A few pictures!

Tadaima

I'm home! That's what Tadaima means. I'm back safe and sound and am pretty much feeling delirious at this point. (I hope I can drive home from work safely.) Now to find my bags...they're still lost in space somewhere.

Can't wait to update you on my last several days in Japan. They were busy, full, and very satisfying. God answered much prayer and I'm excited about what's next. He's good!

And maybe I'll finally get to upload my pictures. But first,sleep...I need sleep.

A lesson on ministry

Konbanwa! Good evening! I just got home from a great dinner with my dear friends Masami and Masaji Nakayama. I had Udon (my dad's favorite noodle soup) with red miso, which is a famous dish to this area of Nagoya, Japan. If you look at a map, you can find the city of Nagoya about halfway in between Tokyo and Osaka. It's kinda in a mountainous area, so it's very beautiful! And the leaves are changing, it's chilly outside....how nice to experience seasons!

The last couple of days have been very full. On Monday, I spent about 4 hours singing karaoke! :) I had lunch with my J-Girls and we went to karaoke to hang out for the afternoon. Then I had dinner with Ayako Soneda and she wanted to go to karaoke, too. I loved it! Ayako is a sister in Christ about my age from Oyumino Christ Church. We never got to know each other when I lived there, but had such a great time together Monday night. Pray for God to continue to encourage and woo her heart daily to His!

I awoke at about 6:40am on Tuesday to an earthquake! Earthquakes are pretty common here, but this one swayed my fourth-floor hotel room pretty strongly. It was quite a shake.

Tuesday I had lunch with some Chiba University girls, hung out with a friend in the afternoon, and went to Bible Impact at Midoridai Church. One of the most striking things the Lord showed me yesterday was through meeting a new Japanese friend at church named Jackie (her American nickname). She spent 6 months in Washington state about 7 years ago to study English. She lived with other Americans in a house, and one of her good girlfriends was a Christian. Maybe this was a ministry house? Not sure. I'm also not sure about this, but can imagine her friends simply loved on Jackie and shared their lives with her without seeing much spiritual interest from her. Seven years later, however, Jackie is back in church, seeking the Lord, embracing the gospel, and is preparing for baptism in December. Praise God! Another lost sheep has come home. It may be a long process, but God is faithful! He knows His children by name, even though they may not know His name yet. This is a lesson for me to never underestimate the little ways I can share His grace and love, even if I see little immediate fruit. God is good...all the time.

That's it for now. Tomorrow is a full day of meetings with the MTW missionary team here, so I better go. Hope all is well in O-Town. Beracah girls - I miss you!

now to Part 2...

Hey there! I'm in an internet cafe in the airport just sending you a quick update. The CPI team is getting checked in and they leave in about 3 hours to head home. I'm here to see them off, activate my rail pass, and thus begins "part 2" of my grand November adventure in Japan. :) Last week was very good --- hard, like usual, but very good. Our team worked very hard during the week to care for crying babies, execute an awesome vacation bible school-like program for the kids, run the powerpoint and video for the main session, set-up rooms for training sessions, and hang out with the youth MKs. I'm so proud of the long hours they gave to serving our missionaries in Japan! We celebrated yesterday with a day of fun in Tokyo, although some of them were too tired to enjoy it, I think. I was digging it! For those of you who have been here and would like to hear it -- I went to Harajuku and feasted on Yakiniku for lunch (yum! are you jealous?), took a bus tour of the Imperial Gardens, Business district, Government district, and Ginza, and shopped in Odaiba with Reiko and Kie. And the evening ended with some pericula, of course. :)

A final prayer request for our team: safe travels home, sure, but do pray that God would continue to move in their hearts as they reflect and share about their trip. May the connection of their service this week (holding babies?) to the greater church-planting and missionary efforts in Japan serve to fuel a greater love for our Lord and His Kingdom in their lives! Pray that God would continue to call many back to serve Him here.

