Thoughts of Japan...

July 31, 2010
Geeze… I feel at a loss for words to properly describe my time here. It’s been a few short days, and I’ve been through a number of trains of thoughts, all in pretty different directions. The first is that the Japanese kids here are soooooooooooooooo cute! The way they’ve opened up in the short time we’ve been here… their crazy cheesey grins and devious fake whistling as they greet us is always one of the best parts of my day. Whether it’s been watching them copy the song motions or picking them up and spinning them around… I can’t help but fall in love with the people (especially kids) of Japan every time I come here. In that line of thought it has been very easy to fall into the trap of thinking everything is great and peachy… I’m just here on vacation, having fun playing with little kids and working on my Japanese… but God has faithfully and patiently been reminding me of how spiritually dry this country is. As mentioned by other bloggers, on day 2 of the TMK VBS one of the mothers called around starting a panic of catching a fever from the rain, which consequently drew kids away from PE in the park for that day. Something that I and many others on the team attribute to Satan trying to hinder God’s work through us here. In putting those two lines of thought together, my heart breaks. These people who are so wonderful and serving… kids who are so cute, energetic, and… well… pure the way only children are… but them being here in this country where Satan’s hold is so strong… It all feels so overwhelming; like there’s nothing I can do to change a WHOLE country… but God being God… has lovingly reminded me of a very important fact. He is an all powerful God who is much bigger than any hold Satan can ever place. Which is my third major line of thought that I’ve been through: Hope. The hope that only God brings… in giving His son to die on the cross for our sins. Something which I take for granted so much when it comes to thinking of myself, but also something that has given me the extra push in the morning to get up and go see the kids… to share God’s love with them that they might know the same hope I have for them… I’m really not sure where I’m at right now… I guess I’m kind of tired and just not sure what to think… soo…. Prayer for the people of Japan and for our time here to be used by God and not hindered by Satan would be awesome!

Hmm… I guess I might go over the stuff that’s been happening… VBS has been good. Like. Reallllllllllllly good. It surprises me (in a good way) to see so many of the kids eager to sing songs, memorize verses, and just be kids…hanging out with the missionary families has been a huge blessing… whether it’s having good laughs and fun or drawing on the experience and wisdom of those who have served here…my confidence in trying to speak Japanese has slowly been improving… the kids actually understand the instructions I’m trying to give on how to do the crafts and such… ughh. I’m starting to space out… so if anything else comes back to my mind of stuff that’s been going on I’ll add it later… pictures too!!! Ughh. I said that last time ><… well. Okay. I won’t promise it’ll be next time, but I’ll definitely try to post more soon haha… ><…

Kelly - Our God is an Awesome God!

Sigh, God is good. As I sit here contemplating what to write, I sit here in awe. While we didn't have the adventures the Kenya team had trying to get to our destination, I know after two days of VBS that there is opposition to our being here. It is subtle, yet very disrupting. Despite these disruptions though, mostly what I see is God's awesomeness. As Tom mentioned, day one was full of unusual events that caused us to rely on God for very unexpected things, like one of the local, very influential, moms creating a "panic" around us doing PE in the park in the rain - here we were praising God because it dropped the temperature significantly for us - but our enemy used it to cause trouble! Tom showed his flexibility and we called it quits early, respecting the mom's concerns. During our daily debriefing time we spent in prayer over this and, today, Someone calmed the storms, and we had a wonderful PE in the park!

Another way God has shown His awesomeness was in this: we came as a Lighthouse team of 5, yet we serve at TMK with a VBS "staff" of 15! We are blessed by the presence of four missionary families who have chosen to help out at our VBS. You all know of the Nakamura and Reasoner Families but this year we also have help from the Smoker and Mays (I ask their forgiveness if I spell their names wrong...) families as well! Charles Smoker and his daughter Ashley (I hope I spelled her name correctly) will be able to help us as well as Emily and Josh Mays! That amounts to the 5 Lighthouse team members; Jon, Chieko and Elisabeth Reasoner (Elliot is working full time at one of the Summer Bible camps); Richard, Alisha, and Brandon Nakamura (Keri, Hanna, Kayla and Nat are in California with Keri's mom - prayer support needed there!); Charles and Ashley Smoker; and Emily and Josh Mays! How God provides, and in abundance.

