Going to Japan

God has done it! Celia and I are going to Japan on July 1, 2011, with 4 one-way tickets (one for me, one for Celia, one for Celia's cello, and one for Celia's viola da gamba) for our initial four year term. Today is the day we were supposed to meet all of our deadlines, and we were nervous and excited at the same time to see how God was going to supply for our financial clearance (we were at 90% a week ago and 97% yesterday morning). By yesterday night, we received the final pledges needed to meet the minimum financial requirements to go to Japan, and this morning our OMF boss gave us the green light to go to Japan!

So what do we do from here? We pack, move, travel, say goodbyes, cry (a lot), fill out paperwork, and leave. When we get to Japan, we will deposit some cellos and other luggage, and then head over to Singapore for our month long orientation course (OC). Singapore is where the OMF International headquarters is, and OC is meant to train OMF missionaries about procedures of OMF and allow us to get acquainted with the OMF staff supporting us and the other missionaries entering the field with us. After OC, we hop back to Japan where we will hopefully do some initial relief work for a few weeks (Celia playing cello concerts in the shelters and Keith doing manual labor). By mid-August we should be moving into our new home in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and starting language study.

Right now we feel like this: dancing to the jukebox in the basement of Keith's parents' house with long hair

やった！

The Money Jar

We have 92% pledged support!

We have a little less than a week left before this whole money jar business is behind us, and as much as I (Keith) enjoy creating these MS Paint™  money jars and filling them with MS Paint™ coins, I will be glad when we're through. As of today, May 3, we have about 92% pledged support. God has done some amazing things to get us this far, so we are hopeful that we will get a full 100% pledged before our May 9th financial deadline. We will definitely keep you posted :)

April Newsletter

Seasons
Newsletter #11
April 16, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

With the events of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the loss of Celia’s grandmother weighing on our hearts, it’s hard to believe it’s been a month and a half since our last newsletter. In the midst of this grief, we are looking forward to celebrate with Celia’s brother, Colin, at his wedding with his fiancée, Jiayun in May! So much is happening that we feel like we’re running to keep up with the incredible pace of life. Still, we are pressing on to our May 9 deadline for financial and medical clearance with hopes that we’ll be back in Japan in July!


Deep Waters
I (Celia) struggle to find words to respond to the present situation in Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Even a month later, I still can’t get my mind around what has happened or even imagine the implications not only for the Tōhoku region, but the whole of Japan. On that day, all I could do was pace around the house, crying and looking out the window. The only prayer I could put into words was “Lord, have mercy,” but I know that the Holy Spirit was interpreting my tears and my silence.

We are glad to report that all of our friends and colleagues in Japan are safe. Praise God! In Sapporo, where we had been working and where we will return, there was little damage. However, even several hundred miles from the epicentre, the earthquake was the largest in living memory.

We’ve been learning a lot about grief in the last year—first as we left behind our friends, colleagues, and work in Japan, then as God closed the door regarding our return to Vancouver. In November at a conference on interpersonal skills, we were finally able to figure out that we weren’t experiencing reverse culture shock so much as grief. Then, the earthquake and tsunami happened in Japan, and within the next week, my grandmother died. At this point I felt the grief of others even more as I struggled with my own personal grief.

Celia, age 1, with Grandmother

We’ve often talked in our presentations at churches about feelings of helplessness. While we were in Japan, these feelings related primarily to our minimal language skills. Now we feel helpless to do anything to help people in Japan who have lost friends, family, homes, and possessions—not to mention people who were not directly affected, but who face the future with fear. But we have learned to pray, and we have seen how powerful that is in communicating love to grieving people. Our God’s grace is sufficient for us, and his power is made perfect in weakness. Even in the midst of our grief, we have the joy of God’s comfort.

Through all of this, I am filled with thankfulness. Many people have prayed for and cared for my family. Many people are praying for Japan. I am thankful for our grandparents, for their love for Keith and me and for the rest of the family. I am thankful for the 69 years of Grandmother and Granddad’s marriage—what a great example! I am thankful for many other people who continue to be like grandparents to Keith and me. I am thankful for people who pray for us and encourage us. God has graciously provided for us in every way.

May God redeem this tragedy in Japan for his glory! Already many Japanese have found comfort in him. May God redeem our own grief also, so that we may weep with those who weep and offer God’s comfort just as we have already received it.

