A death.....

Just recently, people in Japan were shocked by a death of 6 years old boy.
Here is the story. The boy and his mom were at Play ground and she realized her boy was missing. She and some other people started a search for him . Half hour later, he was found dead at restroom near by the play ground. Mom was broken with tears. Couple days later police arrested a killer of the boy. That was his own mother who killed him.
How this could happen?
This mother was very caring, even she made him carry a cell phone with GPS so that she knows where he was and was ready to help him any time.

This mother had some physical problem and often had to ask her son for assistance as she uses restroom. The day, her son was not happy, he didn't want to assist her, and said some harsh word on her. " I don't want to have a mom who is a handy capped"
That word was a final push to make his mom to be a killer. She strangled her own son and tried to hide it.

She was depressed, lonely, suicidal... There were many reasons and factors that lead this tragedy. However not many people are talking about this boy's final word to his mother.
I know children says harsh things but not really means it. They say whatever in their heart and don't think twice before they say it. It is O.K. because they are just a kid.
Well, in this case that was not O.K. That killed him. The word changed his loving mother to a monster. He said wrong words to wrong person,,, a depressed mother.

I started to wonder,,,, Do I really understand the power of words. Am I using this powerful weapon very carefully? Have I killed anyone with word in a past? ( I should ask my own children and husband) Have I made someone a killer because of my sinful attitude and words?

Amazingly, God is teaching me about this matter at "Desiring God conference " this weekend.
The theme of this year is.....".The power of words and wonder of God. "
You can read or listen to the sessions on line at http://www.desiringgod.org/
More than 3200 people are gathering Minneapolis to ponder about this heavy issue.
I will write about it later...

A birth....

Recently, God gave me an opportunity to witness a birth. No I was not in a hospital but in a quiet coffee shop. No, a woman didn't have an emergency birth there. I am talking about the spiritual birth.

One Saturday afternoon, I was introduce to a sweet Japanese lady who was eager to learn more about the Bible and Christianity. My Friend has been a faithful witness of Christ for her . She has been laboring more than a year to introduce Christ to this lady (I call her A-san here). Out of blue my friend called me with saying "Would you talk to A-san about Christianity? she is really seeking"
So here I was, meeting someone who were very to close to be born spiritually for very first time. I didn't know what to expect or what to say but just praying that I would be sensitive to the holy spirit. We spent about an hour to talk about her back ground , her doubt and fear about making a decision. It was like a baby who almost peak out her head but refusing to go, maybe waiting for the final push. She wanted to believe but something was holding her back. Again she asked me a very simple but significant question. "Would you tell me what faith really is? " I said " I think faith is to walk with living God who created you and give you every blessing of your life" She paused and all sudden tears rolled down her cheeks.
" A peace just come down to me, the peace I never had before, I can't deny Him anymore"

A new birth. Her face was beaming with joy. I was a simple witness of what God had done. He just gave her new life and that was clear demonstration of His power.

I had to admit I had been struggling about faith myself. The long process of support raise pushed me to spiritual dessert time to time. It was God who arranged everything so that I could be encouraged by this new birth. I started to cry too, because I saw a power of living God who can give brand new life and a beatiful new born!

Our visit at Faith Baptist church (Park Rapids)

One Saturday morning, we left home for Park Rapids MN. Faith Baptist church of Park rapids graciously invited us again as a family. That was busy weekend but we were greeted by wonderful people of the church, beautiful prairie and lakes.

On the way to Park Rapids, we stopped by Long Prairie to meet a retired missionary ,

Helen ,who served in Japan along with Greg's parents. She showed us pictures of baby Greg and told me she was there when he came home from hospital. She is one of our faithful supporters and prayer worrier. That was very very special visit.

We said good by to Helen and hit the road again to Park Rapids, Along the way we spotted Amish girls and a wagon, they were selling quilts , baskets and baked goods. Their chocolate cookies were the best!! I could visit there again just for the cookies.

At Faith Baptist church, Pastor Russ Paulson welcomed us with warm smile and introduce us to the congregation. They were wonderful God's family that reach out community as well as around the world! Kids became little bit antsy after they had to greet for 3 services for the weekend but they seemed felt very comfortable at the church. They especially loved to visit Lake Itasca when we had little free time. That was such a treat. Thank you for having us! It was such a privilege to present the needs of Japan and it was wonderful to meet people who have passion for His kingdom.

On the way home, Micah said "Ah~, That was the best church visit ever " as he bite into sub way sandwich for our late supper . All kids went to sleep in our van shortly after that. Maybe this kind of moments are the most memorable moment of their childhood. Mom and Dad, every body with mini Van took long trips to visit churches, big sky , cattle, simple meals , sleep in the van, but we were all together and dreaming about life in Japan..... I am already miss the beautiful prairie we saw at this trip.

