THE MONTH OF OCTOBER
October was a long and busy month! Bible college was in full swing and I was teaching classes and taking classes as well. The beginning of the month I had to prepare for midterm tests that I was taking and even midterm tests that I had to make for my 1st-2nd Samuel class. One of my students had to leave suddenly during this month for a week due to a family member passing away. It was big news to her and she was flown out during class time, right in the middle of the semester. Please keep her and her family in your prayers! This semester has been interesting and reminded me the importance of pouring into the people around me. The Lord showed me that I need to pour my whole life on these students! With the Bible college students, there are so many different personalities and there can be friction but the Lord really reminded me to love them and pour into them— and to think about how Jesus lived His life. In Mark 10:45, it says not to be served but to serve others! Ministry here with the Bible college students is to simply live life with people and showing them how to live with a heart for the Lord! Interaction and love is key with Jesus and that is what I am trying to do this semester! In the later half of October, the church put on a Missions Conference (“KOINONIA CONFERENCE”) celebrating 15 years of the Church and many missionaries sent out from this place. Man, it was a blessing getting to see all the missionaries sent out from here. Not only that, but it was a great opportunity to serve them and glean from them as they had so much wisdom about the Lord and just doing a work in Japan. At the end of this month the students left to go on their semester Mission’s Trip to Korea and I had the pleasure of stay back and serve here in Okinawa, to make sure that that everything was still up and running while the Pastor & the students were doing a work in Korea. THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER November was just as busy— the students came back from Korea. We continued the classes that I was teaching and I continued to take classes as well. I taught the books of Samuel, and that included grading, which was more work than anticipated! I continued my Friday night bible study. This month, for one time at my bible study, I decided to have a worship night at OCSI (Okinawa Christian School International), which is a private Christian International school 45 minutes away. We then celebrated Thanksgiving with our church family, with a potluck, and it was a small taste of home away from home. After the month of November, the semester was drawing to a close. THE MONTH OF DECEMBER The first part of December was all about wrapping up the classes I was taking and the classes I was teaching. With thankfulness in my heart, I am proud to say that all of my students did well in class, and I pray that they took a lot out of my class. We all celebrated, because two students, Micah and Andy, graduated the CCBC program and the celebration continued as we licensed new pastors. As the students started to leave, it was really bitter sweet. It was a relief because when the students are around, as teachers and mentors, you have to be ready and available to do anything. But I had been building a relationship with them and pouring my life and the Word of God into their lives so it was hard to see them leave. But I know that we will meet again, but if not here, then for sure in the air! I am a firm believer that God puts people into your life for you to pour into them and be encouraged by them, sharpening each other like iron. I am excited to see them again sooner or later. The week after class was over was a time of rest. But our days always start early as we continued to meet for breakfast and morning devotions together! And as always we have our different weekly services and my bible study continued to not only maintain but cultivate and grow. So as much as I would like to say I did nothing for my break, I am always busy with the Lord’s work! We also celebrated Christmas with the missionaries here and had a little party and spent time to just remember the Lord and how He has blessed us with each other! Although I would have loved to go home to visit my family and you guys in Houston, I am blessed being here with the body of Christ in Japan. Furthermore, I am blessed by simply loving & doing my best to bless my brothers and sisters that I serve with. On Christmas Day, we held a service with a special Christmas message geared for children and just continued to fellowship. And for New Years, we are having a New Years Eve service to fellowship and eat food together! In this next coming year, I will continue to serve the Lord with everything I am. I am excited for a new year with even more new adventures and new people to serve and pour into. God has inspired me to be excited in anticipation for new things on the horizon! I am confident that the Lord will do some fun things here in Japan and I am excited to see it all unfold! And I am excited to give you guys an account of the work being done here in Japan. Thank you as always for supporting me with prayer and even finances! Be blessed. -Jona
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This month was a busy one as it continued SOS (Summer of Service) starting with a missions trip to Kagoshima, which is on the island of Kyushu, which is the island where I was born! I was personally born in a city called Miyazaki which was just a few hours away from Kagoshima! But I did not go especially because I had a few traveling buddies with me that relied on me to stay, but next time I’ll go visit some family. Something fun that happened when we were there is we got stuck in another city because of severe rain fall. It was interesting and really took a lot of trusting in the Lord and just being flexible to how the Lord would lead. But once in Kagoshima we stayed with a Calvary pastor, Rob Wunderlich, and his family. We got to join him in ministry and really experience a different church in Japan. We had a cafe night where we shared testimonies and worshiped the Lord. We had many fellowship times and just really joined into his family there in Kagoshima. There were interns there that I had served alongside when I was in bible college so it was also good to see them again. All of them also took time to visit with us and take us around in Kagoshima showing us some history there. Kagoshima was actually the first port that Fransis Xavior visited on his trek to spread the gospel in Japan during the 1500’s. After this trip to Kagoshima there was one more week left of SOS and we finished off with some sad goodbyes as we saw our new found friends and family in Christ leave and go back home! But I know that God has ordained these people to come and see the work of the Lord in Japan and that one day we will cross paths again to encourage one another again if not here or there then for sure in the air!
