Hi all!

We’ve gotten to day 3 of VBS here and things have been going pretty smoothly.

This morning, Josiah, Kevin, Anna, and I (Alvin), went over to the old site of Little Light Coffee. The shop used to be in a trailer about 10 minutes away from where the church currently is. They are getting ready to move the trailer to a new location. We did some prep work to get the trailer ready to be moved by the end of the month. The main thing we did is move the deck/steps used to get into the shop back to church property.

Having gotten to the third day of English Summer Camp, we have gotten into a rhythm of how we do things. The kids have gotten a lot more comfortable with us. They are singing and doing the hand motions to the songs. They had fun playing with water balloons and a shepherd vs wolf freeze tag game. In craft time, they made crowns that they loved showing off to each other. Similar to our VBS, the kids have gotten to learn about Psalm 23, the story of David, and what it means that Jesus is a good shepherd.

Every Friday night they have worship practice at the church. Miguel and the team run through the songs that they are going to sing on Sunday. All of the songs they had were in Japanese, and mostly originally written in Japanese. This Sunday’s service will be a combination of the normal worship service and the summer camp happyoukai (presentation). We discussed details today on what that’s going to look like. The service is going to be held in a different location that has the capacity to handle all the parents of the VBS kids.

Following worship practice, Josiah and Noel host a gathering at their home (next door). Every Friday, they have an open invite to the whole church to come over to their home and fellowship. This time a missionary named Ken made the meal for everyone. Miguel, one of the deacons and an elder in training, had a surprise birthday party. The church shared many memories they had with him. We arrived in Takasaki last Friday night and were here the last time they had this fellowship. It’s sweet to see how our relationships with the church have deepened jut over this week. Some in the church are stronger in English and some are stronger in Japanese, but it has been cool to see this church thrive even with the language barrier.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.

-Alvin