Humle begening......

Crossing Mississippi by foot

We visited Lake Itasca where mighty Mississippi's head water was located last weekend. Kids were so excited to find out how this river begins . Surrounding by beautiful forest, Lake Itasca looked like ordinary Minnesota lake. Where the river begins, you see rocks lying across the "river" where you can actually cross Mississippi with just few steps. It was impressive . And before I knew it, kids were other side of river!

It was not like seeing Niagara falls or something like that. But I considered this experience was one of the kind you will never forget. Water was so calm and peaceful. It was so refreshing and welcoming. Kids can swim in lake and also Mississippi river which is like little creek. However, everybody there seemed to be touched by the fact they were dipping their feet where the great river just begins.

A humble beginning of mighty river. It is hard to imagine this creek leads to Gulf of Mexico.

Our vision and imagination is so limited compare to what God creates. We might never be able to see where He leads us as far as our ministry in Japan but by God's grace, we would like to be a little creek which gives joy to people and leads to greatness of God.

By the way, kids went far beyond just dipping their feet there, as we leave they were wet from head to toe and very content.

16 years ago, we were just two..

16 years ago, I met a young lady from Japan who just arrived to the States to attend a school in Colorado. I (Asa) was doing internship for my seminary degree at Japanese church in Denver area for the summer.

Miwa and I connected immediately and became good friends through Bible study, student out reach ministry. I sensed that she had very sincere interest in Bible even though that was very new to her. God brought so many Christians on her short time there , the seeds were planted and she returned home couple month later.

A year later I also returned to Japan. We kept in touch even though we lived in different islands of Japan. One day she called me to tell she was going to be baptized at her home town. I was so excited. By God's grace I was able to make a trip to witness her baptism!

Following the year I moved back to MN to marry Greg. Miwa took a trip to U.S. to attend our wedding and she was my personal attendant for the day. I still remember right before I walk down the isle, she prayed for me as I was so nervous.

Couple years later Miwa met a single missionary from Ohio at nursing school in Japan. They fell in love and married. They lived in Japan several years before Mike, Miwa's husband took a position as an associate pastor of CB church in Ohio. Now with their 2 cute boys, they visited us this summer!

It was amazing to see our children and their children created instant bounding with each other .

Just like I and Miwa was that way 16 years ago. They had great great time together .

Strangers must think they were brothers or cousins!

While kids were having fun together , adults shared God's grace and goodness for thier lives, and challenges as a minister or a minister to be or as their wives.

As I write this blog entry, I again see how God coordinated to gave me a very special sister in Christ 16 years ago. I had no idea we would share so many common grounds in future. It was amazing to see how her life was transformed and grow mature as a follower of Christ and now serving for Him.

This is the reason I want to go to mission field! I want to meet people who are looking for the meaning of life and witness their lives will transformed in Christ. I want to meet people like Miwa and watch them grow all over again!

Desing God Japan???

Back in May, Greg and I (and Ellen) visited the Desiring God office to meet with Bill Walsh, DG's International Outreach director. Desiring God is a ministry which has strong ties to our home church, Bethlehem Baptist. They distribute John Piper's written, audio, and video materials, organize regional and national conferences, and offer various online resources as well. Pastor Piper's sermons and books have had a significant impact not only on churches in North America and the English speaking world, but also on Christians all over the world.

At the time we met with Mr. Walsh, he had just returned from a trip to Asia and was very excited about the opportunities for partnerships with missionaries around the world who serve as points of contacts for distributing Piper's materials for the encouragement of local national believers and church leaders as well as other missionaries on the field. Of course, we are excited too! We would love to share in DG's vision of spreading a passion for God's supremacy. Greg and I have been blessed to sit under Pastor Piper's teaching for over 12 years (over 20 for Greg). His Bible-saturated, God-centered teaching has had a significant impact on my walk with Christ. Through the ministry of this church, God sustained me and helped me to endure long, cold winters and loneliness away from home! It was a precious time for my spiritual growth as my passion was nurtured for the spreading God's glory among my own people. So... we are dreaming that we could perhaps be used as an agent of Desiring God in Japan, somehow, some way.

In case you didn't know, two of Pastor Piper's books have been translated in Japanese. Here is a picture of a dozen or so copies of the Japanese translation of Piper's Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ on a shelf in the stockroom of the DG office. You can purchase them if you wish to give copies to your Japanese friends. One of our friends, who was part of our Japanese fellowship at Bethlehem when she lived in Minnesota, has excellent translation skills, and she is eager to translate more of Piper's works into Japanese. We are dreaming of perhaps creating a Japanese website and posting his sermons.

So... would you pray for this dream? We can't wait to see what God will do through this prospective partnership. We feel like God is ahead of us, showing us so many opportunities for ministry in Japan. We are trusting and praying that the rest of our financial support comes in soon so that we can be there!!

