On July 18, Hiroyuki and Akiko were married!  Akiko is a great example to all the single young people who want GOD to choose their husband/wife!  She is an excellent elementary school teacher, and also teaches children about God and His love at J-Kids (Sunday school).  The children love her! 

She was not impatient, but she waited for God to bring her husband to her.   Hiroyuki (an editor for a medical publishing company) believed in Jesus several months ago, and he loves God so much!  Akiko was so touched by his pure heart.  God gave Akiko a very sweet husband who loves the Lord Jesus and is very kind to her.

 On October 3, another Christian couple, Yuji and Tamiko, also promised to remain true to each other for the rest of their lives!  They wrote their vows on beautiful cards, and gave them to each other , so they can repeat their promises in years to come!  Yuji and Tamiko are both very musical, and they sang a duet, worshipping Jesus together.  Both of them are from faraway Hokkaido, (northern Japan) and they both received Jesus recently in Noborito, after they joined the Gospel Choir, and many choir members came to joyfully celebrate and worship God with them!  It’s so beautiful to see JESUS in the middle of their marriage. 

We all shed many TEARS of JOY at both of these weddings!!  All four of these precious young people have been courageous in deciding to follow Jesus, and they are the only ones in their extended families who are Christians.  May God use them to spread His love and joy to many others who don’t know God’s wonderful, amazing LOVE!!

にほんブログ村

After many years,

we are finally being able to buy a NEW BUILDING!! 

We hope many people come to know Jesus here!  It is 5 minutes’ walk from Noborito station.  We hope to be able to move in October.  Let’s pray that all will go well with the sale!

Our present location (below) is a rental, and has served us well for 12 years, downstairs being the church and the two upstairs rooms have been our home.  It is quite comfortable and homey, but it is a rental.  And when it is packed out, it holds about 50 (with some sitting on the floor).  We now have 3 meetings on Sundays, and this helps.

The new building should hold 100 (squeezed in!),  but with overflow rooms, we will probably be able to hold 200.  With multiple services, we will have room for a lot of growth.  We can also use it for English classes, Bible classes, Sunday school, etc., as well as living quarters for us and other missionaries.

We are so thankful for the BAPTISMS this summer, the GOSPEL CHOIR ministries, CHILDREN’S ministries, a visit from Tim’s brother ABE (a very successful missionary in Brazil). 

We also are thanking God so much for the excellent new MISSIONARIES God is sending to help us, and for the Japanese young people who are coming to the new youth Church–the FUSE!   Pray as we light “the Fuse” for an explosion for Jesus in Japan! 

Come and visit us.    Here are a few recent PICTURES– taken this past summer, 2009:

Our first event in the livehouse, June 28, at 11 a.m.!  A never-to-be-forgotten day!!!   Everyone was relaxed, did a great job, and we had fun with our new friends!  Thirty four people were present, and 12 of them were guests.  

The team included:  Mark, Yuiko (baby Hana was home with her Grandma),  Amy, Becky, Brad, Debbie, Hannah, Joe, Kengo,  Kotoi, Matt,  Nozomi, Tim & Christine.

God answered prayer …for Yuiko, who was sick that morning, but God helped her to lead the worship and translate for Mark who gave the message.   At the last minute, we discovered the livehouse owners didn’t have a necessary cord for the video to work, but Tim ran quickly to buy one, and God got him back just in time!  The video still would not work, but we prayed earnestly– and 5 minutes before time to start, it finally worked!! God blessed the worship band, the fun video, the message, and hanging out afterwards. 

Our next event is on Saturday, July 4–we invited another Christian group to sing.  Most of our guests are planning to come again, and others who couldn’t come on Sunday morning (because of  part-time jobs or studies) are hoping to come this Saturday.   During this week, the youth are “hanging out”,  doing fun things and deepening their friendships.

PLEASE pray for Kengo, (in green, holding little Hana) our lead guitarist, who is a new Christian since May.  He shared John 3:16 with some high school girls who came, and explained how Jesus died on the cross to save us.  He told them  how one day, he prayed earnestly for God to help him find a friend, and the very next day, he met Benjamin (who was here for half a year)!  Then Benjamin took him to a Christian livehouse, and there he believed in Jesus! 

Now he is studying his Bible and being discipled by Mark, the leader of the new church.    We are praying for Kengo, because his father was angry that he became a Christian, and it is not easy for him.  Both of the girls were happy to receive a Concise Bible, and want to come again. 

We sure appreciate Japanese Christians,  like Nozomi (brown blouse, standing on the right).  She is sooo kind and encouraging, helping us in so many ways, we can’t count. 

