Olivia's New Pink Guitar (Video!)

Hello everyone, Olivia's grand performance on her new Pink Guitar from Christmas will be our Video Blogging debut. Please enjoy, and let us know if you have comments or troubles viewing the clip.



The clip ends in an all to familiar way ... :)

Christmas Party

Sarah's Post...

We finally had our Christmas party at my jidokan. What a fun event it was! We had over 50 moms and kids come to the party. We had fun decorating crowns and halos. The kids, and moms, really got into it. I opened the party with a little greeting in Japanese. A big feat for me! They seemed blessed that I tried. We then did the craft. While the craft was finishing up, I shared some Christmas traditions from my childhood.







This is Sawa-chan to the right. She is a little angel. So cute!














This is Mayo-chan to the left. She was so very proud of her crown.





After the craft was finished, Jon led in the reading of the Christmas story. He did a wonderful job! I'm so proud of him! He then played guitar and sang some Christmas songs in Japanese and English. We all had a wonderful time! As the kids left, we gave them some Christmas cookies to take home. What a blessing to share the true meaning of Christmas with our new friends.

Christmas Outreach Event at Church

Sarah's Post....

Thank you to those of you who prayed! God was so good to us this weekend. We invited two of my friends to this outreach event at our church. Miwa-san and her daughter as well as Minako-san with her husband and daughter all came (you may remember that they came to make cookies at our house). We were also surprised that my friend Kyoko-san came with her family. She had read about it in the newspaper and decided to come. God is so good! As far as we know none of these families had ever been into a church building or heard the Christmas story before.


Above are the kids from church acting out the Christmas story, and to the right are Minako-san and her family. They invited us to come to their house sometime soon. We are really looking forward to this! Please continue to pray as we have one more big Christmas event coming up on this Thursday (your Wednesday night). All of these ladies (and Minako-san's husband, too!) will be at this event. Please pray that God keeps our family healthy for this last event as well as for the Moms and kids that come.

Jon's Jidokan Christmas Party

Sarah's Post...

We arranged to have this Christmas Party for our friends at Jon's Jidokan (yes, we each have our own!). We had a good turnout, six mom and kid pairs! They were very excited to make these crowns and halos to represent the Christmas story. Jon did is great job reading the story, all in Japanese! We didn't get as much response as we hoped from the story, but we realize that most had probably never heard it before!

The moms and kids really enjoyed the Christmas cookies that we had for a snack. We also were able to swap cultural norms related to the holidays of Christmas and New Years (Shogatsu in Japan). They were all amazed that people in America go back to work on the second of January. (In Japan New Years is much bigger that Christmas.) They also enjoyed seeing my scrapbook. They seemed possibly interested in having me come back to do a scrapbooking class. Please continue to pray for these events!

Our December Prayer Letter

(Please click on prayer letter image to enlarge.)

Jon's "Debut" - at Jidokan Christmas Party

I had the great opportunity to join in as a "special guest" at our local Kyu-Karuizawa Jidokan Christmas party. It actually didn't seem much like a Christmas party, with main event being a strange masked magician (Olivia was scared!) It was up to me to bring a bit of light - Jesus' Light - into a rather dark party.

I had been practicing what I wanted to say for days, and I think it went pretty well. Before we sang Jingle Bells "Jinguru Beru", I tried to open with a little interaction with the 60+ kids in the room. A slightly scary prospect, since I couldn't predict what they would say!!!

After playing a few songs (in English and Japanese) we ended with Silent Night - probably the most well known Christmas song in Japan. I asked if anyone knew what the song was about. I shared that it was about the first Christmas, and the birth ~2000 years ago of Jesus Christ. (A fact most do not know.) I said that Jesus also has another name - Emmanuel - which the wonderful meaning "The True God is with us". (I wanted to distinguish the term "God" from the normal usage in Shinto context.)

This may not seem like much, but I was very pleased to have the time and vocab (!) to say it. This is evangelism in Japan - laying single bricks at a time, building a foundation of understanding upon which the Gospel can stand. There are so many critical concepts in Christianity we take for granted in America, that Japanese have no idea about.
Here with are with Hasegawa-san, one of the Jodoukan leaders, dressed in a only moderately convincing Santa suit. :) The cute little blond girl is our new neighbor, Meg. Her parents, Kevin & Rebecca Dingle, are MTW teammates studying at our same language school.

