MACHIDA 2016: Arigato Gozaimasu

Beloved,

It’s Saturday, and we getting ready to leave for Tama Hillside Church which is about 45 minutes by car. Our team is anxious to serve here as Pastor Minegishi has been confronted with many challenges since moving to this new location just over a year ago. She had earlier declined to have a Christmas Party for the neighborhood children since she had no helpers from her church. This small congregation of 12 had lost some key members and it was a great discouragement to Pastor Minegishi. We are ready to serve her church and bring hope and encouragement to them. Thanks for your prayers.

Yesterday, we made our annual stop at the Wakakusa Pre-School and were greeted by 2 classes (28 students in each) of active, “ants in the pants” 5 year olds. Joy has been doing weekly visits to this school for the past 7 years. Her faithful work is recognized by God and the seeds that she is planting here will blossom to full bloom. Thank you, Lord.

On Thursday night, we celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with the Uchimura Family. It was a very good time and Yuriko added in a fully decorated cake with candles for Miho’s birthday. Thank you for your hard work, Yuriko. On the menu was Japanese turkey (AKA chicken), mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry, baked yams, freshly baked rolls (thank you, again, Yuriko), chicken salad, and what appeared to be a lot more. We’ll share more when we see you.

And while we’re on the subject of eating, Miho’s Mom, Eiko, invited us to a very unique and special restaurant – buffet style, all you can eat of Chinese and Japanese food. Mike made sure that we did not come off on the short end. That was a lot of food. Eiko and her husband, Teiji, always share a meal with the teams from America. They were instrumental in getting the Evergreen Church started over 28 years ago, and have been very generous and gracious to us. Praise the Lord.

OK, we’re off to Tama Hillside. The blog will take a break and continue upon our return. Thanks for your prayers.

BREAK……..

It’s 6:00pm and we just returned from Tama Hillside. It was a very encouraging time with Minegishi Sensei and her church. Besides our team, there were 7 members of Evergreen Church to help with the party. This was a praise to see the Evergreen members stepping out in ministry to serve others. Also helping were 2 members from the Tama Hillside Church. Thank you for your prayers.

Minegishi Sensei welcomes children

Tsuguru, Hikari, Sanae, Aina

There were 15 children who showed up for the party. Even 1 child would have made it worthwhile. The children and their parents had a great time. Yuriko and Mike presented the Gospel and we thanked the Lord for the fruit that will come for all that happened today in this little church. Minegishi Sensei was so grateful and could not stop thanking our team for putting on the Christmas Party. Your prayers lifted the spirits of the members of this church. We laid hands on Sensei and prayed the Lord’s blessing onto her. We anticipate great things here at Tama.

TAKING ANOTHER BREAK……

Sanae Yumoto and her daughters, Hikari and Aina, arrived here at Evergreen along with Tsuguru (Yuriko’s son). We had a very nice dinner and a fun time of fellowship together. Sanae and Hikari came by train (2.5 hrs) from Chino and Tsuguru and Aina came in from their University in Chiba. It was good to see the Yumoto’s again and it brought back fond memories of the ministry at Chino Christian Church. Tsuguru was very happy to see his Mom and will be sharing a heartfelt testimony at the lunch tomorrow.

It’s 11:00pm and it has been a long day, but a good day. We thank God for all of you who have stood fast with us over the past several weeks. Our final event is tomorrow’s Christmas Lunch with the members and guests of Evergreen Church and we are ready to serve them. Your prayers sustain us.

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3-5

Gratefully,

Your Machida Team