Night of the Arts and Music

This month during our regular English Cafe slot we decided to add a twist to usual format. We underemphasized the English, and added more special musical numbers and invited local artists to display their art. It turned out to be a big hit and the multi-purpose room was packed with both regulars and quite a number of newcomers. Some of the art on display included oil paintings, pastels, framed photographs, pottery, and fabric art.

We also enjoyed quite a variety of music and other forms of art. Mrs. Miyoshi and her friend played traditional flute-like instruments called karinas. Their duets were beautiful. Manaka Ueha amazed everyone with her gorgeous soprano voice, singing two numbers from different operas. Manaka gave a recital the previous Wednesday at her university and I am going to put a video clip at the end of this blog that was actually recorded at her recital. Manaka started attending Agape Bible Church at the end of summer and made the decision to follow Christ several weeks later. She also plays the flute and is a wonderful addition to the worship band.

One thing that really excites us about these monthly events is that some of the members of the church are starting to invite and bring their friends. We long to see more of that happening because the main purpose of these events is to use them as an opportunity to deepen our relationships with people. As we model this, we desire for the Japanese believers to see how they can do it as well.

The four people in the picture below are very special to us. In the back are Mr. Tsuchiya and Mr. Toshihiro. In the front are Mrs. Kobayashi on the left and Alice Kai on the right. These four senior citizens live in the neighborhood near our home. They warmly welcomed us into their community two years ago when we moved in and we've been able to continue a good friendship with them. Alice is holding a special wall hanging called a kakejiku. She and her husband restore these hangings years after they were originally made and have started to deteriorate. Alice is Malaysian, married to a Japanese man. All four of these people regularly attend our monthly events. Even though they have mentioned visiting a Sunday service, they have yet to take that step. All four of them enjoy various forms of art and were delighted to be involved in our recent event.

ariette: "Je veux vivre" from the opera " Roméo et Juliette"

service project at Mrs. Hatada's

Mrs. Hatada (left) is a widow who started attending

Agape about six months ago after first attending Mr. Kaneda's Christian funeral. She has been studying English for years with a number of different missionaries as her teachers. Mr. Kaneda was a relative of her former teacher so she attended the funeral. She was very moved by the songs and the message of hope. She is becoming more and more interested in Christians and what motivates them, etc. After last week's typhoon, I learned that there was some damage to a wooden gate at her house. Repair would involve some woodwork and some painting.

Saori holding the broken gate

I decided to ask the young adults if they would be interested

in helping out as a way to show Christ's love in a practical way

to Mrs. H. We picked yesterday, a national holiday to go and

help her, but some that wanted to go were unable to because

of previous plans. The Lord gave us beautiful weather with the sun shining brightly, warm temperatures, and a bit of a breeze! At first, Mrs. H. was very hesitant to accept volunteer help, but as she saw how eager and skilled we (Ben and Josiah) were. she gradually let us help with several projects. Even her granddaughter, Ami, who was visiting for the day pitched in and helped by holding things. Ami has visited Sunday School several times when visiting her Grandma and we hope she'll come back again. At the end of the day, she served everyone curry rice. She was so appreciative of the help, but more so, the fellowship of having everyone there for the day, working together and then sharing a meal together. She has a lovely house and garden but it requires a lot of upkeep for just one woman. She was particularly pleased that Ben and Josiah were able to reuse some of the original wood when they repaired the gate and recreate it in the same style. Her late husband had made the original gate and it holds many memories for her. Hopefully, the new memories of her church friends coming to help her fix things up will also stay with her for a very long time. If you click on the link above, you can see more pictures from our day. Saori Wada, pictured at left with the broken gate, has been actively participating in church and music, even though she is now a high school senior and is preparing for the huge college entrance exams. Pray for Saori as she studies hard and works toward entering college in the spring. Pray that God will give many more opportunities to minister to our contacts/believers in practical ways. Another exciting result of this wonderful day is that we learned that Mrs. Hatada has many woodworking tools that had belonged to her husband and we will be welcome to use the tools in the future for other projects!!

If you'd like to see more pictures, click on the title above.

fixing the 2nd floor deck boards

Ami helping out with the gate repair

walking the talk

Josiah, Manaka and Kristin on an outing that had to include Starbucks, naturally.
Manaka taking a break during music time at Agape!

