Sunday Service #2

After our first church service we visited another church for their afternoon english service.  We've now been to 4 different churches while visiting Takamatsu and they are all great.  Each church has a great pastor, loving church members, and a desire to win people to Christ.  This church Hallelujah Church & Cafe was unlike anything we've experienced so far in Japan.The pastor and his wife were very young and exciting and that's the kind of church they're building in the countryside of Japan. We had an exciting worship experience and then our neighbor preached at the service.  Our neighbor, Ito, and his family are from Takamatsu Japan but they are serving as missionaries in Myanmar (Burma).  They've returned home to Takamatsu for 3 months so his wife can give birth to their fourth child.

Ito talked about how sharing God's love is what the true heart of missions is.  He talked about how important it is we follow God's voice in life.  Ito felt God calling him to Myanmar 8 years ago and he took his wife and young family immediately.  Myanmar is bordered by China, Laos, India, Thailand and Bangladesh so it can be a difficult place to share the gospel.  He could only say the word hello in Burmsese but that hasn't stopped him from planting churches, serving the community, and reaching people for Christ.  Ito is on fire for God and fired up the church with a passionate plea for missionaries throughout the world.

Here are some pics from our second service last Sunday:



The worship reminded us of our YWAM Kona worship times.



Children's church

Every worship song included a dance by the kids.  It was awesome to see the kids so involved in the "adult worship  time."  It's great to involve the kids because it brings enthusiasm  and a child like faith to the worship service.



This is the pastor @ Hallelujah church



 

This is the missionary Ito and his family.  Very inspiring to see the whole family sold out for Christ.

Darian playing with some of the kids from the church.  When they saw Americans they immediately started giving us the peace sign and didn't stop the whole time.  I'm sure they've seen it in an American movie.

More peace signs!

Darian and Jaidan playing with their friends.

The church had an a cool cafe that was really chill.  The people enjoy hanging out and fellowshiping with each other after church.  They also have an English school at church taught by the white guy (Dan) in the background.  He's from Seattle and he's serving in Japan as a missionary with his wife and kids.  Lots of great people! 

Sunday Service #1

We had a great time of worship and fellowship this last week at the Takamatsu Bible Church.  Our team gets a chance to share a testimony each week and this week our man Dave got a chance to share what God's done in his life.  We also had a nice lunch and a time of fellowship with the members of Takamatsu Bible.  Here's some pictures from Sunday:

Jaidan greets 2 friends at church, Mami and Pailin.

Dave shares his testimony to the church.

Yuka translates for Dave.

Tina teaches the kids during children's church service.

Ryan praying with the kids.

This is the Takamatsu Bible Church worship team.  We can recognize all the songs and the tunes of the worship song even though they are singing in Japanese. 

Jackie Ray finishes her project during childrens church.

Serving @ the Takamatsu Christian Center

We had a chance to clean up at the Christian Center in town yesterday.  The center got some flooding after from the typhoon that passed by us on Tuesday.  The center was started by Ralph and Stella Cox.  They are missionaries that have served Japan for the past 55 years!  They felt God leading them to Takamatsu and they had a vision of starting 100 churches.  Talk about dreaming big!  To date they have started 80 churches on the island and saw thousands of Japanese people come to Christ.  Ralph passed away recently but his wife Stella is carrying on the mission.

They center has a library/bookstore, sanctuary w/ a baptistry, housing for missionaries, banquet area, and English school.  The center is used as a hub for the Cox's minsitry.  They have been able to plant the 80 churches by using the center as the first meeting site.  Once they have enough people meeting at the Christian center they plant a church and move the people their, then they start all over.  It's a very efficient model that's proved effective.

DY & Tina stay on the 5th floor of the center and have been able to connect and encourage the missionaries and ministry team there.  They've been able to join and teach English classes, share Christ w/ the students, and get our team involved with the ministry.  Here's some pictures of the Christian center and our team cleaning  it up:

Worshipping at the Christian Center.  Mrs. Cox is at the front right in the pink dress.  She preached the first service we attended at the center.  It was an honor to hear someone with such a strong background in missions speak.

