A New Normal

As you may be able to guess, there are tons of things that have happened since the last time I was able to send out a report to all of you, my dear friends and faithful supporters. So in the interest of keeping this report under control, I am going to give you the highlights with an option to follow a link to the more detailed account. So just click on the highlighted bits, if you would like to read the rest of the story . . .

On March 11th, there was a devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. Mito, the city in which I live, was without power and water for several days. There was minor damage to almost all the houses, businesses and roads and major damage to some older buildings and roadways. We also experienced gasoline shortages and minor food shortages in the first couple of weeks after the disaster. However, compared with Sendai and other cities to the north -- especially those hit hard by the tsunami, we received a rather low level of damage overall. I was also blessed to be able to let my family know of my safety by email within hours of the earthquake. And God was glorified as the members of Mito church pulled together to take care of one another. We were able to get our church family stabilized, and then shift our focus to reaching out into the community of Mito and over the past three months we have been able to join with the nationwide Churches of Christ in reaching out to the north -- to the cities that were severely damaged by the tsunami.

On the 29th of May, I was finally able to share my testimony at Mito church -- I had been asked to share in January, but ended up in the hospital due to my scooter accident; I was on the schedule again in March, but in the days after the earthquake and tsunami it seemed like my testimony was not the message the church needed at the time. So at the end of May, I was back on the schedule again. And the message that God gave me to share about my experience of meeting him and giving my life to him was the same as it had been in January, but somehow the timing of sharing it seemed much better.

Joel, Gaku and I got a new housemate -- Hiro moved in at the end of April. So now there are three boys living on the second floor of my house, and I continue to be amazed at the blessings that God has given me by allowing me to live in community with three men who are really kind to, patient with and appreciative of me. The Holy Spirit continues to make our home a place where we can serve him and praise him and bring others into his presence and his love.

There is so much that I want to share about the relief work that is going on, so I hardly know where to start. Three of us went up to Sendai in mid-April to seek God's guidance about where to help. Then the Churches of Christ in Japan established a nationwide committee to decide how to manage all the financial support that has been pouring in from all over the world. Starting with a 10-day trip at the beginning of April, we have begun sending teams of volunteers to work (mostly in a town north of Sendai, called Ishinomaki). From the beginning of June, we have sent volunteers nearly every week. And God is doing amazing work as we partner with the Be One and Asian Access groups to serve the people of the Tohoku region. (And that is the very, very short version -- for the long version click here and also here.)

I have been given a fairly active role in the relief work, but had to step back a little in the last month in order to concentrate on one of my main responsibilities at Mito church. We decided to start the English Bible Class ministry in June this year (since starting in September last year seemed very late), so I stayed in Mito for a few weeks to focus on preparing the text, organizing the teachers and running student registration for EBC. This year we have 7 teachers and a little over 30 students (plus about 5 kids in the EBC kids' class). We have had two classes so far, and everyone seems to be enjoying getting to know one another and practicing English conversation.

And I imagine that some of you have been wondering about my spleen, so here is a quick update: Of course it took quite a while to get my strength back up after being basically immobile for a few weeks in January, but God protected me and faithfully healed me. Now, especially since I started riding my bike to work a few times a week, my body is strong again and there is no pain or other murmurings from my spleen. I will go in this week for my last CT scan, just to make sure that it is continuing to heal properly (apparently the absorption of the 'dead' part of my spleen could take 6 months or more) before I go to Thailand in a few weeks. So thank you so much for all your prayers and support. I have been so blessed and encouraged by everyone's concern and love.

At the end of this month I will be traveling to Thailand to attend the 50th anniversary of the Asian Mission Forum. Atsushi, the minister of Mito church, will be one of the keynote speakers. Joel, Debi and several other friends and workers from Japan and other parts of Asia will be attending as well. I am very much looking forward to this time of equipping and refreshing in the midst of more hard work than I have ever had the opportunity to do at any other time in my whole life.