As a special extra for those of you who are reading on the blog, here are some links related to this article:

• Celia's reflections on the earthquake and the loss of her grandmother
• Keith's reflections on the earthquake
• Our colleague, Bryan Thompson's blog about earthquake and tsunami relief
• OMF Japan's page of resources about the earthquake and tsunami (we especially recommend the "Fukushima First Baptist Church – an evacuated pastor’s diary" articles)
• If you would like to donate for relief work, we recommend that you do so through OMF International (enter project number L60500 into the "specific project" box) or CRASH Japan.

***

Japanese Culture Night

On April 2, we held a Japanese culture night at Newport Covenant Church. Over 20 volunteers helped prepare the food, set up the room, and clean up for the over 100 people who came to hear about Japan and about our ministry. We were especially touched during the prayer time to hear so many of the people we love praying for Japan together. The event raised $2,800 for Covenant World Relief tsunami relief efforts. These numbers astound us, especially since we were initially planning for only 40-50 people. God is good. Thank you to everyone who helped out!

The meal: homemade bentos!

Celia accompanied Keith and Dan on some of her hymn arrangements. Keith sang in Japanese.

If you'd like, you can read more about Japanese Culture night on a previous blog post. Also, you can read the results of the haiku competition... and see the silly picture Keith made to advertise the event.
***

Beginnings and Endings    
March and April have been a time of transition—many of our ministry commitments are coming to a close as we are shifting our focus to our work of finding partners for our future ministry in Japan. We have finished the Alpha Course at Westminster Chapel—it has been such a blessing to meet the guests at our table and to learn from people who have a lot of experience in facilitating the Alpha Course! We wish it were possible to continue on. Our community group training has come to a close along with our community group. It is our hope that many of the group members will go on to start their own groups. We pray that these experiences will be helpful as we learn to be effective workers in Japan.

Our Community Group

On March 13, we “officially” said goodbye to Vancouver First Christian Reformed Church as we became members at Newport Covenant Church, where Celia was raised. Then in April, Celia celebrated her 30th birthday with a tea party!

Celia's childhood friend, Andrea and her daughter, Leila attended the tea party.

We are looking forward with anticipation to our financial and medical clearance deadline on May 9. We have been counting down the days through prayer, sending out daily prayer requests by email; please let us know if you would like to join us, and we will add you to our list. Yesterday we talked with our supervisor; we were encouraged to hear that our medical clearance process is going well. Our current financial support level is 55%; we are eager to see how God will provide the remaining 45%!

Provided we make our clearance deadline, we will head to Singapore for orientation course at the beginning of July, and we will arrive in Japan towards the end of the month. We are considering possibilities to be involved in relief work at some point, whether or not we make our deadline.
***

Prayer Points

• May 9, 2011 is our deadline for raising all finances (100% pledged monthly support) and getting clearance to go to Japan in July 2011. Please pray that God will provide prayer partners, pledges towards our monthly support, the diligence to do what we can, and peace as we trust in him.
• Please continue to pray for Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, for all the families that lost loved ones and homes, and for many opportunities for Christians to reach out in love to their grieving neighbors. May God's peace be made greater than any disaster in Japan.
• We thank God for all our mentors and the ministries in which we’ve been involved, especially the Alpha course and our community group.
• Celia’s grandmother passed away on March 16. Please pray for Celia and her family as they grieve her loss.
• We are thankful for the 100 people who came to hear about our ministry on April 2 at our Japanese Culture Night, and for the 20+ volunteers who helped out.
• During our time of visiting churches and friends, please pray that we take sufficient time to rest and spend time together.
• Please pray for Celia’s brother, Colin and his fiancée, Jiayun as they prepare for their May 21 wedding and their marriage.

***


Money Jar: We have 55%!

We need 100% pledged monthly support for our first term (5 years) before returning to Japan—for a July departure, our deadline is May 9. Please keep praying with us that God will provide for our financial needs!

If you would like to support us financially, you can get information here, and follow this link to make a pledge via OMF's website.
***

Thank you for praying with us in this time of many transitions, much grief, and much joy!

Love, Keith and Celia

Japanese Culture Night Recap

Here's a summary of what we did at our Japanese Culture Night on Saturday...

Preparations

To make Tonjiru, we had to chop a lot of daikon. (Celia helped in the kitchen on Friday, before she was banned because of illness...)

This is Janet, our head chef, preparing tsukemono (pickles).

