Friday, June 24, 2011

Final Post

The Last two days of our trip in Japan was filled with sight-seeing, a Ministry Party, Flying, and a Birthday.

On Monday the June 13th we slept in longer than usual and I made pancakes. I like cooking for other people. It is always enjoyable. After briefing we went out sight-seeing. First we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and went to one of the higher floors and looked over the city. After lunch, we went to Shinjuku Central Park where we walked around prayed and enjoyed each other's company. We also saw many homes for the homeless, which were just blue tarps. We then went to Takeshita-dori at Harajuku to shop and buy souvenirs for our supporters and families. While we were doing that Robert and Sabin were with one of Robert's friends presenting the Gospel to him. We split up into teams and went for it.



The last place we went that day was to Todai (Tokyo University) for a going away party where we got to minister to believers, unbelievers and the backslidden. We said bye to some of the people we met over the trip. It was an enjoyable time of ministry, fellowship, and laughter.




Now for our last day in Japan (aka KAY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ). First we briefed and Lucas left because he had a different flight. We then cleaned the Student Center. After we cleaned, we went to Ueno zoo and saw the great Ueno Panda. After the zoo, we went back to Harajuku to the Takeshita-dori for lunch and more shopping. The last thing we did was go to Mejji Shrine and we saw how the Japanese worshipped. Another thing we did before beginning our trip home was go back to Harajuku to the Takeshita-dori for lunch and more shopping.





Then we headed back to The Student Center and began our trip back to Kansas City. The trip was filled with random problems, but we all made it back alive.

Then the last part of the trip was on June 15th in Kansas City Missouri at my house for last debrief. We encouraged each other and talked about the trip.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Yokohama team



Saturday, June 11: Yokohama team
The Yokohama team (Kenneth, Robert, Tyler, Sabin, Amos, Kay) went to a thriving church called "City Vision Glory Church." When we arrived, we joined in for their lively prayer meeting. Then we held a service for youth/young adults by doing worship, a skit, a testimony, and a message (Robert). There were several unbelievers there for the first time and some wanted to come back again! That night they held a bbq for us and took us to the bath house where the boys voluntarily subjected themselves to being electrocuted.

Sunday, June 12: Yokohama team
Sabin, Tyler, and Kay helped out at the kids' Sunday school. Sabin gave an insightful and fun message on hearing the Lord's voice. Meanwhile, Robert, Amos, and Kenneth did an awesome workshop on worship where they talked about the "why" behind worship, singing in tongues, etc. Then we all attended their Sunday service where we did a skit, gave a testimony (Tyler), and did a special song at the end. You can watch the service on their website here. After the service we fellowshipped with the church for a few hours over lunch. This Spirit-led church has a lifestyle of prayer and we were so blessed by them.

We then met up with the rest of our team at Sweets Paradise where there were over 30 different kinds of Japanese cakes. Some were better than others and I enjoyed them.


Friday, June 17, 2011

On Saturday June 11th Tim, Sharon, David, Lucas, and Andy (myself) went to Megumi church but I don't remember where the location was. This church service was the first international church service and it would be spoken in English. We began with a song and then Sharon gave her testimony of how the Lord has given her His Spirit and protected her throughout her life. Afterwards, Joyce gave the message. We spent some time in ministry, praying for people. Overall, it was an excellent service. This might have been the day where the 5 of us went to a sushi bar and Lucas ended up eating a TON of sushi.
"Sharon eats anything; Lucas eats everything."

On Sunday June 12th, my team began our day at Sayama church in Sayamashi which was over an hour away. We sang a couple songs and did a skit that Kenneth, Liz, and myself made up a few days before. Tim gave a clear message on walking out life with the Spirit and what it looks like to lean on Him. Then we had a time of ministry and we asked the Holy Spirit to fill some of His people with a new language and fire on the inside. I never heard the exact number, but there were at least a few who were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Afterwards, one elderly woman shared her testimony of being in a car accident and went up to heaven 3 times. What she described was actually the building structure/decorations of the City of God, the New Jerusalem. We ended up praying for the healing for her knee. After some time of prayer, with David leading us, she was able to put strength on her broken leg, whereas, she normally would not have been able to walk on it at all. Praise God!

