MTW Asia Retreat in Malaysia

We just got back from a great experience together with about 200 other MTW missionaries, kids, and staff at the MTW Asia/Pacific Retreat.  It is held every 4 years and was held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia this time. It was a great opportunity to fellowship with other missionaries, to worship together daily and be challenged with God's Word, and to learn through different seminars that were offered.

The kids also took part in an amazing program for the children led by Children's Ministry International (CMI).  They not only learned a lot of scripture and many new songs, but also about themselves as missionary kids. It was s great for them to make friends with other "third culture kids" like themselves.

Olivia, Annabella, and Calvin with some of the wonderful staff from CMI.

Calvin here, belting out one of the songs from the final kids program!  :)

The Retreat also included free time to explore and enjoy Malaysia and Singapore as a family. It was such a blessing to create new and unique family memories together.

Dancers from a Malaysian Cultural Show ... the kids loved it!

A trip to the Singapore Zoo included the kid's first elephant ride ever!

Sarah, Olivia, & Annabella ... and extended family???   :)

Some family fun in the pool, with Calvin's "Scuba Diver Man"

A trip into Singapore Harbor ... stunning view!

Annabella helping Gideon get a view out the window of our 767 back to Japan ...

Building Progress in Toyosu

We've shared with you how Toyosu is part of the rapidly growing "inner harbor" area of Tokyo Bay.  Toyosu itself has almost doubled in population in the last 5 years, and there is plenty of construction going on right now.  Some of which we can see from our front balcony!

A photo taken in early April 11, 2011 when I first visited the apartment.

Photo taken September 5, 2011 (on a much sunnier day!)

This may be hard to notice on first glance, so let me zoom in on those same photos a bit to help you see:

Notice the distinctive round TEPCO building in the back ...

... that is almost completely blocked from view by the 2 new buildings.

Do you see the 3 construction sites?  :)   The office building up front in the middle is the most obvious change (due to be completed in January 2012) and has been the most fun to watch being built with its central tower crane.  To the left of that building, further back, is a large office building project (covered in blue netting) just across the canal in Shin Toyosu.  The third project to the far left (evidenced only by a few deep foundation drilling machines) is the early beginnings of the brand new Showa Hospital slated to be completed in 2014.

There is also a new civic center, a new elementary school, and several more large office and residential buildings in the works.  On top of this, the southern end of Shin Toyosu is supposed to be be new location of the famed Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market (the largest fish and seafood wholesale market in the world). Lots of big changes in our area within in the next 4 years.

We pray that somewhere out there God is preparing a great gathering space for our future church-plant in Toyosu!

Making Friends in Toyosu

Our new life in Toyosu here in Tokyo has opened up opportunities for many new relationships. Pray that we would be salt and light in our community.  Here are a few people we've had in our home lately:

Two young moms with little kids from our apartment and the apartment next door.

A guy I met getting our cell phones - who came for dinner with his girlfriend.

Two young moms from our apartment building.

An old friend of mine who now lives in Tokyo.

We had a surprise 30th Birthday Party for Sarah - with friends from Grace City Church Tokyo & our community.

 All together 19 ladies and little ones celebrating Sarah, and getting to know each other at the same time!  :)

Regular Relief Work in Ishinomaki City

Our involvement with Grace City Church Tokyo these past 3 months has also included supporting the on-going earthquake and tsunami relief work up north. "Grace City Relief" in partnership with "Help Tohoku" (formed by sister churches in Chiba city area) organize a volunteer trip to the Watanoha area of Ishinomaki city (click for MAP) every weekend.

I have been helping lead trips of volunteers from Tokyo once or twice a month.  We usually pull a 24-hour turnaround to enable busy Tokyo people to squeeze in a volunteer opportunity to Ishinomaki.  Departing at 11pm on a Friday and driving all night, arriving early Saturday morning.  We then work until early/mid afternoon and drive home by 11pm that night.  Tiring, but worth it!

These are some of the guys I traveled up with on one of my first trips from Tokyo.

Some relief staff and volunteers that stay longer than a day camp on the grounds of nearby Senshu University.

