Saturday, May 29, 2004
Well, right after I made the last update the internet went down again but it looks like they have got things sorted out and I should be online more often now. We are still settling in and learning about living in Manila.
James went to the Youth on Fire meetings called "Youth Jam" last night and again today. Here is a picture - James is up front with the red and white flag on the back f his t-shirt:
He also found some new friends already and I am excited about what God is going to do in him this year as he hangs around with these guys and gets discipled.
Alishea is growing up fast too. We have an appointment at her new school on Monday for an evaluation. She'll be a 5th grader. Here she is:
Here are a few more pictures of our new home. We definitely live in metro Manila - here is the view out our window. Here is one of the uninvited guests who live with us. And here are some of the great mangos we get to have for breakfast in the mornings!
James went to the Youth on Fire meetings called "Youth Jam" last night and again today. Here is a picture - James is up front with the red and white flag on the back f his t-shirt:
He also found some new friends already and I am excited about what God is going to do in him this year as he hangs around with these guys and gets discipled.
Alishea is growing up fast too. We have an appointment at her new school on Monday for an evaluation. She'll be a 5th grader. Here she is:
Here are a few more pictures of our new home. We definitely live in metro Manila - here is the view out our window. Here is one of the uninvited guests who live with us. And here are some of the great mangos we get to have for breakfast in the mornings!
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
We finally have a working internet connection at our new apartment in Manila and this is my first post from the Philippines! It is definitely a different world here than we are used to in Japan! Yesterday the electric power was cut to our place for several hours and today we have lost our water supply (the water pump for the apartment broke). But Satomi, the kids and I are doing well and it is quite an adventure learning this new culture.
For now let me post a few pictures of the inside of our new apartment. Here is the kid's room, the kitchen, the living room, and the dining room.
And here is a picture of me trying to figure out what people are saying in the Tagalog language!
For now let me post a few pictures of the inside of our new apartment. Here is the kid's room, the kitchen, the living room, and the dining room.
And here is a picture of me trying to figure out what people are saying in the Tagalog language!
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Yesterday, God provided about one third of what we need to move into our apartment in Manila through a special financial gift from someone who is already supporting us monthly. We are continuing to receive money unexpectedly almost daily since we decided for sure that we would go. A few weeks back we needed $800 per month more of committed monthly support and that has almost entirely come in. We also need about $7000 in one-time expenses for the year and we have received over $2000 of this in just the last three weeks! Satomi says "God has given us wings to fly", and this is literally true. We bought our plane tickets this week and now he is giving us a place to land because we have a good chunk of the deposits we need to move into our apartment.
Today, Satomi's mom took us to visit her brother whom she has been praying for diligently. He has Parkenson's Disease and sometimes stays at a medical center when his wife is working. He is a retired architect and his mind is still very sharp but he has been quite depressed lately. By the Grace of God I was able to pray with him to become a Christian today! Please pray for Satomi's uncle - Mitsugi Sakakibara. I am also praying that he will be healed and that he will be able to share his new faith with his wife.
Today, Satomi's mom took us to visit her brother whom she has been praying for diligently. He has Parkenson's Disease and sometimes stays at a medical center when his wife is working. He is a retired architect and his mind is still very sharp but he has been quite depressed lately. By the Grace of God I was able to pray with him to become a Christian today! Please pray for Satomi's uncle - Mitsugi Sakakibara. I am also praying that he will be healed and that he will be able to share his new faith with his wife.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Last week was pretty much a blur of activity as we had to pack up all of our stuff in boxes and move it to Pastor Scott's attic. James was a great help with carrying the heavy loads. We finished moving everything by Thursday pm and then I attended the Men's Victory Weekend on Friday and Saturday.
Thank you for praying for that event. It was a powerful two days of breakthrough for the 20+ men who attended. We confessed, and prayed, and cut off generational curses and roots of bitterness that had held us back in the Lord. I realized that I had tried to take back control of my life and was not resting in the Holy Spirit as I should. I have repented of that pride and yielded completely to Jesus once again. Lord, help me obey You completely. I also finished reading a book called the Heavenly Man last week. In fact I am reading it again out loud to my family one chapter each morning during our devotions. This book really inspired me to obey and trust in Jesus 100%.
