Making Christmas Cookies

This was our last real party in our home, a Christmas cookie decorating party with the ladies from my Bible study. The kids enjoyed decorating the cookies and then eating them!

After decorating the cookies, we had a potluck lunch together. I think that no one wanted to leave because it was our last official time together. They ended up staying until after three!
What a blessing these friends have been in my life! They have taught me much about Japan and I pray that I have shown them more of who God is. It is so sad to leave them! Next, comes the big job.....packing!

Sarah's Christmas Party at the Community Center

Our second annual Christmas party at the 子育て支援センター　(child raising support center) went really well. There were over 60 mothers and kids who came. This year Sarah was able to read the Christmas story by herself in Japanese. She did such a great job!



We also sang Christmas songs and made an angel craft together with all the kids. (Olivia turned her angel into a hat!)

Please pray for all these Moms and kids, that someday they would come to know the true meaning of Christmas in their hearts.

Christmas Play at Church

Daddy and his girls had fun as a shepherd and his sheep in the church Christmas play at Karuizawa Christ Church. Sarah and her mom made these cute sheep costumes from an old coat with fuzzy lining. Everyone at church kept talking about how cute they were. They really "stole the show"!


Daddy had to literally shepherd the sheep in the right direction as we circled the room twice on the way to the stable in Bethlehem.

Here we all are at the manger. The girls were so excited to "see" baby Jesus and they kept holding him between rehearsal and the real play!

As for Baby #3 ...

We finally have confirmation that we're having a BOY! Calvin Jonathan Pfeil. He is due at the end of March, and we are all so excited to meet him!

With the fact that Japanese doctors do an ultrasound almost every visit, we thought for sure we would know the sex of the baby sooner than our first two, but actually our little guy seems to be quite shy and has always had his legs together. :)

Olivia and Annabella seemed to have been settled on us having a girl, but have very quickly warmed up to "baby Calvin". Olivia is glad for her Daddy since he is the only boy in the family. Even at dinner when she counts the people at the table, she announces that "we have 3 girls and 2 boys." Calvin will definitely have two wonderful big sisters. :)

God Has Provided a House in Chiba!

God has met our upcoming housing need in Chiba beyond what we could have expected!

We had been hoping and praying for a house or apartment that would be walking distance from Kamatori train station, since we want our home to be an easy place for college students and friends to come. Not only did God provide a house, but it has a very good sized main room downstairs where we can host group events for students and our church.

Looking at this map you can see that not only are we close to the train station (~ 5 minutes walk) but we are also right next to a park with a playground, in the midst of many homes and close to many apartment buildings. This will also be a great place to met families. The big building at the lower left of the photo is a large supermarket and shopping center called Jusco. What a strategic location!

You can use this interactive map from Google maps Japan to see more of the area. Have fun!


Go to Google Maps Japan

Okonomiyaki

We had a fun final Japanese meal with Sarah's parents called okonomiyaki. At the restaurant, they brought out the raw ingredients, and let us mix and poured the batter on the cooking surface on our table. We then added various ingredients.



Mark & Kari were both very adventurous with trying new foods during their whole trip. Here they are stirring the yakisoba that we had.

We ALL enjoyed everything, and had a great time talking with the owners of the restaurant, too. They were from Kobe city and lived though the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 (which killed over 6,000 people). They had some stories to tell!

Celebrating Thanksgiving with our Friends

We had a special Thanksgiving celebration with our closest Japanese friends in Karuizawa. We somehow fit a total of 24 people into our house and though it was a little cramped, we had a wonderful evening! We borrowed tables and chairs from our language school, and it was like putting a puzzle together fitting them all in our house. Once everyone was seated, I don't think the people in the back could have gotten out! :)
The big hit of the night was the dessert table, with special homemade cookies, pumpkin pies, and a cheesecake (made by Sarah's Mom & Dad).

I had a chance to stand up and explain about the history and meaning of Thanksgiving, emphasizing our Thankfulness to our creator God for all he has given us. I contracted this with the recent Japanese "Thankfulness for Labor" holiday when thankfulness is shown to fellow workers (much like our Labor Day).

