A little review

As I was preparing for my most recent newsletter, which will be coming out soon, I was looking through pictures from the last quarter.  I set aside several to use in my newsletter, however, I didn't have enough room.  So, I thought I'd share some here...

Our friend Shoppi sharing at our Ladies' Lunch 

Even Mrs. Naka's granddaughter enjoyed the dessert!

Origami fun- every other month at the nursing home behind our church

AGC rehearsal- Can you find me?!

At our most recent Live Gospel Cafe I got stuck in the office for the first half.
It was fun to listen from behind the singers.
This is one of the ladies who sang.
It was a beautiful night of praise.

During spring break we had a youth retreat at the newest JBC church.
Some of the youth even led the worship time.  Fun times!

Easter Sushi!!!

Yuri has returned!

Merry Unexpected Christmas!

Christmas day is almost over here in Japan.  It has been a great day!  A completely unexpected day.  Actually, a completely unexpected week!

Sunday was an unexpected when I received a message that my coworker was not feeling well.  By 1PM it was obvious that he was not going to be able to make it to church that afternoon.  Thankfully, we had already planned the themes for advent Sundays, so planning a message in a couple of hours was not quite as difficult.  Everyone at church was understanding and helpful.  We had a good time studying about joy in the story of Jesus' birth.

Monday morning dawned with a snow squall and another not quite as unexpected message.  Influenza had taken down two more of the members of my coworkers' family, putting the count at 3.  I continued with my day off as usual which included tea time with a friend.  God prepared both of our hearts and she offered as I asked her to play piano for our Christmas Eve service at church!

With that unexpected challenge cleared, I was ready to begin preparing for the service on Tuesday.  I spent the day at church, reading, preparing, checking out the programs from the last couple of years, and enjoying delving into the Christmas story again.  My friend came to get the music and help me check the Japanese on the power point.  We had another good time of fellowship.


Unexpectedly, I had just enough cookies left at home to take to my morning exercise friends at the park on Christmas eve morning.  It was fun to see their faces and hear the "Merry Christmas" responses.


Our Christmas eve service was beautiful and full of joy.  I am so grateful for our church, the lovely people, and the wonderful celebration of our Savior's birth.

Following the service, my piano-playing friend came over and spent the night.  We enjoyed fellowship late into the night and basically all day today.  What a blessing to have a friend with whom I can spend a day sitting at the table, chatting, snacking, laughing, crying, and sharing words of wisdom.  An unexpected Christmas was just what I needed!


(Although, I missed hanging out with the Ewing family and look forward to our belated celebration!)

My background

Today I am thankful for the opportunity I had to grow up in South Dakota.  The small town I grew up in was a great place to grow up!  When we were in elementary school, we rode our bikes to school, to our friends' houses, even downtown.  And, in the summer, we rode them to the swimming pool!  When it was too snowy to ride bikes we walked or our parents drove us.  It never took longer than 7 minutes to get to a friend's house, except the ones who lived out in the country.  When we went to those friends' houses, there was always adventure to be had, in the barn or the shelter belt or the grain wagon.

When I was growing up there were 4 elementary schools in town.  We had the great advantage of very small class sizes!  (Now there is one elementary school and the other schools have been completely re-vamped.  My school is now a church.  Another school is an apartment building.  And the other one is an art studio.  The fourth school is the Catholic school which is still in use!)

My friends and I started babysitting when we were in junior high school- what were those moms thinking?!  I guess since it is such a small town, they figured they or a neighbor could get there to help very quickly.  And, neighbors were always willing to help.

There are two lakes just outside of town where I learned to swim in the seaweed and skip rocks.  Our family spent hours walking or biking around the lake, picnicking, playing whiffle ball, and throwing rocks into the lake.  We even camped a couple of times.  Those were not the best experiences.  Suffice it to say, our family, tents and thunderstorms seem to make it into the same sentence when describing those experiences.

Because our school was small, we all had to participate in as many activities as we could manage so there would be enough people for each team.  I had the privilege to participate in band, basketball, track, declam, and tennis at school.  We were also involved in piano lessons, 4-H, church, and just about anything else we could find to do.

