Can you believe that 2014 is already more than half over? How time
flies...
So... I didn't get to work on my Bible units / coursework at
all during June. :( Maybe in September..? Ach... Please pray that we'll be able
to find some way for me to be able to complete all of my responsibilities at
home and with ministry while somehow finding the extra time and energy to
complete my coursework.
Please pray for the usual Friday afternoon Kids Brown
classes. My 4:30 class has expanded again and I now have 1st-4th grade
girls. Together with my 5:30 class, I think I have about 25 students praying,
learning English, and listening to Bible stories at church every week. Of the
25, only 3 are from Christian families. At the end of July, we have a special
combined summer class at Koyo Chapel so please pray that everything will go
smoothly. It'll be Jess's last class before she goes on Home Assignment and
Peter takes over her classes.
Pray for Peter's Friday morning Japanese classes and
his private English lessons too. His student calls their times
together "happy time". :)
Please pray for our new team members that arrived
earlier this month and another new team member arriving later this month! The
family that arrived is an experienced missionary family, the wife is from
Hiroshima, and they have three boys! Sungjae was the only boy of all of the
Pioneers Japan MKs, but now there are three more! Yay! The other team member
arriving this month is Korean-New Zealand and will be taking over Jess’s
ladies’ English classes for six months. Hopefully she’ll stay for longer!
July 18th is this term’s last Smile Club and
4 of my mommy friends and babies/toddlers said that they would be coming for
the first time. That’s awesome! And the way that God made it happen was awesome
too! Hopefully it’ll be their first of many visits to Asaminami Chapel. I’ll be
teaching English that day. :)
Juhee has a ballet performance on the 26th.
Juhee’s really excited and I’m really stressed! There’s a lot of prep
(including sewing!!!) and lots of extra rehearsals that we need to fit in. Yet
another mom is thinking of having her daughter quit because it’s so much work
for the mom! Juhee LOVES ballet so I don’t think that that’s an option for us,
but please pray for me as I juggle extra responsibilities this month. I’m also teaching
English at Juhee’s elementary school for a couple of hours on
Saturday, 12th so a few of the moms and I have been busy
preparing for that too. Juhee also has a calligraphy competition at
the end of July so she has an extra calligraphy lesson too! Juhee will be going
to her first ever overnight church kids’ camp this month so I
have a lot to prepare for that too. Juhee’s a very busy girl. ^^;
On Wednesday, July 23rd, I’ll be visiting a Korean
class that it taught by a Korean missionary, a 5 minute walk from our
place. He’s getting married in September, and there’s a slight chance that I
might be substituting for him during that month. The church that the missionary
supports is all the way downtown and they don’t have women’s ministry events so
it’s hard for him to invite them to events at his church. Pray that I’ll be
able to quickly connect with the ladies there and that I’ll be able to invite
them to events at our churches. The missionary currently teaching these classes
would love to see this happen too.
Please continue to pray for our next term. We met with
the Japanese pastors and received some good advice and insight from them. As
much as it saddens us to think of leaving Hiroshima, we are leaning more and
more to believing that God is leading us down to Itoshima City in Kyushu. We
communicate often with the missionary couple down there who is due to retire in
a couple of months. There's a big gap between the time they retire and when we
would be able to go down, and there are a whole bunch of other logistics that
need to be thought through that naturally comes with a big move. We will be
going down to talk more with the local Japanese pastor at a neighboring church
and to find out more about the area next month. Please pray that we will be
able to have more clarity as to God's will for us during our next term during
that time and that we will have a lot of good, encouraging conversations with
the leaders down there.
Thank you so much for your constant prayers and encouragement. :)
Our Monthly Support is now around 95%!!! I
have to check, but we’ve had a couple of our supporters increase their
amounts and have also had a few one-time gifts given over the past few months.
Thank you! The support from approximately 50 individuals/families giving
regularly + 16 churches + one-time gifts currently make up our ongoing Monthly
Support. THANK YOU!!! :)
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