Last day

Today was our last full day in Japan. In the morning we had breakfast and the Luke and Ruth did some reading with dad while I colored pictures for a church lesson about Christmas. The kids went off to school and I did more coloring. We had lunch and then Mr. DeVerna, dad and I went to pass out tracts. We did a lot of walking and saw a lot of spiders and in the end we passed out 60 tracts. We got home and had a snack and for dinner we had miso soup and rice.

Camp and Iruma Church

Today Mr. Knox, Dad, and I all went to help work on the Izu's church in Iruma. Mr. Knox picked us up at around 8:30 and we drove to the camp. We helped put away some futons that had been cleaned, and took some others back to the van. We also swept the floor of the boys cabin and folded up the mats. Then we drove to Iruma. We got there and looked around. Mr. Knox and dad noticed one of the beams on the front of the church was rotten and we decided to replace the whole thing. We drove to a big store called D2 and looked for wood. We couldn't find any that was the same thickness/width/length so we ended up getting far less wide pieces that were the right thickness. Once we got back to the church, Mrs. Izu had prepared food so we ate that. Last week I had talked to her and told her that I like chicken and apple pie so the lunch had chicken and she baked us an apple pie! It was very delicious. When we were done we got back to work. There was sawing and nailing and climbing on the roof. Pastor Izu got back to the church while we were still working and he helped us. We also painted the beam, and made a post for a little fence and painted the fence. It started to rain a little bit before we were finished so most of the painting was actually done in the rain! When we were done we went to english class for lower elementary school kids. It was very similar to the other english class we helped with, and lots of fun. 

Undokai and Church

The past couple of days have been pretty exciting.  On Saturday, we experienced Undokai.  It was fantastic timing because something like this only occurs 1x/year.  Basically, the Japanese pre-school puts on an event where the kids demonstrate various skills like running, tug-of-war, shooting balls into baskets, shooting balls at something that looked like a piñata but was plastic and loosely held together with tape and when opened it unrolled a flag with a bunch of confetti.  The day went from about 9am until 3pm with an hour for lunch.  Luke ended up spending the first part of the morning with John Knox at a local school where John teaches english.  Luke met the principal and vice-principal and setup a color matching game in order to teach kids from the elementary school some english.  Back at Undokai, during lunch, everyone sat on their mats (no shoes) and quietly ate together while some soft music played.  It was all ages and it was a really neat picture of this community coming together.  Also, they would bring in all different family members to play games at various times so it was a real family event.  We met the principal, vice-principal (a professing Christian), and the charirman of the school who spoke english very well.  We are writing this at the end of Sunday and we got back from church about an hour ago.  Church started at 10:30 and about 30 members were there.  They have all been so inviting of us being there.  We sang some hymns (in Japanese), read Scripture (in Japanese), and then Dave gave his testimony (in english while John, the pastor, translated).  After that, the children were dismissed for a lesson which Dave went back to help while Luke stayed in the service.  It was the opposite strategy last week.  After service we shared a delicious meal together of chicken cutlets, beans, rice, squash and noodles.  Staying together was very enjoyable.  Luke woke up not feeling well so he did not share his testimony in the morning, but there was another service in the evening which he did along with Dave.  At the second service there were more worship songs to sing but this was a service where everyone was speaking english.  Sharing what Christ has been doing in and through us is a blessing and we are thankful to have that opportunity.  We have some more things to do this evening, but will leave you with some pictures today.  Enjoy, God bless you, and thank you for your prayers.  Luke and Dave

Tokyo and More

Here's what we have been up to the past several days:

1. Thanks for praying about the DeVerna's daughter.  She was released from the hospital and that was an answer to prayer.  Now she is crawling all over the place and has big smiles for everyone.  Also great to have Karen here as everyone missed her.

2. We took a trip to the Peony Walk mall a few days ago.  We were able to pick up some necessities, have some lunch (Dave had a boat load of bread and Luke has some delicious Sushi).  Later that night was prayer service at the church.  We actually walked all the way to the church on our own without getting lost!

3. Thursday was Tokyo and we were gone for 13 hours.  The train system is well orchestrated, but confusing.  Luke and I were happy to follow Daniel's lead and he didn't disappoint and we didn't lose him ;)  We ventured up 46 floors in the Tokyo Metro Govt Building and the views were great.  We saw a sign for purchasing 'Great Japan Stuff' in the souvenier shop but didn't purchase anything.  Next was the NS Building up 25 floors.  There was an amazing huge Seiko Watch that was about 4 floors in height and powered by water that we saw.  We ended up eating at Subway and Daniel ate a shrimp sub while look and I had something more normal ;)  We went to the Edo museum from there to understand a bit more of Japanese history and was not disappointed.  The travel home was long and the trains were packed, but we did make it.