Last time I wrote I promised you another Manga Messiah story. In late August, Josiah met a college student whose name is Manaka through mutual friends. Manaka is a voice major (soprano) at a local women's college that has a small connection to Christianity. They have a type of chapel a couple of times per week and also offer "Bible" as a course. Even after taking the course, most of the students have very little interest in what it means to be a Christian. However, Manaka was different. She developed a greater interest in what the Bible had to say and was very intrigued when she met several young adult Christian missionaries. (Ben and Josiah, and eventually Kristin). Because of Manaka's interest in music, she enjoyed spending time with them and was curious about how unusual they seemed. In September, Manaka started coming to our music nights and bringing along her beautiful soprano voice as well as her flute. Soon after, she was attending church almost every Sunday. Meanwhile, she was having many long conversations with the other young adults. Josiah gave her a copy of Manga Messiah to read to help answer some of her questions. She was very moved and continued asking questions. One night she asked the best question of all to Josiah, (over the phone actually), "So how exactly does one become a Christian?" Josiah had the privilege of answering her question and then later that evening, leading her in a prayer as she prayed to receive Christ.

We are enjoying Manaka's presence as part of the young adults who are doing much of the worship leading at Agape. While she started out not knowing any of the songs, she has picked them up quickly, thanks to her music background. Also, while music is a big part of their hanging out together, the "group" which now numbers 7 including Kathy who tags along on occasion, also enjoys many other activities, particularly on Sunday afternoons after church.

Today a woman from the neighborhood decided to visit our church. She was probably in her 40's and hasn't really had much contact with Christianity since her Kindergarten days when she heard some Bible stories at her church school. When she introduced herself as someone who has frequently walked past the church building and finally decided to try us out, she also explained that she has a very "troubled heart" and she thought that going to church might help her. We still don't know exactly what all is happening with her, but we hope she'll come back. A very exciting thing is that after the service, she told me that she had enjoyed the music so much; in particular, how open it was, and how she felt free to sing along, even though she didn't know any of the songs. But the extra special thing was that she was very touched particularly by Manaka playing the flute. How cool is that! Even though Manaka is just a baby Christian, God is already using her to touch others through her music. Please pray for Mrs. Watanabe, especially that through the ministry of music and the Word, she will learn how to cast her burden on the Lord. Pray also for Manaka as she is preparing about 10 very difficult songs for her senior recital which is coming up October 21st at her university. The following Saturday, Manaka will also be singing for our Agape Cafe special event, "Night of the Arts". More on that to come.... There seems to be so many exciting things that I want to write about, but I'll just have to take them one at a time. God is definitely doing a "new thing" at Agape, something so fresh and unexpected and we are so excited to be a part of it.

Manga Messiah

After having some struggles at her junior high school last spring, 14-year-old Eri became very discouraged. Eri's mother has been attending the Tuesday morning Bible study at Agape for about two years. Her mom tried to encourage her by telling her that God was with her and watching over her. Even though Eri knew some things about God, she couldn't really understand how He could help her. Kathy was spending time with her, too, during the spring and doing what she could to encourage her. Just before leaving for the USA, Kathy made a point of giving Eri a copy of Manga Messiah to read. When we returned from the USA, Eri was one of the first people we saw. Eri could not wait to tell us about the way her life was changing. No, the school situation had not improved. But, Eri's heart was changing. She told us how she read the Manga Messiah book and was so moved by the story of Jesus that she cried. For the first time she began to understand how God forgives our sin through Jesus when we confess our sins. God made a way for Eri to change schools to one much closer to her home! In fact, she entered the school where Kathy and I both teach one day a week. How special it is to have her there! Eri told us her desire to get to know God better and started attending Sunday services. Eri has also become part of the worship team and is really enjoying pitching in to help out in a variety of ways. The best part of it all is that Eri's smile is back! Eri is not the only one undergoing changes in her family. Eri's mom has decided that she is ready to step out in faith and get baptized. So she has begun attending a special study to help her prepare for baptism. We are continuing to share the Manga Messiah books with folks of all ages around us. The message is penetrating hearts through this medium and we are excited to be a part of reaping the harvest! May God bless all of you who have given a special gift that is allowing us to distributed more of these great books!! Next time I will tell you another great Manga Messiah testimony!

hey, it's good to be back home again!

Hey everybody,

After a very busy and fun summer in the United States, we are back home again in Kobe. I want to just briefly highlight for you some big changes in the Trim family.