The end of SOS marked and started a time of relief and rest as all this planning that I had done came to an end. Without any shadow of a doubt I can say the Lord got me through it all and man, God is good! But immediately after SOS had finished, I had another long journey ahead as I went off to America to see family and friends. So all in all it was a blessing to see all of you not only to be encouraged but also to encourage others to the call of the Lord! I got an opportunity to lead worship and even teach in the Youth in Calvary Houston and I got to talk to some youth and even encourage them to walk in a real relationship with the Lord. I even got to talk with some people about Japan and show them the need to share Christ! As my time wrapped up in Houston I then went off to Atlanta to visit Melisa’s family and it was all in all a great time of fellowship as we visited a few different parts of the USA. All in all thank you again for all of your support and please continue to pray for me as I continue forward in what the Lord is calling me to do here in Japan. Coming back to Okinawa was a good time and really reminded me that I really needed that break to come back to America and just see another perspective in another country and now am ready to do even more for the Lord and am excited now for the next semester that will be starting in the beginning of September. I get an opportunity to teach 1st and 2nd Samuel and so far studying and reading other resources it has been fun just preparing for the semester at hand! Please pray for my students as well although I do not know who will be taking my class quite yet but pray that the class would benefit them on their walk with the Lord and that it would be understandable and even challenge them in their faith. I also am continuing to study pastoral ministry and am starting a bible study! Pray for me as I walk through new territory and a new ministry! I’ve never started a Bible study from nothing before so pray that it would be a fruitful time as I also have to figure out where to go and what the Lord wills for this bible study to become. The Month of June was as lively as ever! Starting right off with my birthday!! It was a blessing especially as Melisa came by in the morning to pick me up and she took me on a day trip around Okinawa! It was just what I needed as it was a little break from the regular life at the church and also just a fun time! The month continued to roll by as I had a couple of weeks to prepare for the upcoming SOS (Summer of Service) which is a summer program we host here in Calvary Ginowan for those who desire to serve in Japan for a month! But those couple weeks blew by while we were just doing regular ministry here in the church! The music school I was working at closed so I had my last day of work there and just said my good byes to the owner who is a Christian on island! I just told him to be blessed and just asked him to continue to pray for me and the different ministries that I am apart of.