We are thankful for the new youth church leaders, Mark and Yuiko Blakely, and their little girl Hana!  This is the first church they are starting, and they are great leaders.  We are praying for them and for the Japanese youth!

We know that without God, we can do nothing!!  We pray before going out to invite people around the Machida train station. 

While we entertained the kids with costumes, and while Yuiko sang and the band played, all the rest of us passed out flyers inviting the young people to our first event!  

Some of the team will be leaving in a month, and we are needing more missionaries!  We need someone to play the bass guitar!  We also need more people who enjoy acting and making fun videos!

We welcome you to our house, where we sit on the floor (Japanese style), eat, share our experiences, pray, and plan….             Come and join us!!

May16 was a very happy, long-awaited day!!!   When Isaiah saw his bride coming down the aisle, he cried!  We all cried with joy so many times during the wedding and reception.  Isaiah met Erin in high school here in Japan, about 10 years ago!   (She also grew up in a missionary family here in Japan.)  Even though they were high school sweethearts, after high school they both went their separate ways,  and the Lord led them together again only recently!  We are so thankful that both of them have the same goal to serve God with their lives.  At the present, she is working as a nurse and he as a youth pastor in Los Angeles.  They have already been accepted as missionaries with Project Amazon (PAZ), and by next January, hopefully, after raising support, they plan to return to Brazil to be trained under Uncle Abe in Fortaleza in church-planting.  Eventually, they would like to take a team to Mozambique, Africa.

It was also very exciting to have  our family together for a few days before the wedding.  It was the first time for some of the 6 grandkids to see the ocean and the beach!  (Seal Beach, Los Angeles.)  The little children re-learned their aunts’ and uncles’ names, and played with their cousins again–and of course with the rest of us too!   We saw little Gracie (1) learn to walk!   We caught up with each other’s lives and ministries.  We all thank Andy for all the food he prepared and froze, and brought from their home in Colorado.  I can’t thank God enough for our precious family, spread all around the world!

From left to right: Aaron and Esther and children: Joshua (6), Christina (3), Gracie (1) with PAZ Mission in inner-city Chicago;    Tim, Erin and Isaiah, Christine;    Andy and Sarah and children: Lucas (10), Daniel (8), JoyAnna (5), with Canyon View Vineyard Church in Grand Junction, CO (their pastor Kirk Yamaguchi is a member of the PAZ Mission Board);    Josiah and Jennifer, with PAZ Mission in the Amazon, Brazil.

Erin’s parents have served for many years in Japan with the Japan Baptist Fellowship Mission.  We are very thankful Isaiah could join their close-knit family too.  God is enlarging our family, counting all the precious families he has united through our children’s marriages!

As a mom, I am overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness to His promises!!!  As Tim mentioned in his message during the wedding, God always has the BEST for us–even through the hardest of times!  He reminded us that even though losing his dad at a young age was very difficult, Isaiah has been true to God, and God has been more than faithful to him–now giving him Erin, who is also completely dedicated to serving God!  Her dad took the opportunity to also thank God for leading Erin and Isaiah together.  As a young girl, she dreamed of being a missionary for many years.  PAZ Directors Jeff and Becky Hrubik were present to have a special commissioning prayer over them, blessing them as PAZ missionaries.   May God use their marriage and lives to bring His love and hope to many suffering people!

  About 200 friends and relatives attended the wedding, some coming from far away.  It was so fun to have so many come to celebrate with us together!  Those pictured here include:  My very precious and highly admired mother,  Estelle Bunney (87), formerly a missionary to the Apache Indians in AZ.  My twin sister Emilee, my brother Loren and Joan and family– Adam, Audra, Anita, and Andrea;   PAZ directors from Brazil Jeff and Becky Hrubik, Paul and Debbie;     Brazilian pastors Risonilson and Heloisa;   and PAZ Japan and PAZ Chicago website designer, Tim James Hodel!  We know many others were with us in prayer and thought!  Thank you so much to you all!

We were so honored to have my mother, Grandma Bunney,  come to the wedding.  She rarely goes anywhere for health reasons, but because she is such a loving person, she made the difficult sacrifice to come for one day, brought by my sister Emilee from Phoenix.  We will never forget that, Mother!!  (and Emilee!)  May God bless you!!!

Now we are back in JAPAN, gearing up for our new YOUTH church plant in Tokyo at the Machida station.  While we were gone, a young man Kengo (19)  received Jesus, through the help of a short-term missionary named Ben, from Colorado.  Kengo is excited about helping our new missionaries from the USA, (some have already arrived) along with the new church pastors, Mark and Yuiko Blakely.  We are “coaching” them,  and are so thankful for such dedicated people to work with! 