As for me personally, while this was a better day for Tom, not so good for me... (maybe because it was my day to do the opening and give my testimony...) felt tired and drained today, probably cause I may have done too much yesterday and my knee was "tender" today. (or maybe it was that Kenya team and me wondering if I should have sent our sound equipment with em... just joking.... God will do as He wills - but I think God just wants them to be less reliant on technilogical wow and more on the gifts He's given 'em - and God has indeed Blessed the Kenya team!) In any event, still felling a little out of place with the little kids, glad Dave and Tim are here to play with them cause today I really had to take it easy - again God provides - but it made me turn more of my thoughts towards the parents - unfortunately that came out during my testimony - which didn't come out very kid friendly but I pray it did speak to the adults there.

Asking all of you out there to keep my knee in prayer.

By His Grace - at the end of day 2,

Kelly

TMK Day 2

Day 2 went a lot smoother than Day 1. (Sharon says it's because I was done with my Rainforest Introduction and my testimony) Day 1 was alright but for me thing didn't go as smoothly and I had hope. I was nervous during the Introduction and testimony. My back hurt and the PE at the Park didn't go well. First it was raining. I had a communication problem with the games. A parent was very concern that we were playing in the rain although it was 80+ degrees out. She called other parents to take the children home early. She was afraid they would get fevers. (Praise God her kids showed up today and also it didn't rain during PE @ the Park although it poured during the night right to the end of the VBS) Our VBS schedule went so much smoother. PE @ the Park went 100 % better. We played KickBall, or as the Japanese call it, "Kick Base". My back didn't hurt. I even was able to play "kick base" with younger kids. (Sorry we don't have any pictures of PE @ the Park. Everyone was having too much fun playing with the kids.)
I am totally blown away by my JMT teammates. Tim and David have learned by example from Kelly and Sharon. Their faith makes my faith look one dimensional. I am so grateful for them.

TMK VBS: Day 1

The first day of vbs! Things were awesome!!! The moment the kids showed up I couldn’t help but smiling because there were so many familiar faces! And at the same time there were a lot of new faces… a good mix for a great VBS :] soo… for starters. The song time was very encouraging (especially since I’m leading songs). Last year was kind of hard at first because none of the kids really started doing the motions until 2-3 days into the VBS, but this year all of the kids were following along on the first day! It was great… let’s see… craft time was good… I’m not sure how the story time was first hand but it sounded like the kids were having a lot of fun and learning the verse really well. Today’s verse: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. The concept of sin and God’s forgiveness for it isn’t something that’s easily understood by the Japanese people, so continued prayer for God using us to reach them. Lunch was delicious… then there was PE in the Park. It was really fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. It’s been a lot of fun hanging out with the missionary families and kids too: Some old ones from last year and meeting some new ones too. They’re all pretty awesome and a lot of fun to hang out with :). Ooookay. I’m kinda tired… even though it’s only 7:22 here… but still. Long day. Lots of running around with kids. Ohhh… not to mention playing with one of the little kids for an hour or something while we waited for him to get picked up. Fun for part of it… but also quite tiring haha. Kids have too much energy… and everyone is looking pretty tired tooo…. So continued prayer for God to supply us with the energy and sustenance we need would be appreciated! Mmm… where was I… dinner… hanging out… blogging… and we’ll see what else happens later tonight. One of the missionary kids really wants to watch a movie, but people are tired too…. I guess we’ll see. Until next time…. Bai bai! ^^V

P.s. I’ll try to come back and add pictures later….