Here is a picture of the girls at another party at Megumi Chalet (a Christian conference center nearby). Olivia and Meg have become good friends, although they don't always see "eye to eye" :)

Going to the Doctor

Sarah's Post....

Thank you all for your prayers and ideas on how to help my hands. Here is a picture of what it looks like. Please continue to pray! We seem to start one thing that helps for about a week and then my body fights back.

We have all been to the doctor recently (except Jon). Going to the doctor is always an adventure, when you are doing it in another language. The other day I took Olivia to the doctor (her first time). It was kind of funny because the receptionist kept asking me something and finally I realized that she wanted to know if I had insurance or not. Always an adventure! Here is a picture of the medicine you get in Japan. Nothing is in a child-safe container and a lot of medicines are powders.

We are all starting to feel better...Olivia is recovering from her ear/throat (maybe) infection, Jon has a cold which is getting better, Annabella's cold is better and my shoulder and sinus infection is better (although my hands are not). Anyway, tis the season for sickness!

Christmas Cookies

Sarah's Post....

Hey everyone! I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends. The lady in purple behind Olivia is Miwa-san and her daughter is in front of her, Yuzuki-chan. Next to me is Minako-san and her daughter, Sawa-chan. We had a wonderful day baking, decorating, and eating Christmas cookies! I feel that this was an encouraging moment in my language study, because we actually communicated and had fun together! They both speak less English than I speak Japanese. We laughed a lot and just had fun together. Please pray for these ladies as I build relationships with them.

First (of many) Christmas Outreach Events

Christmas is truly the best time of year to share the gospel in Japan, and we're already into the thick of it! Japanese love the songs, decorations, and overall festive atmosphere, but have no idea that this all relates to the birth of Christ, the savior for the world!

We spent Sunday afternoon with Nagahata Sensei (one of our teachers) and his wife, helping them reach out to about 20 people in the music community in Karuizawa. I played guitar and helped lead singing, and Sarah and I both shared about what Christmas back in America was like with our families. I wrote out a page of notes in Japanese, and I think it went well - though for all my preparation and practice, it went by rather quickly!


Here Olivia is seeing her first snow in Japan (plus you get to see her cute Christmas outfit!)

"Daddy Daughter Date"

This picture shows Olivia and I as we get ready to head out on a "Daddy-Daughter Date". There was a special musical concert for kids at the local concert hall, including classical music and a fun percussion trio. They did a great job exposing the kids to lots of new things, while also having fun. It was good Japanese practice for me, too! Olivia's favorite part was when they played a medley of songs from one of her favorite Japanese movies "Tonari no Totoro" (My Neighbor Totoro).
Here you can see the big marimba and some of the other percussion instruments. Olivia loved it, and didn't want to go home. I loved it too, because I got to hold her on my lap the whole time (except, of course for the 2 times we went to the bathroom!)

Largest Unreached People Group in World

We were listening to a John Piper sermon on missions (imagine that!), and he mentioned the Japanese people as the largest unreached people group in the world. I checked into it at the Joshua Project website:


Largest Unreached People Groups (click link or above chart for more info)

Top 3:
Japanese (Japan) 120,420,000 people
Bengali (Bangladesh) 96,400,000 people
Shaikh (India) 73,012,000 people

We certainly understand first-hand the real need for the gospel here in Japan, but I never realized that in terms of people group break-down, Japanese are the largest unreached people group!

The Japanese people being ranked first is in part due to the very homogeneous population of Japan vs. other unreached countries, which are splintered into various people groups, but still reveals the GREAT NEED OF JAPAN!
----------------------------------------------

Another interesting way to look at the statistics is to look at the largest countries in the world by population, and see which countries are most unreached. Within the top 10 largest countries by population, Japan is "tied" with Pakistan and Bangladesh as the most unreached country at only 0.4% evangelical Christian.


Please be praying for the whole world, but especially that by God's grace the Good News would be known in these most unreached places!

Leading Worship at Church

This is my second week of helping to lead worship at our church in Karuizawa. Last week I played along with another Japanese guy, but this week he called in Sunday morning saying he couldn't come. So it was up to me! Playing guitar was no problem, but introducing the songs and leading the Lord's Prayer in Japanese were a little daunting!

