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Konnichiwa minna-san! (Hello everyone!) Welcome to the official webpage for the summer missions team to Japan from Independent Bible Church. Here you will find our posts throughout the trip (which are below this introduction), and various updates on our ministry once it begins.
If all goes well, we will be serving God in Japan from June 21 to August 7, 2004, working with Asian Access/LIFE Ministries at a pre-established church. Japan is a fascinating nation filled with wonderful, intelligent people, but sadly, Christianity makes up only 1/2 of 1% of the religious atmosphere. It is a nation lost in worldly religion and one that desperately needs Christ.
We are currently in the process of raising the required funds necessary to get us to Japan. If you would like to support us, either through prayer (which is also much needed) or through a financial contribution, please email us at japan2004@aveiceae.com. Thank you kindly and God bless!
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Team photos... better ones
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Yay
posted by: court
We had what I thought was a really cool Japan Team meeting last night, talking about conflict and our different conflict styles, according to the animal types test.
Me: Fox who turns into a Shark
Maureen: Shark
Laurel: Owl who turns into a Turtle
Jeri: Owl/Turtle
We also made a song out of the PQT (Prior Question of Trust which we're required to memorize: "Is everything I'm doing, saying, and thinking working to build trust or to break down trust from the other person's perspective?") to the tune of Silent Night, and read through and signed our conflict covenant with each other. A good time....
Until Jeri split her toes open on a hidden stake whilst running through the yard in the dark and I had to take her to the emergency room. :o
posted at: 1:23:06 PM
Sunday, March 28, 2004
Japanese dinner fundraiser
posted by: court
Though a little smaller than we had planned for (but everyone got huge portions!), the dinner went off quite well last night after a day's work of preparing, cooking, and setting up. Big thanks to Joyce, Susan, and Mary, three members of our church who worked hard with us to get things done. We made around $540 for the night! Praise God!
Next up: Garage sale, car washes, and the concert April 18th.
posted at: 12:53:10 PM
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Photos
posted by: court
Pics from the Team Leader retreat have been linked on the Photos page.
Also, you can view our prayer card. (Beware - large image!)
posted at: 11:28:40 AM
Praise God!
posted by: court
He has been faithful to us. Not only are people coming out of the woodwork to help with our fundraisers (like the Japanese dinner coming up this Saturday the 27th) but we recieved two donation checks this last week which almost doubled the donations we've recieved so far. We're almost halfway to our first payment amount!
Here's our payment schedule, if you were curious:
April 20: need $1000 per member ($4000)
May 18: need $1000 per member ($4000)
June 8: need $1150 per member ($4600)
For a total of $3150 per member ($12600)
Depart for Japan: June 21 (Less than 3 months away!!!)
posted at: 10:17:35 AM
Monday, March 22, 2004
Team Leader Retreat
posted by: court
Just returned from the retreat, held in supposedly sunny Hermosa Beach, CA, which in reality was overcast, windy, and cold for 2 of the 3 days. The retreat was great though and I got to meet a lot of the names & voices I've been communicating with over the past year or so - our adorable and genuine coordinator Reiko, mobilizer Shelley, Emi, who picked me up at LAX, and so many more, including the 10 other Team Leaders who were all so different and engaging. It was sad to part ways after the intense, bonding three days of deep group discussion and many concepts worked through, but hopefully we'll all see each other again in three months (the 6-week teams, anyway) right before we embark for Japan.
Pictures will come soon!
posted at: 10:35:36 AM
Monday, March 15, 2004
Car wash success!!
posted by: court
Our car wash on Saturday went surprisingly well. God blessed us with a beautiful day and a never-ending supply of customers, and we made $650 in 5 hours! Combined with what we already had, we're a quarter of the way to our first payment (of three)! YEAH!
Pray that God keeps the ball rollin' and continues to surprise and amaze us and strengthen our faith through it all. Next up: the dinner on March 27th. There's a lot of preperation to be done... pray it goes well and is a success!
posted at: 1:11:06 PM
Saturday, March 13, 2004
All excited
posted by: jeri
Today I got my passport! it was so exciting. It's like I can go anywhere with this thing. It's one step closer to Japan (yeah!). Hopefully the car wash tomarrow turns out well. It would be cool. Hey, everyone out there, you should pray for us. Pray we raise the money that we need, and that we get all of the preperations taken care of. Thank you!
posted at: 1:04:09 AM
Thursday, March 11, 2004
Upcoming fundraisers
posted by: court
Saturday, March 13: Car Wash from 10am to 3pm, with a bake sale as well. Donations appreciated! Email us if you want more information.
Saturday, March 27: Japanese Dinner/silent auction. Eat up and learn about the Japan trip, and help send us there. We'll be dressed in the sweet red kimonos that we're making, and playing cool Japanese music in the background. Dinner will be yakisoba, Japanese salad, and mochi ice cream, and silent auction items will be cool, donated from several businesses in town.
Sunday, April 18: Benefit concert. Many talented musicians from the area (including the Jerry Roberts family) will be performing, as well as the Japan Team choir, which will perform several worship songs in Japanese.
TBA: Movie night in the church sanctuary - on the giant projection screens, yay! We'll have Domino's Pizza beforehand and watch a Christian or Japanese movie, with potential previews created by youth group students. Admission will probably be $3.
We'll also be selling T-shirts at most of these events.. special team t-shirts that will feature the logo you see at the top of the page here. Not sure how much we'll charge... but they'll be ringer tees and they'll look cool!
Email if you have questions!
posted at: 2:39:06 PM
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