Shirley: NIV English-Japanese Bibles

They are finally listed on Amazon! Just so you know, you might want to pick up a copy of this particular bible from Amazon before you, the JMT-VBS group, comes to Japan in August. It is a totally useful tool that I doubt you will regret purchasing if Japan Missions is where your heart is. Here is the link:

Bilingual NIV English-Japanese Bible

These are the English-Japanese bibles we have been giving, yes, GIVING, our children in Sunday School, basically 10,000 yen a pop. At NBF, we figured what better use of our resources than to put a copy of this bible in each and every child's hands, investing in his or her spiritual future, and the future of the Christian church in Japan! The kids are given a chance to earn one by memorizing 20 scriptures and the Lord's prayer in English and Japanese. Strangely enough, it is hard to get a NIV version of the bible in English with the newer "Shinkaiyaku Seisho" version in Japanese.

We have already given out 8. This month, 5 new children asked me specifically if they could earn one too. Needless to say, we were overjoyed to hear such a request. We are prayerfully trying to raise the 50,000 yen to give these 5 new kids their new bibles with covers by the end of August.

I have also been trying very hard to beg, borrow, and just short of steal, free Gideon bibles that were once printed in English-NIV and Japanese-Shinkaiyaku. These are very, very precious and useful copies, and quite frankly, the ONLY ones anyone can use to teach English. The older Gideon bibles used New King James and an even older version of the Japanese bible, so they are pretty useless for ministry in this day and age, quite frankly. If anyone knows how we can get our hands on several cases of these specific Gideon bibles (NIV English, Shinkaiyaku Japanese), please let us know. So many missionaries here are looking for them and are not able to find them or refused them because they are missionaries and not business people. We do know for a fact that they exist and pray the Lord would help us find a way to get some for NBF and other missionary friends of ours who use them to teach English to support themselves and their ministries.

Thank you from Tom

I just wanted to thank all of you for making this year’s Japan Mission Trip possible through your prayers and financial support. I am really excited because I have more invested in this year’s trip as co-leader. My fellow co-leader, Janis, has been a God send by keeping me on track and handling all the administrative matters (one of my many weak points) and much much more. The Japan Mission Team has spent countless hours putting everything together for a great Vacation Bible School for Tokorozawa Megumi Church in Higashi (East) Tokorozawa, Japan, July 28-August1 and the Nokendai Bible Fellowship in Yokosuka, Japan, August 3-7. Our theme this year centers around a summer camp call "SonRock Kids Camp." Our study will deal with the Disciple Peter's relationship with Jesus and how Jesus changed Peter's and our lives.
We have been blessed with extremely talented people who are using their gifts and talents to make the mission a success. I am extremely proud of our youngest members of our team for their dedication, hard work and youthful enthusiasm. They did an exceptional job on the You-Tube video of our VBS Songs.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=82BB140ECCCA8803
Also I will get to use my PE teaching experience by doing some of my PE activities with the Japanese children. I am really looking forward to this. I’ve tried to pick activities that the Japanese children may not be as familiar with such as sport fishing, American Football and Ultimate Frisbee.
Well, that’s all I have for you now. Keep checking this blog for the latest news and again thank you so much for making this all happen.
In Christ’s Name,
Tom Higashi東

Janis - Check out YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=82BB140ECCCA8803

Thanks Tim, Matt & Vincy!