We're Back!!!

Hello and God bless you, our dear brothers and sisters. Thank you sooo much for all your prayers, as we let everyone know we all made it home safely. Our trip to Japan was GREAT, and the Lord blessed us in so many different ways. Like we mentioned, we got up very early and stood in line for Sumo tickets, which we were blessed to get! While we were standing in line, we had many opportunities to share the love of Christ with those standing around us. We spoke with an older Japanese man who was so pleased with our conversation, he gave Herb and Ben a large portion of the food he had packed to eat while he was in line. Herb and Ben returned the favor by giving him the "power bars" and jerky that they had packed. The man commented to one of the team by saying that when the Christians smiled, it was different then when the "Japanese" smiled. The man said that there was a light within the Christians that shown through to the outside. We were also able to share with a European man who wasn't sure what he believed, but had some questions. We had a good time even while we waited in line. After we made the cutoff and got the free tickets, we went over to the world's largest fish market. It was an incredibly hectic place. People were rushing around everywhere, and needless to say, the place smelled like fish. We had some fresh sushi for breakfast, as it was still early in the morning. Praise the Lord for our many blessings! We left the fish market, and jumped back on the train. Everywhere we went, we were riding a train. It was a great, new experience. We spent some time at a few stores, and we walked around as we waited for the Sumo to start. One of the stores we went into was a huge electronics store that was nine stories high. Finally, it was time to watch the Sumo wrestling. It was very exciting and we saw many fights that kept you on the edge of your seat. When the wrestling was over, we had a quick supper at McDonalds (believe it or not), and headed back to Maxx's house for the night. The next day, we loaded up, and got back on the airplane for the trip home. It was good to be back, but we all miss Japan.

God bless you all for laboring in prayer with us. Please enjoy some of the additional pictures posted below. Keep yourselves in the Lord, dear brothers and sisters!

Ron, Herb, Tanya, Kelli, and Ben

Here is the team standing with our Sumo tickets, which we got for free. Praise the Lord!

 

On the trip back...

Hello folks... We are on our way back to Tokyo. Even on our trip from Sendai to Tokyo, we saw how the Lord used us. We stopped at a rest area for a quick break, but realized afterward that the Lord had appointed our time there. As we were getting ready to go, a man approached us. He asked about our purpose, which we told him. As the team spoke to him, the Spirit was at work. Simultaneously, another member of the team sat down on a bench to wait. Again, a different Japanese man engaged in a conversation (which is very unusual). To both men, the Gospel was clearly explained, and one of the men accepted Christ into his life! Pray for him, that the tender root would grow deep in his heart. Pray also that the other man would continue to seek, as Jesus said seek and you shall find. Praise the Lord for the day that He has made! Our only regret is that the trip was so short. The length of time was understandable, however, because we are the first team coming through to help. The trip was very well organized and we had a joyous time serving Jesus. Our time in Tokyo tomorrow should be fun. The Japanese Sumo organization is giving out free tickets to a huge match to make up for some scandals that happened with fixing fights. We are going to get up at four in the morning, hop on the train, and get in line for free tickets. Then, we will do some street evangelism in downtown Tokyo. Tokyo is a huge metropolitan area of 33 million people. We plan to see the sights and travel through the city. On the trains, there are no tissues, paper towels, or hand dryers, even in the bathrooms. So, it is common for people to hand out tissues with an advertisement. We plan on handing out tissues with tracts. Pray that for the team, that the Lord would bless us with divine appointments.

Pray for us, that the Lord would use us and bless us. We appreciate your prayers. Thank you for laboring with and along side us with your prayers.

God bless you all. With love...

Ron, Herb, Tanya, Kelli, and Ben.

Pictures (finally)

We haven't had a chance to post any pictures until now, but we are happy to do so! Enjoy!

 Here is Ron getting off the plane in Japan! Imagine him yelling "KONICHIWAAAAA!!!".

Herb and the rest of the team can be seen below. These picts were taken in Maxx's gaeden. Nice, huh?

 Here is a picture of a woman praying at a local shrine. The team shared the Gospel with her and left her a tract. Praise the Lord!

On our drive up to Sendai and Ishinomaki, we had to drive through the city of Fukushima. Herb said he didn't feel any radiation, so we are OK. hehe... We were safe, and some of the people had personal radiation detectors... which did not go off.

The next set of pictures was when we walked through a destroyed area of Sendai. It was abandoned.

We hope you enjoyed this. Please continue to pray for the team! Praise the Lord Jesus!

A day of reaching out.

