Beautiful Exterior, but Spiritual Darkness ...

We were impressed by the stunning architecture of Sensoji Temple, but were also brought close to tears as we watched person after person coming forward - some to pray, some to worship, and some to just do their "Japanese duty" and pay their respects. Most Japanese would not claim to be very religious, yet when they face pain, struggles, and uncertainty, they have nowhere to turn but these idols of gold, and patterns of superstitious rituals. Here is the view walking up to the Sesoji Temple (dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon - a being dedicated to assist those in attaining Buddhahood).
Purifying self with incense smoke before entering Temple (above). Throwing coins and praying for ...?

Building Relationships

I had a great opportunity to get to know 3 guys in a deeper way this week. About a week and a half ago, we all attended a kick-off party for the new year of the Kodomo Sodate Shien Center, where we take the girls to play. It was one of the infrequent times where Sarah and I were able to interact with couples together. (Japanese businessmen are usually never home!)

Just last Saturday one of the guys, Manabu-san who we've written about before (far left in photo above) invited me to go out for "a guys night" with 3 others (one not pictured above). It was a great opportunity for relationship building, language learning, and for cultural learning. Over the course of the evening, while eating sashimi and such, I had several opportunities to explain why I had come to Japan, and ways that I see God's character reflected in Japanese culture. My explanations were quite simple (since they were in Japanese), yet opened the door for further conversation.

As for language learning: When I introduced a topic, I could follow ~60% of the conversation, but when someone else introduced a topic I knew nothing about, I was pretty much reduced to minimal comprehension ... and lots of smiling. That's language learning for you! :)

Please pray that God would continue to provide opportunities for me to get to know these guys, and also to improve my conversation and comprehension skills as we prepare for future ministry.

Download Jon's Song from Psalm 67

Trying something new here ... On the BLOG sidebar (on left side, scroll down a bit) there is a new section called "Pfeil Downloads: Original Songs". Click on an individual song title and it will download the MP3 file. I'll add songs one at a time. I'd love to hear your comments on the songs and/or the downloading process.

TODAY'S SONG: (1) "May the Peoples Praise You"
The words come straight from Psalm 67 - a great missions text. I wrote the song right after returning from Japan as a 2-year missionary in 2001.

Notice the "s" at the end of the word "peoples". Our team leader, Dan Iverson, speaks of the importance of the Church's call to reach ALL peoples - meaning people groups. It can be easy for us as the Church to be so busy with local ministry opportunities and challenges, that we often neglect the call to reach the world's "unreached people groups". Let us pray and seek for how God will use us to bring His Joy to the nations!

May the Peoples Praise You
(Music by Jon Pfeil, 2001)

May God be gracious to us and bless us
And make His face shine upon us (2x)

That Your ways may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all the nations (2x)


May the peoples praise You, Oh God
May all the peoples praise You
May the nations be glad and sing for joy
May all the peoples praise You

.

Please Pray for our Friends

I wanted to let you all know of some recent praises as well as some prayer requests. Today the girls (including my sister Emily) and I, went to one of my friend Miho-san's houses for lunch. Another friend, Minako-san, came for lunch as well (you all have been praying for her.) God is so good to allow these relationships to grow.

Today, we were able to talk more about spiritual things. They were very curious about why Emily is home schooled. It was a natural time to share some of what my parents and I believe, and what we want to pass on to our children. I was so encouraged by our conversation! God is so good to use broken vessels for His purposes! With my limited Japanese ability, my brokenness is always before me.


Miho-san is on the left and Minako-san is on the right



This is Minako-san, her husband, Manabu-san and daughter Sawa-chan

Please continue to pray for these ladies. They were also very eager to start studying the Bible with me. I will try to see if a lady from our church would be willing to help with this, as I can't quite lead a Bible study on my own. Please pray for Miho-san, Minako-san, as well as her husband, Manabu-san. It is quite unusual for a husband and wife to be interested in spiritual things at the same time here in Japan. Minako-san said that they have both seen a thankful spirit in Jon and I and that they want to be like us. Praise God with us as we can see that He is shining His light through us, despite our lack of Japanese ability! God is so good! Thank you for all of your prayers...I will keep you posted!

Yes, We're Still Studying !

In case you're wondering what occupies most of our time, it is still Japanese study! Here are a few snapshots that my Mom took while she sat in on one of my classes. We have one-on-one classes with a Japanese teacher. We then rotate teachers every two weeks.