Our genkan was filled with all our visitor's shoes, and Annabella couldn't resist trying some on!
We only have about 6 weeks remaining with these friends before we expect to move to Chiba city area (east side of Tokyo). Please continue to pray for our friends here in Karuizawa, that by God's grace they would continue to take steps towards seeking Him.

My First Sermon in Japanese

This Sunday, I preached my first sermon ever ... and it happened to be in Japanese! I started about a month ahead of time, first writing it in English. I then translated it with my Japanese teacher, worked it over to make it my own, and finally practiced it intensely the last 2 days.

The message was about "Jesus - Our Living Hope" based on 1 Peter 1:3-4. I really wanted to share about this idea of HOPE, because there is a lot of hopelessness seen here in Japan. A country of so much wealth and influence, yet the world's 2nd highest rate of suicide in the industrialized world, as well as a growing "hikikomori" problem (adult "hermits" who don't leave their home or engage in society at all).

I shared that our HOPE for eternity is not in ourselves or in our ability, but is in Christ alone, the author and perfecter of our faith. Our HOPE for each day comes from trusting in God's good and perfect plan, and having the assurance that the sovereign Lord of the universe works all things for our good, and ultimately for His glory!

Here is one of the 16 pages I used for the sermon. It took about 35 minutes (much too long to know by heart) so I wrote it in a way using underlining, different colors, and fonts to help me with tricky passages to read. (You can click on the image to get a larger view).


God was gracious, and I really felt I was able to communicate this message from the heart. I received positive feedback, and I pray that God uses this message to encourage our church here in Karuizawa and reveal to His glory.

Japan CPI Conference

We attended the Japan Church Planting Institute for 4 days and had a wonderful experience. There were over 400 registered attenders - Missionaries, Japanese Pastors and Christian leaders. Many events were bilingual and was a great opportunity to see the broader evangelical church planting movement in Japan.
We attended Seminars by Josiah Bancroft , one of the developers of the "Sonship" spiritual renewal program with World Harvest Mission (pictured below) , and Larry Kirk , a pastor in Florida & professor at RTS Orlando. We both learned a lot, and were challenged to apply the gospel in our lives and ministry in authentic and fresh ways.

Olivia and Annabella joined in the kids program, and had so much fun with all the other kids. Here is Olivia at the final program.

The conference center we stayed at was near Hakone, with a beautiful view of Mount Fuji.

Living in a land of Earthquakes

Living in Japan, we are not strangers to earthquakes. We thought it would be interesting to show you a website we often check, which shows the earthquake activity of the day. Sometimes we'll feel a little shake and wonder how big it was ... so we go check the Japan Meteorological Agency: Earthquake Information site.


These two maps show an earthquake on the 11th that we felt for several seconds. Richter Scale Magnitute of 4.3, and a Seismic Intensity of about 3 where we live (a little bit west of the epicenter - red X).

Mochitsuki (Making Pounded Rice)

Today was a special Sunday at our Church where all the children were prayed for individually by the pastor during the service. Afterwards, we had a celebration with the kids which included making Japanese style cotton candy "wata ame" and ....



... also participating in "Mochitsuki" (making pounded rice). It takes quite a lot of effort, and you can see that several of us took turns using the big wooden mallets!






We then ate the "mochi" for lunch with various toppings - including daikon radish sauce and black sesame sauce. We also ate it dipped in soy sauce and sandwiched between two pieces of "nori" (dried seaweed).



Ahh, nothing like a plate full of "mochi" served with "tsukemono" (Japanese pickles).

Almost Halfway!

It is hard to believe that I'm almost halfway through this pregnancy! We are so excited about this little "tummy baby", and can't wait to find out whether it is a boy or a girl. We will go to the doctor in three weeks to find out! I'll keep you posted. We've got some names picked out, and it will be fun to call the baby by name soon.
Here is a photo of our baby from just a few days ago. You can see the right hand up by the face covering the right eye. This seems to be a favorite position for our little one. Since it is standard procedure to have an ultrasound every visit - we've seen this pose several times.