Please pray with me . . .

~a praise to God for all of the good things he has done this year. We have been showered with blessings and have been so blessed to see God doing amazing work in Japan. He is so good and so faithful. Praise God for being the bringer of light and hope and joy.

~for all the people whose lives have been changed by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Please pray especially for those who have lost their family members and other loved ones. Please pray for the children who have lost their parents. Please pray for the families that have lost their homes -- for those living with friends and relatives, for those living in emergency shelters. Please pray for those who are working so hard to clean the muck off of their lives and start again. Please pray that God will lead us to those who need someone to help them, so that they will know that they don't have to face this difficult time alone.

~that God will protect his workers in Japan from the spiritual attacks of the devil. We are all working so hard and some are getting tired and weak, both physically and spiritually. Please pray that we will continue to find strength and protection in the Holy Spirit, because this is a time when we can so easily become vulnerable to temptation and evil.

~for Mito church. God is being glorified in the way that the Mito church family is coming together to support and send workers out. Please pray with me that God will continue to unify and strengthen this little part of his church as we grow and serve.

~Please pray that I will depend on God for his guidance as I try to balance my responsibilities to Mito church and my new responsibilities in the relief work. I need his strength, his wisdom and his love and patience for myself and for others.

Finally! The moment you've all been waiting for . . .

I know it may have seemed like I dropped off the face of the earth, but please forgive me for being lax in my communication and know that I am truly thankful for your continuing support, prayers and love.

I will try my best to give you the highlights of the past three months or so without getting long-winded. Bear with me.

Since last I blogged:

Christmas and all it's delicious, busy, decorated, fellowship-filled, cinnamon-scented glory descends on Mito church with more vigor than I had imagined. I had just returned from furlough on the first of December, and so, tumbled head-over-heels in catching up on things missed and preparing for all the special events in December.

Like the English Bible Class Christmas Party

Then amid all the other regular and special church activities, we had 9 people in our home for Christmas. And it was a blessed time to enjoy friends, gifts and good food.

We started 2011 with a sunrise worship at 6 am on January 1st. And I was off and running again with bible studies, cell group, Sunday school classes, Japanese lessons, meetings, etc. until the evening of the 14th, when all of that came to a screeching halt. On my way from working at the church to having dinner with friends, I had a relatively minor traffic accident on my scooter. That night I had surgery (by catheter, so no scar -- yay!) to stop some internal bleeding and put a 'patch' my damaged spleen, but, by God's grace and protection, the only other injury that I had was a bruise and scrape on my knee. And that was only the beginning of the blessings and grace that our Heavenly Father poured over me in a situation that could have easily been much, much worse.

So I spent almost two weeks in the hospital recovering from my injury, learning all kinds of new things about the Japanese healthcare system, and seeing more deeply that the Mito church community is full of love and generosity. I also received the blessing and comfort of so many prayers on my behalf from all over the world, as well as a generous gift from my sponsoring church that was so helpful in covering medical and other expenses that come with a traffic accident.

I was unable to work for about a month, so now that I am back to working full-time, I am playing catch-up again. I feel so blessed by the people here, who picked up my responsibilities while I was healing and did so much to take care of me.

Now I am looking forward into a couple of months that promise to be very full and I have faith that God will continue to bless Mito church as we go through a season of transition at the end of the fiscal year.

In March we will be saying goodbye to some of our members who have decided to return to America after this school year of teaching English. And in April we will welcome a new batch of teachers.

We have also decided that we will begin this year's English Bible Class ministry again in June, so I have already begun thinking about and preparing for that.

Please pray with me . . .

~for safe travels and blessed service for the group that is going to serve in Siem Reap, Cambodia (this includes Joel, some members of Mito church and others from Japan, Singapore and other Asian countries). Please remember the kids in your prayers too. God is working in hearts of Christians in Japan and Singapore to raise money to send some of them to school and provide others with clothes, school supplies and other necessary items.

