Fall is BBQ season!
We invited lots of friends and enjoyed lots of good food at several BBQ's in October and November. We had a total of 31 people at the first one, all of our team invited friends and some of our friends invited friends! The second one was a Biker's BBQ, Norman invited all of the motorcyclist that he has been reaching out to since getting his motorcycle license in May. With 41 total people attending, it was a busy night and LOTS of food was packed away! The last people didn't leave until after midnight, we had a great time talking to them and getting to know many of them better.
One biker, Mr. Yamano, has spent the last 8 weeks in the hosptal recovering from an accident. Norman visited him twice a week for most of that time, eventually getting to know his roomate, Mr. Iwahashi, and giving both of them tracts and bibles. Mr. Iwahashi has become interested in a bible study and will be starting in mid-Novemeber. A young man we meet durign GRIT this summer, Mr. Itoda will possibly be joining him for a 4-6 week bible study.
We are gearing up for a Christmas concert on December 27th with a missionary lead gospel choir from Aira, Voice of Hope coming to sing for us. Pastor Matuzaki from Obayama Bible Church will be sharing a short Christmas message and the church will be helping us invite lots of unsaved friends to the concert. It is a good opportunity to talk about the real meaning of Christmas.
Summer ministry plans
Summer is GRIT time for the Smiths. No doubt about it, the GRIT program envelopes our live for about 9 weeks every summer. This year however, we will be combining GRIT with quite a few regular outreach groups. The guys in GRIT will be participating in the local airsoft club weekly, the girls will be getting together with some of Susan's friends, everyone will join the local RC car club for 2 bowling nights this summer. We are also planning a Friday Night Cafe - inviting those we know who are foreigners or interested in English to come and join us at a local cafe every Friday night, there is quite a bit of interest in this so far. We are still hoping to have a chance to visit classes at one or two of the local univeristies but it is proving harder than we expected to get in. We will be able to eat lunch on campus occasionally so hopefully we will meet some students and be able to build and continue relationships with them.
The year for us seems to go in cycles. We have weeks and months at a slow pace and then a frantic pace for awhile. The summer is just about as fast paced as it can get! Somewhere in there we need to prepare for the discipleship retreat in July and we are hoping to have another Life Challenge Camp in August. No worries, there is always tomorrow!
Second discipleship retreat
The second discipleship retreat this year was focused on stewardship. It is a subject not often taught but very important for those of us desiring to be more like Christ. We kept the teaching very basic and emphasized that all that we have is from God and one day we will give and accoutn to Him for how we used the gifts that He has given us. As an illustration we went through Joseph's life and showed how he was chosen to be in charge wherever he went. This was based on his faithfulness in the small things in life, not on the situation. In the same manner, no matter what situation we find ourselves in , we need to be faithful and using all of our resources for the glory of God!
Planning time!
January is goal month for ABWE Japan. The home office asks us to send them a list of goals and plans for the year. That means we actually have to make some kind of goal or plan for the year! My problem is always that the year is so long. Who knows what might change by May that will open new opportunities that don't seem at all possible now! Or maybe we are overly optimistic now and will have to drastically change our plans as the year progresses.
So maybe we should just write down a few things and send them to ABWE to keep them happy and then not worry about it again until they ask again next year! (if anyone from ABWE happens to read this.....just kidding!)
It is challenging to make plans for the coming year. I know many churches in the states also have planning sessions and try to eveluate what they are doing. For us, with only Keiko, Susan, our kids and myself to work with at the moment, our options are limited. Keiko is looking for a job and will then have other responsibilities taking up much of her time. Susan is teaching Chloe and Cameron as well as taking care of Melodie. She has many chance to reach out to other moms but that's about it for the time being. Who does that leave? oh, me...
So our planning session consists of everyone sitting down and thinking about what I need to do this year! Not quite but it does feel that way sometimes.
A busy month ahead..
I have a busy month or at least several weeks ahead of me. The discipleship retreat coming up at the end of the month is going to require some preparation and is probably the most important thing on the agenda. I am also hoping to finish the last quarterly report for 2008 in the next week. Susan and I are working together on goals for the upcoming year both personally and in ministry. I have some translation work to do and would like to finish an update for the website. All this is in addition the the normal weekly plan to reach out to men in Kumamoto. At least I won't get bored anytime soon!
A new way to keep you informed
I am going to attempt to put some more ministry specific thoughts, photos, and reports here in the coming year. We will see how often I remember to update! I think using a blog is a little easier to update than a normal webpage. Let me know if you have any questions about what we are doing or WHY we are doing it!
