OBC Soccer Camp Day #1

As some of you may know I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak at this year's OBC Soccer Camp. 3 day and 2 night camp with about 19 kids up in the beautiful mountains of Okutama. OBC is situated on the side of a mountain, in a space of about 1 acre many amazing memories have been formed over the years for countless programs and camps. 

We have about 10 staff in total and this morning after breakfast I led a very condensed staff training for those who have never worked at a camp before. We then had some time for prayer, a briefing on camp logistics and some time for worship. We then had a wonderful lunch of hot Japanese curry and coleslaw with fruit jelly for dessert.

Below are some photos of the camp at this time of year which is still early spring. The name 青梅　has to do with the plum blossom and since I've never been to Okutama at this time of year it has been a pleasant surprise to see all the plum blossoms coming into full bloom!

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for camper safety as they learn about soccer
• Please pray for receptive hearts during the message times
• Please pray for me as I share the gospel with the kids and staff

Our work space until Friday's camp was done.

The nearby hills in the back;
swimming pool in the foreground
(the pool isn't used during the colder months)

The Ome house in the left, Sawai building in the center and on the far end is Mitake house

OBC in panorama

Construction being done on the road side of the camp

Flowers in bloom

Signs of spring!

Staff having fun with masks!

More staff fun….

My own accommodations

My OBC workspace

March 2015

Spring seems to be in the air and with it the plum blossoms are coming out here in Tokyo. I am writing this from the quiet of my classroom at CAJ after having spent a long and eventful day out at Yokota Air Base for a track meet. On the wall of my classroom near my desk two verses are visible:

"Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened 

and I will give you rest" 

Matthew 11:28

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well" 

Matthew 6:33

In both cases the command precedes the promise. He says come! And He says seek! And in both cases what God has to offer is far more satisfying and fulfilling than anything the world has to offer. I covet your prayers as I strive to fulfill these commands and hope that you also will find your rest and satisfaction in Him today.

Speaking Opportunities

CAJ Chapel March 18th

This next week I will be sharing in CAJ HS and MS chapel on the passage of Jesus' triumphal entry. Please pray that God would speak through me as I share with the students and staff.

OBC Soccer Camp March 21-23

I will be a speaker for 3 sessions at this year's OBC soccer camp up in the Okutama mountains. Please pray that the Lord would bring the staff that is needed and also that God would prepare the hearts of the campers as they come.

KCC Preaching April 19th

Following spring break I will be speaking at Kurume Christ Church. This is has been a tremendous blessing to be able to share with the body of Christ from the word of God and I am thankful for the opportunities that have been given me.

Graduate Coursework

Due to the busyness of teaching and coaching I have put my graduate coursework on the proverbial 'back burner' for a bit but I do hope to continue with my studies through Buffalo State University, New York.

Coaching

This year was my 4th year of coaching HS girls' field hockey and we had 25 girls on the team. We have only two other schools which we currently compete with and we placed 3rd this year both in league and in tournament. 

Track & Field has now begun and we have roughly 60 MS and HS athletes involved. My dad is the head coach and I am helping out along with two other coaches. We had some good results today which was our first meet of the season and it has been a joy to work with the kids in a capacity outside of the classroom.

Teaching at CAJ

This year has been a lot of fun working with 6th graders. The past two years have been spent teaching Bible to grades 9-12 but I've really enjoyed this upper elementary/middle school age. My subjects have been Bible, Math and Science and we recently had a class field trip to the Tamarokuto Science Center which had some displays related to astronomy which was our unit of study in the winter months.

Class photo at Tamarokuto Science Center

Learning about thrust

Creating rockets

Math class: Dodecahedrons!

A presentation on our Sun 

Meteor Presentation

Our class expert on stars

Currently the middle school student body is doing a food drive for the organization 2nd Harvest Japan partly to raise awareness of the needy in Japan but also to meet some of those needs in a physical way.

It's Official - 3rd grade next year!

Transition…Flexibility…these two characteristics have been part of my learning curve these last couple years and apparently I'm still learning! -

2011: Student teaching in 3rd grade classroom

2011-2012: CAJ substitute teacher & ALT for Japanese HS students

2012-2014: HS Bible teacher for grades 9-12 at CAJ.

2014-2015: 6th grade Bible, Science, Math

2015-2016: 3rd grade core teacher….

The joke in my family is that CAJ will need to open a preschool if I continue in the direction I've been going :) Please pray as I finish this year's teaching and make the transition to being a teacher in the elementary division at Christian Academy in Japan. I'm very excited but also aware of the tremendous change that this will be.

Joy Bible Camp - Summer

This summer of 2015 my dad and I will be co-directing the international Joy Bible Camp. We have already found speakers for both camps but we are currently looking for a qualified nurse. Our camps will run from June 13-25 and includes staff training as well. We have already received applications from a number qualified staff which is quite exciting Our theme for the camp will be "Accepted" coming from the passage in Romans 15:7 which says, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

Europe Trip - Summer

As some of you may know my sister Linnea and her husband Tom have spent this last year in Heidelberg, Germany as a part of Tom's doctoral studies. So, I've decided to visit them in Germany and while at it I would like do some traveling in Europe so that I can 'kill two birds with one stone.' I will be flying to Europe the day after Joy Bible Camps finish and then will stay there from June 26-July 23. My hope is to visit with Tom and Linnea, do some traveling to historical sites and museums, and get a taste of European culture as well. 

Recent Reads

• Louis L'Amour western novels
• Clive Cussler novels
• Agatha Christy murder mysteries
• "A Child in Japan During WWII: Memories of a German Missionary's Son" by Ehrhardt Imanuel Lang

I'm still working my way through a book called "The German Genius" by Peter Watson and also a book on prayer by Andrew Murray

Other Fun Stories

Trip to Gifu

I took a quick trip to Gifu during a 3-day weekend to spend time with Caleb and his family there. The nephews were recovering from the flu and thankfully I didn't catch whatever they had! It was a great time of fellowship with my brother and his family and also with the church that meets there in Grace Chapel.

Trip to Nagano

The snow was piling up on our roof enough that my uncle asked me to come up and help shovel our cabin since it was being weighed down quite a bit. I took a bus from Shinjuku to Nagano and then spent 6 hours on Saturday shoveling snow from the roof. By the end of the day I had shoveling a good portion of it and the snow was hard-packed up to roof level in the back of the house. Amazing! It was a good break from teaching and coaching and was also fun to be with cousins.

The heavy snows on our Nojiri cabin