"Volunteering" in Japan

By God's grace, we've been building momentum over the last few months in getting to know students. This last weekend, we tried something new to break out of our normal routines, and challenge students to look at their world a little differently. We took a small group into Tokyo to volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank. It was a great experience!
We worked from 10:30am to 4:00pm, preparing, serving, and cleaning up. It was fun and group building to prepare the meals from donated ingredients (from Costco Japan, etc.).
We then took the train to Ueno Park in Tokyo, where we were all amazed to find ~550 homeless lined up and waiting to receive food from Second Harvest.
It was a hot day, but we were blessed that our part of the serving line stayed in the shade the whole time! :)
Ueno Park is over an hour trip from us, but we had a great time. The experience deepened our relationships with each other, and provided opportunities for types of conversations that don't normally come up during lunch break on campus!

Pray with us that God will use this experience, and others like this (we hope to do in the future), to open students hearts to the power and truth of the gospel - through the deepened relationships formed through serving together.

Our Pastor's family

It has been such a pleasure to partner with our pastor, Dedachi-san, at Oyumino Alive Church. Usually, one of the two of us leads worship, with the other one translating into either English or Japanese. We're far from perfect translators, but we have lots of fun trying!
We had the opportunity to have Dedachi-san's 5 kids over for an evening so he and his lovely wife get out for a much needed dinner date (before #6 is born!)
Sarah helped the kids make chocolate chip cookies. They really got into it, and it gave them something to take home, too. :)

Dedachi-san is quite an experienced Dad, and he showed off some of his tricks on how to make babies laugh!
Please pray for their family as they prepare for the joy AND busyness of a new addition. Pray that God would give Dedachi-san energy, balance, wisdom, and grace as he continues his many roles at Oyumino Alive and serves his wife and family.

Girl's Night!!!

Last Friday night we had a Girls Only Party.

The girls wanted to learn how to decorate fun cakes,
so they chose a bear cake.

They were quick at picking up the technique!

Calvin always enjoys having girls over.
He gets held a little more than usual!

Such sweet girls

The finished product! We were all very proud of our work! Good job girls!

Fun with our friends, Missionary Kids

Such sweet friends....Olivia, Noa Noll, and Annabella

Fun watching a movie with William, Isabel and Noa

Calvin and his little friend Martha ... they usually wear each other out!

We love playing with Isabel and William Stewart!

Calvin and Martha, growing up together

The kids had such blast building this tent with Andrew Coulburne

The girls are thankful to have Meg Dingle back!
They can do grown-up girly things like painting their toe nails!