to English school. From the funds raised, they were able to add another child as well. Both Toshiko and Akiko said that their experience in Cambodia was wonderful. It is very encouraging to see this connection and cooperation in missions between churches all over Asia.

Joel came back just in time to celebrate Debi's birthday, and also to host some guests. Our friend, Judith, who lives in Ibaraki prefecture, brought Michi, her roommate, and Nadine, a friend visiting from North America, to Sendai for a few days. It was good to see our friends and spend some time sharing Sendai with them.



Please pray with me . . .

~for our friend, Michi, as she continues to think about giving her life to Jesus.

~for Sayuri, my volunteer Japanese tutor. I am hopeful that our friendship will grow deeper, and that I will have more opportunities to share my faith with her.

~a praise for Laura's (Joel's sister) recent successful surgery -- and also pray for her continuing recovery.

~a praise for the time that God allowed me to rest in August, and for wisdom and discipline in moving forward into fall activities and study.

~for my language study, which continues to become increasingly difficult. I am so thankful for encouragement from friends, who assure me that I am making progress. Please be praying that I will feel less discouraged.

July 2009

For most of July we were hosting our summer Let's Start Talking project. The LST team continued to teach bible study/English lessons, and also hosted a weekly party for all the participants and church members.

This year's LST team at the Japanese party, hosted by the church and the LST readers.

Decorating Christmas cookies at the "Christmas in July" party

Newspaper baseball at the last party

Also during July the coffee shop continued to be a great place for LST workers and participants, as well as church members to hang out, relax, and chat about just about anything.


We also hosted a weekend retreat for all of the LST participants and church members called FriendsCamp. The camp site was really wonderful -- it is in a forested area next to a river, and the camp site staff are all Christians. About 35 people (including LST and FriendsCamp workers, church members and LST participants) came to camp, and it was a great weekend. We had lots of chances to discuss the Bible, get to know one another and relax a little bit. I feel like the Holy Spirit was really guiding all of our discussions.

This year's Friendscamp team

All the FriendsCamp Participants

One of the highlights was our bonfire -- it was raining a lot, but we still sang for a long time and really enjoyed being outside, praising our Lord, despite the weather.


The LST and FriendsCamp teams headed home on July 27th. And on the same day, Joel left for the Asia Mission Forum in China and also a short mission trip to Cambodia. I took a deep breath after all the LST craziness and a little time to rest.

Also in July, our friend Kaori decided to commit her life to Christ. Kaori is a university student who lives in Ibaraki (about 2 1/2 hours drive south of Sendai) and has been experiencing the gospel and learning about Christian life for a couple of years now. Yuko, one of the Sendai church members, graciously offered to look after the LST project for a day, so that Joel, Debi and I could travel down to Ibaraki to be with Kaori and celebrate with her. We are so thankful to have a new sister!

August will be a pretty quiet month around here, but I think that will be a welcome change after so much busy-ness. I am looking forward to being able to spend time with friends that I was not able to meet with during the LST project, and I will also be catching up on my Japanese studies. Most of my Japanese classes are on summer vacation right now, so my goal to be caught up by the time those begin again in September.

Please pray with me . . .

~that the Holy Spirit will continue whispering his truth into the hearts of those who came to our church for this summer's LST project.

~that God will give us wisdom as we begin to decide what kinds of follow-up programs we will offer this fall.

~a praise to our Father for bringing Kaori into his family. Let's pray together that the strength of her faith and commitment to living in Christ will continue to grow.

~that I will have discipline and motivation in my language study.

~that Joel, Toshiko (church member) and Akiko (friend, LST reader) will have safe travel to and from Cambodia, and that they will grow from the experience. Also pray that they will have the opportunity to touch lives while they are in Siem Reap.

~a pray of thanksgiving for all the hard work that the LST and FriendsCamp teams did this summer. They worked so hard to share their faith with the Japanese people that they met, and we are so thankful.

Junbi no June (June of Preparation)

This month was full of a lot of preparation (word of the day: junbi -- preparation), mostly for Let's Start Talking. But first, at the beginning of the month, some friends from Singapore (Paul and Betty Tan with their daughter Rachel and her boyfriend, Shawn) came to visit Japan for their family vacation. They visited several friends in the Tokyo area and in Ibaraki, then spent some time with us in Sendai. It was so encouraging to have fellowship with them, and a lot of fun to show them around our city. Joel also acted as their tour guide on a sightseeing trip around Tohoku region (northern part of the main island of Japan) and a visit to Hachinohe church. I met Paul when I traveled to Singapore and Cambodia in March of 2008.

After the Tans left Sendai, Joel and I kicked our LST preparations into high gear. We spent about two weeks in a whirlwind of making handouts, schedules, orientation materials (for the LST workers and participants) and deep cleaning almost every inch of the church property (with help from the church members and our roommate, Gaku). The LST team was scheduled to arrive on the evening of Saturday the 20th, and Joel and I started the day pretty worn out, but sure that we could get all the little last minute things done by the time we had to leave to go and pick up the team. But that morning Joel received an email letting us know that the LST workers had been delayed by weather, and they would arrive a day late, on Sunday evening. Sometimes it is very surprising to find out that God's plans don't match our plans.

By God's grace, we kept panic at a minimum and made adjustments to our schedules to do the Sunday afternoon and evening orientation meetings for the LST participants without the LST workers. The best blessing that came from that Sunday was getting to see the church members jumping into action to pick up all the loose ends and make sure that those meetings (which can get a little crazy and overwhelming) ran smoothly. God challenged us, and our church family pulled together to glorify him with beautiful dedication to this ministry and flexibility in a tricky situation.

The LST team arrived safely on Sunday evening. We took Monday to get them settled in, and they started studying with their students on Tuesday. We are so blessed to have this team in Sendai! The LST participants are also blessed to get to see a Christian family in action. Our LST team this year is one young married couple, Mike and Marcy, with their 1 year old daughter, Ella; Mike's brother, Brian, and his mother, Mina, are also serving with them, as well as Marcy's friend from college, Crystal. They are all doing great with their readers, and seem to be enjoying their experience of Japanese culture. All of them, except for Mina, have been to Japan before, and all are doing their best to try out a few phrases in Japanese and be adventurous in foods and other cultural experiences, which is such a blessing and encouragement to our Japanese LST friends. I am so thankful for their hard work and opportunities that God has opened for them to share their faith. Please continue to cover them with your prayers -- they will be working with us here until the 27th of July.

Their first weekly party was an "American Spring Picnic Party" on the afternoon of Sunday the 28th. Here are some pictures from the party:


Joel and I (with help from lots of the other church members) are also offering a coffee shop in the church auditorium during the daily lessons. It is a good time for the students to get extra English practice or ask questions that they didn't have time to get to during their lessons. It is also a really good opportunity for us to get to know them better.


Please pray with me . . .

~a praise for the good work that God is doing during this LST project. Many people are hearing the gospel and our workers are boldly sharing their faith. And we are so thankful for their hard work and willingness to come so far to share God's truth and love.

~a praise to God for the success of the coffee shop -- so many people are hanging out and talking together.

~for the continuing work of the LST team. They have been working so hard and they love their readers so much! We can't believe that they will only be here a couple more weeks.

~that God will make it possible to have many people at FriendsCamp (the camp that we will have for the LST participants and church members at the end of the LST project). Right now we only have one LST participant registered.

~that God will protect the LST team as they travel home, the FriendsCamp team as travel here and back (from America) and Joel as he travels to China for the Asia Mission Forum at the end of this month.