Our outreach was INSANE!!! and by that, we mean that it was totally great! We had two locations to go and serve at. So, the combined team of 20 people broke up, and went the two different ways. In our original plan, we were all going to go to a place located in a (destroyed) park, and through the Lord, we were able to also go to a school that was turned into an evacuation center. At the original site, we set up our "store" by laying out large, blue tarps on the ground. This is where we distributed relief items such as clothing, towels, diapers, and shoes. Each person could take two items, which were a gift to them from God through us. We each were placed on different teams. Ron was on the worship team and he praised the Lord four hours straight! During that time, he shared the Gospel twice, which was translated by Kamakura Pastor Jack Bell. At one point during the worship, the earth shook as an earthquake occurred. Ron tied the shaking into a truth that they already knew well; we do not have a guarantee that tomorrow exists for anyone. The Lord God Almighty is Lord even of our very next breath. Ben, Herb, and Tanya worked with Pastor Jack to distribute the relief items in the store. We also gave a Japanese Bible and a children's Bible book to each person in line at the store. The people started lining up before the appointed start time, and the line stretched back for a very long way. Before the outreach ended, we had given out several hundred Bibles and all of our relief items in the store. Kelli and Herb (Herb had multiple duties) were helping with the food. We had two big charcoal grills that we fired up. We had picked up 285 pounds (130 kilograms) of meat at the grocery store for both sites. We just barely had enough food! We had roughly 10 pounds left. It was hard work cooking over the huge charcoal grills. Tanya was doing evangelism and was handing out bouncing balls and toys to the children. The kids loved them! Then Tanya started to get sick due to her allergies. There was a backhoe working close by that was kicking up dust with it's work. As she got worse, it was decided that she should move to the other site at the evac center. So, both Tanya and Ben went over to help the team at the other site. The team there was overwhelmed with work. They were working in a tent and they were short-handed and struggling with the smoke of the grills. Tanya was having trouble standing, so she had to remain seated. This was (looking back) how the Lord was going to use her. She started up a conversation with a Japanese woman who had been deeply affected by the disaster. Through Tanya and two other members of the team, the woman was touched by the love of Christ through us. She prayed with Tanya and the others, and a seed was deeply planted in fertile soil. Her contact information was taken and the local Christians will follow up as they continue to do outreaches in Ishinomaki. We served about 860 people total, and it was amazing to see God use 20 people to serve that many people. 

The outreach was a huge successes. People came to the Lord, including someone that the local Christians were ministering to. A man stayed until after the outreach was over and told us that he had heard that Christians were coming to do a BBQ. He said that he would not turn his back to us and walk away while we were still working. He said that he had seen all the work that the Christians had done, and he was deeply touched. There are sooo many stories like these, all which happened in the one night at the two sites. It was awesome to see the Lord working so powerfully. Praise the Lord Jesus for what He did! 

Please pray for the people that were affected by the Gospel. Praise the Lord Jesus!!!

Ron, Herb, Tanya, Kelli, and Ben

A day of hard work!

We had a great day working for the Lord, and it was awesome to see Him working through us! This morning, we woke up and did our personal devotions. We then had a quick breakfast and did a group devotion. After the devotion and team meeting, we jumped in the vans. Our teams were going to split up into three areas in Ishinomaki. Herb and Ben were going in one area, Ron to another area, and Tanya and Kelli to the last area. Herb and Ben went to an area that was right by the water to help a person that Pastor Chizou has been speaking with. It was great to have an opportunity to help someone, as the Japanese do not easily accept help. Herb and Ben were paired up with Maxx (the marine) and three members from the other teams. We were very blessed! Our task was to move tons (literally) of dirt and mud, which was leaning up against his house, and build a wall of sandbags around the huge pile of dirt. Herb joked that we were like Nehemiah building the wall. We even found a sword in the dirt while we were digging (Herb should have held the sword in one hand and the shovel in the other). We were working around a devastated area. There were boats bigger then several houses stranded on the land. Cars were stacked up against houses, and many people had lost everything. But the Lord was working! Herb and Ben took a walk through town while waiting to be picked up at the end of the day. Pray for the people they spoke with!!! Ron went to an evacuation center to minister and work. The task that was most necessary was not an easy one. A large, enclosed cement drainage ditch was completely filled with sand, which was preventing water from moving through it. Ron and the others working with him had to pull up the three-inch thick cement lids that enclosed the two-foot wide trench and dig out all the sand. It was backbreaking, dirty work, but it shined bright in that dark place. Ron made a connection with a seven year old boy who was very interested in what Ron had to say. Ron told him in Japanese that Jesus loved him, and the boy was in awe. Tanya and Kelli also went to the evacuation center at first, but then moved to their task. The Lord had called them to help "gut" some of the residential houses near by. They were working along side of the owners of the houses. The houses were dank with water damage, rot, and mold. Tanya, who is very allergic to mold, suffered no effect from her surroundings. Without doubt, this is a Miracle from Jesus Himself. We regrouped at the end of a long, hard day for supper where we shared our experiences. Supper was great as always. After supper, we drove the hour and a half back to Sendai bleary eyed and dirty, but full of the abundant joy that can only come from the Lord. Sleep was sweet for everyone on the team.