VBS TODAY

Elisabeth Posing
Male Bonding

Today will be our first day of VBS. This year we had an extra day to prepare which is such a blessing because it is so hot. It looks like the only semi cool day will be our first day of VBS. All the others day are supposed to be in the high 90's with heat indexes over 100 degrees. Please pray for cooler weather. Although we only have 5 team members from LCC we have tons of help from the Nakamura's, Reasoner's and the Smoker Families and May children. The Smoker Family is another missionary family who run a sport ministry. God provides.
What has most amazed me is the Spiritual maturity of the Sakanashi Boys. Tim is lead morning worship, David prayer. They are such good role model for the Lighthouse youth, the children in Japan and for me. Kelly and Sharon, you've done a fine job.

First Full Day...

Sooo. It’s our first full day here. I feel pretty well adjusted to the time difference already (praise God!). We’ve already gotten a taste of some delicious home made food… some delicious food from Yaoko… and our setup time today was pretty productive! Everyone is still recovering from traveling and all, but aside from that we got quite a bit done.

Sooo… a summary of my day today… woke up around 7:15 or so… showered… ate breakfast… had nice relaxed morning of discussing plans for the day, praying, and a short time of worship… went over to the SEND center where we stuffed mailboxes/prayer walked for a bit… then as the day got hotter we headed back to the center and relaxed a bit. It’s kind of ridiculous how hot it is this year… ughhhhh. Be praying for the weather!! That it would cool off enough to do our outside activities, or….. if it’s God’s plan for it to be hot then to show us what he wants us to do :]. Hrmm… let’s see…. I guess I left off where we went to Yaoko to do grocery/lunch shopping… I’ll try to include a couple of pictures of lunch at the end ^^V...
then we got to work. Putting together signs, taping posters up, etc. At the moment we’re just hanging out… trying to cool the house down before dinner. We’ve been invited over to have dinner with one of the missionary families here so that should be fun! And that just about brings us up to date…

Oh p.s. the first thing I got to drink after landing was a CC Lemon in memory of Matt’s… uh… encounter last year. ^^V more blogging to come! Hopefully…haha…








*EDIT*... or more like update I guess. Now that the day is almost over and all... let's see... where'd I leave off... oh yeah! soo... we went to have dinner at the Smoker's house... and it was awesome! home made curry rice + spinach salad!!! and watermelon (which for those of you who dont know.... is AMAZING in Japan, but also quite expensive...) plus these delicious ginourmous cream puff thingamabobs that were quite the treat :]... thennnnn....... back, changed, went for a nice couple mile run with Charles, one of the missionary families, chatted for a bit along the way... played some ball with Lizzie... and had a pretty productive night! now i'm quite exhausted and.. well... my shirt. is... kinda grossly a different color ( if you know what I mean.. haha..) sooo. I'm gonna shower and call it a night pretty soon. be praying for energy as a lot of us are still feeling pretty jet lagged and the heat + having lots to do tomorrow is gonna need lots of God's help! ^^V goooood niiiiighhhhtttt :D

SUCH A WARM WELCOME! (IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE.)

We have arrived in Japan! Our flight though long was uneventful. We made it through customs surprisingly quickly. (PTL) Our bus (Limo) ride to Higashi-Tokorozawa (Love that city) took a little longer because of traffic and rain. Yes, rain. Actually this was a blessing because the weather had been extremely warm just prior to the rain. We were picked up by Jon Reasoner and Charles Smoker at the Higashi-Tokorozawa bus station. I found out a few days ago that one of my LCC VBS helpers, Nozomi S. was coached by Charles Smoker in soccer. Charles does a sports ministry here in Japan. (Small world!) At our apartment just 15 minutes for the Send Center (TMK), Chieko had prepare inari sushi for us and Elizabeth had made signs to show which rooms we would be staying in. Such a warm welcome.
Please pray that God will use us here in Japan and that He may be glorified.
PS: I strained my lower back just before leaving Seattle. Pray that it won't slow me down.

TMK Arrived!

