First Week in Japan

We started our ministry this week. Sandra and Justin work together with a preschool, where they teach short English classes to 3 classrooms. They were very excited to see them. The kids were so excited that they kept trying to touch and hug them each of them. They have 1 more preschool visit and 2 elementary school visits left.
Mai Xee and I had our first English class with the students at the Chitose church. There were 14 students at all different English levels. It was very funny. We weren't as prepared as we would have liked, but God has been teaching us flexibilty. We will be better prepared next week. Japanese students are very different from American students.
About 4 times a week, the team eats lunch at the university. Justin is very popular among the Japanese people, they think he looks like David Beckham, but we can't see the resemblance. Everyone else has meet a few Japanese students.
Monday was our first day off. We went to Sapporo Station, a very large shopping center. We took the transit and subway for the first time, which was very exciting. We also went to Odori Park, which is a very long park.
Please continue to pray for the team that we will be able to make friends with the Japanese students, the people we encounter, and our team as a whole. Please also pray for our next ministry event, Fun with English, where we will be playing games and singing songs with students.

Arrival and First Days in Japan

We arrived May 20, 2009 to Sapporo safely. The health inspection in Tokyo was very fast and we were able to make it to our connecting flight. We just finished about 2 days of training with Tim Clark on Japanese language and teaching English.
Today, Saturday, May 23, the Chitose Church hosted a Welcome BBQ. It was very fun. We were able to put our Japanese to use. We have received many compliments on our Japanese. We are now staying at the Sapporo Church. Most of our time will be spent here working with the church and building relationships with the university students across the street.
Please continue to pray for the team and the ministry that we will be starting very soon.
Updates on our remaining time in Japan will be posted every week or so.
WE love and miss you all very much.