And....Part 2! I've got several meetings planned these next 3 days in Chiba, and a few more to finalize. You can pray for these:
1) Good, quality time with Ai-chan. We've been roommates for a week, but we've been working so hard that we haven't seen much of each other. Pray for rest for our souls and that we may encourage each other this week. She just moved to Chiba, so it can get lonely.
2) Time with the J-Girls -- Mayuko, Reiko, and Kie. Reiko and Kie have spend much time in Orlando the last year. Remember them? Pray for our times together and that we would have good spiritual discussions.
3) Bible Impact Tuesday night. This is a Bible time for the Impact Student Ministry at Chiba University. Christian and nonChristian students come. I worked with this ministry before.
4) Time with the missionary kids (high school aged girls) here and in Nagoya.
5) Time with two Christian girls about my age from Oyumino Christ Church (my home church here). Pray for mutual encouragement and good heart connection.

...and this is just in Chiba! I'll be here through Tuesday night, leave Wednesday morning for Nagoya for 2 days, then Karuizawa for 2 days, then back to Chiba one day and head home on Sunday, November 20.

Thanks for praying! I'm feeling much better - almost back to 100%. God is good! More later--HUGS!

Feeling better!

Hi folks - just a quick note here. I'm feeling much better! Thanks for praying for my recovery. Tomorrow is the last day of the conference so pray that it will end well and the participants will leave refreshed in their own hearts and in their ministries. Pray for a solid final time with the youth. I've felt like some of them have really connected with the leader and with each other.

A few more thoughts....JDawg for Mayor in Wyoming! Jackie Chan, have a great time in Turkey. I'll be praying for you and Scott and families. Maybe in 6 months the MOB team will all move overseas. (But NOT YET, Lauri!) :) Fleminator....what kind of school do you go to? Tell them to unlock my blog! Great video, by the way.

Next stop tonight: OFURO. That's the public bath. :) Sooooooo relaxing.....

Quick Update

I’m writing this as there is a lull in the registration line. It’s almost 2pm on Tuesday afternoon and the conference is just about to begin. Wow! It’s been a good morning! But let me back up…

“Aa megumi! Hakari shire ne megumi

Aa megumi! Ware ni sae o yoberi.”

Grace, grace, God’s grace

Grace that is greater than all my sin

…So we sang together – myself and my Japanese friends, my co-laborers in the gospel, my brothers and sisters in Christ – on Sunday morning. How beautiful to sing this gospel together! Worship at my home church was invigorating and delightful. I loved being with that part of my family again and joining them before the Lord. Can you imagine that joy?

Oyumino Christ Church is fast approaching their one year anniversary in a new facility - this was my first time there and it is beautiful! God has been so good. The old chapel served as a multi-functional site for years for the church and missionary team, but space became tight as worship attendance grew. I was here for most of the process several summers ago of seeing God unexpectedly provide land and finances for the church to build their own facility. I could say so much more about that….but the simple fact is that it was a joy to be with this maturing body of Christ and rejoice with them at how God has been moving in Oyumino and the greater Chiba area.

On Sunday evening, we met for a team meeting with all 60 members for the first time! We are quite a group! Monday included travel to the conference site and set-up for the week. The Children’s rooms look great and since our conference really takes over the whole hotel, the team has made it look very inviting.

I’m back to registration now….but I have much more to share!

Mie Prefecture: Inabe city: 43,000 people with no church, no work among them. Would you pray with me for this city?

Listen, this has been an exciting day. I’ve made some wonderful contacts and God has encouraged me in so many ways. I happened to sit next to the director of a language school in Northern Japan at breakfast and we had a great conversation. (For you PIONEERS people reading this, that’s where the Hoisingtons are going to study.) During registration, I sat next to a lady working with the Christians in Art Network seeking to support the worship community in Japan (ethnomusicology). Networking!

