Team OMAC in Japan

We are home

2009-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

After 6 weeks in Japan, we are now home. It was very sad leaving are readers, the Tomobe church, and our host family but we will continue to remember them. Thank you all so much for your support since we have been away, we could not have done any of this without you. Our work in Tomobe is not done yet however, we must continue to keep all those we left in our prayers. We still need your help. Please continue to pray fo us, the church, and the readers. The Tomobe church is very hard working , so we are confident they will do their best with the readers. To God be the glory. Thanks again,

Team OMAC

What will they decide?

2009-07-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well our time here is very close to being over, which is starting to make us wonder what the readers will do when we leave? It seems that many of our readers want to believe but are too afraid to commit. Please pray that they will remain in study after we are gone and for the missionaries as they try to follow-up. One reader, Tatsushi, has been coming twice a week since we have been here. When he first arrived he thought that Christianity was "unbelievable." When we studied the virgin birth he even said that he would be ridiculous to even think such a thing could happen. Our last reading was about the paralyzed man who was lowered down to Jesus to be healed. After the lesson, I asked him if he believed that could really happened and he said: "yes, I think Jesus had the power to heal the man, why would Luke have written it down if it wasn't real."

Some bad news though: Yohko, who we thought was okay, has cancer. We heard that she was doing fine so we called to see when she would like to come read and was told that she would not be back. She is in good spirits though but please keep her in prayer.

Thank you for your support,
Because of Him,
Team OMAC

Word of God Speak

2009-07-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

The other day I had a reader, Tokako, and everything was going as normal. I had prayed a lot previously that God would use me to do His work. I had thought a lot about the saying "let your words be said, God, and not my own" and had wondered if this really happens. I mean, does this just mean that we are going to speak about God or does it mean that He will take over my mind and mouth and we will not realize what we are saying. I wanted to know how He was going to do this and if He had been doing this with me or if I was still taking control.

Tokako has been studying diligently and I enjoy getting the chance to read God's word with her. In this lesson she had many questions that could not be answered within our text so I was left with a choice: tell her the answer or show her the answer with scripture. She was asking about how we pray and who are we praying to. Instantly, I knew what I wanted to look for and as I opened my Bible there it was on the first page i turned to. Wow, i thought, how lucky! As I showed her the words of God she then proceeded to ask me another question about how those in the Old Testament communicated with God since they did not have Jesus as the mediator. I then went to search the scriptures to find an example where God spoke to Moses on the mountain or wrote on stone and as I opened my bible, THERE IT WAS! Huh, that's crazy... 2 for 2, i thought. As we continued she began to ask more questions and God continued to amaze me. For the third time she asked a question and as I opened the word of God he revealed the answer on the first page.

When Tokako walked away from this class I sat my head down and cried with a loss of words to even explain why. I was so overwhelmed by the surpassing greatness and power of God along with the humbling idea that He lead me. He truly spoke to Tokako and me both in words louder than I could have ever done. The song "Word of God Speak" (by MercyMe) brings a whole new meaning to my life and hits me each time I hear it. I love knowing that He is in control and with every move I make I am unknowingly walking in the direction he has designed for me.
Here are the words to the song, hope you enjoy and are blessed by it:

I'm finding myself at a loss for words
And the funny thing is it's okay
The last thing I need is to be heard
But to hear what You would say

[CHORUS]
Word of God speak
Would You pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your majesty
To be still and know
That You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your holiness
Word of God speak

I'm finding myself in the midst of You
Beyond the music, beyond the noise
All that I need is to be with You
And in the quiet hear Your voice

[REPEAT CHORUS 2x]

I'm finding myself at a loss for words
And the funny thing is it's okay

In Christ Alone,
Team OMAC

2009-07-09T00:33:00.000-07:00

We just came back from a visit to Nikko, Japan with Marlin and two of our readers. We saw alot of Japanese culture at Edo Wonderland, including a Ninja show, a Geisha parade, lots of women dressed in Kimonos, traditional Japanese food, the works. It was awesome. We also saw the third largest waterfall in Japan and visited the beautiful shrines of Nikko, where the Three Monkeys (Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil) originate. These Buddhist and Shinto shrines were elaborate and beautiful, but it was very difficult realizing that people worship these idols. Everywhere there were paper lightning bolts hanging from the building in which the japanese believe a god lives. And so the Japanese are constantly praying and giving money to these shrines. So this has been heavy on the hearts of our entire team. We also saw this sort of worship on an even larger scale when we visited Asakusa. I have a picture of a man praying to a Buddha statue that completely breaks my heart.

