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.