Please continue to pray for us. Tomorrow we have an enormous task at hand. Maxx, guided by the Lord, made a contact with the evacuation center. We were planning to do a barbecue for one evacuation center, but are now called to feed two places simultaneously. The team (totaling 20 people) is going to have to  barbecue for up to six hundred people! Pray that the outreach is a great witness to God, and that all goes well.

God bless you brothers and sisters in Christ,

Ron, Herb, Kelli, Tanya, and Ben 

Arrival in Sendai

Today we arrived in Sendai in northern Japan. We were able to meet up with Pastor Chizou and Pastor Jack, who will lead us up to Ishinomaki tomorrow. When we first arrived in Sendai, it looked like a normal city, one that has more than a million people living in it. We were told were going to take a look at an area the tsunami had wiped out, so we loaded up in the vans and left. We could hardly imagine that there could be any huge damage. As we were driving, we came upon the disaster area... we were absolutely shocked. The area was devastated. Huge piles of debris were everywhere. Trees that had been ripped up by the roots were scattered like chaff all across the neighborhoods, along with mangled vehicles. The houses that still stood had received major damage, and the entire area has been abandoned by the residents. We stopped in a neighborhood to get out, walk around, and pray. One of the intents of this visit was to prepare the team for our trip to Ishinomaki. We would be less shocked when we arrived to the Ishinomaki people if we spent some time in this abandoned neighborhood. We learned that 300 bodies were found in this area, and that they were done searching, but that no one could know if bodies still remained. As we walked around the streets, there was a reverence that kept us silent. When we spoke, it was usually in a whisper. We saw where entire houses were swept away, leaving only the foundations. There were many different personal items (passports, IDs) which were scattered in the rubble. There was no time for people to take anything. Ron noticed a suitcase that looked like it had been packed, but it was swept away in the water. It is hard to wonder about the status of the owner. Tomorrow we head to Ishinomaki. 

Please pray for the team. We are looking forward to the work tomorrow. Pray for the people in Japan. Pray that the Lord will use us to reach the hearts of those we help and serve. The Japanese are less then one percent Christian, and the Lord will use this disaster to plow the fallow ground in the hearts of the Japanese. Praise Jesus for allowing us to be used by Him for His glory. 

God bless everyone for laboring along with us in prayer. Prayer is the front line of the battle. With love...

Ron, Herb, Kelli, Tanya, and Ben

A sentence from the team.

So, we have just arrived and we will share a sentence from each member of the combined team. We will do this again at the end of the trip, and we expect God to use us in awesome and amazing ways, and seeing Him work will be such a blessing!

A sentence from the team...

Ron - God is binding our team together in love for a testimony and delicious aroma to draw the Japanese to Jesus.
Herb - Until the whole world hears.
Kelli - Just like home, only different.
Tanya - We love because He first loved us... Kushidongo is great!
Ben - The Lord loves all people and He is working in Japan!
Mike - God is showing us a portion of how big He really is by touching the hearts of people from Idaho to California, filling us with His compassion for the people of Japan.
Haru - I know there Pocatello is and I love you guys!
Sarah - Thank you for blessing us with those delicious chocolate chip cookies.
Maxx - We're doing great!

Awesome day!