4. Beautiful day today with the DeVerna family.  We really enjoy being with them. Tonight we went out to eat dinner at an udon place with the Knoxes and William and Lena(?). After eating we went to the church and played some ping pong which was really fun. 

Camp clean up

Today we finished cleaning up the camp. We took down a big tarp and brought the futon to the Knox's. Then, later in the day we helped out with English class for Ayumi, Cecilia, Marcos, and Maya. 

Camp prep day two

Yesterday Mr. Knox picked dad and I up and drove us to the camp. We did some final preparations with the sleeping arrangements and food, I didn't take any pictures but we finished pretty quickly. We also went to the Knox's church and got some grape soda from a vending machine. Then we headed back to the deverna's where we stayed for the rest of the day. For dinner we had some yakisoba which are noodles.

Our First Day

We had a very productive first day in Japan.  We still have bit of jet lag and were up in the middle of the night which really was like afternoon back home.  The combination of excitement about being here along with a long flight and bus trip to the DeVerna's house made our bodies feel weird.  We woke up yesterday morning a little after 6am, I think, and got acquainted with Daniel, Karen and their children Malachi, Luke, Ruth, and baby Hannah.  After a filling breakfast and a little play time, we were off to the grocery store to pickup some lunch.  We would need this as we were spending the day to prep for camp.  This is another location where about 30 kids will spend overnight Sunday and all day Monday as part of the DeVerna's church.  The pastor of the church is John Knox and we picked him up on our way.  Once we arrived at camp we mowed the lawn, weed whacked, cleaned, and built a level area to pitch a tent.  We didn't eat anything too unusual, but did enjoy a green tea kit kat or two, some pocket (kind of like a chocolate covered pretzel stick), and a persimmon (tasted like a canteloupe. Luke had a peanut butter sandwich and I had a salad.  The other interesting thing is that this is the season for spiders and not just small ones. I never saw spiders or webs as big as we almost ran into in my life.  So, we picked up some bamboo to clear the walking paths.  At the end of the day, we checked out a waterfall as a nice oasis.  The mountains were beautiful as well.  When we got back home, we pretty much were about to fall asleep.  We ended up calling it a night before 8pm.  We are ready for a new day.  As you are reading this, please pray for the DeVerna family as they have some illness and particularly little Hannah as she has been having a fever and not able to keep things down.  Please pray for our family while we are away. God bless you!

Toronto

A view of Lake Ontario 

Next stop.. Sakado

Here we are at the airport with bus tickets purchased. We went through customs, exchanged currency, picked up a beverage, and got in touch with our friends. We will be at the DeVerna's by 10pm local time which is 9am on the East Coast. So far so good. Thankful to God for answered prayer arriving safe!  We also saw our good friend Steve M. as he waited for his flight coming back to the U.S. What are the chances? God is good!

Arrived At Logan

We got to Logan at and checked our bags! Right now we're just chillin until about 9 when we'll go through security and wait for our flight.

Countdown to Japan - 10 Days

Hi Everyone!  We posted back in June that our flight was secured for October and the plans were in motion.  We had 90% of our support in at that point.  Luke and I could not possibly be any more excited about our trip to Japan in 10 days.  Thank you all for praying for us and thank you for your generosity which has allowed us to reach our goal.  We have 100% of our support in!  We are so blessed.

We have been in communication with our missionaries and have a schedule in place now.  We would appreciate prayer each day as you follow along.  Here's a peak at our schedule:

Oct. 9, Thursday - We land in Japan via Air Canada in the afternoon.  It will be a long flight.  Oddly enough, I just spoke with a good friend who has a business trip and may be in the airport at the same time! Amazing!  Once we are in the airport, we will have to find the right bus to get us where we need to go.  We are not exactly sure how that will work out, but our hope is that we won't miss the bus!  We will arrive at our final destination late.

Oct. 10, Friday - Work at camp. 

Oct. 11, Saturday - Work at camp

Oct. 12, Sunday - Morning service and Camp Night

Oct. 13, Monday - Camp

Oct. 14, Tuesday - Help with English Class

Oct. 15, Wednesday - Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting

Oct. 16, Thursday - Tokyo trip

Oct. 17, Friday - Pass out tracts and English class announcements

Oct. 18, Saturday - Field Day for children

Oct. 19, Sunday - Sunday services (Luke and Dave will give their testimonies in both AM and PM services)

Oct. 20, Monday - Work at Camp and help with English Class

Oct. 21, Tuesday - Pass out tracts and English class announcements

Oct. 22, Wednesday - This is our last day in Japan.  We will head back to the states late in the day.  We think we will be back in CT late that night.