As SOS rolled in it was a blessing to meet the two ladies Malaika and Yael. Malaika is from London and I did ask if she knew the Medrano’s but she did not. Yael is actually from Hawaii and her dad is Bud Stonebraker who is a Calvary Pastor in Hawaii. Malaika came in first and actually on her first day here we were throwing a party for Pastor Tom here and so she met everyone immediately but it was fun because we are were on the beach. Then the next day was our Sunday morning service so she got to see how things would be. And that Sunday night Yael came in and by Monday orientation our Summer of Service kids were all here and we were ready to rumble. The first week is really a week of adjusting for the students as they have to jump into our schedule with 9:00am breakfast, 9:30am devotions, 10:30am classes, 12:30pm lunch, 1:30pm cleaning, 3:00pm Haisai daycare help, 5:00pm dinner, 6:30pm nighttime actives, home by 9:30pm and it all starts over again! This year I was in charge so I decided to do some interesting classes including Missions, Children’s Ministry, Worship, Japanese and a new class Multimedia in Missions. These classes are just to help them stand up while doing ministry here but also be able to take it home to their home churches and really serve wherever they go. Now this new multimedia in missions is new and fun talking about how to use multimedia including social media to better serve the church and ultimately Jesus! As you may know with the team here in CCBC Japan we put stuff out on Youtube and Instagram a lot. This is not just because we enjoy it but because we desire to reach out to the next generation especially here in Japan. So we shared our vision and just little bit of insight on how to make good content and really send them off to run our social medias. It is super fun and one of our interns here Anna has done a lot of research on how to utilize social media especially for advertisement and she has a lot of knowledge in this area now. Two weeks into the program the students are thriving and just growing alot! The Worship class that I was teaching has now converted into a How to Study Your Bible class which has been great! It’s fun to see a need and just change a class because I know God desires these ladies to read His Word and just fall deeper in love with Him. Being in charge of SOS has been pretty fun but challenging for sure! Balancing life, ministry and these SOS students is not as easy as I anticipated but its all apart of the growth that God has for me! I am excited for the month of July as I take the students to Kagoshima! And also return to the states for a few weeks as well! God is good guys!! He truly deserve all honor and praise especially last month
and this past month! He provided exactly what I needed for the month of April and the beginning part of May through your guy’s hands as I took the students to Tokyo and we did some ministry up there! Honestly I didn’t really press a need for financial help for the Tokyo trip but regardless of that the Lord really did a work and I was able to go to Tokyo without worrying about where my next meal was coming from. But even more than that I really want to thank the Lord for allowing me to serve Him here in Japan and giving me vision to do His work here. In the month of May we finished up the CCBC Japan Spring semester and it was just awesome!! As I told you last month it was busy! April ended with pastors coming, Easter service, Block Classes, running a Worship Conference, and Cameron Dorsey coming. Then May began right away with the Japan conference. I had been telling the students about the May Japan conference since the beginning of the semester and I wasn’t sure if everyone was coming but God made it happen and everyone came! Cameron (from CCH), Jacob (student), Dan (student), Megan (student) and I got to the airport at 11:30pm and had to wait outside for the airport to open at 1:00am. Our flight was at 2:30am and we were dead tired. I don’t even remember the flight because I just slept hard. To acquire cheap tickets on this major Japanese holiday we had to book some weird flights and so we were on the first flight out from Okinawa to Tokyo. We got in at 4:30 am and we just found some couches to take a few hours worth of naps to catch up on some much needed sleep. Hiromichi (intern), Rin (intern), Masaki (student) & Keegan (student) were on a flight at 10:30 am so they were getting in little later. Pearl (student) which was the last student would fly out at 1:00pm and would meet up with us later. So we all got there at different times and started off the trip with little bit of site seeing because we had nothing else to do that day except go to the place we were staying. We went around to Harajuku and checked out the place and decided to go to Tokyo Station and eat food together. We then headed to Fuchu where we stayed with Pastor Rich, pastor of Calvary