Visit from Chiba University Student

Ikumi-chan (one of the Chiba University Students we met when we were in Chiba back in April) came to stay with us in Karuizawa for a few days this week during her summer vacation.We had a lot of fun and our girls loved having Ikumi-chan around. Though we had a bit of a language barrier (we each did our best using the other's native language) we sure laughed a lot! She is only a sophomore, so she will be around when we move to Chiba early next year.

She is not particularly interested in Christianity, but she will actually be going to the Philippines later this summer to volunteer at a Christian orphanage for a week. Pray that God uses these experiences to challenge her with the truth and life transforming power of the gospel! Pray that God will continue to us in her life in the months and years to come.

We attended a local festival and enjoyed watching the traditional Japanese dancing.

July Prayer Letter

To download our most recent prayer letter, click here: July 07 Prayer Letter PDF.

Dinner with our close friends

We had dinner the other day with the two familes we feel closest to in Karuizawa. Both ladies are in Sarah's Bible study, and Jon has had good spiritual discussions with both men. They are very excited to be eating Sarah's chocolate Texas sheet cake. (Sarah is getting rather famous for her desserts around here!) They are also very excited about our new baby, and Sarah had lots to talk about. :)

Please continue to pray for our relationships with them, and that God would continue to show Himself to them.

Trip to Lake Nojiri

Here we are at a visit up to Lake Nojiri in Nagano Prefecture. We joined the Iversons (our MTW team leader) and the Dingles for some fun in the water. The girls loved it!
Annabella had fun swimming, and became quite independent with her little "swimmies" on.
Olivia got to ride in a sailboat for the first time. She was so brave. :)

PCJ Summer Conference in Chichibu

I had the privilege of attending the PCJ (Presbyterian Church in Japan) Summer Conference this month. Sarah and the girls stayed home, and sent me off to join ~150 Japanese Christians from the 4 greater Tokyo presbyteries.

I roomed with 3 Japanese pastors and an old friend, Shinya, from 2001 who is now in seminary. It was a great opportunity to "test out" my Japanese. It really went well, although I felt like there were lots of words on the tip of my tongue that I couldn't get out!

We had worship starting everyday at 6am(!) then breakfast, and then various sessions and worship times. On the last day of the conference, the drummer (who I had become friends with the night before at the ofuro) invited me to fill in for the bass player who had to leave early. It was fun to play, and contribute to the worship time. I didn't have anytime to practice, so I was very thankful that they were all songs I had heard before!

It was also a great time to connect with many people we will be partnering with in the gospel after we move to Chiba early next year. The picture below shows Ishido-Sensei, a professor of economics at Chiba University, and elder at one of the churches planted by our MTW team. We had a good time talking and sharing ideas and vision for how to reach students at his university. What a blessing to have a Christian faculty member as an advocate for us!


Here is a photo with a new friend I made named Kazu. He recently graduated from Chiba University and is now working in Tokyo.

Friends with a new baby

We had some new Japanese friends come over for dinner the other day. They have a brand new baby, and it was fun to hold her. Compared to Annabella, we couldn't believe how small she was! Good practice for the future. :)

Hoshino-san is my (Jon's) age, and grew up playing Ice hockey in Karuizawa. His wife was a champion figure skater in Hokkaido as a high school student. They had some fun stories to tell.

They also have a 3 year old daughter who had fun playing with the girls. They were so cute together, siting at the "little table" for dinner.

Please pray that God continues to grow our relationship with them.

Sausage never tasted so good!

Yes, pregnancy cravings have hit! Over the last week or so, I have craved sausage. I haven't found it anywhere. All they sell is the sausage links, which wouldn't quite quench the craving. So, this morning I decided to go to the one place that I could get this sausage....McDonalds! I ordered a sausage egg mcmuffin from the drive-thru (which is a big accomplishment....only even attempted in the last couple weeks!). Let me just say, that was the best sausage egg mcmuffin I have ever had!!! Wow!

Baby #3!!!!

We are very excited to tell you all that baby #3 is on the way!

The baby is due at the end of March. Please pray for us as we have a lot of questions ... Who will be our doctor? Will we understand them? Where will we deliver? ... Even though this is our third baby, we will have many new questions over here in Japan. We know that God will guide us along this exciting journey!

Annabella's Birthday

This past Saturday we had a belated birthday party for Annabella. All but one of the ladies from my Bible study came. We had about twenty people in our little cabin! What a special time it was. Here are a few pictures capturing our time....


This group picture shows you some of our closest Japanese friends (but unfortunately doesn't include 4 of our Japanese friends from Church who left the party early). We were very blessed that two of the husbands were able to come. Jon has started having spiritual conversations with both of them. Please join us in prayer for our friends.

Everyone brought food to share for dinner...Yum!

Annabella chose a whale cake this year. The cake was a hit!

Annabella loved eating her cake and ice cream

Our friend were very sweet to give gifts to Annabella

One of our friends, Manabu-san, played "Amazing Grace" on a traditional Japanese instrument. I got chills and began to pray that one day our friends would truly know God's amazing grace.

The Beginning of a Bible Study

I am very excited to tell you about what God is doing here in Karuizawa, Japan. I have mentioned these ladies in several blogs. These ladies are friends that I met through a baby circle. God has led me to begin a Bible study with them.


Two weeks ago I started this Bible study with four women who aren't believers and two women from my church. God is so gracious to let me be apart of His ministry. I am truly in a state of dependence upon Him. I can't speak the language well enough to completely lead, except to say, "Junko-san could you read question 5. What do you think?" Several of the women are able to interpret for me. What a blessing! (Below, you see Jon, who plays with the 6 kids during the study.)



We are studying a book called, "Introducing Jesus." The first week we talked about Jesus being the bread of life. This led to a discussion about what we look to in the hard times of life. Several of my friends said that they looked to their dead ancestors to take care of them. Wow! I was able to share with them about how God never changing is a huge comfort to me. Please keep these ladies in your prayers, and pray that God would lead me as I lead these women.