On Sunday we packed everything in the car and went to church in Yokohama, then after lunch we headed straight to Nagoya. It is Golden Week holiday season in Japan this week so the trip took about 6 hours instead of the usual 5 because of heavy traffic on the expressway. We arrived at Satomi's parent's house in Taketoyo at about 9:00pm.
The kids always love coming here because Grandpa and Grandma Yamada are such interesting and friendly people. Yesterday James and Grandpa Yamada went to teach a class of kids on how to make "taketombo" or toy helicopters (literally: bamboo dragonfly) in the traditional Japanese manner. Over 30 students learned how to carve the bamboo with a sharp knife while James and Grandpa Yamada demonstrated. This is the sixth year that Satomi's dad has volunteered to teach this class and this year the local T.V. station even showed up to film the event.
Satomi and I spent several hours yesterday with some friends of ours. Pastor Hino and his wife came from Nagoya to see us and tell us about his new church building. They will break ground at the end of this month assuming all the city approvals come in. He was my very first Japanese teacher when I moved to Japan 11 years ago. At that time I helped he and Pastor Archie Alderson start a church called "Hope Chapel" in a rented room in Nagoya by passing out fliers and leading songs, etc. Pastor Archie retired from the mission field a few years ago but Hino-sensei has continued to minister, sometimes in a rented room and sometimes in his home. It is very exciting to see that they are ready to build their first building - please pray for this church and the leaders there. Hino-sensei shared with me that his group is praying to get back to it's roots of evangelism and they are focusing on the youth to stir up the fire in them to desire to plant churches from town to town here in Japan. It is a new season here and all of the church groups are starting to sense it - we must look to the harvest!
Today we paid the remainder of our plane tickets to Manila. God is continuing to provide all our finances. It is a great feeling to know that we are doing what the Holy Spirit has called us to do. We are all excited about going to Manila on the 18th.
Thank you for praying for that event. It was a powerful two days of breakthrough for the 20+ men who attended. We confessed, and prayed, and cut off generational curses and roots of bitterness that had held us back in the Lord. I realized that I had tried to take back control of my life and was not resting in the Holy Spirit as I should. I have repented of that pride and yielded completely to Jesus once again. Lord, help me obey You completely. I also finished reading a book called the Heavenly Man last week. In fact I am reading it again out loud to my family one chapter each morning during our devotions. This book really inspired me to obey and trust in Jesus 100%.
On Sunday we packed everything in the car and went to church in Yokohama, then after lunch we headed straight to Nagoya. It is Golden Week holiday season in Japan this week so the trip took about 6 hours instead of the usual 5 because of heavy traffic on the expressway. We arrived at Satomi's parent's house in Taketoyo at about 9:00pm.
The kids always love coming here because Grandpa and Grandma Yamada are such interesting and friendly people. Yesterday James and Grandpa Yamada went to teach a class of kids on how to make "taketombo" or toy helicopters (literally: bamboo dragonfly) in the traditional Japanese manner. Over 30 students learned how to carve the bamboo with a sharp knife while James and Grandpa Yamada demonstrated. This is the sixth year that Satomi's dad has volunteered to teach this class and this year the local T.V. station even showed up to film the event.
Satomi and I spent several hours yesterday with some friends of ours. Pastor Hino and his wife came from Nagoya to see us and tell us about his new church building. They will break ground at the end of this month assuming all the city approvals come in. He was my very first Japanese teacher when I moved to Japan 11 years ago. At that time I helped he and Pastor Archie Alderson start a church called "Hope Chapel" in a rented room in Nagoya by passing out fliers and leading songs, etc. Pastor Archie retired from the mission field a few years ago but Hino-sensei has continued to minister, sometimes in a rented room and sometimes in his home. It is very exciting to see that they are ready to build their first building - please pray for this church and the leaders there. Hino-sensei shared with me that his group is praying to get back to it's roots of evangelism and they are focusing on the youth to stir up the fire in them to desire to plant churches from town to town here in Japan. It is a new season here and all of the church groups are starting to sense it - we must look to the harvest!
Today we paid the remainder of our plane tickets to Manila. God is continuing to provide all our finances. It is a great feeling to know that we are doing what the Holy Spirit has called us to do. We are all excited about going to Manila on the 18th.