One of my readers told me that each New Years Day she goes to the shrine and prays for health and success. Today we had a lesson about how Jesus teaches us to pray and I asked her the difference in Japanese prayer and the prayers Jesus commands. She said all the japanese prayers are for themselves, but Jesus' prayers seem to be for other people.

this morning I had devo and was really unprepared but God led me to a passage in Iaiah about all the idols that the Israelites were worshipping and how no god was great like the one true God, who made heaven and earth and everything in it. We always have our devos right before our readers show up and this morning my reader Harry was about thirty minutes early because he likes to take extra time and just talk about life before we study the Bible. So we invited him to join our devo and i was kind of nervous about what i was talking about because I had not planned for any japanese people to hear and was afraid that it would turn him off if I told him we were praying for the salvation of Japan because it is full of idol worship and very lost people. But I went ahead anyways and at the end Harry asked me what I thought of the shrines and stuff and I told him I did not believe in the gods they were worshipping and he said, yeah i don't either. I am like you and I believe in the only God and to me that place is just a symbol of Japan. He believes alot in God and his Spirit working in our lives, but he doesn't read the Bible much and doesn't think he needs to go to church because his family never went in the past. He laughed really hard and said No no church is not for me. he is very diligent in studying and is always three lessons ahead of me and practically teaches me the lesson and most of the time i nod and agree, but today we talked about judgement and the fact that not everyone can be with God.

2009-07-01T00:04:00.000-07:00

These last few days have been full of readers continuing to understand more about God. Ayumi has 5 more lessons in the Luke book, covering the death and ressurrection of our Lord. she has been studying for four years and will finally see how the story of Jesus life ends. She was amazed that the priests and teachers of the law are wanting to kill Jesus and I want to jump in and tell her the rest of the story, but I will wait and let her see. She likes to read about it in her Japanese Bible too and she looked up different miracles and wonders of Jesus before she came today.

Jim, (the one who took us to the farm) is a scientist and is having a difficult time believing the stories in Luke. He tries to look for the hidden message in the stories and cannot take them literally. I told him that Jesus is in fact powerful enough to turn stones into bread or jump off the temple and not die, and his eyes got so big. He said well if he had that kind of power, why did he die on the cross. I told him Jesus willingly died for us and he knew in advance what he would have to do. i know this didnt make sense to him now, but i pray that it will. When he took our team to his office the other day, he showed us an old Bible that his friend in the Philipines gave him(you could tell it was very used and special to the owner). His friend wrote in the front something to the effect of This book is my greatest treasure and I pray that you will come to know about the faith that is written in this book the way I have.

Maho came yesterday and we had a good lesson about the early disciples in acts that shared everything they had with one another and God provided everything they needed. we ended early and looked in the back of her old Japanese Bible and she told me she had gone to a Christian school and had Bible class once a week. In the back of her Bible were notes from a class that were over 40 years old and we read them and I found the verse in the Bible, something in John about a seed having to fall to the ground and die before it could produce a harvest. and i explained that Jesus had to die and be raised to life for his life to make a difference. and then we talked about how we also must die to ourselves in this life so that we can have eternal life. I think it made sense to her that we have to choose which life we want to save....the life on this earth or the life we will have with God.

With many readers we have been able to talk about baptism in lesson 5 when Jesus is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit. Many people have misconceptions about what baptism is about and they all they have seen is sprinkling of Catholic babies done by a priest and so they are very surprised when I say you can be baptized in a swimming pool or bathtub.

More updates later. We are visiting Tokyo tomorrow where we will go to the biggest fish market in Japan, the oldest amusement park, stay in a capsule hotel, kinda like a large coffin for each person to sleep. crazy. we will also eat lots of fun food, shop some, and visit the sensoji shrine. first train at 5:45 in the morning! oh yay! pray we don't get lost!

2009-06-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Last night was our first party and it was AMAZING!! We had about 25-30 church members and readers come just to fellowship and enjoy each others company. We began by playing a few "ice breaker games" and then decorated picture frames. This was a great time for us to all share about our families and show each other where we are from. We learned a lot about where these people come from along with what is truly important to them. After this we decided to play one of the greatest games on earth.... PICTIONARY!! They LOVED it! I have never seen a group of adults act so excited and competitive over such a simple game before and i would not have traded it for anything! What a blast, they were too funny!