On this same Sunday, we went to GAP church to meet with Bill and Carol and their congregation. I had been here about one and a half years ago, so it was wonderful to see them again. Our team lead most of the church service with 4 songs and 1 skit. Bill gave the message that night and then we had another time of prayer ministry. Later that night, the whole team joined together and we went to "Sweets Paradise." Personally, I think it was a deceiving name. Let me explain:

Sweets Paradise is a restaurant where you pay a flat fee and then you can eat all that you want. They have full entree meals, cheesecake, salad, and ice cream. The meal was awesome and I had 2 or 3 courses of that. HOWEVER, I tried all of their chocolate cakes and... well... they just weren't that delicious =(
So I just spent the rest of the night on ice cream =)

That is all for now. We had a busy couple days and we missed the rest of the team, and we were glad to have them back. Currently, everyone is back in the States so here are a couple prayer points:

1) Continued grace and strength to love Jesus wholeheartedly now that we're back in normal life
2) Keep us safe from the enemy's plans

Amen and amen. Let's stand.

Friday, June 10, 2011

putting 3 in 1

So the last three days where pretty amazing and the Lord showed himself strong.

On Wednesday the team separated one group went to Dokkyo University and the other went to Waseda. The Dokkyo group consisting of Robert, Kay, Sabin, Tyler, Sharon, and I. We played games with the Dokkyo students. After the games we had a Bible study. Where Sabin gave the word through his testimony.

The next day we spent the whole day at Sunrise church, with Mikami Sensei. In the morning we played with the preschool kids and then Sharon and Amos told the Creation story and the story of Noah. Sharon and Amos did amazing at engaging the kids with the Word of God. After that we had lunch and then ministered to some of the mothers of kids. We did worship and then Kay gave the word via her testimony. Then we began to talk to the moms and many moms where touched through our ministry. The last thing we did that day was a youth meeting, which turned out to be some of the moms coming back with the kids and some youth. So the turn out was alittle different then what we expected. But after the message that Tim and Robert gave together. Many different one where touched and ministered too.

Now yesterday was another good day we went to Central Bible college and ministered at their chapel, where Robert spoke. Then later that day one team went to Meiji university while the rest of the team stayed back and prepared for the Evangelistic Party we were having that night at the student center.

The Party went amazingly well. It was a bigger turnout than we expected many students from the different universities we ministered to the weeks before came. We played games and ate Pancakes that Sharon and I made. We were able to build relationship with a lot students.

Today a team is leaving this morning for Yokohama while the rest of the team stays here and ministers in Tokyo.

pics of the trip








Tuesday, June 7, 2011

day 13: the team reunites

Greetings from Tokyo!
Yesterday was a good day, the Tokyo team went to Central Bible Church and ministered at their morning chapel. We sang a few worship songs and then Tim Templeton gave a message about working with Jesus rather than merely for Him. After the service we made relationships with the students and they were encouraged to continue to reach for more of the Lord. After that we went to Tokyo University to a bible study. We sang Amazing love and it was soooo goood! All of the team members sang with confidence and a spirit of worship filled the room. Robert Monson preached on how to sustain the Christian life in the midst of hardship and mundane activities.
After we ate lunch the Shimada team arrived in Tokyo, and we were so happy to be together again. We enjoyed each other at J.S. Burger and talked about our last week of ministry. Each person shared a moment that they most enjoyed and something that was a hard for them. During the meeting Robert called us to ask the Lord how He feels about the people of Japan. It is important that we know how the Lord sees them so that we can give everything in ministry.
Today half of the team is going to Dokkyo University, and the other half is going to Wasada University. We will be ministering at bible studies, handing out flyers, prayer walking, and doing some prophetic and conversational evangelism in the on campus.
Prayer requests:
-that our team would press in for the fullness of what God has on this trip
-the evangelism parties that we are having this weekend
-creativity to preach the gospel in conversations with unbelievers

