The H1N1 flu has finally hit our area. One of our kids from NBF has it now. He got it from a classmate's younger brother at a neighboring kindergarten where it is running rampant. One junior high school student is confirmed with it in the Yokohama area, also. Pray that it would not spread like it did in the Osaka area. Pray for the safety of the JMT as they prepare to travel to Japan.
Thanks.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Susan - Ready for Japan's heat wave
12 days until we leave for Japan. I don't know about the rest of the team members, but I'm so ready for the heat in Japan (not so much the humidity though). It's July, but it feels like Fall here in Seattle, cold enough that my finger tips turned blue.
I can't wait to see Emma, Clara, and Mimi again, I missed you guys!
I can't wait to see Emma, Clara, and Mimi again, I missed you guys!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Shirley: Already July!
I cannot believe it is already July! VBS is around the corner and I feel so unprepared.
I am posting the July 6, 2009 Oswald Chambers Devotion I read today. Very inspiring, very convicting. May we all let Him have His way with us, to shape us into His likeness...
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Visions Become Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
I am posting the July 6, 2009 Oswald Chambers Devotion I read today. Very inspiring, very convicting. May we all let Him have His way with us, to shape us into His likeness...
----------------------------------
Visions Become Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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 Higashię±
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 Higashię±
Saturday, June 20, 2009
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