These photos show me in class with one of the teachers, Baba Sensei.

Karuizawa Language School is rather small, with only 7 students right now. In the late 1980's when the founding members of our MTW Church-Planting Team attended the same school, they had ~50 students. This speaks of the declining missionary investment in Japan in recent years ... yet there is still so much need! Please pray with us the Lord of the Harvest would send workers to these fields - For His Glory.

Support Need for Japanese College Workers

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in Chiba, taking a little break from language study to touch base with our MTW Church Planting Team, as well as the Japanese led College Ministry team we will be a part of.

This picture shows me with Nagata-san, Numakami-san, and Yukko-chan, the current Japanese College Ministry Staff. It was a great time to fellowship, get to know each other better, dream, and pray about the future. All in Japanese, of course! It was a little challenging, but we were definitely able to communicate. I was encouraged. :)

Yukko-chan and Uchida-san (not pictured) are leading a home-stay trip with 11 students to America starting on Feb 15th. A great opportunity to expose students to Christianity applied in the context of loving families. Pray for the students.

Pray also for the current Japanese staff, facing some tough financial decisions. Currently, half of their salary comes from supporters within Japan, and half from the US. Unfortunately, US based support has been steadily decreasing.

Would you and/or your Church consider REGULARLY supporting these local Japanese leaders in the strategic ministry to young Japanese - reaching the future leaders for the Church in Japan?

Checks made payable and sent to:

Mission to the World
PO Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
Indicate on Check for Account #092864 "JPN: Tokyo College Ministry"

Here is link to Financial Donor FAQ on the MTW.org website, with all the details and answers to donation questions: MTW Financial Partners FAQ

Curling is Cooler than you think!

Our town, Karuizawa, was host to the 1998 Winter Olympics Curling Competition. Every year since, they have hosted the Karuizawa International Curling Championship.


Since we live in a town with an Olympic venue, we thought we should go and check it out. We had no idea of the rules of curling, but found it to be rather fascinating. Especially after meeting the US Women's Curling Team captain (known as a "Skip" in curling lingo), we got excited in cheering the US women on to 2nd place! They lost in a close final against Canada.

Our girls were quickly "scooped up" my members of the China Women's Curling team. They loved their blond hair. :) They even gave the girls Chinese treats to eat. Yet again, Olivia and Annabella opened cross-cultural doors for us!

Karuizawa Ice Festival

Every January our town Karuizawa hosts an Ice Festival. Lots of ice sculptures, a long ice slide, and various fun things to see, eat, and do. An interesting way to participate in our town's life - practicing Japanese, meeting people, and observing culture.

Grandma was with us, and had fun with the girls. Olivia had fun on the long slide made of ice, though one time was enough for her!

The Church in Japan - a Snapshot in 2006

These statistics above are for all Protestant Churches in Japan (taken from a Japanese publication "CIS News".) So a little over 1/2 million Christians in a country of 128 million gives ~0.4% Christian in Japan. The average worship attendance for a Japanese Church is 36 people.

For reference, there are roughly 130 million Evangelical Christians in the US (depending on definition of Evangelical) out of 300 million Americans. This puts America at ~43% Christian.

The denomination we work the most closely with, the Presbyterian Church in Japan (PCJ), has a total of 2,214 people attending worship in 68 churches. Some of you come from single churches bigger than the whole PCJ!

Yet, in spite of many challenges, worship attendance in the PCJ grew by 6% last year (a growth rate to make our sister denomination in the US a little "jealous"!)

Please be praying for Japan. So many challenges and barriers to the gospel, yet we see the Spirit moving, the Kingdom being established, and worshipers of the true and living God being raised up in places where none may ever have existed. All for HIS Glory!

Pfeils on Japanese TV!

This Tuesday, our language school was visited by a filming crew from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). They were doing a special on our town, Karuizawa, and wanted to get some of the foreign flavor from some missionaries. The clip aired this morning on 'Ohayo Shutoken' - seen in Tokyo, and surrounding areas!


There is a brief clip showing Sarah and I practicing New Years greetings and bowing to each other, as well as a wonderful closeup of Annabella. The end of the clip shows Ray & Georgia Landis - director of Karuizawa Language School.


The main television personality, Emiko Komatsu, actually interview me - but none of it made it to TV... Here is a picture of Komatsu-san with Olivia.