Coming Up

Our church plant is coming up on an exciting milestone.  We have been worshipping together in our current location for 6 years!  We have had a wonderful time learning and growing together.  I am thankful to God for His work in my life, in the life of His church, in the lives of the people who attend our little gathering.

On Sunday we will have a business meeting.  I know business meetings are generally not exciting events for most people.  However, it is exciting for us!  Members and regular attenders of Komyo Christian Church want to be involved in the life of the church, want to use their gifts to encourage one another, want to seek God and His direction for His church.  Exciting stuff!!!

Today I was looking through some old pictures and found a picture of our 'staff' from 2010.  On New Year's Day we took another picture.  Some of us have changed more than others!  (Yuri Nakano had not yet joined us in 2010 and she is on home assignment right now.  She was not purposely left out of these photos!!)

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!

折り紙は祈り紙...

When I was in the US last year I folded a large number of origami cranes.  I gave most of them away to people to remind them to pray for me.  On some I had people sign their names and I brought them back to Japan with me.  I finally got around to hanging them up around my apartment.

As I folded the cranes I was praying for Japan, for the ministry in which I am involved here, for friends, and for the people who would receive them.  As I gave them to friends and family, I asked them to pray for me.  I even left some 'flying' around my home church.  I hope when people see them around the church or wherever they were placed around homes that people will remember to pray for me.



When I am sitting in my living/dining room, bedroom, tatami room, or office and I see the cranes hanging there, I pray for the people who signed their names and gave the cranes back to me.

What a blessing to be able to pray for each other.  Even when we are not in the same city, state, or country, we can still join in ministry together by praying for each other.  And, having a visual reminder is helpful for me!  In that way, these origami cranes become prayer reminders.  (The Japanese title of this post is a play on words which basically means that.)

Thank you to those of you who are praying for me and all of us here in Japan.  Please continue.  I cannot put into words how much your prayers mean to us!

In the background is the prayer quilt the ladies from West Center made for me!

Florida Adventure Continues, Part 3

I was also in Florida for work!  I attended a seminar for church planters.  It was awesome!
実は、仕事のためにフロリダ州に行きました。開拓伝道のためのセミナーを参加した。とってもよかった！
Over 5000 people attended the seminar.  We had beautiful times of worship and great times of learning.
5000人以上が参加しました。きれいな賛美タイムも素晴しいメッセージもあった。

A man took notes of the main points on this white board while the speakers were speaking.

Paul Coleman was on fire!  He loves God and wants to share that love with
as many people as possible, as soon as possible!

I stayed at a lovely hotel by a lake and enjoyed the evenings there-after sushi!
夕方に素敵なホテルで楽しみました、寿司を食べてから！

ものすごく嬉しくて、美味しかったです！
I was so happy and it was delicious!

Coco, be careful!
ココちゃん、気をつけて！

Christmas Review Continued

A shopping mall near our church held a Christmas tree decorating contest.  We decided to try out for it and were chosen as one of the contestants.  We had a good time deciding how to decorate the tree, making the decorations, and then decorating the tree.

There were some great bonuses to being part of the contest.  We received a coupon to use at the mall, plus we got to keep the tree and lights.  Hopefully, we were also able to introduce our church to some new people!

Putting the tree together

Having fun!

Wrapping the tree with the ribbon Mrs. Sakamoto wrote on so nicely.

Mrs. Sakamoto arranging the ribbon and decorations.

Mr. Sakamoto adding decorations.

Our finished product!

All the trees

We didn't win anything, but this group of children won the grand prize!

Christmas Fun

In December, our church plant, Komyo Christian Church, hosted several events to share the true meaning of Christmas with our friends and students.  Here is a little glimpse into our December:

We started with a Ladies' Tea and Card-making afternoon.  It was fun to just spread out the tools, stamps, and paper and see the creativity of the ladies.  We had a fun afternoon chatting and creating.  Even Elijah got in on the fun!

My baking class even had fun with Christmas cookies!

Later in the month we hosted a party for our English classes.  We played games, sang songs, and acted out the Christmas story.  Of course, there was food, too!

We had a beautiful evening for the Christmas eve candle service!

We pray that God's love, the true meaning of Christmas, was proclaimed!

Give Thanks 19

I am thankful for music, especially as a way to praise and worship God.  I know I talked about AGC before, however, I am returning to the music theme.  It is such a powerful way to draw people closer to Jesus.  I have so many pictures of different music events I have attended/ participated in over the past year.  (I will try not to post too many!)  (Oops, I posted a lot!)

I, personally, am not such a musical person.  I like to sing and play my clarinet.  My rhythm is not always on.  But, I love to listen and participate in music!  I am thankful for all of the places God has allowed me to participate in worshipping Him through music.

Piano Seminar Concert Fall 2011

Men of Excellence at Spiritual Night

Mom and Yuri lead music at Komyo Church

Amber and Yuri lead music at Komyo Church

Q and McKee + Aichan at Live Gospel Cafe

Choir practicing at Sendai Franklin Graham Festival

Harmonica music at Miyoko's church

Band at Seikai

Yamauchi Mama sings with Kaori san at Ladies' Lunch

VOV at Live Gospel Cafe

Singing down by the riverside!  Hitomi's baptism

Coco shares at Ladies Lunch and Talk at Komyo Church

AGC with Elisabeth and Flat Stanley

AGC concert Fall 2012

Singing at Living Church