4th Day VBS

Morning Everyone, or should I say Good Night? Most of you should be getting up or on your way to work as I right this. I'm getting ready for bed as it is about 11:30pm here in Japan. Today was another wonderful day in Tachikawa. It started out with Tony and I making breakfast for our homestays (Yuki and Mika), they're a recently married couple about our age. They have a cute apartment about 15 min train ride from the church. They are very kind and laid back. We get along very well and spend lots of time talking when we have time. We made them eggs, sausage, raisin toast, coffee and peaches.

We got to the church around 8:45am this morning and began prepping for the day. Isaiah, Tony, Albert and I practiced our skit of where the three of us are trying to get Isaiah up for breakfast and after throwing stuff at him, ringing bells, dumping water on his face the only thing that woke him up was his really quiet alarm clock. The kids seemed to really like it. Most of our VBS attendees are really young so we try to do silent skits that have over exaggerations to make them laugh. So far it's worked pretty well. We sang some more songs and then played pictionary. My team finally won! I was really proud of them as we've struggled winning games since my kids are so young! But it's amazing to see them speak in two different languages when they're still learning to talk and write! It's amazing.

After that we had English lessons where I played an alphabet and number game of taking cards and placing them around the room for the kids to find when I ask them to find "H" or "2". It seemed to work out well because it forces them to listen for the English pronunciation and then allows for it to be fun as they look around the room for it. Then we had snack (fortune cookies with Bible verses in side and popcorn) before moving onto story time. Today the kids learned about Jonah and the Whale and even did a skit where they put a Jonah and Whale scene together. Check out the pics!

Tony and I spent a good part of the day getting ready for tomorrow. I worked on coleslaw for our American lunch tomorrow with the kids while Tony worked on baking cakes for his baking class on Saturday. We spent a few hours running around to different stores looking for all the ingredients needed for baking. We are so blessed in America to have everything readily available to us. Japan is in the midst of a butter shortage right now and dairy products are REALLY expensive. Apparently with the rise of corn/feed costs Japanese farmers had to resort to killing dairy cows for meat to save on expenses and as a result less butter is being produced hence a rise in price. It's about $4 for every 1/4 lb so for us Americans that means our normal 1 lb "small" box of butter would cost about $16. Generally prepared food in Tokyo is relatively cheap but basic supplies/baking goods and spices/ingredients tend to be pricey. So we spent a few hours doing that and picking up a few souvenirs.

Then once we finished prepping stuff for tomorrow we headed back to Yuki and Mika's via the train. Everything went well til we got to their town where Tony and I exited the train station on the south side instead of the north and we wandered around like the Israelites in the "wilderness" looking for something familiar to find our way to their house. It's weird in Japan because most streets aren't named or instead referred to by numbers in some sort of elaborate grid system so it's really confusing. Most people travel by landmarks which as we all know have the potential to change. After walking around for about 30 min looking for our normal 15 min walk route we decided to dial Yuki up on his cell via a pay phone. In the end it all worked our as he knew where we were after my description of our surroundings and helped us get back. We ended up at their home later than expected but they had an elaborate, traditional Japanese dinner prepared for us! It was wonderful. Check out the dishes in the pictures. One dish was potatoey with beef, then there was fish from Hokaido, rise, fermented soy beans, tomatoes and other dishes. It was very good.

Tomorrow is our last day of VBS which will be a sad time as it's been great hanging with these kids and interacting with their mothers. We'll be teaching the story of Christ walking on water with Peter's attempt thereafter and Sensei will also give the Gospel message to them. Then we'll have our American lunch as well as doing a back pack craft. We'll fill you all in tomorrow night on how everything goes.

Thanks to all of you our there reading and praying.
Jiyamatane (see you later)
Frank

3rd Day VBS

Today was our third day of VBS and our lesson for today was David & Goliath as part of our continuous theme of God's faithfulness. As usual we played games with them and gave English lessons. We have more younger kids this year when compared to past years so we're gearing all of our activities and games to a younger crowd. This may be due to the fact that a lot of the elementary schools are doing summer swim programs right now.