So there you have it!  We hope to keep you up-to-date while we are out there.  God bless you!

Dave and Luke

Leaving on a Jet Plan

It has been a few months since our last post.  Some of you have been asking whether we were still going on a trip in light of Cheryl's treatment schedule.  The answer is "yes" and the time is getting closer.  It seemed like we had already been searching regularly for the best fares that would suit our budget.  We were especially attentive to the flight time and duration of the flight.  We are pleased to report that the search is over and we have purchased the tickets!  We will be leaving for Japan in October, departing out of Boston, stopping in Toronto, and then boarding Air Canada.  It will take about 16 hours to get to Japan and approximately 15 hours to get back home. Bottom line is that we feel glorious and free and thank you for your support as we have over 90 percent in.  Thanks for being part of something so special!  God bless you!  Luke and Dave

Big, Strong God

We have been wanting to post for about a week something so encouraging to us and could not let another day go by.  You have praying along with us for the support necessary to bring Luke and I over to Japan to serve.  Back in February we reached half of our support and we are so excited to share at having received 89% as of today!  That, in and of itself, is good news, but there is more to the story that is developing.  A significant part of our expenses is airfare so I recently left a voice message with an airline company to see if they would help us in any way.  This should not be seen as a chance or a whim, but rather as an opportunity to see a big God work in big ways.  I left a message explaining that I was a local pastor planning a missions trip with my son to Japan in the fall.  The very next day someone from the airlines called me back!  They asked about us and what we were trying to do.  They promised to follow-up and see about connecting us to the appropriate area.  As of today, they did follow-up with their promise and we reached out to ask some of our supporters to pray for favor to receive as much help as God wanted us to have.  So, we leave this in the hands of our big, strong God who we know is moved by prayer and we are encouraged to see His great work each day.  We will let you know what happens so stay tuned!

Good News (ii nyuusu)

Things have been progressing quite nicely so far. We have confirmed with the DeVernas that the dates of October 8-22, 2014 are now definite! While this is exciting for us, we have seen God's goodness through so many of you by receiving half of our support already! This has placed us in a position to now look for the best deals on securing flights.  We will keep a close eye on this to be good stewards of what has been invested in us.

Have you ever noticed or heard about stories where things start to go 'wrong' when you make a decision to follow Jesus where He wants you to go?  Well, we have begun to see some opposition to our efforts.  We would very much appreciate if you would pray specifically that...

1. we would be strong in His strength
2. we would be courageous to do as He directs
3. we would be prepared to understand, as best as we can, the language and culture of the Japanese
4. we would receive all the support we need
5. we would not be discouraged in the midst of opposition
6. we would be thankful in all circumstances

God bless you and thank you for your prayers!  We certainly want to be pre-prayed as my good friend Brett would encourage each of us to do.

Dave and Luke

Amazed

It has been a couple weeks since our prayer and support letter has been sent out and we have already received over 25% of our support.  Luke's birthday was yesterday and he received many letters showing support and excitement for the upcoming trip.  Dave received a text a week ago from a long-time friend who was so enthusiastic for us he wrote out a check on the spot.  Luke and I knew that this God-sized opportunity would allow for Him to get all the glory as we followed Him on this missions trip.  There is no way we could ever, on our own, be able to do this.  Once we receive half of our support we will purchase tickets for the flight.  Recently, the airlines just dropped their price and God knows the timing of what we need. So, we thank you and we thank our Savior for showing us generosity in ways we could not have imagined.

Open Hands

Wow!  We just realized it has been a little while since our last post so we have a few updates.  First, thanks to all of you who have been just as excited as we are about the trip.  You have asked us questions, agreed to pray, and have been an encouragement.  By now, you may have received our support letter and have taken a look at the blog for the first time.  This is our central communication to you about what we are doing, how we are preparing, and anything else we want to talk about.  Here's something interesting that happened just yesterday.  Luke and I were talking about Prov 3:9-10 and read a blog entry about it from a guy by the name of Dale McIntire.  Towards the end of the entry he said "I learned that to honor the Lord with wealth means more than simply tithing or spending wisely, though those are both included. Honoring the Lord with our wealth means living with open hands (and by extension, open wallets and checkbooks and bank accounts and stock portfolios and home equities and everything else), so that the One to whom it all belongs may place in our hands or take from them as he pleases, for his glory."  It was a beautiful perspective.  We prayed last night along these lines and about preparing the hearts of the Japanese people as we seek to serve.  This was interesting timing to think and pray about these things.  Interesting because when I came home today, my neighbor called me and said she received our letter. She went on to say that they found it very interesting and are looking to have their church support us.  God truly does even more than we can ask or imagine.  I love that about Him.  Keep praying as there is more to come.