December Prayer Letter

Here is our December MTW Prayer Letter, recently mailed out. It includes details about a new ministry direction in city-center Tokyo we are prayerfully considering for our next term.  This is an exciting opportunity, but would also require us to raise a significant amount of additional funds. Pray with us for clarity on God's call.  For more details, click on the image for a quick view:

Or click here to download as PDF for better viewing: Dec Prayer Letter

In the US: A Christmas Gift for You - 3 New Videos!

Here are three videos of our three kids taken this December ... Enjoy!

Calvin's Duplo Tower:  
He gives great commentary about each family member's favorites colors.
Priceless 2 1/2 year old "play by play" as he builds his tower.  :)

Annabella's Gymnastic Practice Meet:

Annabella has been taking gymnastics for ~4 months now.

The video shows her floor, beam, bar & vault "routines".

Olivia's Christmas Piano Recital:

Olivia has been taking piano lessons most of this year. 

Here she plays Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Angels We Have Heard on High

In the US: Connecting with Past, Present, & Future Team members

Immediately following the MTW Global Missions Conference in Chattanooga, we were able to enjoy an afternoon of fellowship, prayer, and seeking God's direction for our MTW teams in Japan.

Sitting in a circle, we had people representing up to six different church-planting works in the Tokyo/Chiba area. Three of those church planting works have not even begun yet!

The group included 2 new families who are in the process of pursuing God's call to join our MTW Team in the Tokyo/Chiba area.  What an encouraging time together of seeing God's provision of workers for His harvest in Japan! 

Pray with us for clarity and direction for everyone in the group as we all seek God's will for us in the months and years ahead.

In the US: MTW Global Missions Conference

Sarah & I attended our 3rd MTW Global Missions Conference

Joe Novenson was captivating and challenging in his sermons. 

There were ~ 2,200 people there from all over the globe!

Michael Oh (CBI Seminary - Nagoya, Japan) gave a moving testimony
of God's reconciling grace (see 19 min video).

We had a great MTW Japan Partnership booth ...

... which provided Jon great recruiting opportunities for future Summer Interns!

Our October Prayer Letter

To download and read the above letter, please click October Letter.

In the US: A Visit from our friend Tomoya

Our friend Tomoya came to visit us here in Indiana during his break between semesters. He has been a part of our student outreach community for ~ 2 years now. He is not a believer, but has shown growing interest in spiritual things.

He stayed with us and got to experience "regular" American life in the midwest - including apple picking! We had such a great time together and also had many great spiritual conversations.

First time picking apples for Tomoya

Annabella got a little boost in her apple picking :)

The bags were quite heavy ... good thing Calvin was helping me.  :)

Tomoya joined in our Bible Story time every night with the kids.

In the US: Calvin Saying "Okonomiyaki"

During Tomoya's visit we made a traditional Japanese dish called Okonomiyaki. We all loved it, but the best part was hearing Calvin's rendition of the word. It comes out more like "Loko-laki-looki". Please enjoy. :)

In the US: A Milestone in Mileage ... while support raising

We have had a great year traveling around the country (from as far north as Minneapolis to as far south as Orlando) to visit friends and supporters. On Sept 14, we achieved a milestone in mileage ... the odometer of the car we are driving this year flipped to 123456! The car has been a great blessing and we are very thankful to the family that has let us use it all year.

(To tell you the truth ... we actually did a practice run with the camera a few miles early to make sure the photo would turn out. Didn't want to miss the moment because of glare!)

We did it! A new milestone in traveling this year!!!

Odometer reading: 123456 miles.  How cool is that? :)

The kids were not as thrilled as Daddy was...

In the US: Summer VBS - with our Neighbors

SPACE PROBE VBS hit Richmond, Indiana this Summer! Sarah led a classroom and I helped with music and being one of the "up-fronters" with Sarah's sister Emily. Lots of fun!
Thursday of the week-long VBS was "goofy day". It took a little convincing to get our Japanese neighbor's kids to leave their house dressed up funny - but after they saw us in the driveway that morning ... their fears were quickly allayed!!! :)

Here is Olivia and Riko. They had a lot of fun together this week. Olivia was very aware that Riko felt out of place, having never been to anything like VBS before. Olivia was sweet to help her find Bible passages, show her where to go next, and learn the words to all the praise songs and VBS songs.

Annabella and Yuri had a great week together. Yuri seems to have more confidence with her English and fit right in. Her favorite song was "J-O-Y". I made a CD for them of the songs from VBS so they could keep singing them at home. Their Mom says that they never stop singing around the house!
Through the week at VBS, coming to the church building every day, and meeting many church members - our Japanese friends definitely have developed a very positive impression of Christians. This is a great beginning step in their spiritual journey. We are thankful for the new level of conversations we are able to have.

One of their VBS teachers went online and bought them a Japanese Bible in addition to the English one they received through VBS. Though they will be gone for the next month in Japan, we look forward to beginning to show them some basic truths through Scripture when they get back!

In the US: 外の遊び / Fun Outside :)

We had a great family play-day out in the cul-de-sac with our Japanese neighbors in Richmond, IN. Three bikes, a scooter, 5 kids, and dog!

