Quotes from the book "Kingdom Conflict" by J. Stowell

Part I

1. Life is not made by the dreams we dream but by the choices we make.
2. Never look at the temptation. Always look beyond it and see the tempter.
3. When it comes to sin, what you see is not what you get.
4. Sin is Satan's graffiti on the wall of God's creation.
5. ...all of sin - all of our spiritual failure- begins with this thing called self.
6. Self-styled religion was Satan's first attack on the kingdom of Christ. (Cain didn't mind worshiping and serving God. He just wanted to do it on his own terms).
7. Intermarriage is the very scheme Satan uses to dilute the strength of God's work and to diffuse the power of His Spirit in this generation as well as generations to come. (Gen. 6)

Thanksgiving

This American holiday is not well-known here in Japan. Some even thought that this has something to do with Halloween. So I thought of giving my Saturday adult class a lesson on Thanksgiving on November 28th.

We discussed the history and traditions of this holiday. They learned about the lives of the pilgrims and native Indians; the traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu; the Thanksgiving football games; Macy's Thanksgiving parade and the usual decors and table centerpieces for this holiday.

More importantly, they learned to share about the things they are thankful for. The class chaplains who handle the Bible time explained why we thank God for what He has done in our lives.

The lesson ended with a special Thanksgiving prayer.

Then it was time for sampling the Thanksgiving lunch menu: roast turkey with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, veggies, and pumpkin pie for dessert. Yum...all prepared for us by the church Fureai cafe staff.

We want to do this again next year... could this be the start of our Thanksgiving tradition here? I hope so.

Seek and ye shall find

Disappointed ...running low on spiritual gas...feeling empty! Those were my feelings this morning as I sat at church. I was preparing myself to be fed fully but instead just got morsels. What happened? We all sang songs and hymns; read the Bible and prayed together . Ahhh... why do I still feel empty inside? I was begging for more. More...

I looked for God today at church but could not find Him. Was He there? I'm sure, He was. He was not in His rightful place though. For He was not in the center seat for everyone to bow and worship because, sadly, we put Him aside today. We moved Him to another place and instead put men in the Bible like David, Moses, Absalom and other Japanese novelists in the center of the worship.

I felt edgy midway through the worship service this morning because I did not get what I wanted, what I expected. I looked around me and wondered whether the others felt the same. I thought, could this be one of the reasons why the Japanese churches are not growing?

The morning dragged on...finally it was over. The worship service , I mean.

We had lunch at church. Then I had to attend a very important meeting. My mind was engrossed for a time at something I needed to prepare for Christmas.

The church phone rang. It was for me. A good friend called, wanting to meet me for tea somewhere. OK, great!

We first went to Starbucks...all seats occupied. "Let's go to Honey House", I suggested. It is my favorite place to chat and chill.

While there, lo and behold! God appeared . He was there. He sat with us for two hours. No, He did not just listen to us ladies chattering ...He was feeding our souls! My soul, in particular!

You see, my friend visited a high-end Anglican church in the morning just to observe their service. Surprisingly, she had more than what she expected to get. The sermon at that church today turned out to be very good and spiritually nourishing. It was so~ good that she wanted to share the message with someone. Who did she think of? Yeah...me!

So over cups of jasmine tea, I listened to her share God's truths , His character... about Him being transcendent and at the same time imminent. OK, those are big words for a non-seminarian like me. She understands those things because she went to a seminary in Florida for her Biblical studies. But yet, in an amazing way, as my friend explained those things to me, I felt God , not her, talking to me.

God was feeding me. Touching me. Filling my spiritual need and thirst.

Wow! I got my nourishment for today that I so desperately wanted. In fact, I felt so full deep inside, that I came out of Honey House spiritually burping!

So I thought...

Isn't it great to know that when we seek Him in our heart, we will find Him? Isn't it great to know that God cares for us so much that when He sees that our hearts and souls need watering, He will do amazing things like leading friends to other churches to get the filling and whisper in their hearts to share His truth with us? Isn't it great to know that God is not confined in church buildings but He can be found everywhere, even in small places like the one three blocks away called the Honey House?

I was seeking for Him this morning...before the end of the day, we found each other! What a blessed Sunday!

the Genesis Ladies

This photo was taken last Christmas during our annual Christmas dinner.

The professional single ladies group at our church used to be called "Euodia" (Greek for aroma, as in , we are to be God's fragrant aroma). For some reasons, we decided to change the name to Genesis. The name implies something new...new beginning, new creation, new dreams, new hopes, new lives, new hearts (and loves??) , new passion, new...whatever! :)

In 2005, we used to meet at cafes and bistros. A year later, we decided to move our meetings to the church living room. This way we would have unlimited....chatting time! You know what usually happens when middle-aged single ladies meet. We can chat and giggle like there's no tomorrow!! Also, we would save much of the yen that we used to pay cafe owners who sometimes shoo us away if we stay more than a couple of hours. Now, our precious yen can be spent for more lady values like beauty salon, clothes and makeup. Haha!