Another single lady also received Jesus from the Gospel Choir!  We were so excited to get the news.  She came to my Bible study this morning, and also to Tim’s Bible study on Sunday.

The baby’s mother ReyRey was diagnosed with a very serious blood illness, and it was not advisable for her to get pregnant. But ReyRey, who is one of our Gospel choir leaders, trusted in God through many difficult days. All the church people were praying for her, and even the nonChristians were praying!

When it was time for her baby to be born, they also went through some very serious problems, and called on all of us for special prayer again. Now finally a couple months after the baby’s birth, ReyRey was able to bring her little baby to church and even to the Easter Celebration! We all are rejoicing in God’s amazing power to hear and answer prayer!!

I get so amazed, every time I watch Japanese Christians! I can remember the “before and after” they believed in Jesus, because most of them have believed recently. I remember how long it took, and how even their faces changed. Even their eyes are different.

This Easter was the first time that some of them actually believed that Jesus rose from the dead! And many visitors came who still don’t believe it, but they can feel so much joy when they come.

The Japanese Christians have worked for over three months to prepare for this Easter celebration–they do nothing “last minute!”

The Gospel Choir, the Gospel “Singers”, and the children all sang joyful songs of praise, and then our Japanese assistant pastor Yasu gave a message using flannelgraph with figures, so that the children and those who have never heard the Easter story could understand that Jesus is Alive!

Even though evangelical Christians make up only about 0.4 percent of the Japanese population, it is exciting to see the “mustard seed” growing. Sometimes I think, “Is this really Japan?” when I hear the worship and profound Bible messages!

Well, there was also a lot of delicious free food for everyone, served with generosity, and lots of cleaning up to do too.

We all went away super tired–I could hardly walk! (Well, dress shoes don’t help much!) But wow, we are all extremely thankful for all God is doing!!

J-Kids means “Jesus Kids!”  They all belong to Jesus!

“J-Teens” have entered a challenging age!

They all love Jesus too!

Meet some of the babies!

Mothers are learning to train their children the Bible way!

“J-Kids” meet on Sundays to worship God, pray, and learn about Jesus in the Bible.  They also have a lot of fun together!  The “J-Kids” staff members are very dedicated and love them as their own children!

Before joining the “J-Teens” the 6th graders are learning the Bible from loving and dedicated youth leaders!

Some children and teens are singing in the Gospel choir.  The girl in back is also in the professional orchestra (below), and plays the French horn!

In Japan, the competition is tough for the kids.

In junior high and high school, the students are so busy with studying, “cram schools”, and required club activities, they don’t have much free time left over!

The goal of our church is to help each one of our “J-Kids” get through this age, depending on Jesus!  He can help them and give them the Victory!!

We have our “J-Teens’” pictures posted on our church wall to pray for them!  We are proud of our “J-Teens”!  We honor them for their amazing accomplishments!

Three of our J-Teens are part of this professional Japanese orchestra.

He plays the oboe, and was just accepted into a top musical high school.

He plays clarinet in the professional Japanese orchestra, and is only in 7th grade!

We are so excited that God gave Isaiah such a wonderful girl!   They both have the same heart for God and for missions, and we can’t thank God enough!   If you are in the Los Angeles area on May 16, come and celebrate with us!  After raising support for the big move, they plan to go back to Brazil to work in Fortaleza with Uncle Abe and Aunt Andrea.  After being trained and raising up a team, we don’t know, but they have Africa in mind…  God of course, will lead them!

Check out the story in our link to his BLOG!   We are sure praising God from over here in Japan.  They met here in high school, and we have been hoping God would match them up for a long time.  Our church people are very happy too.  They feel very close to Isaiah since he has been a member here from age 14!     We are all very excited!!

           Ikuko being baptized by her cell leader, Meg, in our small bathroom.

Growing up, she experienced many problems with rejection.  When she became a mom of small children, she began to feel completely exhausted and depressed.  One day, as she was walking by our church with her two little girls, she  decided to come inside!   As we talked, she was very moved by the verse:  “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!”  Through attending a Mom’s cell group, and studying the Bible, God  she experienced the love and peace of God.  She is now a Christian mother, raising her little daughters for Jesus!

Our bathroom can barely fit a couple people, so the church camera-man stands on the toilet and films the baptism, and the whole congregation in the church below can see everything on the big screen! 

Ikuko and two ladies from her cell group, Meg and Atsuko

Ikuko and her family