~that God is working in the hearts of the participants in our EBC ministry. We hope that they have been touched by their time studying the Bible, and that they will be drawn into our community and to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

~a blessing over the English teachers that are preparing to return to the States -- may they be comforted as they say goodbye to life in Japan and blessed as they readjust to life in America. Also, pray with me over the preparation of the new teachers coming (7 coming as vocational missionaries, 5 coming through Mito's sister city program with Anaheim California).

~a prayer of thanksgiving for my speedy recovery from my accident, and all the other blessings I have received along the way. And also please pray for me to continue to heal without incident. (The doctor says that my spleen should be completely done with the healing process in about 5 months.)

A Fine Fall Furlough

On December 1st I returned from my second furlough since I moved to Japan, just over three years ago. I spent most of October and all of November gathering about 12,000 frequent flyer miles, driving another 4,000 miles across 9 states,and seeing the sweet faces of my supporters (i.e. my family and friends). I am not sure how to report about this except to say that there were some really good parts -- like all the kind, generous people who invited me into their homes and let me spend a night or two or several on their couches, air mattress and guest beds -- and there were some difficult parts -- like my grandpa passing away the week before Thanksgiving. But overall I feel like God gave me many opportunities to share about the work that he is doing in Japan, and I pray that he will provide the support that I need through the chances that I had to share with people about the financial challenges of my work.

Here are some highlights from my travels:

An excellent afternoon with Grandma Hazel and Grandpa Jim before he passed away

Thank you, Jesus, for the sweet gift of that time together.

A very encouraging time with the Holtons

Bonus: a mini-tour of the city for my first time to Chicago

A little time with Saprina, my friend, supporter and former roommate

Some time to be silly with my little sister

And some really wonderful time to be with my Mama

There were, of course, many more good things that I forgot to take pictures of or that simple won't fit in the report. I am so thankful for my time to reconnect with my supporters. Thanks to everyone who listened to my stories of the Holy Spirit moving in Japan! And thank you to those of you who took time out of your busy lives to encourage me and refresh my spirit.

One of the other huge blessings that I have received since the last time I sent out an update was the establishment of an official relationship between me and the Mito Church of Christ just before I left in October. I moved to Mito as Joel's apprentice this year in the spring, and I have now been invited to stay and continue working as a member of the Mito church's staff with a commitment until March of 2012. However, I am hoping to stay for at least three years from now. Please pray that God will make that a possibility.

Please pray with me . . .

~a praise for the opportunity God has given me to continue to serve him in Japan.

~a praise for the safe travels that God gave me over the last two months.

~that God will continue to bless the English outreach ministry at Mito church, and that he will give me wisdom and guidance as I try to work towards growing the ministry and the ways that the foreign and Japanese church members can find a place to serve in this evangelistic outreach.

~that God will grant safe travels to Joel and the group that he has taken to do mission work in Cambodia this month -- and that God will move through them and their service.

~that the Holy Spirit will be working in all of the unique opportunities we have to reach out and share during the holiday season.

Finally Fall

So friends, here were are -- I completely missed writing a blog for August, and the time for writing September's update has certainly snuck up on me. That should be plenty of evidence that I am keeping busy. But God has given me a couple of moments to look around and notice that autumn is finally here -- we had a long, hot summer, so I am very thankful for the cool breezes, the changing colors and the smells and tastes of fall.

One of the major things that has happened in the last two months is the beginning of the English Bible Class ministry. Our first class was on September 5th, and we currently have over 40 students in 15 classes (and 1 kids' class). One of the highlights of this year's program so far was an outing to Hitachi Seaside Park. We had a great time -- it was an excellent opportunity for church members and EBC participants to mingle and build friendships, and we had great weather in which to enjoy the beautiful park. We praise God for providing for such a wonderful day!

