We are getting all the feels of spring – warmer weather, trees budding, flowers blooming and the end of the 2022 school year immediately following two weeks later, the start of 2023 school year!
For our CASA Ministry, this means transitioning older kids out of CASA into weekly English lessons for the first time and accepting new 1st graders in CASA. Our CASA ministry has allowed us to build into our local community kids from 1st grade to 6th grade. We are now looking into creating a future Jr High/High School ministry possibly partnering with YoungLife or with HiBA (or High School Born Againers) next year.
SINCE THE NEW YEAR
Celebrating Birthdays
January 21st we celebrated Chloe’s 9th birthday and March 4th we celebrated Ethan’s 7th birthday. They now have had more birthdays in Japan than the U.S. Chloe will be starting 4th grade and Ethan will be starting 2nd grade in April!
Visitors from the U.S.
In January we welcomed guests from our home church in the Greater Cincinnati Area that came to learn, serve, and encourage our church. Having this opportunity to fellowship was such a blessing for our family, our church and the community we serve! It was extra special having my dear brother and mentor of nearly 10 years, walking along side me in this journey since 2014 and has committed the last 5 years to our monthly scheduled calls since our family arrived in Japan, in our country and in our home engaged with all the people he has heard about and prayed over. How special it was. And to have one of our long time partners that has loved us and supported us over the last 5 plus years be with us on the day-to-day life in Japan was priceless for us and a huge boost for our community! We are grateful beyond compare!
New Bible Study
A few weeks back we launched a new bible study that has been so much fun and meaningful for us and the ladies involved. The questions that come from people who have never heard God’s Story or read the bible (heck never seen a bible) are so refreshing and simple. This experience really shines a light on my early days as a believer and how complicated and convoluted we, as the Church of today have become.
ON THE HORIZON
Home Church DIY Renovations
Our home, used daily for ministry functions, weekend gatherings and seasonal events, is in need of updating to accommodate our growing community, reduce energy costs and overall increase functionality for family living and hosting our friends. Over spring break, we will start with redoing some of the floors adding insulation and vapor barrier to reduce moisture and help with temperature control.
Run Japan Preparations Underway
With the recent covid pandemic and a couple of prolonged injuries I had to put off this adventure. Well NO MORE. Mid-August the journey begins from the northern most tip of Hokkaido to the southern most tip of Kagoshima covering the length of Japan to promote the advocacy of a long-standing epidemic in Japan – LONELINESS leading to extreme isolation and suicide, the leading cause of death across many age demographics. It will take more than money and programs to fight this epidemic and that is where, we the church come in – relationship, what God created us for!
Summer Adventure Camp
We have had great success with past summer camps and we are excited as we prepare for this year’s camp to be held July 31 – August 4th! Our camps are designed to help our kids recognize God for the very first time through His Creation – and – experience the love of Jesus through interaction with our church community. It is amazing how many of our kids have never experienced the mountains or the ocean even though we have easy access to both here in Kagoshima. One of the main challenges we have had with previous camps is the number of kids we can invite. Why? A limited number of volunteers. With more volunteers, we can reach more kids in turn reaching more families in our community to see God and experience Jesus! Read below for our solution!
Japan Mission Trip Opportunity (Limited to 10 people 18 and over)
With the current yen rate in favor of travelers from the U.S., now is a good time to travel to Japan!
We would like to get a response from those that would consider a mission trip to Japan at the end of July to first part of August 2023. (Estimated travel date range: July 26th – August 7th) The scope of this trip will involve engaging with kids in our community through our Summer Adventure Camp where we introduce God’s Story of Creation with some offsite activities like climbing Mt. Kaimon, swimming at the beach and visiting the local zoo! This will be the FIRST EXPERIENCE on many levels for our local community kids – interacting with God’s Story in a tangible, meaningful way, spending their days with you hearing and using a language other than their own and for some having you as a guest in their home while in Kagoshima. Yes, you would get the rare experience of life inside a Japanese home. We are estimating the total trip to be $3,500***.
*** = We will set up a designated donation page where you can invite people to join you on this mission with a tax-deductible donation to help pay for or offset mission costs.
Included in this trip:
- Roundtrip airfare from CVG
- Lodging in Tokyo and Kagoshima
- All meals in Kagoshima (Sightseeing in Tokyo, meals are mostly on your own aim to accommodate various food options and desires)
You have a unique opportunity in being a Kingdom ambassador in the country of Japan as there is very little opportunity for the Japanese to experience the love of Jesus simply because their culture (absent of hope) and lifestyle (full of obligation) does not embrace the kind of relationship that Jesus offers. You can help us by connecting with as many kids (and their families) in our community as possible to set them up for relationship with a growing community of Christ-followers! Let us know NO LATER THAN March 31st if you are willing to strongly consider coming in August to Change the World in Japan! We will immediately follow up with more details beginning April 1st.
Praise & Prayer Request
We have witnessed spiritual growth in ourselves, our kids and many in our church family. We also have been blessed with so many relationships and opportunities to expose the one true God and the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus. We praise God for his favor upon us and we are grateful for all of you that encourage us, pray for us and many of you who invest in our mission changing the world in Japan!
We ask that you pray for many in our church family that are battling depression and loneliness whether personally or with a family member. The stories we have been entrusted with and some we get to personally walk through this hard time with them. We also ask that you pray for more wisdom, endurance and patience as we run hard this year.
We are grateful for you and we pray blessings over you! If there are specific ways we can be praying for you, please drop us a line!