Growing up in a small town gave me the opportunity to have a huge variety of experiences in a low pressure environment which helped me make wise decisions once I left.  I didn't leave because I hated living there; I left because God had other plans for me.  Just because I left definitely does not mean that I am ungrateful or was unhappy!

Thank you, Lord, for Madison, South Dakota!

New Experiences

Sometimes I get excited about new experiences.  Sometimes I do not.  yet, almost always, I look back on the experiences with fondness, glad that I tried.

Melissa and I took an overnight flight to a country neither of us had ever visited or, actually, even had the desire to visit.  Yet, here we are in Thailand.

We are here to study, fellowship, worship, make new friends, and even have some fun.  (It is still summer here, so today after we arrived, we enjoyed one of the pools!  Fun!)

Everything is new, sounds, tastes, sights, people, language, customs.  It has been a fun and challenging day.  Ia m glad to get to have this new experience with my friend!

We are praying the week will draw us closer to God and each other as well as to our new friends.  We are also praying the study will give us new vision and direction for ministry.

God is already at work.  Thankful.

(I wrote this post on October 21st when Melissa and I arrived in Thailand.  I didn't realize that it hadn't posted, so I am posting it now, 10 days later!)

A Sad Day

Enjoying the terrace one last time

August 31 was a sad day for me.  The place I have studied, relaxed, met friends, and made new friends for the past eight years closed.

"My" Starbucks closed.  

It was sort of out of necessity.  The building in which it was housed closed, so they obviously had to do something.

Pretty much every day I was in Izumi in August I went to Starbucks.  I was a little surprised at how sad I was.  I mean, it is just a place.  But, it holds so many memories.  It was comfortable and familiar.  The people were comfortable and familiar, even the people I hadn't met yet.

Chocolate Chunk Scone, one of my favorites

Thankfully, I did not have to say good bye to the staff.  They are all going to be moving to the new shop opening at the new mall.  It doesn't open until October 30, so until then they are all spread around the area.  But, they all get to work together in the new shop.

Until then, I just wait.

Several times over the past three weeks I have almost packed my bag to go to "my" Starbucks.  I am looking forward to seeing my friends again in the new place.

The only challenge will be that there will be thousands upon thousands of people there the first few months the mall is open.  It will be difficult to relax and actually get to chat with the staff.  Even though it will be crazy to try to get into the parking lot and the mall, I probably will go pretty soon after they open.  I need to see my people!

It is a bit farther from where I live, but it is right next to Costco!

I am looking forward to my new place!

Here and There, Part 2

Two years ago we had our first baptism at Komyo Christian Church.  You can read about it here.

She and I have spent many hours together over the past few years delving into God's word and learning how it applies to our every day life.  I have truly appreciated our study times together, her questions, and the sweet fellowship we enjoyed.  I have grown from our times together, and I have seen amazing growth in her faith as well.

The last Sunday of July we had a farewell party for our friend as she moves from Japan to the U.S. where she will begin her new life as a Mrs.!

We miss her already!  However, it is also exciting to hear about how God is working in her life and how she is relying on Him for strength and wisdom each day.

God bless you!

Here and There, Part 1

I have spent a bit of time over the past month in airplanes and fighting jet lag.  These travels have all included fun, work, times of refreshment, and times of study.

Every summer our missionaries in Japan gather for a time of study and refreshment.  This year we went to a beautiful beach location.

Enjoying the beach, sun, and ocean!

I enjoyed our times of worship and study as a mission family.  We studied Moses and his leadership.  We sang and praised.  It was refreshing!

Singing together

We also spent some time enjoying nature, the beach and mountains, two of my favorites!

Our hiking adventure took a muddy turn after about 300 meters.  We crossed a river several times so were able to rinse off as we went along.  The waterfall was pretty but not as grand as we were expecting.  Of course, the river was not at the end of the hike, so we went home muddy!

Really, the waterfall is just down the hill!

Time for water and a snack

The waterfall

Our muddy legs at the end of the hike.
They had been worse than this at times!

We made it!

Our last morning God woke me up early as I had asked so that I could see the sunrise over the ocean. Beautiful!

I am thankful for this annual time of worship, study, and refreshment!

For the first time

I have been learning a few things in the past couple of years about depression.  I have never experienced it myself.  However, it seems many people around me, especially here in Japan, have experienced it.