I did my best, and thankfully, Ide-san, who plays the piano, stepped up and lead the Lord's Prayer with me. (I've actually be working hard at saying the Lord's Prayer in Japanese, but I can't keep up with the speed of the congregation, yet!)

I'm now playing every week, and enjoying playing Christmas songs during worship.

Click on the photo to see a larger picture, and notice the words projected on the wall. This is one of the kids songs we do. It is verbatim from Heb 12:2 of the Japanese Bible, so now I know my first memory verse in Japanese!!!

Curious Food Discoveries in Japan

Wow! KitKat with sweet red azuki bean flavor. (Actually I love it in Japanese treats, but not so much in a KitKat!) They also sell apple flavor KitKats too. (Nagano prefecture is well known for apples.)


Banana Soda flavored Fanta was too unusual to pass up, but finding Cherry Coke was an unexpected blessing! A 7-11 on the way to Nagano city had them, so we bought 6 to save for later!

We got a Winnie the Pooh cereal for Olivia "Puu-san no Hachimitsu Daisuki", but laughed when it was dwarfed by the American sized "Froot Loops" we had received from a friend!
(*Note* Click on all photos to enlarge them.)

HS Ministry Outreach Postponed :(

Well, this is part of the reality of ministry in Japan. Our well laid plans have to be changed. Our English teacher contact said due to a big upcoming test, students were not able to come to the event. Grades are VERY important to Japanese high school students, as they are very competitive as they seek to enter the most prestigious universities.

Please pray that God would open new doors for us to connect with students. The teacher is still interested to do an event, probably in December sometime. Pray for our wisdom and patience, too.

Karuizawa High School

Here are two students from Karuizawa High School, in uniform. All high school students wear uniforms, so that only leaves footwear & socks as ways to express themselves!
Together with Mr. Sekiguchi of our church outreach committee, we went to speak with the Principal and English teacher at the Karuizawa High School. All of the flyers we passed out a month ago didn't result in any new students coming to our English outreach club, so we decided to try to build the relationship more strongly with the school leadership, hoping to open some new doors.

By God's grace, we were very blessed, and the Enligsh Teacher was very open to our ideas. She even offered to pass out our flyers directly to students from her classes, and come along with them to a special event we planned for this upcoming Thursday, Nov 16. Please be praying for this opportunity to build a strong relational bridge, both with the administration and the students!

"Momiji" - Japanese Maple Leaves

It is beautiful here in Karuizawa in the fall. The maple trees especially are brilliant in their reds, oranges, and yellows. ENJOY!

Reaching Out with our Local Church

As you know, our primary focus right now is Japanese language study (and Karuizawa is not our long-term location for ministry). As we study, though, we also are looking for practical ways to use and improve our Japanese. The church we have been attending recently approached me with an opportunity to serve the church, and also build relationships with Japanese high school students in the area.
In cooperation with members of Karuizawa Christ Church, I will be helping to reach out to students from the large high school right next to the church building. I'll bring some "international flavor" and appeal, and we hope this new ministry will help break down barriers and bring new students into the church building on Saturdays. This is designed as a "pre-evangelistic" outreach, to introduce students for the first time to God's people and God's word in a welcoming and fun environment.

We met early on Wednesday morning in front of the school to pray, and then pass out the above flyer to the students as they came in by foot and bicycle. Pray with us that God would bring the right students, and that we would soon be able to establish a sense of "community identity" that will continue to attract new students in the future. Pray that God would bless my Japanese ability and enable me to work well with the church members, and that together, we would be able to share the love of Christ in a very real and tangible way to the students.

Olivia and Annabella - Opening new doors

These are photos from a "tea party" that was held on our behalf at the community center. A new friend that we've made organized the party to help us meet other young families in the neighborhood. What a blessing. Our girls are definitely opening up new doors for us!


Here are some photos from the nearby "child support center" where the girls also go to play, do crafts, and sing songs. The hand print at the bottom is Olivia's (labeled with her name "oribia-chan") and represents the bright red "momiji" maple leaves that will be coming out soon.

Jon's Mom finished with Chemo!

Thank you so much for your prayers for Mom. She just finished the last of her scheduled chemo treatments at the end of September.

