Calvin's Baptism at Oyumino Christ Church

Last Sunday, Oyumino Christ Church (which normally meets in 3 locations) gathered together for year-end Joint Worship with over 200 people in attendance! The service included the public profession of faith and adult baptism of a young couple, the covenant baptism of their two kids, the infant baptism of 3 other babies (including Calvin), and the transfer membership of another young couple. What a celebration!


Our MTW Team Leader and pastor, Dan Iverson, baptized Calvin ... in Japanese!
Here is Calvin with the other two "men" who were baptized. Mr. I and his 4 year old son.
Here is Calvin with our Japanese pastor, Dedachi-san and his daughter Seira (same pronunciation as Sarah in Japanese) who was also baptized.
Here is Calvin with his little friend Martha, daughter of another missionary family the Nolls.
Pfeil Family photo of five after worship. :)

Thanksgiving....yes a month late!

We had a fun Thanksgiving party with our friends about a month ago. I know, we are slow to put the pictures up, but anyway, here they are!

Sara-Beth and I had such fun cooking for our Thanksgiving feast! We sent all of the kids over to the Noll's house with the guys while we cooked. It really worked out well for us! :)

This was the crew. We served about 23 people (including kids!).
Somehow, we fit in our living room.

Jon explained about the first Thanksgiving.

We finished out the evening with a fun group game.

We had to get a group shot before everyone went home. It was such fun to share this holiday with our friends...even though we missed our family in America.

Olivia's Bugs

In Olivia's words....

Um, I picked it up from the school when we were walking. He is brown.
I love praying mantises. That's all.

This one was right next to my bug box outside. I picked it up!

This was the same bug. I love praying mantises!

This was on the wall of our kitchen. It is a caterpillar. We were trying to get it, but Momma didn't know what it was. Then it jumped and Momma saw it was a caterpillar. That's it.

It was outside, um, um, outside of the toy-room.
It was walking on the screen, but it didn't walk on my hands.
We just held hands. That's it!

Olivia's School Sports Day

Catching up on an old post from the beginning of October... Olivia's bilingual kindergarten together with Covenant Community School International had a Sports Day!
We started out with stretching and exercises all together in a big group.
This is a variation on a traditional Japanese Sports day game, except I had to fill in as the raised basket!
Olivia and I enjoyed the 3-legged race together. We were fast!
All the kids lined up to grab treats off a line (no hands). Olivia did great!
Olivia and I also had fun with the wheelbarrow race.
Annabella isn't a student, but we got into the fun with the "rice sack" race. I basically carried thet bag and bounced her up and down as if she was jumping! :)

College Ministry - Dinner Party

Here are photos from a Dinner Party outreach for Chiba University students at our home.Everyone sat on the floor (which is usual, except that we were eating pot-roast and mashed potatoes with gravy!) Thankfully no spills on the carpet. :)
Our friends enjoyed trying our "new" food, especially the apple pie seen below on the table!!!
We broke into various small groups to get to know each other better. We had a total of 14 students, plus several MTW short-term missionaries. It was fun ... and a little crowded!
Please pray with us that the light of Christ would be known in the lives of university students in and around Chiba city.

Family Milestones

Calvin learned to crawl...kind of.
We think he looks like a little monkey or something.
Well, take a look...

Annabella learned the Lord's Prayer



Olivia also learned the Lord's Prayer

2nd Semester Begins - CoffeeHouse

After a long summer break, Chiba University classes started up again in October. We set up a casual coffeehouse atmosphere at Oyumino Chapel to welcome students back. We enjoyed coffee, green tea, and a special treat - donuts from Makuhari COSTCO!
(Notice that we're sitting on the floor with the cool Japanese tables that can be set at both floor level and chair level.)
It was a good place to re-connect and tell stories from our summer break. Also a good opportunity to re-establish us as a community that values conversation and cultural exchange, but especially in a way that goes beyond the surface, and down to the heart level.
Pray for God to reveal Himself to these students.

Calvin is sittin up!

Sorry for all of the family posts...got to update the family in America!

My sweet children

Calvin learned to sit up while in America. He loves his new independence.

Such a sweet baby...as we like to say!

Visiting the Family in America

Calvin and I took a trip to America to see family, many of them for the first time. I'm so thankful to Jon that he enabled me to go on this trip. He stayed home in Japan with the girls for 12 days. What a Dad! He had adventures of his own to tell! Thank you Jon!!!

All of the Harrington clan, except Jon and the girls

Calvin and Mimi

Calvin and Papa

Uncle Ross and Calvin

Uncle Ben and Calvin

Calvin with Aunt Molly in his favorite pose

Aunt Leanne, Uncle Chris and Calvin's new cousin...will arrive next April!

We weathered hurricane Ike in Indiana...
lots of wind and no power for 30 hours.
Who knew a hurricane could cause so much damage in Indiana!

All the Pfeil family boy cousins (Except Ezra...who is a Hyder)

Fun with Uncle Dave

Calvin is eating!

Calvin having his first food at 5 months old

We were all excited to see what he would do....

What is this?

Not quite sure if he like it.

He actually loves eating rice cereal now.
He will eat about 1/3 a cup per meal!
He sure is a growing boy!

A day at the beach - Is that sand black?

We spent a wonderful day at the beach with our Chiba University friends. Yes, the we went to a black sand beach. It was kind of different compared to the white sand that we were used to. At first I thought it was cool, but for the next several days I had trouble getting black sand out of all of our things.

Annabella, Noa, and Olivia

Jon trying to keep Calvin out of the sun

Annabella loved jumping waves with Suguru.
She talked about her time with Suguru for days!

What a dirty looking face!

Our family a the end of the day. We are so blessed to be able to do ministry together as a family. Even a day at the beach can be a ministry opportunity.