Spring & Summer 2012

Since last I blogged, there, of course, has been so much going on that I struggle to choose the best things to share. So this time, I will go with some monthly highlights. . .

April:

It is the beginning of the new fiscal year, which means, in a Japanese church, the massive year-end meeting. This meeting is actually required by law for all recognized religious organizations, but we have been blessed to be able to make it a time of celebrating what God has done over the past year, and then look forward to our hopes for the coming year.

I continue on in my role as treasurer for the Church of Christ East Japan Disaster Aid Committee. And the end of the fiscal year means financial summaries for donors in Japanese and English. And a detailed financial report in Japanese for the committee members. Honestly, that is a struggle for me -- I am not trained in or particularly passionate about financial records, but all of those reporting tasks are important and almost completely taken care of . . . four months later.

One really excellent discovery from this task was that when we crunched the numbers, we were really relieved and blessed to see that we are, indeed, using the money given in exactly the way we intended -- directing as much of the funds as possible to directly assisting those touched by the disaster. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for guiding us in our stewardship of the generosity of your kingdom.

May:

Mito church accepted a one-month intern from Singapore. Cailin was with us for the month of May, and for two weeks she taught one-on-one English Bible classes under my supervision. She also spent a week doing relief work, and she was able help out in lots of other little ways during her time in Mito. It was really wonderful to have her here. And I think that she was able to grow in her faith because of her experience serving in Japan.

At the end of Cailin's time in Japan, we took a group up to the church in Hachinohe. Some of you may remember that when Joel and I lived in Sendai, we visited the Hachinohe church once every month. It had been a year since I was able to visit that church family, and it felt so wonderful to worship with them. On the way home we were able to take two nights to spend some time on the west shore of Japan. It was my first time to see the Japan Sea, and it was so beautiful! I was refreshed to be able to spend some time praising God for the wonder of his creation.

June:

This year I have felt called to help more in supporting and caring for the English speaking members of Mito church, so I have the opportunity to organize our time together before worship service on Sunday mornings and our time on Wednesday evenings. On Sundays we are studying 2 Corinthians together. On Wednesday evenings we are spending time together in prayer.

We were also planning on starting up English Bible Class in June this year, but the church calendar was really full. So we postponed to September. When everyone comes back from their summer vacations we will begin EBC again.

Coming up:

Today we will leave for Southeast Asia. First up is about a week in Malaysia. Joel is hosting this year's Asia Mission Forum. And I am in charge of registration. So from July 28th to August 1st, we will be with 200 people, mostly from Asia, learning, worshipping and fellowshipping.

Then after that I will also be joining the team going to Cambodia. This time around we are opening a language school and ministry center called Banyan Community School. We are really excited about this school that is being supported by Mito church and Bedok Church of Christ in Singapore. Volunteers from both churches will be going to organize the official opening ceremony. We will have three Cambodian teachers, who will be able to teach English for free to around 100 children.

Please pray with me . . .

~a praise for all the good work that God is doing in his kingdom, specifically in Mito. We are so blessed by the guidance of his Holy Spirit. May he bind us together and use us to be a light in Japan and all over Asia.

~that all the many seekers that we have among us with come to faith. We are praying for them all the time, please join us.

~that God will continue to bless and protect my home and my roommates. They are my family, and the ways that God uses our household as a unit is so beautiful and precious. May we continue to be a light in our neighborhood and a place for people to gather and be encouraged and refreshed.