WE MADE IT! Just taking a few minutes at an internet kiosk to put up a quick post! Man is it hot here! First thing you feel when you step off the plane is the heat! (Or probably more the humidity). It's overcast now, but in contrast to Seattle overcast, it's not actually cool or cold out. =P

By God's graces, we made it through SeaTac without any problems and rather quickly! The flight was fairly uneventful, it felt like a really long time! I ended up watching Clash of the Titans, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Green Zone, and a Japanese movie called Rinko's Restaurant.

Now we're just waiting until our bus leaves for Tokorozawa. It seems like we'll be grabbing a quick bite to eat here at Narita. 4 minutes left! Thanks everyone who's praying for us! We ask your continued prayers as we make the last leg of our trip out to Tokorozawa and as we begin preparing for VBS this week! Hope the Kenya team is doing well and our prayers are with them too!

DSAK: T-Minus 24 Hours and counting (give or take... XD)

Well the Kenya team is off! God bless their journey and may His grace cover them as they travel and as they serve. Being there to see them off today made me realize it'll be our turn to head out in less than a day! It's exciting! At the same time it makes me a little nervous because I don't feel as ready or prepared as I'd like. But God is good, and I trust that as I prepare to the best of my abilities, God will provide for where I feel weakest. I must admit, I'm a little nervous to be working with the kids. For the past 6 years I've served in youth ministry, so working with younger children is a little out of my element. But it'll be a good challenge, and hopefully God'll equip me to be able to just love and serve the kids @ the TMK VBS. Please continue to lift the team in prayer, as we get ready to go. Please pray for the children we'll be ministering to. Please pray for the missionaries (the Nakamura's and the Reasoner's) who we'll be serving with. God is sovereign, God is good, and I'm excited to see what He has in store.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'" ~ Romans 1:16-17

Tom: Crunch Time!!!

Posted by Tom
We, I mean many of the Japan Mission Team members, have just finished the Lighthouse VBS. We had nearly 70 child who I have affectionately been calling SQYDS (squids). Son Quest Young DiscipleS. We are having our evening performance tonight where the children will demonstrate some of the things they have learn at VBS for their parents and other family members.
The TMK Team will be departing SeaTac Airport this Sunday around 2:00 pst. We are all very excited and are anxious to get to Japan. We are all frantically packing and repacking to meet the new weight standards. Please pray for our team and the people we will be serving in Japan, for relationships we will be making and that God's love will shine through us.
We are all praying for our sister team and former Japan Mission Team member, Matt S, who are leaving for Kenya tomorrow, Saturday, July 24th. You may follow their journey on their blog: http://lcckenyamission2010.blogspot.com/
They will also be sharing the love of God through VBS songs, crafts, work projects and concerts to slum areas in Kenya.

Matthew 28:19 (New Living Translation) Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Shirley: NBF VBS 2010 Postcard

We are SO excited to see you in a few short weeks! May the Lord prepare a straight path for each of you (and us) too. We pray the Lord would bring us lots of new as well as returning students this year. We are praying for all of you!

Here is our flyer:

Al: Our Schedule

Its hard to believe that the TMK team leaves in 12 days (July 25) and the NBF team leaves in 21 days (Aug 2). This year we are sending two teams to Japan. Both teams will do the 5 day Gospel Light VBS program called SonQuest Rainforest. The TMK team will be doing their VBS at the Tokorozawa Migumi Kyokai (Tokorozawa Grace Church) where Jon and Chieko Reasoner are serving as the missionaries. TMK is a church mission sponsored by SEND International Missions. Richard Nakamura, another SEND missionary, will be joining the TMK team. Richard and Keri are working on establishing a house church in East Tokyo.
The NBF team will be heading to Yokosuka and doing their VBS for the Nokendai Bible Fellowship. The Nokedai Bible Fellowship was started by TEAM missionaries, Alma and Larry Olines. When the Olines retired, Kohichi and Shirley Tamura stepped up and began leading the church.
We are very excited to begin our time in Japan and to have the privilege of working along side these missionaries. As we prepare, please continue to pray for open hearts in Japan, and for God to work through and in us as we serve. Blessings, Al