Outside the Christian Center & Bookstore

David getting his cleaning weapon ready

Maggie & Jaidan have fun cleaning the stairs

Tina & David clean the building entryway.

Vacuuming the sanctuary

Chris inspects the kids work on the stairs

Tina doing...uh...something

Me and DY try to figure out how to use the steamer and mop

That's not how you use it!

Not sure what to write in this caption

Jonni and I reviewing our work

Dave explains cleaning 101 to the kids.

Ruth captures the moment

Ruth's Here!!!!!!

Ruth arrived last night and our team feels complete now.  Ruth brings personality, skills, and experience that only she can bring.  We are a stronger team with her and we are a more dangerous team for God with her around.  Here's some pics of her arrival:

Ruth & Jess laugh about Ruth's travel  story.  It's scary to travel alone and our team prayed for her a lot the last few days.  For some reason Ruth and her family felt like she should wait a day before flying out because of some weather and scheduling issues.  They felt like God was saying 'just wait and leave tomorrow'.  After wondering why God wanted her to wait until the next day, she got on the plane to find several family friends that could help her get from Hawaii to Japan.  Coincidence?  No way, we know God too well and know that He had it planned that way.  Once arriving in Japan, she got on a bus to find 2 US military members to help her figure out exactly where to go.  As a team, we've been here for almost 3 weeks, we've rode lots of trains and buses and have yet to see a military person! God put those people on that particular bus to help Ruth get here safely.  Praise God!

We got a chance to pray over Ruth and welcome her



It's great to hear Ruth's laugh again!



Typhoon Tuesday

We had an extra day off yesterday becasue we were rained in.  We were under a typhoon warning all day.  Except for hard rain and some strong winds it was pretty uneventful for 2 of our 3 homes.  DY & Tina's place at the Christian center flooded so they spent a night with some other missionaries close by.  The typhoon itself missed Takamatsu so we are back on schedule today.  Just finished up some worship and a great devotion from our brother Josh.

Jazz at The Speak Low Cafe

Last night we enjoyed some Jazz music at our new friends cafe here in Takamatsu.  It was open mic night and we heard some great music and singing.  Some of our team had a chance to sing at the club.  They sung "As the deer panteth for the water" in Japanese.  The crowd loved that we joined in the fun and that we were willing to be vulnerable with them.  Hopefully we'll have some pictures of our group singing to post later.  In the meantime here's a few pics from last night.

One of the Jazz acts

Tina, DY, Tina K, and Yuka

Dave & Jess enjoying an iced coffee

Me and Jonni enjoying the music

Worship & Devotions

We are having some great daily devotions here in Japan.  We each take turns leading our worship and devotion time.  It's so encouraging to hear our teammates share what God has put on their heart and what He's doing in their lives.  Yesterday the kids we're in charge of our devotional time.  David Jr brought a great word about the Holy Spirit and the rest of the kids led us in prayer.  Here are some pictures from our prayer time:

Dave praying for Josh.

Maggie praying for Darian.

Jaidan praying for Jonni.

Tina praying for Jess.

Maggie & Darian give Jonni a word from Psalms.

Ryan prays for Chris.

DY & Tina

The Kim's were able to see their baby for the first time today.  Although DY is still praying for twins, the doctor could only see one healthy heartbeat.  As a team we are praying for them and are excited to be a part of their lives.  They are such a great Godly couple and we know they'll make great Godly parents.  Congratulations you two!  God is good!!!!!

The picture of their  10 week old, 1 inch baby!

Our Kids Put On A Play

Our kids began a series of skits about the life of Jesus.  Last night they did a play on Jesus' birth and it was amazing!  They are so creative and they showed great teamwork.  They picked out the skit, decided on the roles, designed the costumes, and memorized their lines all by themselves.  It was so great to see what great things our kids can  do.  Here's some pictures from the play:

Joseph (David Jr) and Mary (Darian) ride in on a donkey (Maggie) looking for a room for the night. 



The innkeepers (Jackie Ray & Jaidan) discuss a stable for Joseph & Mary.

                                      

An angel of the Lord (Maggie) appeared and told the wise men how they could find baby Jesus.

The wise men worship Jesus.



The cast takes a bow.