But the best thing was when a copy of the latest edition of Operation Japan prayer guide was placed in my hands. As I flipped through the book, I was moved by reading about Mie Prefecture (like a county), an area with few workers, and a specific prayer request for Inabe City within Mie Prefecture. As I kept reading, I came across a page highlighting the 10 largest cities in Japan with no church. And what was included? Inabe City! (as THE largest) This city was formed in 2003 by combining four cities, none of which had any church.

I will pray for God to build his church there. And I will pray for more workers. Would you pray with me? And would you pray that God would show me whether I may be one of those workers? As soon as I read these things, I called my friend Ai over to my table. I showed her the pages and shared what I was thinking. Do you know where Ai is from? Mie Prefecture! And next week, she and I were planning to travel down to that area. Now we hope to make a stop in Inabe City and prayer walk. Pray that God would make a way for this and prepare my heart. I don’t need an answer now, but it’s exciting to begin thinking this way. We’ll be headed that way next Wednesday and Thursday.

Calling all pray-ers! Friends, I’m feeling terrible. I awoke on Tuesday with a sore throat and my nose was stopped up by the evening. I slept well last night, but quickly lost all that energy by mid-morning. I struggled until the afternoon, stole away for a nap, then slept right through dinner to awake only feeling worse. My team leader took one look at me and said I had to go back to bed. But I hate this! I hate being “out of commission” and missing meals and appointment times I wanted to spend with people. Pray for my quick recovery, please. I’m in pretty sad shape right now.

I really think it’s this dingy old hotel. The Japanese don’t quite “resort” like Americans do, so this hotel looks like it hasn’t been updated in 40 years. Anyhow, it’s very cold and musty and I think it’s been the cause of many sicknesses on our team. I suppose this is one of the costs of serving here this week. No one had a problem until we arrived, but at least 15 of us have been running to the “team mom” who carries a medicine cabinet on her back. We need you, Dr. Lu! Where are those Z-packs you gave us last year!

Please lift us up for healing. Pray that I would sleep well tonight (your Tues. daytime), awake refreshed tomorrow, and in the meantime be a good steward of what time and energy I have.

Okay, I’m off to the coffee house because the evening youth program is about to begin. By the way, it was a HUGE hit last night! It looks smashing and the kids love hanging out in there. I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow. For all that shopping and packing and crafting, it was well worth it. I can’t wait to show you all who helped me dream that place up!

Goodnight!

Home again...

I'm home!! Oh, it's so fun to be here. We had a huge welcome at the airport with several of my former teammates and their children. All the kids have gotten taller and are looking so grown up! Moving 60 people through immigration, customs, money exchange, and then on the trains took a few hours, but we traveled to Chiba (which is where I used to live) and got some yummy Japanese dinner. Now it's about 7:00am for you East Coasters on Saturday morning and I'm about to head for bed (9pm). Just wanted to say hello. Thanks for reading this and taking an interest in my life. I love the comments...keep 'em coming! James, I laughed out loud in this politely quiet little hotel lobby at your message. I promise I'll recruit for Pioneers. :)

Feeling blessed,
Becky

22 hours and counting...

Whoa. I'm leaving tomorrow morning. As I finally crawled into bed early this morning, my body was screaming, "what are you doing?" I think I've stressed it out! My mind goes much faster than my body (how old am I?) and now I'm feeling the strain. The last 3 weeks have been full of brainstorming, planning, designing, list-making, shopping, driving, packing, repacking, and about 10,000 emails and phone calls in between. There are still endless details to attend to in these next several hours. It would not be surprising to me to finally get to the conference and suddenly get sick. Please pray for my strength!

Here are a few other prayer requests:
-Team travel: all 60 arriving safely and intact
-For our hearts to rest in Jesus (especially mine!), and not in our ability to get things done
-For a true spirit of servanthood among the team
-For God to call at least 10 from this group to catch the vision of church planting in Japan and return longer-term (especially pray for this to begin during our first weekend worshipping in various churches)

Thanks for going with me!