One of my friends from church is one of those people.  When she first came to church she was at one of the lowest points of her life.  Yet, God drew her to Himself.  Thankfully, we were just across the street from her apartment!

Since that time she has gone through many ups and downs.  She has learned about Jesus, His love, His sacrifice, His free gift of salvation and eternal life.  She has been quite consistent in attending church, even through times when she did not want to do so.

The transformation in her life is nothing short of a miracle.  We are all praising God together as we see the joy and peace in her life grow daily.

Last week she told me that for the first time in her life she truly does not want to die.  She is not afraid to die, she said.  But, really actually has a desire to live now.

Praise God for transformation!

Flowers, sunsets, and other random things

I want to try to stay in the habit of writing once a week or so.  However, the past two weeks have just disappeared.  By the time I sit down in front of my computer in the evening all I really want to do is turn it off and go to bed.  (Which is another discipline I need to work on!!)

So, I am just going to share a few photos of nature I have taken recently.  Spring is so lovely in Japan as the flowers start blooming and we are reminded that winter does not last forever.

The clouds lifting after the rain.
This is the view from my front veranda.

The sunset over the bay.
This is the view from my back veranda- although I can't quite
see the sun, so I had to go down the hall so I could see it!

Sunset from the train.
I am sure the people around me were wondering what I was doing.
I was waiting for this specific place, iPhone in hand.
The sun is just behind a pole in the center of the picture.

My friend Yuri, her name means lily.
We went to a lily garden last week.

So many wonderful colors!

Field of yellow

Working on the selfie thing.

Enjoying mango ice cream

These roses came from a church member's garden.
She has a much greener thumb than I do!

A Word and A Song

 I love when we get to host ladies' lunches at our church.  Trying to break into conversations to start the testimony part of the program is always a challenge.  Even having the big blonde girl standing up front does not always get everyone's attention!

Today our friend, Kyoko, shared her testimony.  It was neat to hear how God put pieces of the puzzle together for her as she traveled through the ups and downs of life, leading her, ultimately, to Himself. So amazing how He does that!  She also sang a song for us, "You Raise Me Up."  She sang the first verse in English and then sang in Japanese.  I had never heard it in Japanese before and was really moved by the lyrics.



This afternoon was a blessed time of fellowship.  I loved hearing the chatter, watching the shared tears fall, and witnessing encouragement between friends.

Nope, still here

Saying hello to the ocean
before the wedding

I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I am still here.  I can come up with a thousand excuses for not having written for over a month.  I will stick with the main one: I let other things distract me.

It's not that I have to blog, like there is some rule I have to follow.  But, when I do blog, it helps me focus, see God's blessings, and share ways for people to pray for me and the ministry in Japan.

So, I will share a few lines tonight.

This evening I went to an event called Praise Night.  Apparently, it has been going on monthly for the past 3 years.  I don't know what made me decide to attend tonight-well, yes, I do.  God wanted to fellowship and speak to me.  I was in a room full of people in downtown Osaka, praising God and being encouraged and challenged.  It was a blessed evening!

Last weekend, I was able to attend a coworker's wedding.  How wonderful to watch two people vow to serve God together!  It was amazing to hear stories, see pictures, and watch them interact and be able to see God's fingerprints all over the place!  God's best is truly worth waiting for! (In every situation, not just marriage!!!)

Next month is going to be full to the gills with all kinds of fun and challenging ministry stuff.  Please pray for our church, for our physical and spiritual health, for open hearts and ears, and for love overflowing.

Thank you!

Out East

I have three supporting churches in Michigan who worked together to make my trip out east wonderful.  I had fun at VBS, outings with friends, attending the ordination service of a friend, and even spending time with a childhood friend and her family.

To those who live in the middle of America,  Michigan is out east.  I loved my drive out there through corn country.  I loved getting to share about Japan with hundreds of children, as well as hundreds of adults.  One of the three churches has been supporting me the longest and they have become like a second home church to me.  My trip "out east" was truly a blessing!

Taking Pastor Lyle for a ride!

Fun with Flat Coco!

Ice cream run after VBS

Another group of kids having fun with Flat Coco!

Jonna's ordination service

Lunch with friends!

Friends for over four decades!

Our mean pirate looks

Dinner with friends, an evening filled with laughter!

Learning about the Ford family