This has been an exciting year. This year’s youth retreat included. Last year the youth retreat was canceled for obvious reasons. It was a real let down for Michael because of the chance to meet the youth in our area. This year we had 25 attending the retreat. Many of the youth participated in the worship services by playing instruments. I was a good time of fellowship and for many a breath of fresh air. This being spring break, many of the students were exhausted from the winter semester. It doesn’t matter where you are, students studying to be doctors and engineers have a lot on their plate. We are thankful they were able to unwind and share their hearts with us. Many have a sincere heart for their fellow youth. Thank you to everyone that continues to pray for our ministry. We are glad that many of those who attended are no believers but are eager to get to know the Jesus Way. As we continue our efforts please pray for them while we reach out to them.
Worship:
Sharing Time:
Breakfast:
New Friends:
We look forward to keeping in touch with everyone. Thank you for your continued prayers for these precious young people in Japan!
As I checked our draft box, I realized that I had not published some of the posts. I know it is late but I wanted to publish before 2012 comes! Here are some updates on our ministry in the fall.
We took our youth group to go bowling. Many of you have been praying for these two sisters on the right. They lost their grandparents in the tsunami and have been having a difficult time. It was great to see their smile again.
We took them to Michael’s favorite restaurant. Even though our group is still small, we always have so much fun together!
When we had a team from Bangkok, we hosted a youth game night. As you can see, they loved it!!!
We also wrote encouraging notes on the heating cans for people in the temporary housing. The Bangkok team delivered them and many people loved it!
This fall, we started teaching English at our church. We have been having 20-30 kids every week!
We always end our time with a short worship service. Lots of the kids are from non-Christian families. Some of them started coming to the Sunday School.
Mr. Tony taught some English praise songs! It reminded me of my childhood since he had taught me the same songs when I was a child!
The youth learned English through games, songs, and chants! It was great to see them interact with these English speakers!
We hosted the first ever fall festival at our church. Both teams from Bangkok and Hawaii helped and our FBCA family helped by sending us American candies and party supplies! Thank you all!
In the beginning, all the kids who had come to the English class performed in front of their parents.
This class learned the colors and animals. They did a great job!
Bean bag toss!
Pumpkin bowling!
Ring toss!
Fishing game!
Face painting!
Everyone enjoyed American taste such as hot dogs, chili, spam musubi (from Hawaii), popcorn, cookies, candies, and cool aids! One girl said who had a cool-aid for the first time said it tasted like “America”!!!
It was great to meet dads of the kids who come to our English class. Michael hopes to get to know them better!
Michael and the boys. We ordered these pumpkins from the northern island of Japan. The kids loved touching them!
We had a great time with everyone. God has opened so many doors for us to meet and minister to the youth and kids in our community. We look forward to building relationships and sharing God’s love with them and their families.
(I wrote this before the earthquake but saved it so that Michael could read it before posting it. Sorry I am posting this late.)
Our baby boy is two months old! Time goes by so fast! It has been the best two months of our lives! He has been such a good baby and we can’t ask for more! God is opening many doors for us through Luke. I have met many moms and I am enjoying getting to know them. I had lunch with two of them and we are hoping to meet more often. I am so thankful that God is giving me many opportunities to share the gospel with them. I was also asked to be a part of “Mom’s Time” at our church. It is a weekly ministry for moms at church that my mom had started years ago. I am so thankful to be a part of this wonderful ministry and I pray that God will use me to touch many lives. Many moms are lonely and hurting because their husbands work all the time and they don’t get to spend much time with them. Please pray that many of them will come to know the Lord.