On a more serious note we have a few prayer requests and updates for all of you who are reading.
1. Yohko has returned home and is anxiously awaiting her next appointment. Praise God for her recovery but let us continue to lift up her next appointment to God.
2. There is a precious woman that attends church here named Reikko. She is one of the kindest and warm-hearted women I have met in a long time and I consider it an honor every time i get to talk to her. Reikko has always said that she is a proud grandma but it was not known until recently that her grandchild passed away 3 years ago; however, she still holds on to the love and care that any grandmother would for her child. Through this difficult time and grief Reikko had a dog, Kurr, who carried her through this rough time in her life. Kurr is now facing death and we are unsure how long he will be with us. Please pray for Reikko, she has already endured more loss than anyone should. We prayed with her today and each tear broke my heart. Pray that she will feel God's presence through this loss.
3. Asako, one of Michelle's readers, father went through heart surgery while we were here and is recovering with flying colors. Praise God!

We love you all so much and appreciate your prayers. God Bless you and keep you safe!

In Christ Alone,
Team OMAC

2009-06-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry that we have been slow at updating this the last couple days, we have been so busy! Yesterday we had our hands full with readers every hour and by the end of the day we were exhausted! God worked His wonders once again and we have a few that are going to be attending worship this Sunday! Keep praying, the Lord listens!

Today we were invited to go with Jim Li, one of our readers (hes Chinese) to his farm for the day! What we did not know was that this was actually Tokyo University's Department of Agriculture! It was so much fun and we learned a lot and had fun spending time with the the people by learning what they do. We saw a cloned cow along with many crazy experimental animals and even a 2 week old horse! Jim is a scientist and works a lot with the reproduction of animals. Because of this, it is hard for him to believe or grasp the idea that Jesus was born from a virgin. Please keep him and his fragile heart in your prayers. He wants to understand, so we must let God give us the words to direct.

Update about Yohko: Her surgery went well and the doctors found a good size tumor inside of her; however, they said it was benign! She must relax for the next 2 weeks and return to the hospital to make sure that the tumor has not grown back and if it has not then she will be allowed to get back to her normal routine and study with us. We were told that she has her bible and study book at the hospital and is excited to return and ask us her many questions!

We will have our first party tomorrow night and we are all very excited! This will be a good chance for our readers to get to know some of the church members and hopefully begin attending worship. We have also been helping out in a cooking class that is held on Fridays at the church building to encourage our readers to interact with others in the church. Today was a great turn out and things are looking good for the future of Gods church here.

I wanted to end today sharing a few verses that we shared in cooking class today. Cory, Michelle and I (Ashley) were asked to share a verse that was important in our lives and I wanted to share these with you also.

John 16:33- These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Isaiah 41:9-10- You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you "You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away; Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
Psalm 139:14-I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and my Soul knows that well.
Oliver wasn't with us because he was with a reader or I would have a verse for him too :)

Thanks again for reading, we love you all so much!!!

In Christ Alone,
Team OMAC

2009-06-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

So I really should be going to bed now but I am afraid I will forget everything incredible that God did today. So here goes...

Maho was my first reader today and last time we studied about the incomprehendable love of Christ who forgives us no matter what we have done and how much we have hurt Him. She was completely stunned that God could forgive the people who killed his own son. then today we studied in Acts about how Peter and John kept speaking and healing in Jesus name, proclaiming that only Jesus can save. She asked me if i believed this and if I could tell my friends that Jesus was the only way to be saved and we talked about what it meant to be saved and why we must be saved. I got to tell her about how God created us and loves us so much that He wants to be with us, but we can`t because we are sinful, but because of what Christ did for us we can be with Him forever. And then she asked me, so are you afraid to die? and I told her that I was not at all afraid to die because then I would be with the one that loves me most. She was could not believe that i was twenty years old and not afraid to die. Her eyes got a little misty and she said I will never forget this. I am going home to tell my family about you and I am going to write this in my diary and I will never be able to forget your face and the joy you have when you tell me about this. Then we talked about the search for meaning in life and how pointless life seems without God. She agreed and said that when she has days where she is feeling low, she does wonder why she is here and I told her that God thought of her long ago and has been waiting and longing for her to find her purpose in life with Him. Be praying for her to remember what she realized today. She comes to study again next Tues.