The joyful upside to our meetings at church is that we were able to get the Pastor to spare us a little of his time to share us a thought or two from the Bible. Last year, we studied the lives of famous women of the Bible. This year, we got lifetime truths from the stories of some men in the Bible.

Working beauties are always busy, we agree. So we do not hold meetings regularly. Only during holidays or on selected Saturdays of the year.

Our activities during meetings vary. There were times when we had cooking demos by church friends who are good at baking. There were also times when we had sit-down dinners. Most times, though, we were just content to have coffee/tea, cakes and sweets over endless chatter and laughter after our devotional time.

We invited some of our non-Christian friends to join us in some of our meetings. Some of them kept coming , until they had to move to new workplaces or until something pressing came up. We are just thankful that we were able to minister to them during our Genesis meetings. We just hope and pray that God blessed them with not only happy memories but also by touching their hearts with His love and truth .

Halloween - our version

The kids asked me why we don't hold Halloween parties here in our school - all the other English schools in our area have that.

So, I changed my lesson plan for that day and we did an activity that explained why we don't celebrate Halloween. I bought a book for children that is titled, "Halloween is..." and we did the Halloween lesson.

First thing, I made sure that they learned and understood the English words : evil, scary, afraid, ghosts, jack-o-lantern, haunted, witch, skeleton, etc. Then, I went through the book with them and explained the most important part of the lesson, that God loves us and is not happy when we do evil things ; He also does not want us to be scared of these evil and scary decorations because He is more powerful than evil. I made them memorize Psalm 118:6, "The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid."

The younger children did crafts : making doorhangers and Halloween hats with the Bible verse.

Game time was playing a boardgame, a modified Trick or Treat thing. I made a boardgame for this lesson. They throw dice and move markers, and if they stop at a Trick square, they have to say the verse. If they stop at a treat square, they get a candy or small chocolate.

It was fun to watch them go for the treats, but I tell you, it was more fulfilling to hear them say the Bible verse instead . We'll do this again next year, I'm sure.

"I Don't Want to be a Christian"

This was what my Nihongo tutor said this afternoon during our tutorial at Kobe International Community Center (KICC). I didn't know how to react at first, to be honest , I was more amused than shocked.

What started our discussion on this subject? I was supposed to be learning common Nihongo phrases and sentence patterns and she was supposed to learn from me English idioms today. Those were our planned topics for today's lesson. But God had other plans, obviously. For more than the Nihongo and English language lessons, we got to talk about our Father's language lessons.

Our session today began with her telling me about her aunt's Buddhist funeral last week. She told me a few things that were traditionally done by Japanese during funeral rites like the ash thingy that they have to pick from an urn and bring to their forehead while saying a prayer to the departed loved one.

Then she blurted out to me that while she was doing those things last week, she wondered whether Christians do the same thing at funeral services. I said, "No, we don't do that for some reasons."

She replied, "That is why I think I don't want to be a Christian. If I become one, then my relatives would not be able to do that during my funeral. They won't be able to pray for me."

"Ahhh...I see." I said and nodded my head. I didn't know what to do and say for a brief second. Shall I give her an amused smile? an I-feel-sorry-for you- look? a verse from the Bible? I sent an SOS to my Father . Help , Lord. What will I say? Shall I just let this pass and move on with the Idioms lesson?

The prompting from the Lord was very strong. So I set my lesson aside and waited for her to continue.

Then came the questions from her. Surprisingly, there were a lot...like, what's the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism? What does the Bible say about religions? Why don't the Christians go to casinos? Why do Christians go to church? etc. etc. etc. Obviously she was thinking much about Christianity, the religion and not THE personal relationship between the Savior and the saved sinner.

Somehow, as we were discussing these things, God managed to guide our talk so I could have the chance of sharing the Gospel with her. You should have seen her eyes grow big as she asked, "Jesus died for me??" Her excited voice grew a bit loud. In fact, loud enough to make those from the other tables turn their heads and look at us.

I was able to share with her the good news of the Lord's salvation . How I praised the Lord for that opportunity!

But then , that was meant to be the Part I for we had to move on to our lesson for the day . Our free time at KICC was almost up and so we had to do our idioms .

As we were finishing and preparing to leave , she blurted out again, " I really don't want to be a Christian because I don't want to give up my life of partying, mahjong sessions and beer drinking with friends." Haha!

"OK ," I said, "but still it doesn't change the fact that there is a God who loves you." This was what we were talking about as we got in the elevator. Talk about a good timing and great place to share a bit about God's love and power. While we were going down from the 20th floor to the lobby, in an elevator full of about 8 women , the good news was proclaimed in a voice not loud enough to inconvenience the rest, but audible enough for everyone to hear. Hallelujah!

Hopefully, there will be a Part II to this discussion next week.

God did amazing things today at KICC. Help me pray that the "tiny seed" that was sown this afternoon will find good soil in the hearts of my tutor and to those who have heard.

Great Sunday

....a long-time friend who's now based in Sydney came to church and shared her testimony during the service; had a great talk catching up on each other's lives, ministries and blessings.

