August Update

Family Update

It has been a busy summer as usual. The summer started off with the girls going to Joy Bible Camp in Tokyo, a camp for missionary kids. This year there was even a 2 day camp for Eliya to attend. Their theme for the camp was ‘Trust in the Lord’ from Proverbs 3:5-6. We are so happy that our girls had the chance to strengthen their faith and meet other Christian friends. While they were at camp in Tokyo, Megan and I were able to meet some friends from Tokyo. Right after the camp was over, we went to the US to spend time with family, and report back to churches. We had a busy time in the States, visiting people in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Florida.  Every time we go back to the States, it is always such an encouraging time. Everyone always wants to hear what God is doing in Japan, and everyone is  always so encouraging. We left feeling very blessed and fortunate to have such a wonderful family and great supporting group of Christians!  The only down side of the trip as always is there is a limited amount of time and we were not able to get around to see everyone. For those who we did not get to see, believe me we try and desperately wanted to. ​

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Upcoming School Year

  There are a lot of exciting things that we are looking forward to this upcoming school year. It is great to see Megan in the role of  Elementary principal, She has already been very active in leadership meetings, interviewing and enrolling new students, and preparing teachers for the upcoming school year. Andy is looking forward to his second year as chaplain, he is looking forward to using the Gospel Project's curriculum, which is a chronological, Christ-centered Bible study for kids, students, and adults that examines how all Scripture gives testimony to Jesus.
At OCSI we have the great opportunity to minister to over 400 students and this year we hope and pray to go beyond reaching only the students, we want to see the entire family reached as well.  I believe with Megan as the principal and Andy as the chaplain we are in a perfect situation to connect with families. Our field leader has also encouraged us to do this after visiting us last Spring.  Last year we started a parenting Bible study for elementary students’ parents, focusing on how to parent from a Biblical worldview. This year we are going to be adding another class for parents- a Bible study that looks at what their students have learned that week. Most of these parents are also non-Christians and I’m sure they are curious  about what their children are learning. We have partnered with the school’s PTF director, a Japanese woman who has a passion for reaching the lost for Jesus. This second Bible study class will be announced during the new student orientation and Open House. Please pray for a lot of interest.

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Naomi's Baptism

In late June, Naomi had decided to get baptized into Christ. She was baptized in the South China Sea with family, teachers, and friends present. It was a beautiful time of singing, playing with goats, and watching Naomi profess her faith in Christ and follow in obedience through baptism. It was recorded and we will get a video created and posted on our blog as soon as we can. We so proud of her and excited for her new life in Christ. God is so good!

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Time in Sapporo

Before going to America for the summer, Andy had the chance to go to Sapporo to visit the Higashi-ku church. He went and work on the Lake Toya Camp house that the Higashi-ku church runs to do some upkeep. Andy speaks at the Higashi-ku church once a month via video conference, so he set up a better computer for video conferencing during Sunday morning worship. He also met countless students, church members, and friends.  It was so good to see everyone. Sapporo holds a very dear place in our heart.