Here we have Calvin chasing our Japanese neighbor's dog across several lawns with his lawnmower!

Little Yuri was sweet to push Calvin around on her bike (brought over all the way from Japan!)

Riko (Olivia's age) shows off her moves on her bike. Olivia can't wait to "catch up" to her level!

In the US: Connecting with Supporting Churches

Much of our time in America so far has involved visiting supporting churches, missions conferences, and personal supporters. Our "mission" in America this year is to update supporters and share our vision for our next term, to recruit new short-term missionaries to Japan, and to raise additional support needed to return to Japan.Here are a few photos of Sarah and I leading the Sunday School time at Christ Presbyterian Church.
We enjoy the "tag team" approach, taking turns telling stories from our past 4 years in Japan. The best part about it is sneaking a peak at my cute wife while feigning thirst and taking a slow drink of water. :)

Though it has been busy traveling so much, it really has been a blessing to be reminded of so many who pray for us. After being away in Japan for 4 years, reconnecting in person and renewing relationships has been so much fun! Please continue to pray for strength as we continue on a busy pace in the months ahead.

In the US: Our Japanese Neighbors!

One of the most amazing things about getting settled into life in America has been God's provision of neighbors who are from Japan!
The husband works for Honda and they will be in the States for up to 4 years. We know exactly how that feels, haveing just returned from 4 years in Japan!
They speak very little English, which gives us a great opportunity to keep up our Japanese! What an unexpected blessing!

They have 2 girls very similar in age to Olivia & Annabella. We have fun playing outside on nice days. Please pray for us as we seek to build our friendship in the months ahead.

Catching up #3: Konishi Family

Catching up again, introducing you to the Konishi family that we met at the end of 2009. I met the Dad and his 2 girls at the park back in October. They soon started coming to Oyumino Kids bilingual kids program on Sunday mornings.

When all the kids started practicing for the Christmas program in November, the Konishi kids got excited and kept coming regularly. For Christmas worship on Dec 20, the family stayed for worship for the first time!
They have continued attending Oyumino Alive Church regularly, even after we left for America. Please pray with us that through the community of Japanese and missionary believers at Oyumino Alive, they would come to know God as their Creator and Heavenly Father!

Catching up #2: Saying Goodbye to our Church

Catching up again from our busy last week in Japan (in January) here is a photo from our last Sunday at Oyumino Alive Church that we have been working with the past 2 years. Oyumino Alive is a new church-plant of Oyumino Christ Church (PCJ) that was the first mission church established by our team over 15 years ago.
We have a diverse congregation primarily composed of Japanese, but also including Filipino, Korean, African, and American members. Our Sunday morning worship is bilingual (Japanese & English) and has attracted a number of Japanese families with overseas experience.
The last 2 Sundays in Japan, church members stayed after to make special hand-made gifts for our supporters in America. We were blessed by their efforts - plus we had lots of fun fellowshipping together.

We had a community dinner at the church building our last night and we were blessed to have some of our non-Christian Japanese friends join in - and get to know the local community of Japanese believers as well!
I had the opportunity to share about God's faithfulness to us in our trials, and the hope that we have in Christ! It was such a special night together with these dear friends. May God Continue to bless and guide Oyumino Alive Church ... for His Glory!

Catching up: Last Crossway Home Party

Catching up on some big events before we left Japan, here are some photos from our final Crossway Home Party with Japanese students and missionary friends.This is Kakeru, our good friend who loves to play with Calvin.
They have been friends since Calvin was only a few months old!

Calvin charming our friends Yukko and Saki.

Here is our good friend Keisuke. He grew up in Japan but goes to college in America. He was back in Japan for winter break and it was great to have him join in our last Home Party before we headed off to America.

We had some serious time of sharing that was very meaningful
but also had lots of fun playing games and telling stories from the past 2 years
... with lots of laughter!!! :)

A few people left early, but this shows most of the people who were there. We felt very "appreciated" and encouraged that night. We can't wait to get back to Japan to continue in our journey with these students.
This photo includes Matt & Carly (new long-term MTW missionaries in Japan), Isaac (finishing up his 2-year term), and Yukko (Japanese national staff) who will be continuing in relationship with the many Japanese students involved with Crossway. Please pray for them!

Packing up and Leaving for ~1 year in America

As we prepared to return to America for our one year home ministry assignment - we had to pack everything up and move to one of our team buildings for storage. Here is our "happy home" the morning of moving day.

We were blessed to have a number of men help us load our truck. It took 4 trips in this little Toyota truck with a canvas cover. Several friends from church, as well as friends from the neighborhood also helped.
After all the big stuff got moved out, we still had work to do, packing up all our luggage and boxes to take on the plane.
At the airport, we had the help of 6 college students who not only honored us by coming all the way to the airport to say goodbye, but helped us roll our 6(!) airport carts up to the checkout counter.
Here is the whole group who came to send us off. We were moved by their commitment to come all the way to the airport (~$18 train fare) to show their appreciation. Pray for these 6 students who will all become college Seniors during the year we are gone. Pray that they will remain in relationship with other missionaries and Japanese Christians.