Chapel Fuchu. The Ladies stayed at the church as the guys stayed at a school that Pastor Rich runs down the street. We got our things together and headed off to Onsen which is a Japanese Hot Spring. It is a cultural experience which should not be missed if you ever go to Japan. Although there are a few edict things you have to be mindful of but it is well worth going! Some of the students did not want to go in which is fine but all of us that did were glad we did especially after a long day of travel. Afterwards Pastor Rich graciously picked us up and dropped us off at the church where we staying and we ended the night there. May the 2nd started off the conference and so we hurried off to the train station and headed to the conference center. For those who do not know Japan has an amazing train system that allows you to travel basically anywhere in and around Tokyo. It can be confusing if you are not paying attention but we had gone a few times in the past so we were used to going around by train. Plus we had a few Native Japanese speakers with us so that makes things a little easier as well. As we got to the Conference center it was a blast! Just saying hello to old friends and helping them as they got ready for the conference. We even had a guest speaker from America his name was Pastor Dan(OR DAVID GOTTA CHECK) Frinfrock who is a famous Pastor who made IBS famous and teaches it all over the world. It was a blessing getting to see Pastor Chizuo (Pastor of Calvary Chapel Kokubunji) who Pastor Ron from Calvary Chapel Houston knows. Since Cameron was with me as well it was fun to see him as he interacted with some people he got to see when he and some other young people from Calvary Houston came out to do relief efforts back in 2011. I on the other hand was not able to go back in 2011 because I was too young to go. But reguardless it was fun to reunite with everyone, help out and jump right into the conference. We then went out to lunch with some people that had come out for SOS (Summer of Service) a few years back. Afterwards we finished up the day and went back to Calvary Fuchu and went to bed early to prepare to come back the next day. May the 3rd we jumped back on the train in the morning and headed to the conference center. This year there were no workshops but instead there were more teachings. We went to lunch with some people from a Calvary in Osaka and we ate Ramen as we talked about the next generation of Japan and the fact that we have to raise them up in Jesus. We had some great conversations and again it is always fun every year to go and just reunite and really talk about all the things God is doing in our ministries. The conference wrapped up and we headed back to Calvary Fuchu and helped out at a barbecue that Calvary Fuchu was putting on for the Conference. Pastor Rich is awesome for creating a space where we can continue to fellowship and just love one another as the family of Christ, especially as some of the people who came for the conference come from far away, or at least different part of Japan. May the 4th was a free day to just go and hang out so we did exactly that. We went to check out different parts of Tokyo including Asakusa which is a pretty famous temple in Japan. I gave Cameron & the students an explanation on everything that was happening at the temple and told them these are the people that we are praying for as we minister in Japan. We pray for the people who have been deceived by the devil to pray and even sacrifice money to false gods for their own fortune and false hope. We then went to Shinjuku station because one of the students really wanted to go to see the huge Godzilla statue that was on a roof of a hotel. After all that we went back to Calvary Fuchu to attend their worship night and worshipped with the people there. We got opportunities to just worship Jesus as a family and fellowship afterwards. May the 5th was a Sunday and so we headed off really early in the morning to Ome which was one of the furthest stations away on the Tokyo train line. We hung out with Pastor Tom Cotton who is actually a graduate of CCBC Japan and was an intern there for a long time. He showed us the church and just the ministry that was happening there and it was very similar to the way we run Calvary Ginowan. All in all it was a great time to just minister to them as we played worship & taught the Word that morning. I lead worship with Rin as a vocal backup and Hiromichi on the Cajon. Hiromichi taught the word and I translated for him in English. All in all it was a blessed morning. Pastor Tom Cotton also ran a English cafe ministry on Sundays and allows random people to come in and practice English so we had the students hang out and talk with people. We also had an evening service & I did a short devotion as we jumped into a time of prayer. Pastor Tom from Calvary Ginowan also came by and hung out at that time. We