Thanks for listening
Over and out
Lucas Whitten

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Yesterday, our team went to Christ Revival Church. We had a wonderful time there. We started with lunch which was very Oishii (delicious). Afterwards, we had our first Sunday service upstairs. The way the Japanese people worship is just awesome and totally unexpected. The team ended up singing one of our songs to the church and after that Tim gave his testimony which was powerful.

Once the service was done, we went back downstairs where the kids had a contest. The kids had to recite Isaiah 43:19 in English. Everybody enjoyed the contest. I especially love seeing Japanese people speaking English no matter how broken it is. I think it's adorable to see that they try. One of the kids, Satoshi, won the contest and I got to speak with him for a bit afterwards. It is quite clear he will grow up to be helpful pastor for the Japanese people.

After that, we had another service where we sang some more songs, improvised our "Signs" skit, and then Robert and Sabin gave their testimonies. Overall, we had a wonderful day.

Today, we will be going to University to an English class to help the students with their English as well finding ways to communicate the good news found in Jesus. Later in the afternoon, we will be having an Evangelistic service. We could use lots of your prayers:

1) Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us when speaking with the University students.
2) Pray that the service later today goes well and that Jesus would be known by the Japanese people.
3) Continued prayer for unity and love in our team. Before we can love the world, we have to love one another.

From Japan with love,
Andy

Team D.K.K.A.T. coming at you again

We are coming to an end of our Sunday here in Shimada. We are about to go to the Onsen, which is the high quality public bath with water from natural Springs. So before that let me give you a quick synopsis of our day.

We did the service this morning I lead worship with the team. Then Tyler came up and gave his testimony about the work of the Holy Spirit. Then I came up and Preached on the Holy Spirit. When I first felt that the Lord wanted me to preach on this I didn`t know that pentacost was next week, but the Lord knew. I preached on the Holy Spirit and then prophesied over the church. Also during ministry time the team prayed for the different members of the church. 

After the service, we helped with the kids festival where the kids played some games then Amos led the meeting. We sang a song and then Amos told the story of creation in a simple fun kid friendly way. After that we did a skit and then Amos, with Kay ttanslating explained the Gospel message to the kids.

It was a fun and powerful day. The Holy Spirit touched many hearts.

Well thats all from the shimada team. (David. Kenneth. Kay. Amos. Tyler)

Grace and Peace to all who read this
Kenneth Moore (Shimada team leader)


Now off to the onsen. I'm about to relax.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Team D.K.K.A.T coming to you from Shimada

After a four hour bus ride,in which we drove 
past Mount Fuji (WOW IT WAS BIG) our team 
arrived safely to the town of Shimada.This town is completely different from Tokyo, much more 
peaceful, calm, and just less busy all around.
It‘s a farming town, many rice patties around 
here. Definifely a new experience for some of 
us, but it is awesome.

We arrived at the church and met Paster Kiyo, 
who is a relatively young pastor compared to therest of the church. We ate homemade curry by a 
member of the church which was bomb. After 
lunch, we had our meeting to go over our 
schedule for the next few days, and we went out into the town to pass our fliers for our next 
coming events. We will be leading the sunday 
service, a kids festival, and a futsol outreach event.

At night we arrived to the place where we‘re 
staying, which is a really nice and cozy house. Nobody will be staying there with us while we‘rethere, so we have the whole house to ourselves!!which means shouting in tongues at 4 a.m. for some of us. haha, just kidding...but seriously....

Prayer Points:
-that Kids would come to the outreach,and be 
touched by the Lord
-For servant-like hearts and humility
-Strength for the leaders in the church
-Unity in our team
-Health for those who are sick (Kenneth, Amos)
-And that i would stop hitting my head walking through the doors

Arigato!!