What an awesome day we had! Praise the Lord for the strength we have through Him. Towards the end of our traveling, we had a three hour bus ride to our final destination. However, we were rejuvenated after we arrived at Maxx's house, which is where we spent the night. Maxx is a Marine who is stationed in Japan (maybe for such a time as this). Maxx has been a GREAT help in the local Church with disaster relief, and such a blessing to us. We went to a restaurant for supper and had authentic Japanese noodles. They were very good!! We slept on these little mattresses on the floor, and in the morning we woke up early, did our personal devotions, ate breakfast (which Maxx cooked), and went for a walk. It was great! We went into a convenience store and shared the Gospel with the woman who was working there. We handed out some tracts and started to walk back to the house. On the way back, we saw a woman walking up to "pray" to a shrine. The team prayed while the one of the Pocatello team shared with her. She said she was praying to the shrine because she lived in the area. She accepted a tract, which said in Japanese that there was one God who created the heavens and the earth. Pray for both her and the woman in the convenience store, that the Holy Spirit would use our time with them and the material they received to bring them to the true and living God. We are right now driving down the road to Sendai, posting this via a mobile Internet "hot spot". The trip will last around six hours, but we are all feeling well. We go bound in the Spirit, and we know that the Lord will use us for His good.

We appreciate your loving prayers and we know God is hearing them in the same way that we would hear a face-to-face conversation.

God bless you... 

Ron, Herb, Kelli, Tanya, and Ben

We're there!!!

 Brothers and Sisters! Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. We thank God for giving us traveling mercies. We all had a great time going from Pocatello, ID to Tokyo, Japan. The trip started out with the team praying and leaving Calvary Chapel, headed for Salt Lake City. During the road trip, we shared with each other how we each became Christians and how Jesus has worked and shaped our lives (in great detail). In the two and a half hours, we got through Ben, Herb, and Ron (long testimonies!). When we got to the airport, it was smooth sailing as we checked in and went through security. The Lord has been there with abundant joy for the team as we traveled. Ron was able to share with a Japanese woman while we ate breakfast. Ron planted seeds, which we pray will grow in good soil. Herb and Ben met a fellow brother in the Lord from Korea, and encouraged him in Jesus. Pray for him, as he has backslidden in Christ. However, he knows it as was encouraged to seek Jesus, who is also there with Love for those that call upon His name. Then, Tanya had a Divine appointment from God as we flew from Salt Lake to LA. Tanya shared the Gospel with a woman named Jenny who did not know it. Tanya was led to give her a Bible, and we can all pray that the seed was planted deep within her heart. 

It is sooo awesome when we realize that we, as Christians, have something of a great value, which we can share with others as a free gift of God. Praise the Lord Jesus for what He did for us! and we have been saved in part to share the Light with the world. 

The team made friends with several other passengers on the plane to Tokyo (we had 12 hours to talk). We pray that the relationships would continue (through mediums such as email and Facebook), and that the Gospel would be rooted firmly in their hearts.

The team covets your prayers. You are all laboring along side us, and we are ever grateful. We pray that the Lord Jesus would bless and keep each one of you, and that the Lord's face would shine upon you. God bless you, our dear brothers and sisters.

Ron, Herb, Kelli, Tanya, and Ben.

Japan 2011

Hello, brothers and sisters in the Lord! We are going to use this blog keep everyone informed and praying while the team from Calvary Chapel Pocatello heads out to the mission field. As many of you already know, we are traveling to Japan to come along side the believers who have been working very hard for more than two months within the destruction of the earthquakes and tsunamis. We have been preparing to leave (with the help of many) for about a month now, and have been sooo blessed! It has been great to see how the Lord has orchestrated everything in His perfect timing. Our schedule was a mystery during our planning. We bought our tickets, so we knew our departure times, but that was all we knew. The phrase, “blessed are the flexible, for they will not be broken” rang true. During the last week of planning, we received most of our instruction, with the direction that our plans could change at a moment’s notice. This is to be expected, especially since we are the first group of outside help to meet and help the Calvary church in that area. So, our (tentative) plans are as follows. This Sunday, May 15, we depart from the church at 3:30am and drive to the SLC airport. From there, we fly to Los Angeles, and from LA we fly to Tokyo, Japan. The longest portion of our flight is the leg to Japan (obviously) and it will last about 12 hours. From Tokyo, we will take a road trip up to Sendai, which is considered the northern capital of Japan. Sendai is a city of over one million people, and will serve as our base of operations. From Sendai, the team will travel to Ishinomaki, which is a coastal city that was devastated by the earthquakes and tsunamis. Ishinomaki is where we will work with the Japanese citizens to help clean out the devastated houses. They call it, “mucking” out houses. We leave early Sunday morning, and will be back the following Sunday. We plan on preaching the Gospel of Christ the entire time we are there, and if necessary, we will use words to do it. Much of our Gospel “presentation” will be the work we do and the help we bring. However, we will be partnered with the local believers who will be ready to translate for us, and will speak as much as the Lord wills. We are very excited, and we covet your prayers as we head to Japan. God bless you!

A picture of the team as we meet for the last time before our departure.