ended the day with fellowship as Pastor Tom Cotton took us to his house and fed us. His wife Chika and baby boy Jesse were there as well just hanging out and it was a blessing to just fellowship with another part of the family of Christ. Dan, Megan, Cameron and I after that went to Fuchu and we immediately left to go to the airport because we were staying the night there. We found some lovely benches to take a few hours nap and got on the plane at 6am to fly back out to Okinawa. What was fun about the 6th of May which is the day we got back is that I had work! And so after we got picked up we went back to the dorm, took a little nap, sent Cameron off to the Cafe, and went off to work. Needless to day that day was tiring. But it was great fun as I get to teach children on the military base music! I ended this day, which was the last day for Cameron to be on island, hanging out with him, Jacob (a student) and Melisa who wanted to hang out as well!! That ended my week of grand adventure and fellowship in Tokyo. It also ended my two week fun time with Cameron after two conferences and showing him around. The next day a Tuesday I took Cameron to the airport and we parted ways. It was a blessing to just be able to hang out with him and show him all the awesome things that God has been doing here in Japan and in my life. But the week wasn’t over! As Wednesday rolled around we had graduation for a couple of our students: Keegan and Dan, who have been here for a couple semester! Please pray for them as they continue in the plans of the Lord! Also pray specifically for Keegan as he is staying here for the time being as a missionary. With this week ending it also ended the last week of the semester and we started to say good by to some of the students. But as a last hoorah I planned some time on Saturday to go island hopping and so I took some of the students, some interns and Melisa to Kudaka island which is off of east side of Okinawa. It was a fun relaxing time where we got to just hang out on the beach and just relax after a busy busy semester. This semester really taught me a lot especially as this was probably the most busy I had been in my whole life. And I’m sure this is not the end of my busyness. I learned a lot about trusting in the Lord not only in the big things but also in the little things as I was doing homework and trying to make time to do different things in my ministry and even in my own personal life. Trusting in the Lord is a life long lesson I will continue to learn but I am so glad that the Lord is always faithful. After the semester the business kind of subsided which was great because honestly it was just a non stop roller-coaster ride. But I took some time to just prepare for the next steps. I am leading a 4 week summer program called SOS (which stands for “Summer of Service”) and it is a program that really shows how ministry is run here in Calvary Ginowan and also different parts of Japan. I am planning to go to different parts of the island and even minister with a few smaller churches a few hours away from us. Within the program we will be going to Kagoshima city which is in Kyushu the second biggest island in Japan and actually where I was born (in the city of Miyazaki). We will be assisting Pastor Rob and doing ministry out there for a few days and just be willing to be moved by the Spirit and be flexible and do different things. I am also trying to do a few different things for work as well as trying to just set myself up little bit better! My job at the music school will be ending before SOS begins this summer. All in all the month of May has been exciting and I am excited for the month of June as it starts the SOS program! We have two students officially and so please pray for Malika & Yael. Pray that they would really be strengthened in the Lord here and learn to love Him more. Not only that but to learn to love people across culture and realize that Jesus transcends culture! Pray for vision for me as I lead and just flexibility as well as a leader! Lastly continue to scroll for some pictures. Make sure you check out the About section for some prayer needs and to support me financially! Your prayer and financial support is a blessing and helps me continue forward! Be blessed, -Jona This month was crazy just preparing and getting ready for various things that were going to happen. It started with spring break at least for the regular schools but for CCBC, since it is only a four month semester it just continued on as normal. I wish I could say that I was on break but instead spring break was spring teaching week for me. I had a week of doing a teaching for Sunday, Short Devotions, teaching on Wednesday, and still doing regular classes and prepping for my own classes. It was definitely a growing week but the Lord really brought me through it. It was really awesome and I know I grew in my teaching abilities.
