We want to take this time to say THANK YOU to those who have donated children’s clothes for Japanese children. If you are new to our blog, you may not know what we are talking about. Our sending church, First Baptist Church Arlington, has sent many children’s clothes to us, and we delivered them to people in the temporary housings and churches. A special thanks to Cheryl Turner and Linda Templin who sorted all the clothes and packed them! Every time we received more boxes, we felt so much love from our church family! We are sure that the people who received those clothes felt loved, too.
Here are some photos!
We also sent several boxes to children in Fukushima.
These snacks were given to Luke but he wanted to share these with babies in Fukushima. We sent these snacks along with all the clothes. We pray these made other babies smile!
Here is an update on our recent trip to the disaster area. We went as a family and spent quality time with our friends in the temporary housings.
We took water bottles for adults and goodies for children. We bought these gifts with the money that was donated for the Christmas Catalog that was made by our sending organization GCPN. People donated for specific items that were listed by the missionaries in Africa and Japan. We were blessed by many generous donors who purchased things for the Japanese people in the disaster areas.
This is a photo of Michael giving water bottles to each of the temporary housing units. Visiting individual temporary housing units gives us a chance to meet the residents and to have conversations with them. Many times, they invite us into their home! They have a lot to share (many of them are lonely) and we spend lots of time listening to their stories.
Michael giving a box of water bottles to Miyuki. We have become great friends and we always visit her when we go to this area. This photo was taken in front of the house that is used as a dorm for the fishermen that work for her husband. They own a fishing company and lost all ships except for one. They ordered new ships right after the tsunami, but they haven’t received any. They live in the temporary housing right now and would like to build a new house. However, the town officials have told them that they would not be able to rebuild on the previous site. Now they have to wait until the government finds land on higher ground. Please pray that this process will go quickly so that people can start rebuilding their new homes.
This is a photo of a little boy whose mother left the family after the disaster. They still don’t know where she is. He was happy and smiling as usual, but we know he misses his mom. Please continue to pray for him and his grandparents who take care of him.
Many of you have been praying for this sweet girl, Miyabi. She lost her father and grandfather in the tsunami, and she recently lost another grandfather from cancer. Needless to say, she has gone through more than we can imagine. You may not know that she is hurting because she has the cutest smile and is so talkative, but when we visited her this time, I found her looking at Michael as he was holding Luke, and she looked sad. We know she misses her dad so much and wants him back. Her tender heart is still hurt from her loss. There may not be much that we can do for her, but we will continue to pray for God’s comfort and we commit ourselves to do what we can to love on her and her mother. We invited her and her mom to stay with us for a few days to spend some time with us, and they said YES! We can’t wait! Please pray for Miyabi and also for her mom, Emi. I gave her one of my favorite books by Ayako Miura (Japanese Christian author) and she loved the book. She is learning more about Him!
You may have heard or seen on the news that Japan has done a great job cleaning and rebuilding in the disaster areas, and that’s true in some ways. However, if you drive around, you see these…
There is a LONG way to go. That’s why we still need your prayer and support! Thank you for remembering Japan and its people.
The past two months have been so exciting. We’ve been very busy. Thank you everyone who help make our ministry possible. Your messages of encouragement, prayer, and support have sustained and energized us during our hard times, long nights of preparations, and as we continue to serve beside the Japanese and volunteer teams.
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Last December, we stopped in Hawaii on our way from the mainland to speak at the church that sent a mission team to Japan last year. During our stay, we were invited to meet people from another church who were interested in coming to Japan as volunteers. When we met them, we could tell that they all had a huge heart for Japan and Japanese people. We shared about our ministries and needs of people in the disaster areas. We kept in touch, and they decided to come to Japan!
It was such a blessing to serve with them the last two weeks. They did such a great job with the preparations and we were all amazed by all the things they brought for people in this area. More than anything, we were so blessed by their willingness to serve God and His people.
Here are some highlights of our time with them:
Visiting Sendai Kita Baptist Church.
Barbeque Fellowship at Yoshioka Mission Church.
Distributing flyers for our event at one of the temporary housings.
Visiting one of the kindergartens in the disaster area. Out of 220 students, more than 140 of them were affected by the tsunami.
They sang some English, Hawaiian, and Japanese songs.
Giving a gift from Hawaii to all students and teachers. Hawaiians are SO generous!
Luke was a big helper!
They were so happy!
First temporary housing we visited.
Doing craft activities. These girls were precious!
At the second temporary housing we visited in Oshika Peninsula.
They loved spam musubi (Hawaiian food)!
Look at these beautiful leis they made.
We delivered fresh fruit to people in the temporary housings.
We worked with these wonderful missionaries. We have learned so much from them!
The perfect time to see cherry blossoms!
Lynne’s beautiful hula at the third temporary housing we visited.
They enjoyed hula dance.
Guys talking to people outside while ladies led the craft activities.
These ladies seemed to have a great time making all kinds of stuff!
Fellowship with the community choir (non believers) at our church.
The next few photos are from the Hawaiian Festival. We decided to host a fun event for the kids (and their families) in the community. Even though our area did not get much damage from the earthquake, many kids went through a difficult time due to continuous aftershocks and radiation threat. All the kids seemed to have an awesome time!
In the beginning of this event, the kids in our English class did a presentation in front of their parents. They did a great job and we are so proud of them!
Everyone enjoyed their songs!
Hula time!
Frog race!
Fishing game! We were happy that Luke caught some American snacks!
Golf!
All the cool prizes.
Enjoying Hawaiian food such as teri burgers and spam musubi. The Hawaii team brought SO MANY cookies and other homemade desserts. Of course, they were a great hit!
Group photo after the worship service on Sunday.
Church-wide picnic after the morning service. We all enjoyed singing together. We are ready for Luke to learn how to play the Ukulele!!!
Luke had fun playing with all the girls!
Last night in Miyagi. We had a delicious meal and shared about our experiences. We were touched by their stories and desire to continue being involved.
This photo of Masa and Luke makes us smile! We are SO thankful that everyone loved on Luke the entire time. It gave us some break from holding/chasing him! Luke was thrilled that he got lots of attention. He is blessed to have many Hawaiian grandpas and grandmas!
Last group photo. We were so sad to see them leave. We thank God for such a great team!
As you can see, they did SO MUCH! They touched and changed countless lives. We have already heard lots of positive responses from the people they had met. Many of them asked when the Hawaii team would come back! We look forward to hosting more teams. Not only the Hawaii team encouraged many people in the disaster area, but they also blessed us! Hawaii has become a very special place for us. They invited us to their churches in Hawaii and we hope to visit them soon!
A big thank you to all the team members for sharing God’s love in so many amazing ways! We miss you!
We are so happy to let you all know that we have a new sister in Christ! One of the young girls, Maria (Mary in Japanese), was baptized on Easter Sunday. After the Christmas Service last December, she told our pastor that she wanted to be baptized and she has been in the preparation class.
If you have been reading our blog for a while, you may recognize her sweet face. After the earthquake/tsunami, we asked you all to pray for her and her family. Her dad is in the Japanese Defense Army and was gone for a while. It really affected her and her family, but we know God heard your prayers and protected this family.
In Japan, a person who will be baptized shares his/her testimony before being baptized. Maria’s testimony was very touching. Her honest desire to follow God reminded us of the importance of being like children.
After her baptism, we all had a celebration lunch with her. It was such a sweet time of fellowship.
Please pray for our new sister in Christ. Also, pray for others in our church that may be thinking about becoming a Christ follower!