1. Our daughter, Mikaela, is now Mrs. David Coon. She and David were married on June 18th in Hutchinson, KS. It was a lovely unique outdoor ceremony and Mikaela's artistic flair was evident in every aspect.

2. Our son, Caleb, was wed to Beth Anne Bettis on July 11th. It was another blessed weekend filled with grand times with dear friends and family as we celebrated their marriage.

3. Our youngest son, Josiah, has decided to remain in Kobe for his senior year of high school and will be starting online studies soon through an American correspondence school. He has become very active in music at church and many other activities.

While we enjoyed our time in the United States with lots of visits with friends and family, we really are glad to be back home in Kobe. God blessed the work in our absence, using a lovely retired couple, Larry and Alma Oline, to lead the church.

We will try to post some pictures soon of the summer's major events. For now, please enjoy the above photo of us with Pastor Larry and Deb Harrold, ministering at Center Baptist Church in Omaha, our home church.

Some exciting news from Agape Bible Church: One or two passionate people attract more. A few weeks ago we only had a couple of people involved in leading worship. Today we had seven, including two guitars, djembe, tambourine, vocalists, piano, and flute. As we develop music arrangements, we are hoping to add clarinet and baritone saxophone. This is especially exciting as we now even have one evening a week set aside for rehearsal and the members are excited about spending time together preparing for the next events. Pray that this new development in our music ministry will keep growing, that the members will become comfortable working together, and that it will be a blessing not only to those currently attending but will draw even more people to join us each week for worship!

my hospital buddy

This is Mrs. Y.  Mrs. Y. is an elderly woman who lives in our neighborhood.  I often see her when I visit the doctor's office.  She is there many times per week.  Since the doctor's office (hospital) is located in our community, having to go there frequently for treatment for my knees means that I am having opportunities to build friendships with the other patients who frequent the doctor's office, many of whom live nearby.  Because getting in to see the doctor means submitting your "member card" and waiting (first come, first serve), those waiting periods of time can often prove invaluable in opportunities to talk with other patients.  The day I first met Mrs. Y., I must admit she didn't endear herself to me.  She asked me what I was there to see the doctor for, and after hearing about my knee problems, proceeded to roll up her pant leg and show me the scars from her various surgeries.  Then she promptly told me that I was fat (Oh, thank you, I wasn't aware of it!) and that she thought all Americans were too fat, etc. etc.  At the end of this scintillating conversation, she told me I should come by her house for tea sometime.  Right.  Sure.  I just love to put myself in situations where people can verbally attack me.  Besides, it is a polite thing to ask someone to stop by for tea and everyone knows it is just for politeness because you don't have their address or know where they live.  Well, as time has gone by, I meet Mrs. Y. almost weekly at the hospital.  She is opening up more and more and recently, her invitation to tea included an address and directions to her house.   I feel that this is a great privilege because most Japanese do not like to invite guests to their homes.  Last week when I saw Mrs. Y. and asked how she was doing, she was having a bad day.  She was in a lot of pain, and told me that she just wanted to die.  I took her hand and said to her, "Mrs. Y, when you die, you will meet God.  Are you ready to meet God?".  "No, I'm not," she replied.  "Then you can't die yet, because I haven't had a chance to tell you how to get ready to meet God. I will come to see you and tell you!".  She politely nodded her head, and I had to leave.  I haven't forgotten that conversation and I'm trying to plan a time when I can visit her and share with her more about Jesus and the way to heaven.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will be preparing her heart.  

I believe that elderly people here in Japan are a very unreached people group.  Sometimes it's because missionaries believe that they are so set in their religious ways of Buddhism that they would not be open to hearing the Good News of salvation through Christ.  Another reason may be that it is HARD to meet them and spend time with them. They are usually slower to accept friendship with foreigners than the younger generation.  Some of them still harbor negative feelings from WW2.  Yet, we find our current living situation has us placed in a community surrounded with a high percentage of elderly people with time on their hands.  We would like to get more involved at the local community center, but haven't found our niche there yet. However, surprisingly, several retirees from the neighborhood have started learning English and enjoy coming to our monthly Agape English Cafe.  

Pray with us for the elderly of Japan.  More and more they are becoming the "nuisance" of Japan as they don't have enough of the younger population to care for them.  They are lonely, and often looking for meaning in their lives.  Many wish they could die soon.  Yet, so many have never heard the Gospel.  Pray for us as we seek to reach our friends and neighbors in this community.