Our February Prayer Letter

Here it our MTW Prayer Letter mailed out in mid February.  It tells of the clarity we have in pursuing our new call to join a new church-planting work in city-center Tokyo.  For details click on the image for a quick view:

Or click here to download as PDF for easier reading: February Prayer Letter.

Direct Link for Online Support of the Pfeils

Several people have asked about a direct link to enter one-time and monthly gifts for our ministry.  Here it is:

MTW Donation Link for Pfeils in Japan

Enter an amount, click "Next" underneath, and you will be taken to a page to create an account. You can then designate the amount as one-time or monthly gift. Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks!

In the US: Visiting the Aoyagi Family

Seima Aoyagi is the Japanese pastor we spoke of in our December Prayer Letter. We are prayerfully pursuing partnering with them in a Tokyo city-center church planting work. We share a common heart to see Japanese college students and young families engaged in authentic gospel-centered communities in the Church.

Jon has been able to make a quick trip out to San Diego to spend 3 days with the Aoyagi family to pray and discuss future plans before they return to Japan at the end of January to begin their initial role with Grace City Church Tokyo.

Jon has had a lot of fun getting to know the whole family (and playing with the kids, too!) Both families have 4 kids, and we were able to Skype and introduce everyone to each other.  We will not all meet face to face until the Pfeils are in Japan by our target of mid-March, 2011.

Please be praying for God to guide us in the steps ahead.

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: 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. :)

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.

Crossway "Overnight"

We had 5 Japanese students and several other friends spend the night. We watched the Christian movie "Fireproof"　(which you can rent in any Japanese video store under the name "Firestorm"). We had a good discussion about relationships, and then stayed up late playing games and playing the Wii (you can see it projected against a white sheet in the background!)


The next moring, our kids had fun waking up some of the students who overslept! We enjoyed panckes and eggs for breakfast.

Crossway Homeparty

We had a lot of fun this summer with college-age interns.
When college students come from America during the summer
they can be effective in college ministry because
Japanese college students are still in school.
The first semester starts in April and goes till the end of July.

The traditional Japanese picture with everyone doing the peace sign.

During the school year this is what my kitchen table
looks like on Thursdays...
lots of paper cups, cookies, and
friends enjoying being with one another.

Jenga seems to be popular on Thursdays ...
a great game where you don't have to use Japanese or English!

Japanese Worship - Oyumino Alive Church

Here is a 2 min clip from a recent worship service at Oyumino Alive Church. Atsushi on drums, John on piano, Keisuke on guitar and vocals, and me on bass. :)

We lead worship bilingually, but I figured you already know the songs in English so I just posted clips of "Hosanna", "Once Again", and "Blessed Be Your Name" sung in Japanese. Enjoy!

Crossway: AliveHouse - Music Outreach Event

In early August, we had an outreach event call "Oyumino Alivehouse" for local student musicians to play. We were excited to have 5 different musical acts and a total of 14 students, in addition to missionaries and Church members who were there.


Here is a video of a new student friend named Yuka, who was amazing! This clip also shows everyone in the room, to give you an idea of the atmosphere, plus a little of John and Keisuke. Enjoy!

This is a short video of our friend Kakeru jamming out with a guitar instrumental.

Crossway - "Texas Night"

Later that week we held our BIG Texas Night Party at Oyumino Chapel for Crossway - our university outreach ministry. We had students from 7 different schools in the Tokyo/Chiba area attend.
Check out Calvin in this picture. He has no fear and loves hanging out with the "Big Boys".
We had 4 students attend for the first time, as well as several students we had not seen for awhile. It was a great welcoming atmosphere.
We had our largest gathering of Japanese college students in several years with a 19 students and a total of 43 people in the room. What a night!
Please pray for us that we can get to know these new students well, and love them through both our words and our actions. May they come to know the joy of Jesus in their lives!

Japanese Baseball Game

We attended a Chiba Marines Baseball Game with a good Japanese student friend of ours.
Check out the bowl of hot Ramen I had for dinner at the stadium! If only they had Ramen at Red's games ...What was most impressive about the game was the continuous, unified, cheering from the fans in the outfield section!
They had a cheer for every batter, and kept singing, changing, and jumping the whole time the Marines were up to bat. Check out these videos!



Interesting insight into Japanese life and culture. A "little" more group consciousness and unity than you see in the States, don't you think?

Summer Team from Park Cities PCA Church

The annual Park Cities Presbyterian Church (Dallas, Texas) summer short-term mission trip took place the second week of June. We welcomed 7 from their young adult group for a week jam packed with activities and outreach events. As part of their "welcome party" we had a chopstick challenge, where two teams faced-off head to head!
That Sunday night we had our first major event of the week. It was held at Honda Chapel focused on the young adults of Oyumino Church, as well as college students that we know in the area.
We broke up into small groups for games ...

We then all lined up for some serious Texas Line-Dancing!!! Everyone had a great time, and it was encouraging to see such a mixture of church members, students from the Chiba city area, as well as missionaries. :)