Change of Season! Spring-Early Summer 2015
Hello! Hope this update finds you well. It has been a wonderful couple of months here in Tokyo and we wanted to update you with some of the highlights. Spring is now fully here, though it feels like summer - today is 26ºC!
iDTS
Things are moving along well for the September school. We have now finalised the lecture topics and speakers and have opened applications up online. Naoko and I have been made the Registrars of the school, so will are dealing with all of the applications, documentation and communicating to the applicants. We have received 4 complete applications, and have accepted all of them. So far, we have 1 Japanese student and 3 Americans. If you or anyone you know are interested in deepening your relationship with God, wanting to take time out to hear God about His plan for you, and are interested in Japan, let us know and we will let you know more info! Or go to www.ywamtokyo.org/dts
Partnership with Local Church
Unity in the church is something we want to see more of, so it has been exciting for us to be a part of making relationship with local Japanese churches. Of particular note, there is a Japanese church next door to the YWAM base. Sadly, YWAM has not had any relationship with them up until recently, probably due to language and cultural barriers. But during Easter, we had an Open House at the base and invited people from the local community to eat food, chat, play games and hear about the meaning of Easter. It was a really fun event! The pastor and a few others from the church also came along and it was great to get to know them! Since then, Naoko and I have had meetings with the pastor and his wife and they want to start a student ministry with YWAM! We are stronger when we work together. We will take a small group of us to the church this Friday and eat dinner with people at the church and plan the ministry some more.
YWAM Japan National Conference 2015
Every year, all of the YWAM bases around Japan come together to worship, pray and to share what each other is doing. We had a really great time getting to know people, especially the Japanese missionaries that are mostly located in Okinawa (southern most cluster of islands of Japan). The President of YWAM also came and shared with us the vision and new direction for the Mission. Basically, YWAM wants to allow more freedom for it's missionaries to start new things without having to get approval from heirarchy, so they have changed from a business leadership structure to an eldership model. This, in theory, should allow for new ideas and more growth, especially in unreached areas. Anyway, all that to say - we're excited to see what God wants to do!
Schedule Change
Because of the directional change of the Mission, YWAM Tokyo made a big change last week. Up until now, we had compulsory meetings almost every day. This has been changed, and everything is now optional, besides Mondays which will be staff worship, catching up with how the ministries are going and leadership development. We have now been given a lot more time in order to start new things, focus on language study and really invest in the things we feel God wants us to do. I think time management could be an issue for some people, but potentially we could see some really good stuff happen.
Tohoku
We remember talking to many of you about the northern region of Tohoku before we came back to Japan. You may remember that a massive earthquake and tsunami devistated the region in 2011. Not only this, but it is also the least reached area of Japan in terms of the Gospel. This area is historically very religious and rural. They even speak with a strong dialect! Not an easy area for missionaries. Currently, YWAM does not have a presence in Tohoku. We would like to see this change. Because of what is happening in YWAM, and also the schedule change here in Tokyo, we feel that this is the best time to take steps towards starting something in Tohoku. A few others are also interested in this region, and we are planning to take a prayer and vision trip up sometime over the next few months. Please be praying for God's vision and guidance!
Other Things
The English Cafe at Nerima Baptist church has continued to go well and everyone has enjoyed practising their English. Not only that, but the church we go to every Sunday morning would like me to start one there too! So from next month, there will be two churches where I will be helping people with their English! As far as my Japanese, because of working more with the local churches, I have been able to get more practise which has been good! And my Kanji reading is also improving. I do need to study grammer a bit more though, which I hope to do more of now. Also, in a couple of weeks we will travel to Okinawa to spend a week at the YWAM base there. They are currently running a Japanese DTS and we would like to learn from them, as well as share our heart for Tohoku with our National Leader.
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read our updates. And thank you for your prayers. We could not be here without you. God answers prayer! And a special thank you to all who support us financially. We feel very grateful and blessed by you. We pray God's peace, joy and provision for you all this Springtime.
Love,
Gary & Naoko
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Give thanks for..
- The National Conference
- Relationship with local churches
- Financial provision
- More Japanese DTS applicants
- New student ministry with local church
- Guidance and vision for Tohoku
- Gary to learn Japanese!
