Feel free to browse through different events along our journey here.
Our Album
←
Arriving in Japan. And so our journey begins...- Our last Easter egg hunt in the StatesOur last Easter egg hunt in the States
- Examining the bounty
- Enjoying our cousin
- Saying goodbye. Tough for both of us.
- One quick picture together for our last Sunday in the States
- Mother and Daughter
- The men of the church prayed for us on our last Sunday.
- Saying our goodbyes to our church family
- Steve spending time with family.
- Best buds.
- Saying goodbye. Again.
- On the plane to Japan. The thin veneer of excitement barely covers the pain of leaving.
- Trying out leaf-covered rice cake, because grandpa said it tasted good.
- Making new friends
- Our friend Mr. Hanagaki, who owns this noodle restaurant. He gets saved about 7 years from now.
- Tyler helping his new friend out
- Tyler's first day in kindergarten
- Greeting the teacher
- Mastering this crazy language one character at a time
- We started out with a Bible study/English class.
- Bible Study
- We also started a small Sunday school for the kids in the neighborhood.
- Children's Sunday School
- Teen class upstairs
- Studying the Bible
- Sharing God's Word
- Ladies Meeting. Making Christmas cookies
- Christmas cookies on display
- One of our first baptisms.
- Getting ready for the service
- Church activity
- A group of our faithful attenders
- Starting to get full
- Christmas service. Not enough room for shoes in the entrance.
- Christmas service
- God gave us a chance to use a more spacious hall where we could hold Sunday school and services in the morning.
- Glenda going over instructions with the children
- Steve teaching the Sunday school lesson
- The kids (and Steve) belting out the Sunday school songs
- Mr. Hayashi, one of the earliest members of our church. He and Mrs. Hayashi were a dear couple.
- Sunday Sundae- During the summer, the kids would get points in Sunday school to build up their ice cream sundaes
- Our church family enjoying thanksgiving together.
- The kids enjoying their dinner too.
- Two dear ladies enjoying their dinner.
- Special Services
- Special services
- Family Camp was a time in the summer for churches to gather together to enjoy a time of sweet fellowship and preaching together.
- Brianah hanging out with her friends
- The children singing a special at camp
- Water gun fight by the river
- Enjoying the river
- Second fastest gun in the East
- "Suffering" over the fire
- S'mores done properly
- DON'T EAT THE FERMENTED BEANS!!!
- I can't believe mom ate them...
- The debut of "Bucky Kentucky"The debut of "Bucky Kentucky"
- We started doing our church cookout during the summer and it ended up being an amazing opportunity to develop relationships and witness to unsaved friends and family.
- Enjoying lunch together
- The ladies sharing their food with each other, along with their recommendations on what tastes best. 🙂
- Food and fellowship. The perfect combination.
- The first time most of our Japanese guests had ever enjoyed the heavenly taste of s'mores.
It has since become a mandatory part of the cookout.
- Dave with some memebers of his English class.
- Church lettering in front of the deck
- The building in its original condition.
- Parking was much more important to us than a yard so we decided to replace it with a parking lot.
- Before we could take out the yard, it had to be inspected for any historical or archaeological artifacts. This was a several week long process.
- Putting in concrete to support the next-door property.
- Steve with his construction equipment. (aka toy)
- Like father like son... 🙂 Don't worry. It was turned off.
- The parking lot was cleared out. It cost close to a thousand dollars to remove the dirt. Getting rid of things costs a lot of money in Japan. 🙂
- Steve got a little too enthusiastic with his job. It was repaired, The neighbors were very kind about the whole situation.
- The effects of Steve's dedicated enthusiasm. Up close.
- The wall next to the street was supported and extended a little.
- Hauling in gravel for the base of the parking lot.
- Space is VALUABLE. So we decided to maximize it as much as possible by building a wood deck over the parking lot.
- Little did we know that the deck would become a landmark. People in the area immediately recognized our church because of this deck.
- I-beams to support the structure.
- Steve and the kids for a quick photo before church.
- The floor being isntalled
- The rails installed.
- The finished deck with furniture set up
- The deck from the front
- We built a cross on the roof of the church.
- The cross lit up at night.
- The cross, deck, and sign
- We took out the upstairs dividing wall to combine two rooms for a larger Sunday school room
- Our missionary friend, Bro. Williamson came to help us with all the projects. He was a HUGE help!
- The wall down to studs. So far so good.
- Two guys joking around...
- The support beam to replace the wall
- We installed a puppet stage that would slide out when needed, and then fold back up against the wall when not in use.
- Working on the puppet stage for Sunday school
- Space is valuable. Even on the inside of the building. The finished project.