Sarah prepares edible decorations for the bento while Maya prepares a mochi dessert.

Maiko assembles the bento boxes.

Akemi also helped with assembling bento boxes.

Granddad folded programs.

Mary Lu arranged the flowers and coordinated the decorations. Gorgeous!!

Preparing for Tea Ceremony! (Celia is keeping her germs to herself.)

The Menu
I included links to some of the recipes, since many are on the internet.

Bento boxes: tempura, tea eggs, tamagoyaki, zarusoba, spicy miso-kochujang potatoes, daikon tsukemono (pickles), rice shapes (not pictured), pretty vegetables, kinpira gobou.
Tonjiru: I received the recipe from Ronna Husby, modified it slightly, and wrote it up as a guest post for my friend's food blog.

Dessert: fruit salad with almond jelly, cheesecake, and mochi

The program

Activities for the kids--spinning tops and origami

There was also a chance to try Japanese calligraphy!

Yukino demonstrated Japanese tea ceremony.

She was assisted by several volunteers from the audience.

Celia played several of her hymn arrangements, and Dad and Keith sang with her... Celia had no voice because of her cold!

In addition to having a fun time learning about Japanese culture and our ministry, the guests donated over $2000 for tsunami relief! Praise God!

Thanks to each one of you who helped! We certainly couldn't have done this alone.

Haiku Competition

As part of our Japanese Culture Night, we had a not-so-Japanese haiku competition--kind of an icebreaker game. We gave each table an envelope full of words and instructions to make 3 lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. We had 13 entries in English and 1 in Japanese. Here's what they came up with:

The winning entry:

Despondent rain goes

Replaced by sun and gladness

Celebrate the spring

   -Janet's table

Honorable mention:
シアトルの祈りよ届け東北へ
(Translation: May Seattle's prayer reach Touhoku)
   -Team Takahashi

So why Seattle
Journey spring beach together
Go vacation with
   -Team Faith

Sunshine spring blossom
Seattle young bird and duck
River through valley.
   -"Loving" table, June and Donna

Wet storm cloud unfold
With sunrise in Seattle
Spring blossoms float through
   -anon.

Sun cloud warm air fade
Dream of blossom without much
Spring green every day
   -Thankful

Springtime days are long
Dance and sun over mountains
So why sleep, green world?
   -anon.

Seattle spring is
A rainbow water journey
A blossom without sun.
   -anon.

Without Sunday I
Cat and water of much tea.
Evil evening now
   -anon.

Seattle spring sun
So come forward special tree
To glory of day
   -anon.

Waves of pink blossoms
Float in the wind like a cloud.
Spring's special love song.
   -"Kindness" table

Spring blossoms shape day
Seattle sun through the clouds
Jesus is glory!
   -Meghan, Ernest, and Jeanie

Spring sunshine blossom
I celebrate and dance dream of vacation
Through fall wind whistle condolence
   -anon.

Humankind evil
How wise is sakura love
At haiku sunrise
   -Evil among us

Japanese Culture Night

Saturday, April 2, 6:00 pm
Newport Covenant Church 
12800 Southeast Coal Creek Parkway Bellevue, WA 98006

Traditional Japanese hairstyle

We are hosting a Japanese Culture Night! Enjoy a Japanese meal and learn more about Japan and our ministry and ministry needs. There will be a cultural presentation, a slideshow, and a mini-concert of Celia’s hymn arrangements that she plans to perform at evangelistic concerts in Japan. We will also pray for the people in Japan who are currently suffering and grieving as a result of the earthquake and tsunami.
 
Tickets will be available at the door for any donation, but please reserve your tickets in advance by email (celia.olson[at]gmail.com), or phone (425-449-9094) to help us get a head-count for food. All donations for ticket reservations will go to benefit Japan tsunami and earthquake relief through Covenant World Relief.

Childcare will be provided upon request. Please contact Mary Klug: 425-747-0515 ext. 110 or maryk[at]newportcov.com
Please feel free to invite your friends!

Grief upon grief, joy upon joy

I'm not really sure any more who or what I am grieving. The earthquake and tsunami happened in Japan, so I cried every day... and eventually I had to intentionally stop reading the news more than once a day and to continually commit the people of Japan to God in prayer, acknowledging my own helplessness.

