Cambodia Winter Mission Trip
Monday through Wednesday, January 2 – 11

Please pray for our 2011 Winter Mission Trip to Cambodia, we will be leading classes and seminars at Life University, for both students and professors in English, Math, Art, Computers, and more.

We will also hold Bible Studies and Sunday Worship Services at the University. Finally, we will be doing Village Outreach in the rural parts of Cambodia.

UPDATE: The students and faculty of Christ Bible Seminary had a wonderful retreat last week. Joe was able to lead a seminar on ‘Grace and Thanksgiving’ for all the students, and also spend more time getting to know them. Juliet has started part-time language school, and Isaiah’s yochien has started up again. Juliet has started meeting with a couple of the yochien mothers to begin an English book-reading/song time for Isaiah’s grade.

PRAYER/PRAISE:
1. Joe was able to meet with Dan Iverson (http://www.iversonjapan.com), the MTW country director for Japan. Dan and his wife have 9 children, and have been in Japan for 23 years. He gave us some good advice and said we should have only one goal for the first term: survival. This was wise advice, mainly because he was encouraging us not to bite off more than we could chew as foreign missionaries in a new land. We’ve been told several times, including by our MTW mentors, that we should take things slowly and learn as much as possible this term. Praise God for those who have gone before us to encourage those of us who are new here.

2. We recently had some new missionaries, the Wilson family, move to Nagoya from the Tokyo area. They have a son who is about the same age as Isaiah, and it was really great to be able to fellowship with them and see our children play together. For missionaries, having friends who speak our language and with whom we can share our lives with is so important. Please pray for the relationships among all those we serve with here in Nagoya, both for the CBI team and the Nagoya church planting team.

3. Please pray for Juliet and the yochien English book/song time that will begin in a month or so. This is a great opportunity to get to know the mothers and teachers better as well as spend more time with the children. Please pray for guidance in book and song selection.

4. This past weekend, Joe was able to attend a special day at Isaiah’s pre-school called Smile Day. All the fathers of the children go to experience what a typical day is like at their children’s school. It was really great to see so many fathers there, though there were several mothers who came in place of the fathers. Joe was able to meet the father of one of Isaiah’s new classmates. The father worked for Toyota in the USA for the last few years. Please pray that we can start building a relationship with this family for the gospel.

5. Please pray for Juliet’s language studies. She is going to Japanese language school twice a week. Please pray that her time will be maximized in studying Japanese. It is said that typically one needs 10,000 hours to attain native-level fluency in a foreign language. That’s 8 hours a day every day for nearly 4 years!

LINK OF THE WEEK:
Here are two testimonies by Japanese Christian women, sharing their hopes for the future and also for Japan. Although Japanese Christians are only a tiny, tiny fraction of the population (0.21% or so) their prayer is that God would start with those in the church to transform those outside:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiLKq9cQQMs

Praying with you for Jesus to be made famous here in Japan and throughout the world,

Joe, Juliet, Isaiah, and Evan

Participate in reaching out to college students by bringing them to the Christmas Celebration.  We’ll meet students at the dining commons, at sports outreach and other activities.  In addition, we will present the gospel through skits, music, and message at the Christmas Celebration.

The mission trip is a great opportunity to come out of your “comfort zone” as you meet and make new friends, and as you stretch yourself to be faithful to the various tasks assigned to you.  You will also experience wonderful times of fellowship and spend time in God’s word through team meetings and daily devotions.

Costs:

Approximately $1,500. This includes airfare, room and board for the duration of the trip.

Application Process:

The signup deadline will be Tuesday, 10/13/09.

SIGN UP HERE

UPDATE: We have experienced our 2nd earthquake here in Japan today at 5am. (http://tinyurl.com/kvfh82) It lasted more than 30 seconds, and it felt like a giant hand was shaking our entire house. Thankfully nothing was damaged and none of us were injured. We’ve had much ministry activity the last month, and have been able to rest a little bit recently since all Japanese schools including Christ Bible Seminary and Isaiah’s preschool are on vacation now. There is much to do for the Fall semester however, so we are grateful for your prayers, dear friends.

PRAYER/PRAISE:

1. Our friend Rick Kim (Senior Pastor of First Harvest Chapel) came to Japan to serve by teaching a modular course on family ministry at CBS and preaching at ANF. The seminary students enjoyed their time with Rick, and most of the students claimed that family ministry is one of the most important areas of ministry in Japan. Most Japanese churches are not only small (10-20 ppl average attendance) in size, but the majority of those that attend are women with children. There was much discussion even after the course on topics ranging from in-house divorce, pre-marital sex, adultery, abuse/violence in marriages, wayward children, and much more. We’re truly grateful for Rick (and First Harvest) to partner with us in this way by sacrificing much energy, heart, and money to serve as a short-term missionary here.

2. Please continue to pray for the inroads that the Lord has been providing for Juliet to meet with mothers from Isaiah’s yochien.

3. Please pray the Lord will use our children so that we can build relationships with many Japanese. It has been interesting seeing Isaiah around his Japanese friends, speaking to them in Japanese! It also has been interesting seeing Isaiah speak Japanese English. For example, the other day he told us that ‘Retsgo’ means ‘Let’s go’ in Japanese! Please pray for Isaiah that even as a 4 year old, the Lord may use him to bring those around him to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

4. Please pray for our Japanese driver’s license test. Not only do the Japanese drive on the ‘other side’ (like the British) of the road, but they have some of the highest driving standards in the world. We passed the written test, which is fairly easy but the driving test is extremely difficult. Most foreigners fail the first time, and taking a practice test costs around $90. Our international licenses are only valid for one year and cannot be renewed unless we leave the country for 90 days, so this is a very important test for us. Please pray that God would allow us to pass quickly.

Dear Friends,

UPDATE: The summer is here in Japan and every day the heat and the humidity seem to be rising. For the next few months, our schedules are fairly consistent. Joe continues to preach at All Nations Fellowship, lead ANF staff meetings, and attend full-time language school. Juliet has been busy attending meetings for Isaiah’s yochien and taking care of the home, and Isaiah has been busy meeting new friends. His Japanese is improving daily, and it is obvious that his Japanese will surpass ours very soon.

PRAYER/PRAISE:
1. Please pray for Joe as he continues to lead ANF along with his colleague Michael Oh. Please pray for much wisdom in training and equipping the 5 intern staff for current and future ministry in Japan. Our prayer is that we can send out some of these interns in the next few years to become part of a new church-planting team in Nagoya.

2. Please pray for Juliet and her involvement with Isaiah’s yochien. Please pray that she will be able to continue to build relationships with teachers and the mothers of Isaiah’s friends, even with her limited Japanese.

3.Please pray for Isaiah as he is making new friends every day. We have taught Isaiah to pray for his Japanese friends, and remind him that he is here as a missionary to share the gospel and show the love of Jesus Christ to his Japanese friends who do not know Jesus. He is already asking questions such as, “How come my Japanese friends don’t believe in Jesus?” and, “How come my Japanese friends don’t go to church?”.

4. Please pray for the weekend of Sat 5/23-Sun 5/24. A short-term team from the U.S. is visiting CBI/ANF to do some children’s ministry, host a game night, help lead worship/encourage the Christians here, and spend time in evangelism. We are looking forward to some of our supporting churches sending short-term teams to encourage/and be encouraged by CBI and ANF in the future.

ON THE WEB:
- A few weeks ago during Golden Week (a Japanese holiday), we were able to take a day off to drive down to Costco near Osaka.

Your brothers and sister in Christ,

Joe, Juliet, Isaiah, and Evan