A few interesting differences I've noticed in the medical care here:

1) I had to go to the OBGYN earlier than in America. I started going when I was just 5 weeks pregnant. The reason is, you need to register the delivery date. Hospitals only accept a certain number of deliveries per month, and then they don't take anyone else. Since we are due at the end of March, all of the women due earlier in the month had a "head start" at registering their deliveries! We actually had trouble finding a doctor in Chiba because of this, but God did provided a doctor who we feel very comfortable with in Tokyo. He speaks fluent English and seems to have more of an American-style approach to medicine.

2) By the time I was 13 weeks pregnant I had gone to the doctor 6 times. Actually, I'm not sure that this usual for all women. Several of my Japanese friends think that the doctor here really wants to deliver a foreigner's baby, so he was trying to "court" us into delivering with him!

3) Most of the OBGYNs here seem to have their offices in the hospital. I guess this is most convenient when they have to deliver babies. I have had to take someone with me at every visit to help translate for me. It has been such a blessing to see God taking care of us in this way.

4) At about 13 weeks, you receive a little book in which are written all of the important things relating to the pregnancy. This little book is a record for the child through his/her life. What a great idea! So many times medical records are scattered around, but this simplifies things!

5) Here in Japan they count the pregnancy as taking 10 months! It took us a little while to figure out that they count months as only 4 weeks, rather than calender months. So, currently I am in my fifth month ... with only five more to go! :)

Thank you for your prayers for our little one. We are well taken care of here and are eager to find out who this little one is. We'll let you know!!!

Jon's first "Talk" at Church

Well, I gave my first official "stand up before the congregation" talk at our current Church - Karuizawa Christ Church. I gave a 10 minute testimony based on Psalm 23, and then sang a song "Reassure & Comfort Me" that I wrote several years ago (also based on Psalm 23).

The video below includes just the final minute of my testimony (since it won't mean much to you anyway!) plus the final verse and chorus of the song. It took me over a week to put it together with the help of my Japanese teachers, and I didn't really have much time to practice it. However, I really felt God's presence as I spoke and it went better than any of my practice attempts!


We were blessed that our good friends, Minako-san and Manabu-san, came to church worship for the first time to hear me speak. She attends Sarah's Bible Study, and he has had various spiritual discussions with Jon this last year. We pray that God will continue to use us to show them His love.

I got dressed up with a tie since I would be speaking, and I thought this photo was funny because you can see that I'm in my socks! No shoes in the church building, and the slippers don't fit my feet so well. :)

Becoming Autumn in Japan

This is Matsumoto Castle, about 2 hours away by car in Nagano prefecture.

"Cut the Pickle ... Tickle Tickle"

A little fun from an evening with Grandma (Dad is away on a trip to visit other missionaries in Nagoya city). First is a cute little thing they learned from Aunt Molly when in America this summer. "Up High, Down Low, In the Middle, Cut the Pickle ... Tickle Tickle."



Next comes a kid's song we sing at church to the tune of "Its a Small World".

(Umi to sora tukurareta shu wa
Anata) no shu watashi no kami
Tsumi o yurushi sukuita mou
Minna no shu
Iesu wa shu - Hareruya! (3x)
Minna no Shu

"Iesu wa Shu" means "Jesus is Lord". We love the way Annabella finishes with an emphatic "Lord" at the end. :)

Grandma & Grandpa Pfeil are here!

My parents arrived in Karuizawa on Friday and we've had lots of fun with them. Here you can see that Annabella and Olivia were so excited to see Grandpa, that they kept bringing him all their special things for him to see - including each of their pillows and their Cinderella and Hello Kitty balloons.

They also brought boxes of "treasures" for us - everything from maternity clothes and a baby car seat to powdered sugar and puzzles for the kids!


We invited our good friends, the Shimizu family, over for dinner on Monday night. Mom & Dad enjoyed getting to know them and we all had a great time together. It is a good thing that laughter doesn't need to be translated! :)