Ev: 3 Things I am Grateful For

As I thought about the past 2 weeks, I realize that the things I remember fall into 2 basic catagories: what I thank God for and what I saw God do. I will share my God sightings later and just share the three things I am really thankful for at this time:

1) the missionaries in Japan. Richard and Keri Nakamura and Jon and Chieko Reasoner at the SEND center, Jim & Martha Boden at the Lighthouse Cadence, and Shirley and Kohichi Tamura at Nokendai Bible Fellowship demonstrated what it means to serve others, actively battle spiritual forces through prayer, share the love of God and to love God, and to just be lights in the darkness.
2) Mei-Ling. Her quiet spirit and trust in God allowed many of us to be directly used by God. Her flexibility allowed God to speak to us and do things that were unplanned but yet work so well. She created an environment of mutual trust on our team.
3) the team. Each member added so much to this "body of Christ" in Japan. Mei-Ling led us with a firm by quiet spirit, allowing God to work through us all freely. Bob was the only male park guide with the oldest group. He connected with all the kids and became Mr. Bob. Kenko, the only boy, responded to Bob's humor which also included some amazing "stunts" in the skits. When Bob shared the invitation to accept Jesus, you could have heard a pin drop. To the members of the team, he is known as "King Bob." Janis was the park guide for the middle group which was also the largest. She related to the kids well. Her testimony was powerful and used by God to touch a mother at our closing. She is organized and had great insights. Matt was everyone's younger brother or son who was teased. He led all our morning worship/prayer times which helped us to focus God for each day. He is a gifted musician and to say that he was a hit with the kids is an understatement! He also did a great job leading songs. Amy was our problem solver and computer whiz person. During craft time she was right there with the kids. She has such a loving heart. God used her testimony at a VBS closing to touch so many children's hearts! I know she is very kind because she even helped me carry my backpack around Tokyo! Lyanne should have a medal for bravery! On the first day of VBS, she ended up with numerous mosquito bites which grew. The highest count on one day was 32 bites. She also got a little sunburned. We offered to go out for her but she insisted on going out every day to do the recreation. She did a wonderful job with recreation, especially when it was outside on a dirt field with high temperatures and humidity! The kids loved her and so did we. Susan was one of the returning team members. She had the youngest group which was mostly little boys. As usual, she handled them just right. This group could say their memory verse the loudest! Susan had us laughing and added much to the team dynamics as well. Finally, Al was our subway expert as well as craft person. He helped with adding more money to our cards, and getting on the correct subway train to get to our destination. He did a great job, with Amy, on crafts - adjusting them when there was more time or when they were too difficult.

I was so worried about 9 people in an apartment but God put the right team together for Nokendai. Everyone had humor, flexibility and an extra touch of God's grace. We did more than survive - we grew as a family. Praise God! Blessings, Ev