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Thankful for Opportunities to Serve

Language school remains our primary ministry assignment during this time, and that means that I’ve been spending most of my time studying Japanese. Since the joining the group lessons in October my class schedule has shifted from the afternoons to the mornings. On a typical day I’ll ride my bike 15 minutes to get to school by 8:45am when class starts, and spend the next 4 hours in class. After that I’ll eat lunch at school (sometimes Tomo and Titus come to join me if they’re free), and then spend the rest of the afternoon at school studying, till 5pm. I have my second Japanese Language Proficiency Test on December 1. I’ll be taking the N4 level test, which is the second of 5 (N1 being the most difficult). My goal is to pass at least N2 by the end of language study, which is commonly what missions organizations expect missionaries to be at before beginning full-time ministry assignment.

We have a Thanksgiving themed English Cafe on Friday 11/29, where I’ll be giving a short talk about Thanksgiving in America. Tomo has is building a friendship with a young, non-Christian mother who attended the last two English Cafe’s with her family (her son is 1 years old). This past week the lady came to a church event to bake pound cakes to be served to people living in temporary housing on the coast as part of Tomo’s parent’s ministry to the survivors. Please be praying for this family, that as they get to know people us and people at our church, that they would be drawn to our Savior.

Please also keep Tomo’s mother in prayer. She has been struggling with a chronic lung condition that has become very severe over the last year. She was starting to do better, but then got a cold that forced her to check into the hospital for the third time this year. She has now gone down to Tokyo (about 6 hours south of where she lives) to see a specialist and will likely be in a hospital in Tokyo for a month. Please pray for healing, and for physical, emotional and spiritual strength through all of this.

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English Cafes at the University

English Cafe at Iwate University

Wednesday I entered a Japanese speech contest for Japanese language students, where I was significantly behind all the other contestants, who all had studied for anywhere from 14 months to 3 years, compared to my 6 months. I didn’t do as badly as I feared, but I didn’t really do that great either.

When I was 14 my parents made me join a Jr. Toastmaster’s club, which I hated. The first few speeches I gave in English I was a nervous wreck and sputtered through on memory alone. But in the long run it was probably one of the most beneficial things I ever did, and after a year or so I pretty much got over all fear of public speaking. Over the years I went on to give speeches in college, lead Bible Studies and preach sermons. I thought I was getting pretty good at public speaking. But this first speech in Japanese reminded me of the first speeches I gave in English, and I realize that in many ways, I’m starting all over again. It’s a humbling thought, but by God’s grace I’ll one day be able to preach again in a language that those around me can understand.

Tomorrow I’ll get a little break from Japanese, as I’ll be helping out at an English language outreach at Iwate University. English is required in Japanese schools, so frequently Japanese students look for ways to sharpen their English skills. There is a very small Christian club on campus, the founding member of which is a student that started attending out church this past April. There’s a school festival on campus tomorrow, and the Christian club will be hosting two English Cafes, where our family, and our neighbors, (who are also missionaries at our church, from the UK) will help out at.

This Christian club was in operation a few years ago, however all the members graduated and there were no other Christians left at the school to take it over, so it disbanded. Our prayer is that through this club more students will be drawn to Christ, and that our church, which is a five minute walk from the University, will be able to effectively support and disciple them. The Cafes will be at 2:30pm Saturday and Sunday which is 10:30pm Fri. and Sat PST. If you think of it, please be praying during that time for these two events. Also, be sure to check out the video update that I shot today on campus (and watch out for the student dancing in the background before she realized I was recording.)

Last weeks missionary meeting was really nice. I think there were 11 of us who were able to make it, representing 3 countries and 7 different missions organizations. This really hammered home the sort of missions frontier that we’re serving on. No missions agency has a base of operations here, or even a large presence. As a result, missionaries from all these different denominations and agencies are coming together to support at partner with each other. There are some theological differences between many of these groups, and yet I gladly count them all as my brother’s and sisters in the Lord. Together we share a common faith in Christ, and a common hope to see Japanese come to salvation. Please pray for increased unity, and for all of us to keep in mind that we serve Christ above and before our missions agencies or denominations, and that we might continually put the needs of the body before our own agendas.

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Playing Catch Up at Language School

Language School

Fall break just ended at my language school, so I’ve been back to studying Japanese all day every day. Over the break my parents came out to visit us (or more appropriately, Titus), as well as my brother and his family who are also missionaries, serving at a nearby church. It was great to see them and we had some wonderful family times.