The kids show up around 9:30am when VBS starts. A good majority of them are accompanied by their mothers because they're so young. This is good as it gives the moms opportunities to practice their English along with seeing the ministries the church offeries. We do songs and games from 9:30-10. We've been singing songs like "Father Abraham", "If You're Happy and You Know It", "ABC's", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a few others. All are geared toward teaching the kids basic words in English. Then from 10-10:30 we do English lessons with the kids. I have the largest class with about 6-8 little ones each day in addition to 4-5 mothers. Albert has about 2-3 kiddos, Isaiah 1-2 and Tony none. Tony's been really busy prepping the snacks/lunches, and an upcoming cake baking class this weekend for church members. 10:30-11 is snack time along with a Bible story. The Bible story time is where we (usually Isaiah) gives a brief description of a Bible story that reveals God's faithfulness. So far we've done Noah's Ark, Daniel in the Lion's Den and David and Goliath. Then from 11-11:30 we have craft time. Check out the attached pictures to see what the kiddos are working on.

Today during snack/craft time Tony prepared Red Velvet cupcakes for all the kids, moms and workers. Everyone LOVED the cupcakes and he went around to each table with sprinkles so the kids good decorate their own. Tony's creativity has been a great hit with the kids and moms. Tomorrow he's going to start baking cakes for his Saturday class along with beginning to make preparations for our American Lunch we're going to do for the kids on Friday (hot dogs, coleslaw and chips).

All four of us have had a great time teaching and sharing with these kids and their moms. It's neat to see how God worked it out this year to have more little kids than usual, but it seems to be working well. I've been using a puppet Giraffe whom I've named "G-san" G because of the first letter of Giraffe and "san" because that's how people are referred to when called by name. The kids love him as I teach them the Alphabet, Colors and numbers.

Please pray for us as we realize time is beginning to catch up with us and there's a lot we want to do. Many people from the church would like to have us over for dinner or to just hang out but our evenings and days are filling up fast between VBS prep and English lessons as well. Pray for Tony as he's basically got to do baking from Thurs-Sat to prep for his cake class. The church's new oven is really nice but it's tiny (about the size of two toaster oven stacked on top of one another) and all the buttons are in Japanese! I think he's getting the hang of it though.

Also pray for Albert as he leaves on Friday night to visit his Aunt in Northern Japan who has a Watermelon farm. He's going to spend time with her and work with her at the farm from Friday until about 8/13 when he returns with Isaiah. Pray for Isaiah as he has lots of Enligsh lessons scheduled over the next few days (so much so that I'll be taking a couple for him as well). Tony, Albert and I have decided that the students probably like Isaiah because he's always got so much to say which makes him a good nativce speaker to listen too. ;-)

Thanks again everyone for your prayers. Hope you enjoy the pictures! It's time for bed so I'll say "oyasuminasai" (good night)

-Frank

First 2 Days of VBS

Hello everyone! Ohio Minasan!

Well its about 6pm Tuesday evening and we've now completed 2 days of VBS. Our theme is the Faithfullness of God. The first day our lesson was Noah's Ark and our second day was Daniel in the Lions Den, both emphasizing God's faithfullness to His faithful.

The day begins with Songs and Takahashi Sensei rockin' out on the quitar. We sing children's hymns such as Father Abraham, Jesus loves the little children, etc... and other English songs such as twinkle little star and the ABC song.

This is then followed by games and a funny skit. After, the children are divided into age groups and English levels, and then are dispersed into English classes each led by one of us.

Next, we have snack, which is usually followed by a song to get the kids' energy levels down after they just ate, then Isaiah teaches the lesson for the day.

Craft time is next. Or crafts always correspond to the lesson of the day. So Monday we made foam cut out scenes of Noah's Ark, they came out great and today we made foam cut out scenes of Daniel in the Lions Den. We have been averaging more younger kids this year, but they are so smart. It is amazing how much English our 3 & 4 year olds know already!