She still has some important tests coming up to confrirm what the next steps are, but what a blessing that God has carried her through this difficult phase which much grace.

Here is a photo of her looking beautiful as always (with some borrowed hair, just for fun).

Local "Undoukai" Sports Day

Here we are at the Karuizawa Elementary School "Undoukai" (Sports Day). It is big part of life in Japan, and is almost like a festival of sorts for the community. Some new friends of ours invited us to watch, and we actually saw a number of people we had met at various other places - including church!
All students are split up into the Red team and White team and compete for team points (notice their hats). The above picture shows a very team oriented game, the o-tama korogashi, where each team has a huge ball that they have to pass down the line of 100+ students, carry it around a pole, and then back to the starting point. The Red team won both attempts at this one.
This game, was quite amazing. Called kibasen, or cavalry game, it is played in teams of four. Three team members form a base, called the horse, and the fourth rides on top. The object of the game is for the "rider" to steal the caps of riders from the other teams. It actually was quite aggressive. A thowback to the old Samurai days! (In case you're wondering, the White team won this game quite handily.)

We learned a lot about Japanese culture: the importance of community, the pre-eminence of "team" over "individual", and the importance of tradition and protocol to the running of events.

College Ministry Board Meeting in Waseda

I took the Shinkansen "bullet train" to Tokyo and on to Waseda and back (~4 hour round trip) for a 3 hour College Ministry Board meeting for the Presbyterian Church in Japan. (See down below for a photo of my sleek ride.) My team leader, Dan Iverson, was there as well Nagata-san, a friend and co-worker in college ministry since my first visit to Japan back in 1998.

I mostly listened and learned, with my electronic dictionary in hand, and a little translation help from Dan. The meeting was exciting as I become more involved in praying and preparing for our future ministry. It was also sobering as I more deeply understood the difficulties and challenges that lay ahead.

For Example:
- Attendance has dropped and our college ministry meetings, and the general image of foreign clubs has been tarnished in the eyes of students due to a rise in "christian-like" cult activities on campus.
- Almost all of the Japanese College Ministry Staff that I knew from my previous time in Japan are no longer actively serving on campus. Some are in seminary, some have moved on, and some have had personal struggles. A few new staff have come on, but it has been difficult for them in many ways.
- Even after more than 10 years of partnership with Japanese Churches in College Ministry, the initiative for outreach still comes almost exclusively from College Ministry Staff, not the local church.

PLEASE PRAY:
- Pray that God would protect our staff, our students, and students on campus from these cults (including the Moonies, etc.)
- Pray for future kingdom workers and faithful young leaders for the church in Japan.
- Pray also for a missional vision for the church among both the current AND next generation of Japanese believers.

A Shinkansen Train, like the one I took to Tokyo...

Fellow Kingdom Workers in JAPAN

We had the priveldege of spending some time with my former roommate, Shinya, and his family. He had served as part of our college ministry staff for several years, and now is studying at a reformed seminary in Japan.

Please pray for Shinya and his family, that God would provide for them during Seminary, and prepare them for His Kingdom work ahead.


Olivia and Moka had met once in America about a year ago, and had fun getting re-aquainted. :)

MTW Field Retreat in Chiba, JAPAN

At the end of August, we were able to join ~15 other MTW missionaries from the Tokyo/Chiba & Nagoya Church-Planting Teams for a field retreat. We had a guest speaker from the States (Scot Sherman) and had a challanging and encouraging time. It was also great for Sarah and I to connect on a more personal level with these other MTW missionaries - future partners in the gospel here in Japan!

Special Time with Grandparents in America

With Grandma and Grandpa Pfeil in Hilton Head, SC


With Mimi & Papa Harrington in Richmond, IN

Olivia and Annabella had such a special time with their grandparents while we were in the States for Sarah's brother's wedding. The girls got to have tea parties, play "golf", play with water in the sink and in the pool, make special crafts, and just enjoy being together as family making lots of special memories.

We are so blessed by our loving, gracious, and generous parents who are such wonderful grandparents to our girls. What a joy to spend time with them, but also sad to say goodbye. Please pray that God would give us all continued creativity and grace as we seek for them to continue to be an integral part of Olivia and Annabella's lives, even halfway around the world.