....an engineer from Davao who saw our church from the train last week came to attend our worship; was thrilled that he speaks Cebuano :)

....tea time with another friend at my fave hangout cafe (the Honey House); shared trials, burdens, visions and evangelism strategies; encouraged each other through the Word

....reminded by Paul to " ...keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." (2 Tim. 5)

...encouraged by Paul again when he said , ""At my first defense, no one came to my support , but everyone deserted me....But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it..." (2 Tim. 16-17)

all these made my day ...truly a blessed day!

English Classes Ministry

Isn't it a blessing and a joy to reach the Japanese children here for Christ through our English classes here? The children come once a week for their English lesson but they also get more than that, they get to hear Bible stories . Most of the children do not come from Christian families thus it is only during the English class time that they get to hear these stories. We hope and pray that the "seed" that is being planted in these kids' soft hearts will take root.

The class chaplains handle the ten-minute Bible time every week. Please include them in your prayers.

We are blessed to have chaplains for the kids classes who are also teaching in our Sunday Schools.

Friendship Evangelism

Two of my good friends here in Kobe are Akiyo and Yoshimi.

Our friendship dates back to 1994, when both attended my English class , intermediate level . That was during my first year of teaching English classes here at this church. Akiyo then was still a new believer , having been led to Christ by former missionaries, Ray and Julie Sears. Yoshimi was not yet a Christian but she had come to know about God and His plan of salvation through the Bible times in our English class.

The three of us hit it off instantly as we had similar personalities and common interests. We would often hang out together after classes.

At that time, Akiyo went to another church here in Kobe. But Yoshimi would sometimes accept my invitation to go with me to my church for worship services or other events.

Later that year, Akiyo was transferred by her company to the branch in her hometown. But she would often visit us here in Kobe.

After that horrible Kobe earthquake in 1995, I had to return to the Philippines. But we three were still able to keep in touch. They even visited me in Cebu.

Akiyo and I were concerned about Yoshimi so we agreed to continue to pray for her salvation.

When God sent me back to Japan to teach again in 2005, Yoshimi was among the very first ones I contacted. Then Akiyo came to see me. What a blessed reunion the three of us had . It was great to see Akiyo's growth in the Lord as she found a good church in her hometown.

We continued to pray for Yoshimi. We didn't know then that God never stopped working in Yoshimi's heart during the ten years that we were apart.

In December 2006, I took her with me to visit a friend in Yokosuka . We went to my friend's church that Christmas Sunday . God used the pastor's message that day to speak again to Yoshimi's heart. During the train ride back home, she asked me a lot of questions and we talked more about God's love for her . I could see she was almost ready to accept the Lord into her life. That week, she found a church near her apartment, and attended the worship that Sunday. (Our church is farther, about 20 minutes by bicycle from her place). That was the start. Amazingly, Yoshimi never looked back.

We continued our regular hangouts together. I encouraged her to join Sunday School and Bible studies in her church and she did. She attended regularly the singles meetings at our church too. God gave me more prayer opportunites with her . Even more spiritual talks and counseling times. A year later (on my birthday) , she was baptized.

One of my joys here in Japan is seeing Yoshimi grow in the Lord and knowing that she is a living fruit of "friendship evangelism" in a country like Japan, known to be among the hardest mission fields in the world. Praise the Lord!

Main road

Thank you for praying with me and for me lately. I appreciate very much your thoughts and mentioning my concerns to our Father.

This morning we had our teachers meeting for the English class ministry here. It went well. We were able to discuss many things: plans for 2010, Christmas presentations, teaching strategies, resources, etc.

Well, now God has let me see that I don't have to make a "turn" in the crossroad (read my prev. blog pls) after all. I will have to stay on the "main road" for some time (perhaps until March 2011) until I get to another crossroad again. By that, I mean doing the same work (teaching) for the Lord here at Higashinada Baptist Church for another schoolyear.

Please pray also for my co-teachers , Kellie , Brad and Michelle , all missionaries from Australia. They still have to complete language studies until next year. Pray that we all here will have a good teamwork while we continue to serve our Big Boss :)

latest embroidery

This is my latest cross-stitch work which took me a year to finish. I started this last year when I began my English Bible studies here. This month, I gave this to the church here as a token of my appreciation for their prayers and support for the Bible studies last year.

The design is not originally mine - a good friend gave me a photocopy from a page of her embroidery book.

Mrs. Shimouchi , a friend from our church here in Kobe, did the frame. She's taking framing lessons from a well-known artist in Osaka.

Now, this hangs on a wall of our church 3rd floor dining hall.

crossroads again

Hi ! After talking with a church deacon yesterday over lunch, I feel that I am at some crossroads again. Which way should I go? I am praying and asking God to let me see His hand directing me where He wants me to be.

More about this after our teachers' meeting tomorrow. Meanwhile, pls keep praying with me and for me, okay?

I went to see an ikebana exhibit last Monday. The photo here is one of those arrangements displayed. Enjoy!