Anyway all is going well, the Lord has been continually blessing us with about 15 kids each day, plus many mother's who join us which is really great, because they get to participate and hear the lesson for the day.

Takahashi Sensei treated us to lunch today at a Japanese/Indian restaurant. It was a great time of fellowship with Sense, being that between our busy schedules with the teaching and his busy schedule we don't get to spend a lot of time with him.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. we'll put up more pictures soon. Gotta run to catch the train as Frank and I are headed to a new home stay family tonight.

Please pray for continued strength for all of us and that we would continue to be faithful witnesses to the Japanese.
Also pray that more children would join us and those that are with us will take to heart the lessons learned.

Church3:5-11

Today was our first church service since we've arrived in Japan. Pastor Takahashi preached on Colossians 3:5-11 and discussed living as a Christian in a society of idolatry. Not only amidst the idolatry of lust, greed, etc but also within an idolatrous culture that's rooted in Shintoism and Budhism. It was a very encouraging time and the church family said goodbye to a young family that is moving to Seattle for the father's work at Microsoft. In addition a missionary family from Hong Kong was visitng and an American exchange student is coming back home to America as well. So after the service they had a lunceon with the whole church to celebrate the goodbyes and welcoming of us.

The church also had a cleaning day today so the four of us helped scrubed windows and tidy up different areas of the church. While the rest of the congregration spread out over the four story building to make sure the church looked it's best for the rest of the summer. The handyman of the church installed a new (large) gas rice cooker along with a new stove top and soon to some stove for Tony to use this week at VBS to make cup cakes.

We're getting ready to teach tomorrow morning at VBS both English and Bible lessons. We have to be pretty flexible since we don't know how many kids will be showing up in addition to what age groups. Albert and I worked on writing out songs and making the crafts for the week as Tony, Isaiah and Yoshie went to Costco to get the supplies for snacks each day at VBS. So we're feel relatively ready for the week but ask for your prayers as we get all our ducks in a row each day this week.

Then Kanadasan, one of the handymans at the church took all of us, including the pastor's daughters and friends out to dinner tonight. We had a long table with two griddles on it where we cooked, beef, seafood and veggies together into patties with eggs, soy sauce, noodles and different broths to create a really good traditional Japanese dinner. We all had a great time together eating and practicing Japanese.

Thank you all for you thoughts and prayers.

2nd Day Here

Well we made it in yesterday, Friday the 25th safe and sound. The flight was a bit bumpy, but not surprising being that we've flown in at the cusp of the typhoon season. We actually didn't get to Tachikawa until almost 11pm Friday night, so we were quite tired when we arrived and didn't have time or the energy to update the blog. So we're doing it now.

It is so great to be back and reminisce with our Japanese friends. Also it has been fun showing Frank everything, he hasn't been to Japan in 10 years, so he is seeing many changes. Even I have as well, so much more English everywhere. Most of the trains now repeat everything in English right after the Japanese is said.

Our first full day began at the church where Isaiah had an Enlgish lesson with an adult lady inquiring about English conversation. Then Albert, Frank and I went to the Post Office to get some Yen that we could use for purchases where credit cards aren't accepted. The three of us went to a local bakery called Crown Bakery right down the block from the church where we picked up savory and sweet bread/pastries along with iced coffees. It's been in the high 80's with lots of humidy so iced anything has been the norm.

We then met up with Yoshie (Senei's wife) at the church for a meeting to discuss the VBS schedule. We went over song ideas, english lessons, bible stories, crafts and the overall schedule for next week. VBS starts on Monday. We've each volunteered for a different age group when it comes to separating the kids up for English lessons. Frank is going to teach the little ones (2-4 y/o), Albert the 5-8 y/o, Isaiah the middle schoolers and I'll teach the high schoolers. After working out our schedule for next week we went to lunch with Yoshie at Coffee and Curry a local coffee shop down the street with wonerful homecooked Japanese food with an Indian infusion.