For the first five months here in Japan I’ve been taking one on one lessons at my language school, but the time has finally come for me to graduate from that and enter into one of the group classes that are part of the main program at the school. However as it turned out I was way ahead of one class, and pretty far behind the other. My teachers decided to put me in the more advanced class, and after having me complete my second text book on my own over fall break, have set out a plan to help me catch up by working with me after class. They told me October was going to be rough, and after a week in the class, I can safely report they were right.

I think God’s helping me to learn humility through this experience; I can think of few more ego crushing tasks than learning a new language from the ground up in a foreign country. And now on top of that, I’m at the bottom of my class, which is filled with teenagers. I find myself often asking for help from 19 year old Vietnamese kids who have been very gracious to help out the giant, old, white guy in the class. All that said, my grasp of Japanese is rapidly improving, so I trust that God is still working through all this, even as I constantly feel inadequate.

This Monday we’ll be gathering together with many other missionaries serving in Iwate. It’s been 2 and half years since the Tsunami, and so many of the missionaries who have come are at a sort of cross roads. Some are making plans to return to their homes, others are trying to figure out how to stay, and still others, like us, have only recently arrived and are making plans to be here for the long haul. It will be a great time of fellowship, and, I pray, a time of further relationship building and a time for God to clarify our long term role here in Iwate.

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Summer Newsletter

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It’s been over five months since we moved to Japan to begin a new life as long term missionaries. We are living in Iwate, one of the three prefectures devastated by the 2011 Tsunami. Our long term goal is to help plant new churches among the cities that were affected. But to start we’re living in Morioka, the capital inland city where David is studying Japanese, and together we’re building relationships with the churches and ministers serving in the area as we prepare for the next step in this journey. Click here to download the newsletter.

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American English Cafe

Thanks for praying for last Friday’s American English Cafe! We had a really good turn out with three or four non-Christians showing up, along with a good number of people from church. We played games in English, sang the Star Spangled Banner (I made the unfortunate mistake of downloading an instrumental version to sing along too, which meant I more or less had to sing a solo…), and I gave two short presentations in English. The first was a little slideshow about American culture, and the second was a short gospel message from John 4 (the woman at the well). The gospel message was translated (and if you’re interested, you can read it here ).

Since arriving this was my first opportunity to share the gospel in Japan. My language ability is still a ways away from being able to explain it in Japanese, but Pastor Kondo provided an excellent translation. Sometimes in the midst of intense language study every day it’s easy to start to forget why we’re here, so it was a real blessing to be able to take a night off from Japanese study and getting the chance to share Christ with some people who do not (yet) have a relationship with Him. Please be in prayer for those who attended, that God would draw them to Himself. This is the fourth English Cafe we’ve done this year, the first three were hosted by a British short term team who did an amazing job, two of the girls who came to this last one had also attended the previous ones. It’s awesome to see how God uses the work of short term missionaries even after they return home. That’s a huge reason that we’re here in Iwate, as so many short term workers have been used by Godd
to open many doors for the gospel in this area.

One of our friends here, a young man named Micah, has been serving in this area for the last two years, but is now getting ready to return to his home church in a neighboring prefecture to become it’s new pastor . He’s had a huge impact on the lives of many people on the coast, and everyone is going to miss him. But this is how God is working here in Iwate. So many believers dropped everything and put their lives on hold to come to meet the desperate and immediate needs of Tsunami survivors on the coast. In the mean time God began preparing others to serve long term and carry on the work of those who were first on the ground. Still, after meeting these amazing people it’s hard to imagine being able to fill their shoes.

Please also keep the Bay family in prayer. I met Stephen Bay through a mutual friend back in California. He’s from Irvine, and also had a calling to go to Iwate, so we got to know each other a bit in SoCal as we both prepared to move here. He is in Tokyo at the moment, but recently secured a place to live in Ofunato (one of the coastal cities that we visit frequently) for his first two year term in Japan. He and his family also intend to be here long term and will be moving here in October.

Currently I’m on fall “break” from language school (it’s a year round system here, so we get short breaks every season, no long Summer breaks). I say “break” half jokingly because I’m self studying to try to get caught up to the more advanced class I’ll be joining in about a week and a half. I have a ton of homework in addition to preparing for a speech contest in a few more weeks.

Also, my parents came to visit. My dad left yesterday after staying a week, but my mom is going to be here for another week and a half. They’ve had a great time with their three grand kids, and it’s been encouraging to hang out with them for a little bit as well.

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support! Everyday I think about how grateful we are to all of you, and how I just wish I had better ways of expressing that gratitude. But Lord willing we’ll have chances to see you in person from time to time, and if not, then it’ll be a sweet time in heaven to share about all that God did through your partnership here in Japan!