Another major development is that I have received an official invitation from the Mito church to continue working here until March of 2012. I am so thankful to be serving here, and I pray that God will continue to use me, grow me and bless his Kingdom in Japan. I will be leaving next week to travel to America to visit many of my supporters and share about the ways the Holy Spirit is working in Japan.

Beyond that I have continued on with the "regular" things, like my language classes, helping to teach a Junior High Sunday School class two or three times a month, getting together with my flock (small group), and connecting with the members of our young adult cell group on Sunday evenings. I have also started to meet with two of the ladies in the church for a Bible study each week. That has been a particular blessing for me in that it has given me the chance to study God's word, deepen relationships with those two sweet ladies and challenges me to share and explain deep, abstract and emotional ideas in Japanese.

This weekend Mito church will have its annual retreat, so we are all pitching in to help with the preparations and looking forward to some great fellowship. Then the day after we return from the retreat, I will get on a bus, then onto a plane heading back to the States. So I am looking forward to seeing many of you over the next several weeks.

Please pray with me . . .

~that God will use the EBC ministry to draw new people into his kingdom and his truth. Let's pray that the participants will find their hearts open and hungry for God's righteousness. And please continue to lift up the teachers and other helpers as we serve our Lord and reach out to build connections with those who don't know him.

~that my travels will be safe and blessed. My prayer and hope is that I will have opportunities to glorify God and testify about the work he is doing in Japan. And please pray that I will be able to continue trusting that God will provide for the spiritual, financial and other needs of this ministry to which he has called me.

~for wisdom for the AETs (assistant English teachers) serving as vocational ministers in Mito church as they struggle through this season of deciding whether or not to renew their contracts for another year.

July 2010 -- Some highlights

As usual, July was another busy month.

The "Flocks" began meeting, and God is blessing those connections. Our group met for lunch on the 11th of July -- we are hoping to set up some more time together in September, since many people will be traveling in August. (Almost everyone in Japan has summer vacation time in August.)

We also continued to prepare for the English Bible Class outreach ministry, which will begin in September. With the guidance of those wiser and more experienced than I am, I have been working on writing the text for the small group discussions. It has been more challenging than I expected, but I have really enjoyed the experience. I think that God has helped us to create a text that will facilitate relationship building and spiritual conversation. We will have a training session for the teachers on August 29th. And then twice monthly classes will begin on September 5th. May God bless this ministry!

On the 18th Daniel, Staci (two Mito church members) and I began teaching a class for the Junior High School students on Sunday mornings twice a month. This is a little outside my area of expertise, since I have never worked with junior high kids, but I am learning a lot. My hope is that the class will be an encouragement for the kids. I am glad that God pulled me toward helping with the spiritual development of these kids. They are wonderful!

Some of the friends in our Sunday evening Young Adult Cell Group

Girls' Bible Study -- hosted at my house in July



VBS -- hosted by the Taga Church of Christ and a group from California

Please pray with me . . .

~that God will prepare those who will teach the EBC classes, and that he will open the hearts of those who will come for the lessons. As of today (August 17) we have 14 adults and 4 kids registered.

~that God will continue to shape and protect the hearts of the children of Mito church. We are so blessed to have many children worshiping with us -- please pray that we will be able to be used by the Holy Spirit to help in their spiritual growth.

~that the Spirit will continue to work among the people of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Please also pray that God will bring the group from Japan home safely, after their time of traveling, building relationships with Christians across Asia and sharing God's love with friends in Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

~for God to help me to be more disciplined in my faith and my work. It is easy to lose motivation and feel discouraged when we are not depending fully on God -- please pray for my protection and that my dependence on God will grow as I try to do the work the Spirit calls me to do everyday.

~for times of quiet and holy rest. Japan and America are both busy countries, full of distraction and demands on our time. Let's pray together that we will make time to be still and to listen for the voice of our Lord and Savior. Praise Jesus for his desire to connect with us!