Amos-kun

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

K.R.A.K.L. day 6

Konichiwa from Tokyo!

Yesterday was a critical point in our trip. Our team journeyed to the "Harvard" in Japan known as Tokyo U, or Todai for short. This is one of the most prestigious schools in all of Asia. We attended a weekly bible study in a classroom that afternoon, sang a song, and our very own KAY TERADA gave a moving message. It was powerful, and definitely people were touched. Interesting observation, the room wasn't completely closed off at the top, so everyone outside (study area) could hear us worshiping and Kay giving her message. We are certain that seeds were planted because we were definitely loud. After that we were able to prayer walk around the beautiful campus. It was definitely a very impacting day for our team.

At night we were able to meet up with a friend of Robert's for dinner. This guy, "At-Sushi" (what an awesome name) is not saved, but Robert has been reaching out to him every trip for the last couple of years. He's heard the gospel time and time again, it's only a matter of time before He gets saved. Pray for him!!

Prayer Points for today:
-Team 2 is currently on flight to Japan, Pray that everything will go smoothly, especially with the luggage.
-Strength for the team for today's events, two people will be giving messages to two different Bible Studies
-For an increase level of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit for the team.
-Jesus to be glorified in Japan

Until tomorrow, Jan-ne!! (means..goodbye. i think.)

陳 頌 源

Monday, May 30, 2011

A day of ministry...and double dutch

Yesterday was a good day of ministering together a team. First we had worship practice as well as practicing some of the dramas that we have. We also went and ministered in an English class at a University. We were able to break up into groups and minister the Gospel as well as sing songs and do a drama about hopelessness and Jesus' delivering power. Many were touched in the room and were caused to think deeply. I gave a short message about God and then the team got to follow up with some discussion about my message. The meeting was a success because Jesus was glorified. After leaving the meeting here comes the good part...we ended up stumbling upon a double dutch group on campus. So...5 crazy Americans...of course we asked to get in. I have never double dutched in my life and have always been afraid of getting hit in the head. But...I did and got over the ropes for a SHORT amount of time. We all pretty much failed except for Kenneth. Surprisingly he jumped in and double dutched like it was his occupation! hahahahahahahahaha. It was crazy for everyone to experience.

I'm so proud of the team here. We are ministering well as a group and are really pressing passed the fear of man in order to preach the Gospel. While on the trains coming home we were able to talk to different people. I am so proud of the team here as well as the team preparing diligently in America. The night was capped off with one of my favorite restaurants....JS Burgers!!!!!!!!!!

Today, we will go and minister at a Bible Study at University of Tokyo. We will also do some evangelism and prayer walking. Will you pray for grace and strength for us? Please pray for healing for Kenneth and I.

-Robert-

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Expectations for Japan

It is Sunday afternoon in America and I come to you live from Kansas City, Missouri.

The team that is still in America (David, Andy, Tyler, Tim, Sabin, and Sharon) have been quite busy in preparation for Japan. While learning our songs and skits, we want Jesus to be glorified. All of us are expectant for God to act in multiple ways in Japan. Our prayers are for the people in Japan to know Jesus in a clear way in which they know Him as God and as the Lamb who was slain for their sins. We also expect to see healings, signs, and wonders for the purpose that the church in Japan will be strengthen by God so that they will happily and boldly preach the good news.

On a personal note, I've gotten to know and enjoy the people who are on my team. We encourage one another daily which has been so refreshing for me. We laugh together, we pray together, we get serious and we'll even joke around at times. Our next 2 weeks in Japan will be quite hectic, but I have no doubt that the love of God will sustain us and guard our hearts so that we continue in love for another another.

Here are some prayer points:
1) That we would continue in love for Jesus and one another
2) That we would know all our songs & skits
3) PRAY FOR FIRST CLASS SEATS FOR ALL OF US!!! =)

Coming to you live from Kansas City, Missouri. This is Andy Axne, a reporter YOU can trust. Over and out.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Sunday Morning in Japan

It is Sunday morning here in Japan and we are preparing to Minister at ICA and GAP church today.