Welcome Home!

Our Oldest son Micah spent 5 nights 6 days at Lake Shatak Bible Camp last week. This was big deal for almost 11 years old and also his family.

He was so excited to be away from home but his siblings missed him terribly.

We prayed for him every morning and night and Micah seemed was too busy to thinks about home.

Family discipleship ministry of Bethlehem does extraordinary job to organize this high energy , fun filling yet highly spiritual youth camp.

Kids were well fed with words and Bible messages.

Now, I (Asa) grown up in Japanese church and had participated in church camps but it seems there is no comparison between them as far as how much fun they have at the camp. Real life Clue ,Moon light swimming , Cabin raid, all kinds of crazy games.... I wish Japanese kids could experience this kind of pure fun as well as good solid Bible teaching. There is no room for computer games or Nintendo. Would someone consider to come to Japan for summer and lead this kind of high energy camp??

Here is a picture of Micah and his cabin counselor

Mr.Wennis, when they returend from camp. He is in TBI track II program.

We really thank him who ate , slept and prayed with Micah and other boys in a hot summer cabin. It must be some experience!!

Did Micah have changed through this camp experience? From out side it is just his skin got tan. However, inside, we convinced that God planted lots of seeds in him. Most of kids at the camp memorized more than 10 long verses. We are looking forward to see the seed will produce fruits someday. Welcome Home Micah!!

All Nations Fellwship Weekend Retreat

All Nations Fellowship is a ministry of Bethelehem Baptist church where people from all over the world get toghther every Sunday morning. We are like a church within a church. We have worship time, prayer time, Bible study time and of course, fellwoship! We are a very colurful group. People come from all different kinds of nationalities, backgrounds and languages, but we have a very strong sense of comunity. It has been such a blessing to be a part of this group these last couple of years, and it has been a joy to participate in leading the worship times for this group.


Last week (the weekend of June 6-8), ANF held their anuual retreat at Covenant Pines Bible Camp in McGregor, MN, and that was a taste of heaven! I am convinced that God created the lakes of Minnesota to display His presence. The beauty of His creation and the sweet fellowship with other internationals were truly a gift from the Lord.

Greg led the worship team for this retreat this year and that was very rewarding ministry. We got know each other very well and enjoy to lead worship songs from India, Africa, and Japan. I played the koto (Japanese harp) with the worship band for the Japanese song. I have enjoyed using this traditional instrument for worshiping the Lord. Traditionally, the koto was used to play music for the gods of a Shinto shrine. But we have found that this instrument blends beautifully with western instruments such as the piano and guitar. It is my desire that the koto will be used to worship the God of all cultures. So as I have opportunity, I would like to transpose more worship songs into koto music.

Planting seeds.....

After the long winter , spring is so precious and beautiful. I realized my plants are much healthier and grow quicker this year. The long and cold winter has done something good to our yard.
Kids are also spending more time out side this year also. They are more excited about gardening too. They are happy to do whatever,, weeding , shovelling, watering .
I bought some seeds for Karin's birthday and 3 of our children couldn't wait to plant them.

First they thought they could just take seeds, scatter them and that's it. They thought they will see beautiful flowers couple days later. Instead of that they founded themselves spending much more time for prep work. Weeding, plowing , bring some soil from compost site,
smoothing the ground also. I told them that seeds are like babies, they need nice soft bed
and also light fluffy blanket. If the blankets are too thin, they don't survive and if that is too heavy, they will not glow healthier. As I was talking to kids, I started to think about the support discovery. There are some similarity between planting seeds and support raise.

When we were appointed, we felt like we would see our beautiful result of support discovery right away. We didn't think much about weeding , plowing, watering, moving soil here and there.
That was very childlike view of support discovery.
We have been doing lot of ground prep work for last tow years. We had seen some beautiful flowers and fruits which were given to us. Also we see some ground which need more plowing
and watering. Also we see the ground where we just need to wait with faith.

Now it's almost June, kids are patiently waiting for the sprout. They faithfully water them and also get mad when ants are caring away some of their seeds. They are hopeful and enjoying the process.
So if kids can wait, why we can't wait for our ministry partners to sprout.
Lord give us faith to wait and wisdom to nurture the relationship with potential partners.
Lord teach as many as lessons as we press on this support discovery so that we become more effective minister of the gospel.
Our current monthly support level is about 60%. We are grateful and hopeful. Please pray for us!!!

He asked for our prayer card!

The Lord has sent us another big surprise for us back in April. I am not sure how many people may recognize who is the gentleman in a center of this picture. Yes, he is Mark Hall , the leading singer of Casting Crowns. This award wining christian band was in our town last April, and God used them to encourage us greatly. How this happened ?

