Slide show of Sunday and Monday

Here are some photos from our trip to Japan and our first two days in Hachinohe with our new friends!

We are here!!

Greetings from Hachinohe Church　of Christ!! It is hard to believe that we have been here for almost two days! (It is Monday afternoon here but Sunday evening back home!) Today was our first day with readers and already we have each met with at least one reader- I have met with two different readers and both have rescheduled to come back again this week!

Yesterday, we were warmly received by the Church- we each introduced ourselves at the morning service and everyone here is so kind and happy to receive us! We also enjoyed a very delicious (oi-shi) meal of rice with a curry stew prepared by some of the women from church. Already we are getting have been blessed by amazing Japanese hospitality- good food and tea and everyone wants to serve us. Yesterday we also went to the Hachinohe shopping mall and to the store for some basic needs. We went with Masayo and the Nakamura sisters and had a lot of fun enjoying their company, especially when we went to a hamburger place called "surprise donkey"!

This morning I read with Yui, an elementary teacher who teaches the same age that I teach in Sunday school. We read about the Prodigal son and we talked about how a father would react in our world if his son was so foolish. I talked to Yui about how I felt more like the older son who sees the younger son as a fool, but Yui reminded me that we all are like the younger son at some point in our lives. She is not Christian but she is very open to the word and I am very excited about our next session.

Please pray for us, that we are well rested and that we are able to help the readers with their English. Pray that we find ways to understand each other, when things might get lost in translation. I am praying that our readers will see God working and that I will be a good example as a Christian woman.

What Awaits Us

Greetings, this is Lisa! I'm writing this with about 2 1/2 days separating my team and me from some of the most amazing people in Hachinohe, Japan. I was blessed to have been there last year, and I think my return for a second year can go to show how much I saw the Lord working in these people, not to mention the wonderful relationships I formed and have maintained with so many of them. Hachinohe is a very small, rural city, and I absolutely love that...not to mention the friendly people that greet you, no matter where you are. My team and I are very eager to see what the Lord has in store for us for the coming two weeks. Please pray for us as we travel (for many hours!), and get settled, while simultaneously preparing to start class the next day with our 33 readers. One of us will definitely update this upon our arrival. Thank you all for your support, without you, we would not be this prepared and ready to do God's work. Domo arigato gozaimashta (thank you very much). Above is a picture of the side of the church where we will be staying and having class. It used to be a pre-school!