revamped "cry" room

Even though our little Japanese church is growing slowly over a long period of time, every so often we find that the building is starting to need more and more repairs. When our volunteer team was here last December, they did a fantastic job painting and decorating the Sunday School room. We have another small room on the 2nd floor. It used to be connected to the downstairs speakers so that people there could hear what was happening but the inside-the-wall wiring developed a problem and it hasn't been working in quite some time. Some months ago a young mother and her young daughter began attending church most weeks. But sometimes they would have to leave if the daughter got too noisy. So Josiah took it upon himself to figure out how to revamp some wiring so that we could use the upstairs room again for moms with young children. If you click on the title above, it should link you to Josiah's photos of this project.

This sweet mom and her little girl attend on Sundays most weeks and are also members of playgroup. For some reason, the little girl has a strong preference for the noisy toys!! For two Sundays in a row now, the little girl has been able to play to her heart's content and her mom has been able to listen from the upstairs room and follow along. The mom is so happy to have this option.

In the background of the top photo, you can see Mrs. Kurome. Mrs. Kurome is my playgroup Japanese assistant. She is such a blessing to me. She plays with the kids, talks with the moms, prepares the snacks and tea for snacktime, often helps me with Japanese paperwork, and helps with clean-up at the end.

Thanks, Josiah, for making this dream of a room with a speaker a reality at Agape!!

Golden Days

Ken and Rie, Takeshi and Tsuyosyi Sasaki

It is so hard to believe that May is already here. The winter seemed to drag on, cold and rainy, for so long, and now suddenly we have bright sunny days that feel more like summer than spring.

In Japan, April 29 is a national holiday (green day) which is soon followed by Golden Week, May 3-5. Depending on what days of the week the holidays fall on, the Japanese take several days off. This is one of the three times per year that nearly everyone in the entire country is on holiday. You could probably also call it "old home" week because a high percentage of people return to their hometowns or parents' homes for visits. Consequently, the traffic on the roads and the crowded train stations can be a pretty strong deterrent to a desire to go anywhere.

This year we made the wise choice, as we most often usually do, to stay close to home and let others come to us! What a joy it was! Rie Sasaki was an English student of ours in Suzaka about 12 years ago. Her Christian friend, Naoko, often invited her to church and Rie became a Christian. 10 years ago (on May 3rd) we had the privilege of attending her wedding to a wonderful Christian guy named Ken Sasaki (who we had previously met while helping out with an English camp ministry). Now they have two great boys, ages 5 and 3 and they all came to visit our part of Japan over the holiday. We had such a great time hanging out together and showing them some of our favorite spots in the area. Rie could hardly believe that all of our kids are adults now. We have so many great memories. It is difficult for me to even try to describe the joy of seeing Rie and her husband living for the Lord, being active in their local church in Kashiwazaki (a different part of Japan), and raising their little boys to love Jesus. Takeshi and Tsuyoshi were delighted that our little dog (Toby) prays before he eats and (usually) waits patiently until he hears the "Amen" before he starts to eat!

It was a delightful few days at a different pace, and now we get ready to get right back into the swing of daily life, starting with Moms and Tots Playgroup on Thursday mornings. This group has openings for new members so please pray that God will send us some more moms and kids soon.