The Final Stretch

There's only a few events left for the team before we hop on the plane back to Brisbane. Some of the things we have done in recent days include:

- Some light outreach to the primary school children walking home past the church

- Letterbox drops

- English Classes run by everyone in the team

- Singing Christmas songs and Waltzing Matilda at various events

- Being part of a Cafe outreach event

- Learning Japanese in Japanese Classes

- Sharing our testimonies and photos with various people

- Reaching out to our homestay hosts

- Great fellowship, food and music at the Christmas Concert where 127 people attended

Please pray for the last few events we have left:

- Spending time with homestay families

- Cooking class for some of the team

- Meeting with various church members for snacks and meals

- Our Aussie Night on Saturday Night

- Our farewell lunch on Sunday (and Wayne's sermon)

- Our flight home

See you all soon!

Mission... A Holiday?

When some of you see this picture, you are probably asking what are we exactly doing over here? Are we just having a holiday and a good time, and neglecting the mission work that has been planned?

You would be surprised, but I think this picture from my homestay experience so far, and similarly with experiences from everyone in the team, really sums up one of the biggest ministry and mission areas (if not the biggest) that we are involved with here in Japan.

God had organised homestays for us just in His good timing (one day before we left), and due to the homestay situation, we actually have a double exposure to homestays, as we are all changing to new homestays at the end of the week. Within our time with the homestays, amongst all the good food, touristy stuff, social conversations and interactions with them, it is clear that God is working through us to reach our homestay families. There are so many 'God moments' occurring within our homestay families that it is not mere coincidence, but God's work (the sushi was good too).

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Japan Video Blog Day 2

We are in Japan!

After a long day of travelling, the whole team is safe and sound in OMF headquarters, Ichikawa, Japan.

Thanks for your prayers.

Orientation begins tomorrow 9am for the next two days. Please pray we all learn fast and get the most out of it so that we can serve God more effectively during this mission.

Prayer Update #2

Hi all

After many months of planning, praying and training, its hard to believe that tomorrow we will be in Tokyo, Japan.

Its hard to believe that this time last week, we had 1.5 homestays, and today I can report to you all that we are all 100% accommodated for the whole trip!

Its hard to believe that 4 months ago, we did not have a full team and now we do have a full team of 5 going to Japan.

Its hard to believe that about a month ago, we had not much details of what we are doing, and now we have a full timetable of many different events, classes and activities.

There are many things that are hard to believe, even at times impossible to grapple with in the human mind, but its such a great feeling, that with God, all things are possible. We really do thank you for all your prayers, all your support. We as a team especially thank you for all the encouragement we have received in the past week leading up to our departure. Most of all, we thank God that through Jesus, we are united as one body of Christ, doing His work and expanding His kingdom.

So some quick prayer points:

1. Praise God for answering our prayers about our homestay situation. We now are 100% accommodated for the whole trip!

2. Praise God for His healing of my sickness over the past day. I was in really bad shape yesterday, but today I woke up and it was almost all gone!

3. Pray for a safe trip for Derek (as we speak) and for the rest of the team tomorrow. We joke about the recent incidents with Qantas and so forth, but please seriously pray that our trip will be safe without any problems or glitches.

4. Pray for our training over the next few days at the OMF headquarters in Ichikawa. Pray that we will all learn quickly and rest up well before we move to our homestayers on Thursday afternoon.

Prayer Update #1

Hi all

You might all be wondering why you are already receiving a prayer update when we are not even in Tokyo yet! Well, there are many things to pray about even now. The spiritual battle is well under way and we need to be continually committing it all to God because He is the sovereign one and we are ultimately doing this for His Glory alone.

1) Pray for the homestay accommodation situation

This is a very big practical prayer point, as you can imagine, because we all really need a roof over our heads to sleep during our stay. Our homestay ministry is really one of the major ministry areas and places for us to witness to non-christian japanese families. At the moment, we only have 1.75 full time homestay families out of the 5 that we will need. We are very anxious about what is going to happen in terms of our homestays, but we are continually giving our anxieties to God because we know He will ultimately provide the right solution to this.

2) Pray for unity within the team

God has blessed us with a really diverse team in gifts, talents, personality, and experience, and the team has really come together well over the past few weeks. But as all of you may know, relationships are such fragile things, and this is what Satan will most probably target to bring division and disharmony to the team. Please pray that we will continually grow together as a team, to show graciousness and love to each other, to encourage and help each other, so that we as a team can really work together to help the Westons and to bring the gospel to the people that we meet in Japan.

Just as a final end to this prayer update, I would like to share with you a verse which we discussed at my lifegroup last week, and that I came across in my sermon preparation a couple weeks back. It's from Philippians 4 and it's one of Paul's final words of encouragement to the people of Philippi before his death in Rome. He writes:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Thank you for joining hands with us in prayer.

Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

Get to know the team!

Hi, my name is Josh, I am from Australia. I am 22 years old. I like sports, music and electronics. My typical week consists of going to university and helping out in various church ministires. I am a very organised person and logical thinker. Five years from now, God willing, I will be studying at Bible college for full time ministry. I'd like to participate in the Serve Asia program because I would like to experience serving God doing missions, and to be challenged by stepping out of the ministry box that I am very acclimatised with. I would recommend this to others so that they can see and be part of God's work in other countries around the world.

My name is Graham and I am 65 years old. I am an outgoing and friendly person who also values his privacy. This contrasts sometimes with my unique sense of humour. As I am retired my typical week takes on many different shapes eg. Bicycle riding , gardening, walking, grandchild sitting, reading, volunteering and sport. In my free time I like to relax in nature by camping. Five years from now I would like to still be able to volunteer my services.I want to participate in Serve Asia because I enjoy cross cultural work and I feel that I have an affinity for this kind of service.

My name is Ailsa. I am 65 years old. I regard myself as a quiet reserved person but I enjoy relating to others, (speaking and listening) My typical week consists of housework, gardening, shopping, exercising and relating tg family. I am involved with a Probus Club and the local church. In my free time I like to experiment with photography read and do puzzles. Five years from now I would like to be doing the same things in a healthy fashion. I want to participate in the Serve Asia Program because I have gained an insight into this kind of work because of my teaching activities with the conversational English language classes with Asian people.

My name is Derek and I am from Australia. I am 20 this year. I would say that I am persistent, easygoing and willing to critique. I spend most weekdays going to university to study my engineering degree. Apart from those times, I am either in ministry at church with the youth, worship team, or attending a service. In my free time I like to spend time with friends, given there is enough money in the kitty, and also watch TV or movies and play some games. I also tend to be much more motivated to a task the closer it is to having to be completed. Also if I am concentrated on a task I want to do , it is hard for me to break away from it or try and do something else at the same time.

My name is Wayne Weiler. I am 66 years old. Personality - enthusiastic, positive, caring. My typical week includes: teaching, time with my family, reading, gardening and entertaining. I feel I can make a contribution to the team.