We have been using christian Internet accountability software called "Covenant Eye"

They called us out of blue and offered us the opportunity to serve them at Casting Crowns concert. CE has been invited by Casting Crown to present their ministry during intermission of their concert. They were looking for someone who can be at their table here in MN.

We were given 4 free ticket of the best seat of (10-th row from very front), as well as meet & greet passes. We were escorted to the back stage and actually met the whole band members. I never had such experience in my life, as well as our boys. We were very excited. We were the first ones of greeting line and you know what , we almost didn't recognize which one was Mark Hall. He looked so casual and humble , dressing like clue members. (I recognized his pants has a hole. another benefit of getting a seat so close to the stage.) The back stage of excel energy center of the day was almost like a church fellowship hall. There was a guy who has no interesting being a star singer . He was anything but a youth pastor who could sing and write songs.

We only had our prayer cards to ask for his autograph. Greg explained to him we were missionary appointees to Japan, then Mark asked for another prayer card for him to keep! We didn't expect him to support us but what an encouragement that was. He took a moment to show his interest in someone's ministry even though he is an extremely busy person.

We needed a reminder that God is not too busy for us and He takes a time when we need Him. Yes God has our prayer card on His desk and doing what ever He can do for us every moment .

About Casting Crown concert that night ? We had a great worship time. They are such a ministry minded group of people. No wonder God is using them in amazing ways. Asa was personally touched by the song "Every man" from thier newest album.

That song reminded me the great needs of lost sheeps in Japan.

10 wonderful gifts God gave us through our trip to Japan.

I would like to bring you back to the Japan trip we had back in March again.

Here is Top 10 list of God's blessing from the trip.

1. The gift of prayers of many saints.
   


2. The gift of last minute air plain tickets and the best seats arrangement.
   


3. The gift of indescribable peace in the midst of a sad situation..my mother might be dying...



4. The gift of my mom's smile and sweet spirit even though she was very weak



5. The gift of a loving husband who understood my pain and took care 3 kids by himself for 2 weeks and brought them to Japan to be reunited with me.



6. The gift of the miracle of healing which my mom received from the Lord.



7. The gift of the realization that God is indeed working in Japan. He loves this country



8. The gift of the precious time we had with extended family. They are all believers!



9. The gift of our children falling in love with Japan.



10. The gift of a fruitful time with field leaders, including our mentor, pastor Ookita.

We never dreamed about making this kind of trip at this time of year . That was simply a gift from God. I am so glad I received it. His gifts are so precious I will not exchange with anything even though that comes with pains sometimes (or many times). The pain often make me realize how precious the relationship with God is.

Happy Birthday Karin!!

Happy Birthday Karin! May 10th was your birthdday. You are finally 5 years old. You think 5 is the best age of your life.

Yes maybe that is true. We are learning everyday how much 5 years old can do and bring us joy and fresh prospect to life. At Home, you spend lot of time writing note to some one , saying " I love you..." You might start card making company someday. Even though Mommy sometimes complain how much paper you use and mess you make, we are very proud of your gift of encouragement. Mommy and Daddy and I am sure many other people need love note once a while. Keep the good work Karin ! We love you so much and God loves you even more like you can't imagine.

A Surprised gift from God

God loves to give us surprised gifts . He works in amazing way. I need bring you back to the last February to explain what we have been thorough and God's faithfulness of every moment.

That was cold Sunday morning , I got a phone call from Japan which informed me my mother was hospitalized with critical condition. She has been battling cirrhosis; condition that lever became hard as a rock and slowly loose proper function. She sufferers from all kinds of complications but the most serious one is "internal bleeding" from her stomach. If that happens, she could bleed to death.
That day she vomited blood at home and was transferred to an emergency room. A doctor told my family she might have few days to live. I needed act quickly, two days later I was on an air plain with my youngest Ellen(16 month old ). God provided a ticket and seat for us in amazing way. I was sustained by unexplained peace for the whole trip. To make a long story short, my mother's condition improved dramatically, rest of my family joined us from MN later and we were able to have wonderful family time in Japan.

God often gives me situations that I can cry only to God, He hears cry of His children and send it back as a beautiful gifts. I Will post some of the detail of this surprise gift later but I shared some of the pictures with you for now.

Here I am to worship

This is the first line for my blog and I want to dedicate my words here for my savior and the Lord, Jesus Christ. I hope that all I write here is honoring to Jesus and encouragement to others.

You will read my joy, excitements , as well as cries and discouragements. And also you will realize my strange grammars and expression as a non native speaker. Please bear with me. I am far from perfection but very excited about sharing my experiences as a Japanese woman who lives in the States , as a mom for 4 children and as a missionary appointee who is anticipating ministering in Japan with my husband Greg. I hope to share God's mercy and goodness with you through this broken (English) vessel. Yes, writing can be worship!