Sept. / Oct. 2013 Monthly Prayer Bulletin

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

It’s been awhile since you’ve heard from us… thanks for taking a moment to check out our news items and current prayer requests.

What’s Been Going On…. Give Thanks to God with us!

Andrea’s trip to Chicago at the end of July to finish up her studies in Spiritual Direction went very smoothly and she had a great time!
Work camp at ABC (Akagi Bible Camp) in July went well and the camps in August were blessed with safety, good weather, sufficient staff, and many children making decisions to follow Christ. At the elementary camp that our Sky attended over 10 children decided to prepare for baptism.
We had some great family vacation time at Lake Nojiri in August!
We had a wonderful mission gathering in early September that included new and returning missionary staff. It is a very exciting time for our group right now… God seems to be leading us into many new areas of ministry and teamwork.
Sam, Lilla, and Sky are all back at school for a new year at the Christian Academy here in Tokyo. Sam’s busy making application to various colleges back in the U.S. for next year, Lilla’s enjoying volleyball, and Sky’s staying busy with soccer and LOTS of homework in his new middle school setting.
This list could go on and on! We feel so blessed…..

What’s Coming Up… Offer prayers to the Lord with us!

Thanks for praying for our new colleagues, Stephen and Soo Bay, who arrived in Japan during the summer, have spent a couple months in the Tokyo area, and are now preparing to move to the city of Ofunato in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, an area hit particularly hard by the earthquake and tsunami of 3.11.2011. We’re excited for the new ministries that God will lead them to. Check out there website HERE.
This Sunday, September 29th, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of our Maebashi Church in Gunma Prefecture. While we’ve had the joy of being connected to them these past 20 years we’ve also been reminded, while looking through old photos, of missionary families like the Westbergs and Christensens who planted seed so many years ago as the church was started. Pray that Christ will be lifted high during their celebration activities.
Andrea begins teaching at the university again next Wednesday. May God use each relationship and class as a chance to make kingdom connections.
Sam will be baptised this coming Saturday, September 28th along with several others from the Kurume Bible Fellowship and the Kurume Christ Church, two congregations that share fellowship and proximity here in our city. We are thrilled that he has made this choice at this time and we look forward to joining many others for a picnic and baptismal service along the banks of the Tama River. (As we send this out we can report that the baptism today was great. Photos next time…)
We are in the midst of applying for “permanent residency” here in Japan. This would be similar to foreigners in the U.S. applying for a green card. While it would not change our status a great deal, it would certainly make things a bit less complicated for our family over the next ten years, allowing us and our kids to move back and forth between Japan and the US freely without visas. Thanks for praying about this with us as we gather all the paperwork and get it turned in sometime next week.

Well this got a bit long and wordy after all. Thanks for reading…. and praying!
Feel free to scroll down and take a look at a few photos from the recent weeks.

Lilla (#12) with her volleyball team…

Sky, the soccer guy…. (left with his club team, right with his school team)

Sky’s final day with his “Kiyose Football Club” team…

Sam, with his good friend Leo, as they got ready to climb Mt. Myoko in Nagano.

And here’s a final photo of our Isesaki Church after worship last Sunday. We were thrilled to have Jason and Daryl Knudeson visiting with us. Jason was pastor of the Sunset Covenant Church near Portland, OR for many years. That church was and continues to be a strong part of our support team. Jason now serves as an airforce chaplain stationed in Korea so he and his wife Daryl made the hop over to visit us in Japan. What a blessing and encouragement they were to us and our Isesaki folks!