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! 

 

 Many Japanese heard about Jesus for the first time through the mouths of children!

 

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great JOY which shall be to ALL the people!”

 

 

 

 

In Japan people love Christmas!   They are soooo organized, and everything was performed to the “T”!  The decorations, the children’s play and handbells and Christmas choir, the messages, refreshments, the clean-up–they work together like bees! 

It was so fun greeting all the visitors and giving them presents!  We gave away about 80 Christmas contemporary worship CD’s to the new visitors, as well as beautiful booklets to explain the meaning of Christmas.  

Then we gave about 100 more away to people passing by our church on Christmas Eve.  They don’t usually take tracts, so this was really FUN when they took them!! 

Since our church is small, God did a miracle, and we got to use the closeby YMCA small gymnasium for free, two times!  We also rented a big hall for the Gospel Christmas, and used our own church twice.  As well as Gospel concerts at an elementary school, a big businessmen’s party, old folks’ homes, dinners, etc. 

Several visitors want to bring their children to Sunday school, and also join our Mother’s classes!!

 

            Many people helped to get ready for the event!

 

         We hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

An exciting new vision for next MAY–a plan to start a new YOUTH-FOCUSED church, one to two minutes from Machida train station (here in Tokyo)!  It is a major station where thousands of youth gather because of the shopping centers, movie theaters, live-houses, etc.  A few excellent people have already joined our team, but we need many more. Japanese youth are open to the Gospel, so let’s reach them while we can!

 

                                             

 

These are our junior high students and staff at our church near Noborito train station.  We thank God for our very dedicated and loving staff who sincerely love the youth, and are doing all they can to help them through this tough age.

 

 

                                            

                   Soccer was so fun at Family Camp!  Playing and laughing together, we could make close friendships. 

                                             

 

                                                     

We enjoyed fun dramas–this elderly gentleman played the part of an overworked housewife, and showed us how husbands need to help their wives!

 

                                             

Learning about God from the Bible at Family Camp.

Japanese people work so much, it is hard to get family time together sometimes!  We were so happy for all those who could come.  If possible, come join us next year for a wonderful time, sharing God’s love together!

 

English Bible Class

English Camp is another place to make friends and learn more about God’s love.

 

English Camp friends

Christian mothers planned a very fun time for our neighbors.  We want to be friends and share God’s wonderful love with other moms too, who don’t know Him.

The Christian mothers sold children’s clothes and toys very cheap to bless the mothers in our neighbor-hood.  Many came!  We donated the money to help pay for a new church that we are hoping to build soon.

We also made some good relationships with many other mothers, and we invited them to come to our Mothers’ Class–we are learning how to raise children the Bible way.    God has great advice for mothers!

Mission Trip to Indonesia.  Many thanks to the Japanese church who gave money to pay for this well in Indonesia.  Now this village has water all year around, and they said to say “thank you” to the Japanese who helped them.  We love our Muslim friends, and God loves them even more.

Playing with the Indonesian children in August, during our church mission trip.

Many thanks to our Japanese church and friends who are sponsoring 40 poor children in this village to be able to go to school.  We also thank God for our missionary friend there who helps the children with their school work, and shows God’s love to them in many different ways.  The village chief asked him to continue to help them.  May God continue to open doors for him to serve them.

House church in Japan:  Shuji and Yukiko who use their house near Shonandai train station,  to reach out to their neighbors, especially mothers and their children who still do not know that God is real,  that He sent Jesus to die for them, and that He wants to be their Lord and Saviour, and their very Best Friend.

Brazilians–in Japan!  They meet every Saturday night at the YMCA near the Hon Atsugi station.  Many Brazilians are lonely in Japan, far from home, working very hard in the factories.  Many do not know God personally, and are suffering many severe problems in their families.  This Brazilian church is becoming a close family, always praying to be able to help more families to have new hope in life–hope through Jesus!  The children and youth can all speak both Portuguese and Japanese fluently.  We want to help them reach the Japanese youth with God’s love too!   With very few Christian friends, it is not easy, so please pray for these young people to be strong in their faith.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TIM, 54!  The Brazilian church gave him a birthday party at Marcelo and Erica’s house!  Thank You Jesus, for his good health and all he does to serve so many people.  May God give him MANY more years of good health, so that together we can help many, many more Japanese to come to Jesus!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Thank You, Father, for Your protection over thousands of miles. And for loving relatives and friends who took care of us!

2. Thank You for baby Gracie’s safe and miraculous birth!

3. Thank You for kind people in Japan and the USA who helped me as I travelled with a broken leg. And for helping me to walk by the time I got to our Missionary Conference, Western and Midwestern Family Camps! (Washington state and Indiana)

4. Thank You for helping Esther and me with the children and the PAZ Chicago church while Aaron was gone for two weeks to PAZ Mission in Brazil, learning about discipling new believers and leaders.

5. Thank You for how excited Aaron was when he came back from Brazil, and Thank You for the precious Christians of Inner-city Chicago church, who are growing closer to You!

6. Thank You for letting me visit my Mom (85) and family, and for the DVD my twin sister Emilee spent many months making–honoring Dad and Mom’s sacrificial missionary work with the Apache Indians in Arizona for 34 years.

7. Thank You for letting us have a fun time with our 6 grandchildren at two different Family Camps, and for all the people who helped us so much.

8. Thank You for my sweet husband, who is also a wonderful Grandpa!  All the kids love him!  (He came from Japan in July.)

9. Thank You for answering our prayers for Josiah and Jennifer and Isaiah in Brazil—for young people getting saved through drama, and for Isaiah’s safe move to Fortaleza to work under Uncle Abe (he went by boat and motorcycle for 5 days).

(Check their links to see their blogs and updates.)

10. Thank You for a wonderful Grandpa who has served You for so long!  We are continuing to pray for him (Melvin Huber, 88) that God’s Holy Spirit will be overwhelming Him with His Presence and Love and Peace, in the Name of Jesus!  Grandpa is now in Parintins, Brazil with our sister Angie, who is caring for him.

11. Thank You for Andy and Sarah’s excitement and help to recruit more missionaries for Japan.

12. And Thanks so much for their kind friend Jon and their church in Grand Junction, who made a professional PAZ Japan video for us for free!

13. A Big Thanks for all the people who want to help us with a new YOUTH church in Japan! We are excited for those who plan to visit us and/or stay long-term!

14. And Most of All, a Very Special thanks for the Japanese church leaders back here– they did a wonderful job without us while we were gone! We thank YOU for the great answers to prayer for the big Gospel concerts and children’s camps in June and July!

We are so excited because Casey is helping us set up a BLOG! We wanted to have a blog for awhile now! So now we can keep up better with our friends! We are sooo thankful for all his help!! Thank you Casey, and also Kaori, for all your help too!

Our Family Reunion, May 2007. Now we have one more granddaughter!! Making a total of 15. Thank You Jesus! We are in Japan; Andy and Sarah, Lucas, Daniel & JoyAnna are in Grand Junction, CO; Aaron and Esther, Joshua, Christina & Gracie are in Chicago; Josiah and Jennifer are in the Amazon, and Isaiah is also in the Amazon! (The Amazon is where all the kids grew up.) It’s sooooo fun to know Jesus and to serve Him together!!!