Do they know? What do they think when they see the lights and trees, when they hear the carols? From Thanksgiving on, our city was decorated with beautiful lights and a huge live Christmas tree, yet most of the people in our city have no idea of the real meaning of Christmas.  Of the  500,000 people living [...]

Kindergarten community. Neighbors. Language teachers. These are three areas in which we are hoping to develop good relationships with people, share the gospel and work towards making disciples! With that in mind, we decided to host three Christmas parties. And, you guessed it! One for Jacob’s kindergarten class; one for our neighbors; and one for [...]

“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.” (Mark 7:21,22 NIV) These days, while on stateside assignment in the States, we have found ourselves in the midst of a community whose children are being targeted by someone with ill-intent.  [...]

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13a NIV) “Good fortune?  Bad fortune?  What lies ahead for me in 2010?”  These are questions some Japanese are pondering particularly at the start of this new year.  Though highly modern and technological, in many respects Japanese are still [...]

We thought we would be welcoming the New Year quietly in the warmth of our apartment.  But we decided to venture out in the freezing cold to see if anything was happening in our city.  It surprised us to see some streets closed off, many food stalls set up for all-night business, and a crowd [...]