Then last Wednesday (March 16), we got news that Grandmother, my mom's mom, had suddenly died of a stroke or heart attack. She just collapsed, and that was that. The last time I saw her was at Granddad's 90th birthday party in mid-January. I'm glad I kissed her and told her that she looked beautiful that day.

Let me tell you a little about Grandmother. She was adventurous and spunky--she loved traveling and being outdoors. She went to Hawaii every year until just a few years ago... and still swam in the ocean into her 80's.

I remember once in high school getting into an argument with her about housewifery. I think I was implying, young and stupid as I was, that she could have had a better life if she hadn't been "tied down" by staying at home. My goodness, she gave me a talking to. I think that was when I realized how deeply she loved her family--that it was her deepest desire to take care of her husband, her 2 children and their spouses, and her 4 grandchildren. Staying at home to care for the family was for her a privilege and a delight, not an oppressive burden to be borne, and she was thankful to Granddad for working hard to allow her to do so. I only pray that I will love my family, in the present and the future, as much as she did.

Grandmother made sure her house was always open to us. It was always kept perfectly clean, and there were many beautiful things to look at. (We grandkids learned at an early age not to touch Grandmother's "pretties.") Even in a beautiful home full of fragile things, I was never made to feel awkward; Grandmother and Granddad's home was my home, too. Grandmother used her beautiful dishes, teacups, and glassware for special meals, so that we would know that we were special to her. This attitude of generous and extravagant hospitality has greatly inspired me. (Still, Grandmother was not ashamed to offer hospitality with a very simple meal--we often had freezer pizza or canned soup when we came over. I am likewise inspired by the simplicity of her hospitality.)

I received many of Grandmother's "pretties" when she moved to a retirement home several years ago. One of my favorite things I received was the sugar jar. When I stayed overnight, I always had oatmeal for breakfast. At home, I ate oatmeal with milk and only a little brown sugar. (That was probably a wise choice by my mother.) At Grandmother and Granddad's house, I had as much cream as I liked on my oatmeal, and I could help myself to both white sugar and brown sugar, which was stored in a special glass jar with a silver lid.

Those are only a few of the precious memories I have of Grandmother. When I think of her life, I think of generosity, peace, and contentment. I know that she loved me very much.

Me (yes, that's me) with Grandmother and Granddad in the backyard of our old house

That is also me, believe it or not.

Grandmother read me lots of books.

She read to all of us grandkids (from the left: Lindsay, Colin, Grandmother, me, Kelly). Check out that awesome couch.

High school graduation

For the last year, it's been really hard to visit Grandmother. I've been grieving her loss for several years now as she slowly declined from dementia. She never learned Keith's name, even though he's been part of the family for more than 5 years. At the end, I think she forgot my name too. I struggled to visit because I didn't know what to talk about. I could tell her things, but she wouldn't respond. And I was angry at her and Granddad for the way they treated my mom--the best daughter they could ever wish for--in the last couple of years. I feel like I'm just making excuses to assuage my own guilt at being a "bad granddaughter." But I also feel that my "duty" is to be a daughter to my mom even more than a granddaughter to my grandparents. Now is not the time to dwell on past hurts--I need to be present with my mom and also with Granddad, who has just lost his beloved wife of 69 years.

So I don't know what all I'm grieving. Part of it is Japan--and in my own personal grief, I feel the loss of life and livelihood in Japan even more deeply. Part of it is losing my grandmother for the last time. Part of it is grieving for my mom and my uncle and my granddad and for all the people in Japan who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Sometimes I think I grieve more deeply for the living than for the dead. It's a swirling mess of emotion. I don't really like being a swirling mess of anything, but now I've gotten accustomed to being "emotionally incontinent" in public.

At church on Sunday, we sang "Blessed Be Your Name," a song which we sang at our wedding. The theme of our wedding was very much our commitment to each other and to God in both joy and sorrow. As I attempted to sing (largely unsuccessfully), I remembered why we chose that song: "You give and take away; my heart will choose to say, 'Lord, blessed be your name.'" Keith is beside me now, just as he has been in times of great joy, and I cannot express my thankfulness for that fact.

In the midst of deep sorrow (my own and others') I feel the peace and presence of God. This is a joyful thing. God was holding me close before, but I didn't notice.

    When through the deep waters I call you to go,
    The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
    For I will be with you in trouble to bless,
    And sanctify to you your deepest distress.

Come, Lord Jesus!

The Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Let me first say that we are thankful to know that all of our friends and co-workers in Japan are safe. There are, however, thousands missing and possibly dead, and we do have many friends concerned about family members that they cannot reach. Celia and I have found it hard to sleep the last couple of nights because the disaster in Japan is so pressing on our minds.

A friend's room in Chiba after the earthquake

Perhaps we should consider ourselves fortunate that we are not caught up in all the confusion in Japan at the moment, but I can't help desiring to be a Christian presence in the midst of so much turmoil. But Celia and I are in Seattle, so we pray for Japan. It is hard to put our prayers into words. We see the videos, pictures, death count, and the comments of friends from Japan on Facebook. It is a lot to take in and a lot to bring to the Lord in prayer. Lately, my prayers have been like this:
Dear Lord, Japan needs you. Japan needs to stand on you as the steadfast Rock, who anchors all who call on your name when the waves of turmoil come. Through the pain and suffering and death of this earthquake and tsunami, may your love and peace and grace fall. May Japan call on your name and choose to rely on you who is greater than any disaster. I don't understand why this happened, and I can't fathom the depths of suffering of the people in Fukushima and Miyagi. You alone, God, know these things. You alone, God, can meet those suffering at their deepest need. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

February Newsletter

Seasons

Newsletter #10

February 24, 2011

 

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s been a while since our last newsletter. We have been very busy, but sometimes it’s hard to explain our current stage in life—living with Celia’s parents and engaged in deputation work and various ministries, but no “real” job. We often have conversations that go something like this:

Well-meaning friend: What exactly are you doing now, anyway?
Keith and Celia: Name a day, and we’ll tell you what we do…

That’s what we’re going to do this month: we will briefly describe each ministry and activity we’re involved in.


What exactly are you doing now, anyway?
Alpha and Talk Time at Westminster Chapel: On Sunday evenings we are table hosts for ESOL Alpha (a basic course on Christianity geared towards people who are learning English), and we are hosts for Talk Time (an opportunity for English learners to practice their conversation skills) on Thursday nights. Both start with informal conversation over a meal. Alpha includes a short talk on some element of the Christian faith, with plenty of time for questions and discussions, while Talk Time allows for conversation on a wide range of topics. We started out as Talk Time hosts, and then Sylvia, our mentor at Westminster, invited us to host at Alpha as well. Alpha in particular has become an uplifting experience, as we seek God together with people who are learning about him for the first time—and we are blessed by the friendships that have been forming. (We love talking to Japanese people… so we are thrilled that the majority of ESOL Alpha and Talk Time guests are Japanese!)

Our Alpha table

Fun outside of Alpha with Maiko-san: Japanese-style Valentine's chocolates!

Community Group and involvement at Newport Covenant Church: We receive training for community group leadership on Monday nights and try to implement what we learn during our community group gatherings on Friday nights. When Celia and I first approached Newport Covenant asking where we could serve, I must admit we had doubts about community groups: would this really be a good use of our skills and time? Now that we are a few weeks into the group that we started with our mentors, Mel and Janet McIntyre, I can see why God has led us in this direction. When we first arrived at Newport in May 2010, we struggled to find our place. The community group has become an important opportunity for us to connect with others on a deeper level and uphold each other in prayer, as well as a place to learn and serve. We have also had the opportunity to preach, occasionally play with the worship band, and join in weekly prayer meetings and social groups at Newport.

Japanese Church and Language Study: In order to retain some of our language skills, we both have conversation partners. Once a week, we subject ourselves to speaking like infants (I'm probably around the level of a 3 year old, and Celia is like a 5 year old). This is a humbling and constant reminder that God is going to be the one who changes a person’s heart, not an eloquent speech by one of us. We continue to enjoy worshiping with Hosanna Church, a Japanese church which conveniently meets at Newport on Sunday afternoons after our English service and before Alpha, and also gives us opportunity to struggle on with our language skills. Religious language is often difficult to understand even for native Japanese speakers, much like “Christianese” is difficult for many English speakers, so we try to practice whenever we can.

Tea and conversation with Okubo-san

Ramen and conversation with Mari-san

OMF Prayer Meeting: On the second Monday night of the month (when we are not going to community group leaders’ training), we go to a local prayer group for OMF missionaries. This group, which consists of a number of retired missionaries and Celia’s brother and his fiancée (did we mention Colin and Jiayun are getting married?!), prayed for us while we were in Japan and they continue to pray for us now. (Anyone is welcome to join in—let us know if you want to come!) Part of the reason we are becoming OMF missionaries rather than going with another organization is that we love our colleagues in OMF, so it’s a privilege to pray with and for them!