I also studied with Sachiyo who believes in God and thanks him for giving her a good life, but she doesn`t think she needs anything from Him and doesn`t understand why she would need to ask for forgiveness from Him. Our lesson was on the wise man building his house on the teachings of Jesus and I told her that she is already starting to build a good foundation by coming to read. She asked me if I felt led by the Holy Spirit to do things and she said if that holy Spirit is true, it must be what keeps me coming to this. She said I start out and build the foundation during the summer when you are hear but i forget it all when you leave. This really hurts me and makes me not want to leave...

I read with Matsu about the virgin birth and he was having trouble believing in the angels that came and so we studied different references of angels in the Bible. At the end he was convinced that it was a good story and has value in establishing the religion, but may not be true. I reminded him that Luke wanted Theophilus to know he was writing the truth and I told him of the other accounts of the same events and he seemed to give the story more credit. He seems like a very wise man who wants to know more. He`s coming on Thursday.

Finally i read with Jim,who is actually Chinese. He always has the best questions. He asked me yesterday how Jesus` kingdom lasted forever, but He died so young. He also has the hardest time accepting the virgin birth. Part of this is because he has some sort of doctorate in animal reproduction and is convinced that a human could not be brought about in any other way. He wonders why the writers made the story of Jesus` birth so complicated. it would be so much easier to accept if it had been a normal birth. I told him it was God`s plan from the beginning of time and it could not have been any other way. I also told him he would read many crazier things in this book. He is coming every day so far and wants our team to visit his horse farm hopefully on Friday.

these are only a few words about what God is teaching us and our readers. God is doing so much. I don`t think any of us expected to go this deep with our readers, especially so quickly. Pray for us because Satan will surely be attacking the work that is going on, but our Father is greater!

Peace and love, michelle

2009-06-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

So much to say! Yesterday we had our first day off and went to Oochihara to the big shopping center. Huge 3 story mall. Very impressive. We ate at an authentic japanese restaurant. Pretty good but we still don`t really know what we were eating. To get service you ring a little bell and they page your server. so weird. It was so fun to look at all the crazy Japanese teen fashions and there was this HUGE game room with slot machines and race car games and claw machines of everything imaginable and like 2o different kids of photobooths. Chucky Cheese does not even compare. At the end of the day, we were not too influenced by Japanese culture. We came out with a toy kong for Lady to chew on and Oliver bought some crazy nerd glasses.

So then we had to figure out how to get home. It was raining and of course we did not bring umbrellas or rainjackets, but we remembered we were supposed to pass this electronics store called K`s Dinky, but we always thought people were saying K Stinky. So we are four wet Americans walking down a random side road between the mall that no one drives on and suddenly we see Japanese people waving out their van and we realize it is one of our readers Atsako and her family driving back to Tomobe. So they insisted on giving us a ride back to the church so we didn`t have to take the train. It was so awesome because we didn`t really know where we were going and how to get back to the church once we got on the train? God is so funny and provides at just the right times.

2009-06-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

Wow the last few days have been busy! First of all we want to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY! We are so thankful for you and wish we could tell you how much we love you in person.
The last few days have been full of many interesting and inspirational experiences. Yesterday we discovered that the chips we thought were Sour Cream and Onion turned out to be Seaweed and Salt (yuummmmyyy.....) and that every time we called a child a "cutie" we were actually calling them a "cucumber". It also turns out that the name of the famous Star Wars character, Chewbacca, translates into "kiss me stupid" and that there are different slippers for the kitchen, bathroom, and for the rest of the house (oops!) However all these little, embarrassing mistakes don't matter when compared to the amazing work of our Lord.
Reading with the people of Japan has proven itself more powerful than any of us were expecting. Even though it has only been a few days we already have some "regulars" and some that require extra study because they are so diligent in their study. Many have questioned their own lives and are beginning to consider letting the idea of Christianity into their hearts.
Please pray for a special young lady named Yohko. She is one of our readers and a dear friend to many in the area. She is having surgery this week and the outcome is uncertain. She has been experiencing a lot of pain and the doctors will be searching for anything as serious as cancer or even just a benign growth. Because of the seriousness of her unknown condition many fear that she will not make it through the surgery. We are placing her in God's hands but request the faithful prayers of you, our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
We are continually thankful for everything you all do. Thanks for reading and God bless you!
In Christ Alone,
Team OMAC

