This year we had another great team from Hawaii come to Sendai. As always, they were an encouragement to everyone they met. They loved on our boys and we were truly blessed by all the team members. We hosted another Hawaiian Festival at our church and several new faces came to win prizes, sing songs, make leis, eat spam musubi, fellowship, and more importantly, to hear about God’s love. The faces of the people in Ishinomaki were lifted as many rekindled friendships from two years ago. Everyone was deeply moved by the team’s testimony. Thank you again to First Baptist Church of Pearl City and Waialae Baptist Church for sending these messengers of God’s love.
We are hosting a mission team from Hawaii this week and next week. They are from Waialae Baptist Church and FBC Pearl City. Eight people are coming and seven of them were here two years ago. We are excited to have them back again! They will be serving at local churches and in the disaster area. The following is the prayer calendar that the team has made for this trip. We appreciate your prayers as they minister to so many people! We also want to ask you to pray for extra strength for us and our boys!
May 1: Pray for safe travel to Sendai, second ministry area.
May 2: Pray for missionaries Michael and Yu Towery at Taitomi Church. Pray for the mothers and children as the team interacts with them. Most of them do not come from Christian backgrounds.
May 3 Pray for the Hawaiian Festival community outreach to families around Taitomi Church. Pray for good weather, a great turnout and the opportunity for the team to share the Gospel.
May 4 Pray for the Sunday Worship time at Taitomi Church. Pray for the work that missionaries Tony and Marsha Woods are involved with in Ishinomaki and for the English Bible Study and worship at Sendai Baptist Church. Pray for Lynne as she shares her testimony.
May 5 Pray for those involved with the Nozomi Project. Pray for people still living in temporary housing in Oshika. Pray for Miyuki and her daughter.
May 6: Pray for the people in the temporary housing in Ishinomaki. Pray for the team’s sensitivity to the people as they listen to the residents’ stories and as they minister through music, games, and crafts.
May 7: Pray for the Tokyo Baptist Church ministry in rest home in Ishinomaki with Tony and Marsha Woods. Pray for safe travel back to Sendai.
May 8 Pray for missionaries Tony and Marsha Woods and Michael and Yu Towery and their ongoing work in Japan.
May 9 Pray for the team’s safe return home and the ongoing work in Japan.
Thank you in advance for your prayers! Looking forward to sharing the photos and stories!
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!
Thanks to the generous gifts from many of you, we have been able to continue delivering supplies to the people in Oshika Peninsula.
Getting cookies, coffee, soaps, wipes, books, coloring books, and lots of meat!
More bug spray!
We delivered a special machine that heats water in a bathtub! They were SO happy to be able to take a hot bath!
Strong men!
One of the community leaders who will be delivering bug spray to each family in Kyubunhama.
This flag says “Kyubunhama will not give up!” This is a fisherman’s town.
If you were in Japan and met someone who lost everything- I mean everything (family, house, job, and all the belongings), what would you say to that person? This is a question that we ask ourselves whenever we visit those tsunami-hit areas. We have been visiting them a lot since we came back to Japan, but it never gets easy. These small towns are a lot cleaner compared to three months ago, and many of them are moving from the temporary shelters (elementary school, town hall, local community center, etc.) to the temporary housing that the government has built. They are trying to move on, but they are still hurting. When they move to the temporary housing, they are on their own. They don’t receive food or supplies from the government anymore. And with no jobs available one can only imagine what a difficult time this is. In fact, when there was a big earthquake in Kobe in 1995, many people died in those temporary houses. Many of them died alone, victims of ‘kodokushi’ (lonely death), who only got noticed well after their death.
This is why we can’t stop visiting them. We want them to know that they are loved and cared for. More than anything, we want them to feel the love of Christ. So please don’t stop praying. We know your prayers will make a difference in their lives.
I know I am posting this late, but I wanted to take time to write about my favorite dads. I am so thankful to have them in my life and I know Luke feels the same way!
I have been so blessed to be raised by a godly father. He is a great example of a father who loves God, family, and others around him. He is busy with his job on weekdays but takes time to come see us and help us in the evenings. On Saturdays, he drives for 3 hours (one way) to Oshika Peninsula to help those who lost homes due to the tsunami. I have been amazed to see how much he does for them. And on Sundays, he is pretty busy at church. I am not trying to brag, but I have a great dad. He takes care of Luke when we minister to young people and we can’t do it without his help! I thank God for giving me my dad.
This year was Michael’s first Father’s Day! Luke (and I) made a gift for him and he loved it! We are grateful for everything he does for us and for others. He has been a great dad ever since Luke was born and Luke LOVES playing with his daddy! I am always touched by his heart for Japanese people. He has been going to the tsunami-hit areas almost every week to help people there. Last Saturday, he went there with other church members and helped cleanup a destroyed home. As you can imagine, it is a dirty job. But he hasn’t complained about getting dirty. When he came home, he was happy to report that the owner of the house was so happy to find some of their important documents that were under all the mud. With his limited Japanese, he is trying so hard to get to know these people. Luke and I are so proud of him! We pray God will continue to give him strength and wisdom as he shares His love with those who are hopeless.