Yesterday Kay and Amos went with Susan to help out at an English class. While they were doing that Robert Lucas and I prepared for the Harp and Bowl set that we had last night at ChiHOP. The set was from 7-9pm last night. The Harp and Bowl set was amazing we sang songs in English and Japanese. Near the end of the two hours we prayed for all those who came. The Holy Spirit came and we were able to encourage and bless everyone who came.

Today at ICA and GAP, Robert will be preaching on Hope and we will be leading worship. We are expetant for the Lord to touch many hearts.


Prayer request
Robert as he preaches
health of the team
Strengthen the team still in america

Friday, May 27, 2011

Third Day in Japan

Yesterday we did two things we went to Meiji university and celebrated Yuri Birthday.

At Meiji University we participated in a English Study Group. Where students could work on their English. We went there and talked to them in English, Japanese, and Mandarin. The Students in the Group span from chinese to Japanese men and women. We were able to dialogue with them in the subject of friendship. While Robert and Lucas gave some of their testimony about God being our friend. It was an amazing time of making friendships and building relationships.



After that we celebrated Yuri birthday. We went to museums and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had the provliedge of fellowshiping with Yuri, Joyce, Susan, Amanda, and Tony. Who are all missionaries here in Japan.



Today some of us are going to a English class and then tonight we will be doing a Harp and Bowl set.

Prayer Request
1. That the Lord will strengthen us as we get over Jetlag
2. For our Health
3. Divine Appointments

Thursday, May 26, 2011

K.R.A.K.L. in Japan day 1

Welcome to K.R.A.K.L. in Japan (Kenneth, Robert, Amos, Kay, Lucas)

We just finished our first full day in Japan and we are all about ready to hit the sack. Despite the jetlag, we got a good night sleep at the Chi Alpha Student Center in Tokyo and started the day off with orientation and an overview of our time here in Japan, then after lunch we went to the grocery store and got food for breakfast for the week. One of the girls who works with Chi Alpha, namely Amanda, teaches an english class for Japanese children at a church in Tokyo as an outreach to the kids and their parents. The highlight of the day was when we got to play with the kids, they were sooooo crazy! We played a game called "McDonald's" and they were running around and having a blast. I really like this type of outreach because english is very popular in Japan and it is an easy way for the church to build long-lasting relationship with the people, which has proven to be the most effective kind of evangelism in Japan.



You can pray for;
-Our bodies to recover from jetlag quickly
-Strength for our bodies, esp. Robert's legs (we are walking much more than our bodies are used to),
-Robert's suitcase got left behind in San Francisco, so we need that asap
-love and humility within our team
-grace for the other half of the team as they prepare to arrive here on June 1

We will be updating this blog daily with new praise reports and prayer points:)
Thanks for listening
Over and out
Lucas Whitten

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Thunder in Japan 2.0

Job 37:5 God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.

A new team with some similar faces. Robert Monson is leading another team to Japan this Summer. The members are Robert Monson, Kenneth Moore, Tim Templeton, Andy Axne, Lucas Whitten, Sabin Dhakal, Kay Terada, Amos Chen, Sharon Dell, Tyler Luedke, David Ursin. The team is larger than the last team and we are expecting God to do great things through us. As we Strengthen believers, Open the Heavens, and Save Souls.



Five members of our team will be leaving America on May 24th. This smaller team will begin praying and interceding for what the Lord wants to do for the rest of our trip. The rest of the team will be leaving May 31st. We believe the Lord is going to draw us closer as a team, touch the hearts of the Body of Christ in Japan, and make Christ name known on university/college Campuses. We will be returning to the States on the 14th.



Thank you all those who are and will be following this blog. The team is thankful for your prayers and all your support.



Some quick Prayer points for the Team
1. The Health of the team
2. Finances for the members who still need the money to go