February Homestay Trip to America

We're catching up on the last few months ...
One of the BIG things we did was lead a 2-week "HomeStay" trip to America with 6 non-Christian students. It was a great opportunity to experience life together while also intentionally going deeper with them. They stayed with Christian Host families, experienced Church life, and also joined in 5 investigative Bible studies with us along the way.

Our first stop was Richmond, Indiana (partnering with Christ Presbyterian Church). We visited the surrounding area...this is the Cincinnati skyline.

Of course, just hanging out with the kids was fun, too! We really developed close relationships with the students.

We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. This is Jun and my brother, Ben about to slay the dragon.

My brother Ross with Ryota

The Newport Aquarium...Check out the shark behind Kon and Jon.

Petting baby sharks ... a little scary for me!

Kon loved feeding the birds at the aquarium!

My sister Molly helped teach the students the "Zacchaeus" song. We had just studied about Zacchaeus's life that morning ... I heard that they sang that song about one hundred times! Thanks Molly!

Making origami with a Charles Elementary school class.

We tasted many new foods ... we had to have Cincinnati Skyline chili!

Visiting Navigators Christian Fellowship at Miami University

The second leg of the trip was to Arizona. We partnered with New Valley Church in Tempe, AZ.

Visiting the Grand Canyon was definitely a highlight!

We are so thankful that we were able to take this trip. We could see God's hand throughout our time. We had so many great conversations together, and many of the students showed real interest in Christianity. They were "moved" by their experiences with their Christian host families, and saw that there was something that they were missing in their lives.

Since retuning to Japan, we've been able to start a weekly Bible Study with 3 of the students. Please pray that this regular exploration of God's Word would lead to their lives being changed by the transforming power of the Gospel!