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皆さまこんにちは＾＾
麗らかな桜の季節も終わり、初夏を思わせるような時期になりましたが、皆さまいかがお過ごしでしょうか？変化の多い季節ですが、体調など守られてお元気に過ごされていることを願います。
「ムシアツイ〜」と早くも暑さを感じているギャリーですが（私は大丈夫です）、夫婦揃って元気です！いつも私たちのことを覚え、支えて下さっている皆さまに感謝の気持ちを込めて、ここ数ヶ月間の報告をさせていただきます。
YWAM Japan National Conference
３月上旬、四日間に渡ってYWAM日本の全国カンファレンスに参加してきました。これは年に一度、全国各地で活動しているYWAMのメンバーが一堂に会し、共に礼拝し、交流を深めるために開催されているもので、私は初めての参加でした。普段はYWAM東京で外国人メンバーに囲まれている私にとって、YWAM沖縄をはじめ、他の日本人メンバーやリーダーの方たちと会えたことは大きな励ましとなりました。また、世界中のYWAMのリーダーたちから成るYWAMインターナショナルより、これまでのトップダウンの組織的な構造などを見直し、今後はより若い世代が自由に新しいことに挑戦しやすい環境をつくりあげていこう、という大胆な方針変革の報告などもあり、YWAMに所属していることの意義を改めて考えさせられる時ともなりました。
バイリンガルDTS
前回のニュースレターでお伝えしたYWAM東京初のバイリンガルDTSは、着々と準備が進んでいます。出願の受付も始まり、私たちはその担当をさせていただいているので、色々な国からの出願書を受け取ってはワクワクする日々です。今回のDTSは、日本人参加者が与えられることを信じての日英両言語での開催なので、神様の導きに従って日本人の出願者が起こされるようにお祈り下さい。より詳しくはウェブサイトをご覧下さい：http://www.ywamtokyo.org/dts/
東北地方への思い
ご存知の方もいらっしゃるかもしれませんが、イギリスにいた時からずっと、私たちは日本の東北地方のために祈ってきました。私たちの出会いの地であり、私の両親の出身ということもありますが、日本で最も福音が届いていないのも東北地方です。現在、YWAMは沖縄をはじめ関西各地と関東で活動していますが、東北にはまだ及んでいません。いつか東北でもYWAMの活動拠点が生まれたら、という夢をもって神様の導きを求め祈っているところです。YWAM東京では他にも東北地方に関心をもっているメンバーが何人かいるので、今年の夏、みんなで現地に足を運んで祈るためのビジョン・トリップをしたいと思っています。神様が御心のままに私たちを導き、東北地方での福音の広がりのために用いて下さりますように共にお祈り下さい！
その他色々♫
もう一つ嬉しい報告は、現在YWAMが利用している建物の隣にある教会と新しい関係が築かれつつあるということです！クリスマスに引き続き、今年のイースターもYWAMのオープンハウスを開催し、近所の方との親睦を深めるためにBBQやゲームを用意して楽しいひと時を過ごすことができました。今までは言葉の壁などがあり、隣接の教会とあまり関わりがなかったのですが、オープンハウスをきっかけに、日本人の私が加わったことや他のYWAMメンバーの日本語力の向上もあり、挨拶を交わし、共に奉仕する機会まで開かれるようになったのは本当に嬉しいです。私たちが言語や文化、さらには宗派や宣教団体の垣根を越えて、キリストのからだとして一つとなって歩めるように願っています。YWAMをはじめ、色々な教会で主が与えて下さっている出会いや奉仕の機会を私たちが大切にし、最大限に生かして仕えることができるようにお祈り下さい。
ここまで読んで下さりありがとうございます。そして、いつも私たちを祈りに覚え、支えて下さり、感謝しています。
まだまだ分からないことも多いですが、感謝と笑顔を忘れずに、日々十字架を見上げながら過ごしていきたいです＾＾
どんな時も私たちを強めて下さるイエスさまの光が、皆さまお一人おひとりの上に今日も豊かに注がれますように！
主にありて
菜穂子＆ギャリー
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♪感謝＆お祈りポイント：
＊全国カンファレンスでの励ましに感謝！
＊色々な教会とのつながりや出会いに感謝！
＊経済的に豊かに守られて感謝！
＊バイリンガルDTSのすべての上に主の導きと知恵があるように。
＊東北へのビジョントリップを実現できるように。
＊ギャリーの日本語が上達しますように。
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