Special Events: On January 7, we invited our friends to celebrate Japanese New Year with a Mochitsuki (rice pounding) party. Celia’s brother and dad surprised us for Christmas with the proper equipment (a gigantic wooden mortar and pestle made from a tree in our yard). We therefore invited our friends over for an opportunity to bash rice with a big hammer. The party was a lot of fun, but since we were busy hosting, we didn’t get to sit and talk with anyone! We had a second party with Hosanna Church the following Sunday.

On January 29, we attended Vancouver Missions Fest, where we met up with old friends, made new friends, and represented both OMF and Regent College at the exhibition. Our picture and story were featured in the Missions Fest magazine, since we had met our short term mission mentors (Tony and Pat Schmidt) there in 2008.

Representing Regent at Missions Fest

Finally, since last Fall, we have been on the planning committee for the RJC (Reaching Japanese for Christ) International Conference, which took place last weekend. We helped to present a seminar on using Anime for evangelism, and Celia played a mini-concert. If we only take one insight away from the conference, let it be our excitement at what God is doing among the Japanese—especially as we are reminded that not only do Japanese need Jesus, but many also want Jesus. We are expecting that God will continue to do great things!

The Daily Grind: This is what we do in all the time that’s left over after the previously mentioned activities. We practice our instruments, work on big projects like sorting through boxes of stuff to decide what to keep and what to get rid of, write thank-you notes and prayer letters, post to our blog, pray, read the Bible, meet up with friends and family, cook, eat, and clean up around the house. And Wednesday is our day off. Ahhhhh…
***

Prayer Points

• Our #1 prayer request is for opportunities to share our vision, experiences, and needs with churches, small groups, and individuals. Please pray that we would know whom to ask, which opportunities to pursue, and that others would invite us to share.
• May 9, 2011 is our deadline for raising all finances (100% pledged monthly support) and getting clearance to go to Japan in July 2011. We have prayed about this date, and we trust God in this waiting time while we work towards this goal. Please pray that God will provide prayer partners, pledges towards our monthly support, diligence to do what we can, and peace as we trust in him.
• We are thankful for the chance to host a table for ESOL Alpha, especially for the development of friendships with other table hosts and guests. Please pray that we will learn about effectively using the Alpha course, and for those attending the course (including us!) to grow closer to God. Please especially pray for the Alpha weekend on Feb. 25-27, which we will spend in Bellingham with our guests.
• We attended the 10th International RJC (Reaching Japanese for Christ) conference, where we were encouraged to hear many testimonies of God’s work among the Japanese. Please pray that we would have ears which are attentive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and boldness to proclaim the Gospel to those who are waiting to hear.

***

Picture Notes: New Banner
Keith made a new banner this month for our print newsletter! We chose pictures which reflect our current location and activities. So, starting from the left…

…we begin with Mt. Rainier, which is probably the most famous landmark in Washington State. We celebrated our 5th anniversary there last July. Second is Celia’s Christmas Eve concert in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Celia is continuing her project of hymn arrangements for viol and voice; she recently added 3 hymns in Japanese to her repertoire. Third is a picture from a picnic last summer… at which we crashed an outdoor wedding! Last is a picture of takuanzuke (daikon radish pickles) in progress. Celia’s most recent hobby is making Japanese pickles. The first try at this particular pickle turned out a little too salty, but delicious in Okayu (Japanese rice porridge).
***

Money Jar: We have 14.5%!

We need 100% pledged monthly support for our first term (5 years) before returning to Japan—for a July departure, our deadline is May 9. Please keep praying with us that God will provide for our financial needs!
***

Blessings on your “daily grind”—may you see God’s love in the details of everyday life!

Love in Christ, Keith and Celia

RJC Conference (Feb. 17-19)

So just a quick update: Celia and I will be attending the 10th Annual International RJC Conference (Reaching Japanese for Christ) from February 17-19. I made the advertisement above, and Celia is helping present during the Anime workshop on Saturday. I'm also emceeing for part of the conference and leading morning prayer sessions. We hope to make some good contacts and learn more about ministering to Japanese. If you're interested in coming, then check out http://www.rjcnetwork.org/ and if you have some non-Christians interested in Hula, then check out this portion of the conference.