Then we spent most of the evening at the Hannabi Festival (firework festival). It was on and off rain so the festival almost got canceled but us along with about 50,000 people (not joking) went to a local park to watch the fireworks. They were pretty amazing. Similar to fireworks in the States but coriagraphed in such a way that they worked well for the show. It was 1.5 hours long! Then after we walked for a bit back to the church, hopped on a train and are now at our homestay...Bruce Harris a Send International missionary who's letting us stay in his home. His wife and three grown children work at a local camp so it allows for us (all four) to stay here and not really bother them.

Tomorrow will be our first day back at church during a service. It should be great seeing old friends and reconnecting with everyone. We'll have church, sunday school, a fellowship meal, cleaning day, trip to costco and prep for VBS tomorrow...so it will be a packed day. Please pray for all of us that we would have discernment in preparing our lessons for next week along with a flare of creativity to help make our English/Bible lessons enjoyable and rewarding to the kids.

We'll have more to update soon. Thanks everyone!

2 Days to Go!

Whelp Frank and I leave in 2 days for Japan. We fly out on Thursday at 2:30pm and will arrive in Japan on Friday the 25th around 6pm.

VBS starts on Monday the 28th so we're only going to have Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the week long program that ends on August 1st.

From the Sounds of it the Takahashi's are extremely busy being that their middle daughter Maki just got married here in the States to a friend who is a missionary for Send International in Japan. On top of that their eldest son Wakagi just announced his engagement and the youngest daughter just announced her engagement, so all their children will have been married in the same year!

So they have been quite busy. Yoshie Takahashi works two jobs as a Professional translator and a Japanese teaching teacher for Send International. Takahashi Sensei as well is extremely busy as Pastor of his congregation and all the other responsibilities of running a church.

By God's grace the trip and team of four has come together nicely. We look forward to what the Lord has in store for us when we arrive.

I would ask if you could pray for the following;

1. For safe travels for Frank and I as we embark on Thursday afternoon.
2. For preparations for VBS and for our homestay situation as it is still coming together.
3. Please pray that Jesus Christ will be glorified in all that we do and that seeds will be planted in the unbelieving hearts of the children and parents who attend our VBS program: "The Faithfulnees of God"
4. Also please pray that we would be lights in a dark country and an encouragement to the Japanese church in Tachikawa.
5. And that we would be a blessing to the Takahashi family.

Thank you again everyone for your support in prayers and monetarily! God bless and continue to check for updates, as we will be updating it daily while we are there.

-Tony

18 Days & Counting!!!

Hello Everyone, It's been a while I know but it is finally official, Isaiah, Albert, Frank and I are returning to Japan this summer (Frank being the newbie) to help Tachikawa Christ Church in front of the Station. Takahashi Sensei and his wife Yoshie reside in the city of Tachikawa outside of Tokyo.

Takahashi Sensei is the pastor of the church and every summer the church has an outreach ministry to the children of the surrounding communities. This ministry is a week long VBS that is planned and implemented by American Summer Workers (aka; us). VBS runs from July 28th - August 1st.

Isaiah and Albert are leaving July 16th and will be in and out of Japan and Korea for business, through the middle to late August. In addition, they will be there to help with VBS and an English camp later on. Frank and I leave July 24th from the states and will be there through the 5th of August mainly to minister to the church and help with VBS.

The proposed VBS is going to focus on the Faithfulness of God. Children from throughout the communities will come to learn English from native speakers. Our goal is to take this opportunity to teach these children basic English and grammar while simultaneously introducing the gospel to them through Biblical stories.

Less then 1% of the 125 million Japanese are Christians and many have not heard the Gospel before and those that may have, see Jesus as another deity they can add to their pantheon of Shinto and Buddhist gods.

Please pray that God will use all of us as good stewards
Please pray that the Lord will open the hearts of the Japanese people to His gospel.
Please pray that we would be a God honoring ministry to the Tachikawa church and Takahashi family.
Please pray for safe travels for all of us.

-Tony