Here with new friend Ohta-san overlooking the washed away coastal area of Ishinomaki city.

These trips always include cooking food, distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as often including kids programs and other special activities. We have committed to one specific area so that week by week, we can get to know the people by face and by name. 

On this trip we brought up over 60 bicycles that we gave to people who had specifically requested and "reserved" one.

Being Japan, everyone dutifully signed up, lined up, and waited to receive their critical post-tsunami mode of transportation.

As we meet specific physical and emotional needs of tsunami victims - we are also building personal relationships to be able to speak to their ultimate spiritual need as well. 

I brought up several bags of Sarah's maternity clothes and found two pregnant ladies who were overjoyed!

Organizing fresh fruits and vegetables into separate bags for each person (~250 bags).

In addition to this, we are building great relationship with volunteers who come from all backgrounds here in Tokyo. A 24-hour turnaround volunteer trip always forges new friendships and deepens existing ones.  7.5 hours in the car (mostly sleeping) to bond initially, 9 hours together in Ishinomaki, and another 7.5 hours in the car driving home lead to great conversations!

This guy (also to the left of me in photo above) is a new friend I met here in Toyosu who joined a volunteer trip.

Transitioning out of the summer season and into the fall brings new opportunities and challenges as well. Pray for God's wisdom and grace as we continue to minister the gospel in word and deed through authentic relationships both in Tokyo and in Ishinomaki ... and sometimes in both at the same time!

Yukata Party & Mini Gospel Concert

On Saturday July 23, Grace City Church had its annual Yukata Party.  This was our first time to attend, and we all had fun getting dressed in our traditional Japanese summer wear called Yukata and Jimbei.

The main event of the party was a mini-concert performed by Grace City Church Gospel Choir - which includes some church members as well as a number of people from the community.

Normally reserved Japanese really seem to enjoy the freedom to express themselves with the joyful music.  For many in the choir, the lyrics they memorize provide their first introduction to the real meaning of Gospel - "the good news" of a life changed by Jesus!



Here is Sarah with some new friends from the Gospel Choir.  You can see Olivia and Annabella in their yukata and Calvin in his jimbei.

Here is Daddy and Gideon enjoying the concert in our jimbei as well.  :)

Here is a great photo with Seima & Naoko Aoyagi, our good friends and future church-planting partners in Tokyo. Please be praying for us as we seek God's direction in this early preparation phase of ministry.

Living in the City ...

We moved into our apartment in Toyosu (click for MAP), a small island in Tokyo Bay in the Koto-ward of Tokyo city.

The area of Toyosu is less than 1/4 square mile, yet the residential population has grown from 14,170 to 25,391 in the past 5 years.  Toyosu has a number of tower apartment buildings, while also having quite a few office buildings and shopping areas.  Counting several surrounding islands, though, there are over 100,000 people with no known Christian church.

This is our building (with the blue border), one of 7 buildings that make up our complex of 989 units.  This is definitely a new sense of neighborhood for us!

The kids have really taken to their new environment, as seen by the nature of their drawings and building block play.  Tall towers are the favorite subject matter around here.  :)

Back in Japan!

We arrived in Japan Tuesday night, May 24th after a very long day of travel. With jet-lag we've been getting up early (~ 3 or 4 am) and have been enjoying our long mornings :) 

It truly has been amazing how God has provided opportunities to reconnect with friends from when we lived in Oyumino, even though we don't have cell phones or a new address yet:

• Sarah met a good friend at Starbucks that she had lost touch with.  They will get together to have the kids play on Wednesday!
• I met a previous neighbor while crossing the street in Oyumino.  She had pulled up to the intersection in her car and called out "Jon-san!"  I didn't have a phone number for her to call, so I invited her and her family to come meet us at church on Sunday!

The kids have also been so excited to have Japanese food again. Just look at the smiles on these faces as they get to eat some of their old favorites!

Annabella is so happy to have her "orange bubble food" again (salmon fish egg sushi)

Calvin loving his onigiri (rice ball with cooked salmon, wrapped in seaweed paper)

Jet-lag does take its toll, though ...

