[ Home Page ] [ About us ] [ Ministry Focus] [ News Prayer] [ Partners ] [ Contact ][ MCC ]

NEWS

Feb. 22,2008

So I have finally updated. With photos! I hope you enjoy them. We have been keeping busy with our English classes as well as other activities at MCC. We are really excited about the way our English Worship service has started to grow since the begining of the year. Also we have added more English Students which helps us pay the rent. We are excited to have new students that seem open to the Gospel.

I added some baseball pictures, since the new season is upon us soon. This is what the Yahoo dome looks like in the seventh inning. If you come to visit us,during the season will try to take to a game.

June 11,2007

Okay, so a couple of months have gone by since I have updated. It has been busy. March seem so long ago. Where do I start? Let me mention some of the new things that are happening at MCC. In April we started JOY Club. This is a weekly kids club. On Easter we started a English Worship service on Sunday nights.We also have added many new students.

Let me tell you a littel more about JOY Club. We have between 13-15 kids coming regularly. We have several Korean kids from FIS coming as well. The club is in Japanese which they know well. So with those students , English class students, and neighborhood friends we have a great time.

English Worship has averaged 20 people each week for which we are grateful. We used to be part of an English worship service in Sendai. Our goal is to offer a worship service in English for English speaking believers. We have had a few Japanese show up as well. Our main core has been an Australian man, two families of professional baseball players, a Finnish Lutheran missionary family, American missionary couple, teachers from FIS and us. It has been a good addition for our family.

New students started in April. We now have one class that is full. That is Cheryl's "Tiny Tots" class. We are hoping to make a better connection with the moms of these students. Also we now have 2 elementary classes and 3 adult classes.

With many things going on at the Center we wanted to have an event to bring people together. So we are planning on a picnic on he 16th of June.

March 13,2007

Well I am making good on my new goal. We had some great things to tell you about February. First of all on the 10th, Cheryl had her first Baking Class at the Meinohama Christian Center. We were thrilled to have 5 non Christians and 6 beleivers attend. 3 of our neighbors attended this event. It went very well and they are eager to come again. It was the first time for our neighbors to come to the center.

A few days after that Cheryl's mom, sister, and neice came for a two week visit. We had a good and busy time with them here. It was fun to show them where we live. Of course, Cheryl's mom has been here before but it was the first time to Fukuoka for Cheyrl's sister and daughter.

One of the highlights for me was to visit Nagasaki. Yes the Atomic bomb museum was interesting but more interesting then that was the 26 Martyer's muesem. You don't know what I am talking about do you. Well in 1597 26 Christians we killed on crosses in the city of Nagasaki. At the time there were many Christians in Nagasaki. The rulers wanted to get rid of Christians so they made 26 Christians from Kyoto walk all the way to Nagasaki so that they could die infron t of many beleivers. Of course this was suppose to make the beleivers apostacize, but that didn't happen. I read that 4,000 Christians witnessed this event. What stuck out to me was that 200 years before the USA was born there were Christians in Japan! Many Japanese will tell me that Christianity is an American religion and not for Japanese. Of course many Japanese do not know about the 26 martyers in Nagasaki. That stroy is not well told.

I could go on about the 26 Martyers, so if you want e-mail me and will chat, but there was another significant thing that happened in February. Ohka's adoption was finalized in the Japanese courts. We now just have to have here last name changed and get her US citicinship.

February 8,2007

It is a little embarassing to see the date when this website was last updated. It is my new goal to update each month, at least I hope I can do that. There is much to tell you since the last writing. I trust that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years holiday. Our Christmas events were well attended. We had over 100 kids at the local Elementary school for a Christmas festival. We also had a full house for our Christmas dinner and Best Kids Christmas at the Fukuoka EFC.

We had our first worship service at the new Meinohama Christian Center(MCC) on Christmas Eve. We had about 30 come to worhsip with us from the Fukuoka EFC and Itoshima EFC. We plan to start regular worship services when we have some interst from our neighborhood and/or some new believers from the English Class minsitry.

After Christmas we went south. Our family drove 4 hours south with the Miyauchis to the city of Miyazaki( the Florida of Japan). We spent time at the Ocean Dome. You can look this up on line as well, but it is an indoor water park right next tothe real ocean.

Well you can't just have one warm experience during the winter so in January we went to Thailand! Actually it was for our EFCA-IM Asia conference. This was a good time to meet coworkers that we seldom see. It was also important for us to hear about all the changes that continue to go on in our mission. The down side of the conference was that almost 80% of the people go sick. Cheryl was one of those:( Luckily she got to go to the spa before she got sick!Thanks for all your prayers.

October 30,2006

Classes start in two days at the nw Meinohama Christian Center. We don't know how many students will come so we are trusting God, that lots of students will come. We have passed out 3,000 flyers to annouce the opening. We have had a few phone calls as a result of the flyers.

The building is really starting to take shape. We had a prayer/dedication service on Sunday with 25 people from the Fukuoka EFC . The once bare room now has lights in the ceiling, tables and chairs, a sofa, a rug, a chid play area, a coffee/tea station, dividers, a copier, a refridgerator, plus other things that I am forgetting. Still are more things to do as money allows.

PRAYER/ PRAISE

1. Praise God for more English Class students at the Meinohama Christian Center. Each month we are able to pay expenses.

2. Pray for students that not only want to learn English but also want to know more about Jesus.

3. Pray for increase in our support so Cheryl doesn't have to teach fulltime.

4. Pray for our English worship congregation as well as our plans to start a Japanese service.