Day 2

2009-06-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

We have only been reading for two days and already some of the readers are starting to ask difficult questions. Today, two of my readers read about the virgin birth with me and many interesting questions came from that. Trying to explain how a woman became pregnant because of a 'Holy Ghost' has proved itself to be a difficult task. We managed though. Please pray for our readers that they can accept such things. Even though they had not heard of this crazy concept before, I asked my readers how they thought this was possible. Two of them surprised me when the said, 'maybe the answer is God can do anything.' While this answer was not completely sincere I am happy to see God working through His text. I believe that their questions are helping me more than my answers help them but that is okay because God is using His word to speak to them in ways better than I can. We love it here and the Tomobe church has welcomed us very warmly. Cooking class was held at the building today. We made American Sloppy Joe, Potato Salad, and No Bake Cookies. It was very good, we thought we were back at home until many people at the table started to speak in Japanese.

Sharing His love in Japan,
Team OMAC

First of Many Reading Sessions....

2009-06-18T05:11:00.000-07:00

Today we began with a devo at 9:00 praying for God to let His word speak to our readers and remind us what an important purpose we have in Japan during these short weeks. Many people signed up at our meeting last night but several called today asking to read, some just showed up and we worked them into our schedule. We each have a full schedule of nearly 15 readers that will be keeping us very busy. It is a huge blessing that we will not have to advertise and recruit more readers to fill our time. It is very interesting learning everyone`s names. We have 2 Yokos, 2 Yukos, 4 something long that starts with an H, a Suzuki and a Kawasaki (dad) haha. We are quickly loving our bicycles with the baskets on the front to go grocery shopping and we will soon know the route to and from the house to the church. We cook most of our meals at the church and have quite a time figuring out which of 30 choices of noodles to buy and getting used having only 3 choices of cereal. Today we made stir fry for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner, using chopsticks of course.

even in the first reading sessions we are beginning to see how studying the Bible with our readers may quickly impact them. in my first appointment, i talked with one woman about how the events recorded in the Bible are true with many eyewitnesses though she told me upfront that the Bible seems crazy and it would be very hard for her to believe it was true though she seemed very interested that I believed it was true. Another reader studied with me about choosing between worldly riches and the true riches that come through God. Many of the readers are new and are starting at the beginning of Luke, though some are farther along, and some are in the book of John or Acts. A few of the readers just agree with everything you say, but many of the readers with more advanced English are eager to ask questions about Christianity and it is hard not to jump too far ahead. I have to remind myself to let the word speak for itself when we get to that topic. Anyways, keep us in your prayers! Each day will be new and exciting as our new friends begin to discover who this Jesus Christ is....

2009-06-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed into town so that we could find a bank to exchange our money. Tomobe is beautiful and all of the people here are so kind, we cannot wait to start studying with them. After we exchanged our money we headed over to the 100 Yen store and the grocery store so that we could prepare for the next coming meals. Jeanne showed us around town and helped us learn a little bit more about the culture so that we are better able to connect and understand our readers.

The best part of yesterday was our opening Information Meeting where we were able to meet and get to know the readers that we will be with for the rest of our time here. They were all very friendly and patient with us; we could not have asked for a better group!!

Today we are off early to begin our reading sessions. We start at 10 and our last class begins at 9pm. Keep us in your prayers today as we reach out to spread Gods word to hungry hearts here in Tomobe. We love you and we are thinking of you always.

In Christ Alone,
Team OMAC

WE MADE IT!!

2009-06-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Tomobe (only a few hours late but luckily with all of our luggage!!) Marlin was there to pick us up and bring us to our new home away from home! Tomorrow we are hoping to catch up on some lost sleep and go to a bible study in the morning followed by our informational meeting that night (this is where we meet our readers!!!!!) We love you all and miss you so much already! God has already done so much for us in preparing the seeds and we are so excited to see what else He has in store. Please remember to keep us in your prayers. Love you all and sweet dreams!

In Christ Alone,
Team OMAC

Our Mission Statement

2009-06-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

Only 13 days and we are so excited! Below is a mission statement we wrote that reflects our commitment to the task that God has given us. Thanks to all those who are reading for your prayers and support, we couldn't do it without you!

As young Christian servants we pledge to open our hearts and minds to growing closer to Christ, becoming more knowledgeable of His story and His love for others. We pledge to help the community of Tomobe, Japan and to encourage the church there. It is our prayer that the LORD will reveal our hidden struggles and that we will be able to lean on each other as we overcome those struggles. We pray that our actions may change any bad perceptions of Christians that the people there might have.

In Christ Alone,

Team OMAC