Dear Friends,
As I write this the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. It is a beautiful time of the year in Kobe, Japan. Easter was a special day of worship services and fellowships. We went up on the mountain to the cemetery for a short service in the morning. It was a time to celebrate the resurrection of our living Lord, but also, to bury the ashes of one of our long time members, Mr. Jokou. Mr. Jokou passed away in January, and the funeral was at that time. But in Japan the internment of the ashes is usually done at a later date. His family chose Easter, the resurrection day, a day of hope for this event.
I trust that your Easter was filled with as many blessings as ours.
In our last letter we promised to tell more about our upcoming year long assignment in the US. We will be arriving at the end of June and will be making our home in Seattle, Washington. Some people have already asked, "Why Seattle?" For a variety of reasons, but in the end the Lord provided a furnished home, and opened other doors that made us feel this is the place for us to be this year.
The summer will be filled with 3 week long meetings. Two are for missionaries and families for debriefing and training. Another is a missions conference at Green Lake, WI from August 4-9. Check out their web site for more info by using this link: Green Lake Global Mission Gathering I think the summer will keep us busy getting moved, settled, drivers licenses, children registered in school, etc. Ami will be off to college at the end of the summer. No, we don't know where yet. She has been accepted at some schools but has not made a final decision yet, so I can't say more.
In the fall, September 13-15, one of us will be at the World Mission Conference that is being held in Sioux Falls, SD. We hope to see many friends there. Here is a link for more information: http://www.internationalministries.org/wmc/conferences.html
Otherwise we are in the process of putting a schedule together. We will plan to visit as many friends, and churches as our time allows. We won't be able to be in all churches on Sunday mornings, but would love to see you! Please let us know if you would like us to come, if you have a specific date for something special, let us know. Of course we would like to visit churches that are in the same area at the same time, so thank you for understanding. Also, please remember we will be here till summer 2008.
Finally, we will be putting together a Mission Partnership Team (MPT), a small group that will work with us in helping to stay better connected with you, our friends and partners in ministry.
Prayer points:
*Nishi Okamoto Christ Church and Pastor Takahashi.
*Getting things ready to move.
*Our children and new schools in the fall.
*Ami's decision about college.
*Our schedule for this next year.
*Our MPT, that the Lord lead us in this important group.