Here are the kids joining "Oyumino Kids" Sunday morning outreach before Oyumino Alive worship service on the 29th.  Just like old times!  :)

Getting ready to leave for Japan

Getting ready to leave for Japan, we were blessed to have a farewell send-off from Christ Presbyterian Church in Richmond, IN. We were blessed that our local Japanese friends joined in!

We prepared boxes for taking on the plane, as well as others for shipping by sea. The kids thought it was funny that all our stuff was ending up in boxes, and that we wouldn't see it again until we were in Japan!

The day of travel to Japan finally had come! Calvin especially was excited to fly two airplanes - and also get to ride the moving walkways at the MSP airport over and over again!

Relief Work: Delivering Supplies in Shiogama

Our final "project" during our relief trip up to the greater Sendai area was to load up a truck with supplies at an NGO warehouse, and then travel the next morning up to a devastated town called Minami Sanrikucho...

Unloading the truck full of supplies at Shiogama Bible Baptist Church

However, we were hit with a 7.1 earthquake off the coast of Sendai that night - roads were closed, power and water were temporarily out, no cell phone communication to confirm our route ... We ended up improvising and bringing our supplies instead to Shiogama Bible Baptist Church (a church which is serving as a hub for a lot of relief work in their coastal city).  Check out a ~3min video I made:


(Correction: Scripture reference in video should be Psalm 62:1-2)

You can see that in general, there are not shortages of donated supplies, but rather shortages of available people and vehicles (and gas!) to distribute the supplies to those in need.

Relief Work: Damage Near Ishinomaki Coastline

We had an opportunity to drive down to the coastal area of Ishinomaki.  Unbelievable damage ...

Here is a ~2min video showing the devestation. These are all photos and videos we took ourselves:

Relief Work: Clean-Up in Ishinomaki

We spent a lot of time and energy helping clean out homes in the Ishinomaki city area.  This was a hard hit coastal city just north east of Sendai.  People didn't even know about how bad it was for a number of days - since it was isolated and hard to get to after the tsunami ...

Here is Brett shoveling dried "tsunami sea sludge" from Sasaki-san's home.

Here is a ~4min video showing a part of Ishinomaki city ~1 mile from the coastline, and some of the families that we helped:

Relief Work: Ishinomaki Christ Church

We arrived in the hard-hit town if Ishinomaki and we were soon working together with Japanese believers who had come to help from all over the country.

The church was still being cleaned out (after being under ~ 4ft of standing water of 5 days) even as we started organizing donated food and supplies for their first "free store" for the community (with many more to come!)

Check out this 4min video I made of our work with Ishinomaki Christ Church:

Relief Work: Sendai

We left early in the morning an extended cab diesel mini-van (diesel fuel is easier to come by.) Rev. Fukuda of Grace City Church Tokyo was our "guide". He needed bodies for loading & labor and an extra driver (me!) for the ~8 hr drive. We were happy to oblige. :)

I respect Rev. Fukuda (above) very much and really enjoyed getting to know him better over the course of our trip.  We headed through Tokyo, and then took the Tohoku expressway north all the way to the city of Sendai

Our first stop was to deliver our van-full of books, toys, and games collected as donations in Tokyo for children at Miyagi Children's Hospital.  This hospital was protected from the tsunami by the surrounding mountains, but has been hanging on with only basic supplies.  

The hospital staff was very grateful for the "non-essential",  yet still very important part of life in a Children's Hospital.  This hopefully will be the beginning of an ongoing support relationship with this hospital.

After spending several hours at the hospital (they gave us an in depth tour as a sign of their appreciation) we headed through Sendai city as we headed for Ishinomaki.   

Before arriving in Japan, we had the impression from American news that all of Sendai was wiped out ... well the main part of the city on the western side of the Tohoku Expressway looked pretty good.

The video below show rice fields on the east side (closer to the coastline) where you can see lots of debris and various cars strewn across the fields.  Our first real sense of major destruction that we would soon face ...