College Ministry Board Meeting in Waseda

I took the Shinkansen "bullet train" to Tokyo and on to Waseda and back (~4 hour round trip) for a 3 hour College Ministry Board meeting for the Presbyterian Church in Japan. (See down below for a photo of my sleek ride.) My team leader, Dan Iverson, was there as well Nagata-san, a friend and co-worker in college ministry since my first visit to Japan back in 1998.

I mostly listened and learned, with my electronic dictionary in hand, and a little translation help from Dan. The meeting was exciting as I become more involved in praying and preparing for our future ministry. It was also sobering as I more deeply understood the difficulties and challenges that lay ahead.

For Example:
- Attendance has dropped and our college ministry meetings, and the general image of foreign clubs has been tarnished in the eyes of students due to a rise in "christian-like" cult activities on campus.
- Almost all of the Japanese College Ministry Staff that I knew from my previous time in Japan are no longer actively serving on campus. Some are in seminary, some have moved on, and some have had personal struggles. A few new staff have come on, but it has been difficult for them in many ways.
- Even after more than 10 years of partnership with Japanese Churches in College Ministry, the initiative for outreach still comes almost exclusively from College Ministry Staff, not the local church.

PLEASE PRAY:
- Pray that God would protect our staff, our students, and students on campus from these cults (including the Moonies, etc.)
- Pray for future kingdom workers and faithful young leaders for the church in Japan.
- Pray also for a missional vision for the church among both the current AND next generation of Japanese believers.

A Shinkansen Train, like the one I took to Tokyo...

Fellow Kingdom Workers in JAPAN

We had the priveldege of spending some time with my former roommate, Shinya, and his family. He had served as part of our college ministry staff for several years, and now is studying at a reformed seminary in Japan.

Please pray for Shinya and his family, that God would provide for them during Seminary, and prepare them for His Kingdom work ahead.


Olivia and Moka had met once in America about a year ago, and had fun getting re-aquainted. :)

MTW Field Retreat in Chiba, JAPAN

At the end of August, we were able to join ~15 other MTW missionaries from the Tokyo/Chiba & Nagoya Church-Planting Teams for a field retreat. We had a guest speaker from the States (Scot Sherman) and had a challanging and encouraging time. It was also great for Sarah and I to connect on a more personal level with these other MTW missionaries - future partners in the gospel here in Japan!

Special Time with Grandparents in America

With Grandma and Grandpa Pfeil in Hilton Head, SC


With Mimi & Papa Harrington in Richmond, IN

Olivia and Annabella had such a special time with their grandparents while we were in the States for Sarah's brother's wedding. The girls got to have tea parties, play "golf", play with water in the sink and in the pool, make special crafts, and just enjoy being together as family making lots of special memories.

We are so blessed by our loving, gracious, and generous parents who are such wonderful grandparents to our girls. What a joy to spend time with them, but also sad to say goodbye. Please pray that God would give us all continued creativity and grace as we seek for them to continue to be an integral part of Olivia and Annabella's lives, even halfway around the world.

Mom is halfway through her Chemo treatments

So the time has come. Mom (Liz Pfeil) is halfway through her Chemotherapy treatments, and her hair has decided to part ways with her. Dad gave Mom a nice trim with the shaver to help them on their way. Mom provided a photo for us, and in her own words ...

"It really doesn't look bad, in fact it may even make me look younger." :)

Mom has been blessed with minimal side-effects in this process and has about 5 weeks to go. It was very spceial that we could come visit her during the start of her treatment at the end of July. Olivia and Annabella were great "medicine" for her heart.

Please do continue to pray for Mom's healing and for God's sustaining grace for both Mom and Dad during this time.

Sarah's Brother's Wedding in NYC

We travelled back to the States to share in the celebration of Sarah's brother's wedding on July 29. Jon, Sarah, and Olivia were officially in the wedding party, while Annabella was 'officially cute' in matching dresses with Olivia.

The new couple: Chris & Leanne Harrington

Sarah and Annabella on way to the reception.

Jon and Olivia had fun blowing bubbles together!

Annabella & the Buddha

Not much to say here ... other than that Annabella seems to have taken a real "hands on" approach to engaging the Japanese culture.

(This was a little train set for kids to play with, complete with a plastic miniature of the giant Kamakura Buddha.)

Our First Visitor from the States

We had the priveldege to host Rebecca Sup from Cornerstone Church (my church in Milwaukee 1998-99) for a day recently. She was in Japan to visit her sister in Tokyo, and it worked out for her to come visit us in Karuizawa. She was very brave and took the Shinkansen (bullet train) by herself for about an hour to see us. What a pleasure to welcome her!

It was very encouraging and even 'validating' to have someone from a supporting church come and see first hand what our life is like here in language school. We had a lot of fun together showing her around, and telling funny stories, as well as recounting stories of God's faithfulness to us in these first 4 months.

We look forward to welcoming other friends in the future. :)
Please come and share in this vision God has given us for Japan!

Jidoukan Summer Festival

Here are some photos of a festival that we went to at the New Karuizawa Jidoukan (local play-place for kids). Can you spot Olivia and I in the crowd? (Enlarging the photo will help!) We all had lots of fun playing all the special games and singing songs - although Annabella took a nap during most of it. Actually, Sarah and I traded off watching Annabella sleep, and joining Olivia in the games.


Check out the genkan (entrance area where everyone takes their shoes off). All these shoes from so many kids made it tricky to find your own pair!

Fun with my new friends (by Olivia)

Hi, this is Olivia. I want to tell you a little bit about my life here in Japan.

I had a fun time a few days ago with 4 of my new Japanese friends from the nearby Jidoukan - a play place for kids like me! My friends invited me (and Momma) to come to a special place called Omocha Ookoku (Toy Kingdom). It is a fun little amusement park only 30 minutes from our house. They gave us free tickets too ... that made Daddy happy!

This is a photo of the 'Heart Princess' that we met. She was so beautiful and we wanted to take our picture with her. I was so sad when she had to leave, but Momma told me 'that the princess had to go take a nap'. I guess even princesses need nappy-naps too. :)

This place had so many fun things to do. Little cars to drive in, huge play stores with lots of play food, play shopping carts, and even little play rice cookers! For lunch we all ate lunches that we brought. Momma made me a peanut butter sandwich, but the rest of the kids all had obento lunches. They had little onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed) which their mothers had made into happy little faces with little vegetables pieces. They were very cute.



This final photo is of all of us looking at the Merry-go-Round. It was so special! We could have watched it all day long. Our Momma's all let us ride on it, and it was so fun! My very own horsy ride!