It happened! By the grace of God and thanks to help of
many many friends who volunteered many many hours, the first of two Dedication
Services took place yesterday! We had about 40 guests representing Japan, the
US, Korea, Britain, New Zealand, Uganda, Cameroon, Nigeria, Singapore, China,
Taiwan, and India! We had Korean-Americans and Korean-Japanese too!
Our amazing heavenly Father has a way of surprising us
with His amazing timing and planning… I know for sure that it was NO
coincidence that the RSVPs for our first Dedication Service was mostly
foreigners and English-speaking Japanese friends! I was so surprised as I saw
the RSVPs coming in. Our first one was almost like a nice, relaxing, fun
practice run with the best of friends cheering us on. We could feel the love in
the room and it was so wonderful! What an honor and privilege it is to be able
to call these amazing men and women our friends, family, and coworkers!
God is so good, He’s so good to me!
Invitation flyer sent together with a Google form to many friends and coworkers. Wish I had more time to send it to more people!
Top row: more new congratulatory plants, missionaries Jonathan and Su Jin provided drinks and snacks, and Jonathan showing off his plating skills. Bottom row: me welcoming our special friends who were there during the
service. I could have told a special and unique story of how God brought each
and every one of them into our lives. At a later
point, I also shared about how we decided on the name, the two houses that Iito
Christ Center is comprised of, and what will be taking place in each of the
houses. We only sang one praise song together that day, one that
we knew that almost everyone would know, and those that didn’t would easily be
able to learn and sing along to. Peter prayed the opening prayer before we continued with the rest of the program.
K.Boaz’s Japanese revival version of Arirang. He then sang a few original songs for us and ended with
the Japanese version of a K-pop song (
가시나무) that was really popular in
the 90’s which he translated himself. Then came the (incomplete) picture slideshow
that told the very bare minimum of our journey from getting our permanent
residence cards to getting the keys to the newly completed house. We asked
Brian, the one in the crowd who had known us the
longest, to pray a prayer of dedication over the Center. We didn’t give him
much notice, but he gladly obliged. We’re so thankful! Being a proper
missionary he actually
read from the Bible and shared
with us John 12:20-26. It’s strange to think we met them just a couple of weeks
after we arrived in Japan back in November of 2010. Our kids were so little and
Jiyeon wasn’t even born yet! It was such a blessing to have a friend, coworker,
and brother who has known us for so long and goes through similar struggles as
us to be with us on this special day and to have him pray for us as we start on
this new journey. "God is so good" one more time before the closing prayer.
Missionary fellowship! Would love to have this kind of view from my kitchen
every day! There was so much warmth and laughter. Some of the kids ate snacks and hung out in my
unfinished office. There was a mini book club on one side of the living room and a
Singapore-Japan-Taiwan-China group on the other side. Kyokkyo from Hiroshima and a very happy Jiyeon.
Top row: Peter and missionary Joo, The Jonathan triplets. American Jonathan, Kiwi Jonathan,
and British Jonathan. Apparently Jonathan’s like wearing blue shirts with
collars. We actually had two Brian's from two different countries there too! :D Me and my not-so-little-anymore boy. Driving my African brothers (Uganda and Cameroon) and
sister (Nigeria) to the train station. We picked up a guest from India on the
way too.
Bottom row: Pic of 3 - Rie, the one right next to me is so kind and
loves helping and showing around international students. She’s the one who
connected me to the wonderful Afghan family. Next to her is Azusa, one of my new friends! We’re beach buddies. Pic of 4 - Love, love, love these three!!! Seriously don’t know how I
would have survived the past year and a half without these three answering my
millions of questions and their husbands helping us build the new home, car
troubles, and setting up our not-for-profit general incorporated association.
The one right next to me is our guarantor for our permanent residencies too. So
thankful for wonderful amazing friends!!! Bottom right - Dustin looks like he has a halo :D
Group photo
And one more!
No comments:
Post a Comment