This all lead into Passion week which is the last week of Jesus life on earth. We didn’t do anything special all week but my Life of Christ class ended up being perfect as I taught on the first few days of Passion week. It was a blessing getting to study on the Triumphal Entry. We started the weekend with a Good Friday service and it was a blessing just getting to worship with the family of Christ. Hiromichi and I led worship for Easter and that was a blessing. For service we decided to have a family breakfast instead of first service and then just hold one service for Easter. Afterwards we all drove to a fairly local beach and we held a baptism, a time of fellowship, and worship all on the beach. Then Pastor Mike came in from Korea and we started our two week block class for Pastoral Ministry. We had to watch some videos on how Chuck Smith did various things like weddings, memorial services, baby dedications, baptisms, and communion services. On top of that we had to read some of “Lectures to my Students” by Spurgeon and write different papers. Needless to say it was real busy but it was a fun class as we got to discuss the in’s and out’s of Pastoral ministry especially how Pastor Mike runs things in his church. While that was happening Cameron Dorsey from Calvary Houston decided to show up for a couple weeks. I felt bad because he came in a really busy part of my semester. Especially because we were getting ready for the Next Generation Worship Conference that was the weekend after the block classes with Pastor Mike. The Next Generation Worship Conference was such a blessing. We were able to ask people from different Calvary’s and just have them come out, fellowship, and worship Jesus with us. We had a kid from Tokyo come out and it was just a great time of worship. We were able to forge or reforge some relationships with some Calvary’s on island and asked some different people to lead worship for us. My vision for the conference was to really ignite a passion with the young people in our area and just be able to worship Jesus together. We had 3 sessions, 3 workshops and 2 nights of worship. Some of the workshops we held were Sound Master Classes, Multimedia for Ministry, Nashville Number System, Worship Set building, Sharing Your Testimony, and Worship Through Service. There was a lot of practical worship workshops and even some general ones so that everyone could join us. The two Worship nights that we held in the conference ended up being super powerful not because of anything we did but because of the powerful God we serve. The funnies part was that Cameron Dorsey got to join us and he taught a lot and really helped us through the conference. It was a blessing to get to serve along side my brother once more and it was a blast.Truly the Lord was doing a good work and it was a blessing to be apart of it. After conference everyone was exhausted but we were all just glad that we could fellowship with one another and encourage and exhort one another. That moves us into the last few days for me where we had our CCBC end of semester banquet which Cameron got to be apart of. We ate a ridiculous amount and just got to fellowship and just reminisce on the past semester. God then gave me a day off on Tuesday so I could take Cameron to the Aquarium up north and just hang out and show Cameron the island and ended the day with meeting up with Melisa. After a long and exhausting day we got home packed our bags and left for the airport as we go now to the Japan Conference in Tokyo. I’m excited as I bring not only the students to Tokyo but I get to bring Cameron with me and just encourage and be encouraged by the body of Christ. Please pray for the conference that God would move and do a good work. That the fellowship would be sweet and that the students would get out of their shells and love those around them. Another thing to be looking out for is a program called SOS (Summer of Service) that I have been given the privilege to lead this year. This program is for young people to come out and minister in Japan for a month. So if you know any young people interested in this please send them to this website: http://www.ccbcjapan.com/apply-now.html The Bible College semester is going strong and the students are still doing very well. Not to mention my studies have continued on as well. I mentioned last month that I was taking a few classes. We have officially finished the first two block classes: the book of Acts and Biblical Counseling. In my own human thinking, especially during the classes, I thought that I would be a little more free in March, and honestly I was looking forward to it. I imagined the yoke would get lighter and I could almost taste the freedom at the end of February but to put it bluntly, I was wrong. Honestly this is not a complaint though because God knows and He is truly good! As my time started to be freed up He gave me some vision on some things. My efforts have shifted into other things including a conference I am planning called “The Next Generation Worship Conference”, trying to spend some more time with the students, and also really dig deep into The Word of God as I study for my “Life of Christ” class.
In my “Life of Christ” class we are just past halfway and my students have now taken their Mid-Term Test. This was the first time that I had put together a test of this caliber. I have put together a few quizzes and little essay tests here and there but because of all the studying that I had done and all the notes my students are supposed to be taking I felt it appropriate to make a pretty academic test! With a little help from the other seasoned teachers on campus and even Melisa, I put together a test and I am pretty satisfied with it. All in all my students did very well and I am excited to see them learn more and really dig deep into the Word and see Jesus clearly. Please continue to pray for them too (their names are Jacob, Masaki, Dan, Megan and Pearl). Pray that they would fall in love with Jesus and studying the Word of God. I have also taken up Conference planning and that has just been a blast. I am blessed to be here in a place where growth is not only welcomed but cultivated! I am treading new waters and it has been a little intimidating but there are people here who are more than willing to help me on my quest. As you may or may not know Worship is one of many things I am passionate about and I hope you are as well. One aspect of Worship that I am specifically passionate about is leading worship. That is because I have been Worship Leading for quiet a few years outside of Japan and have continued leading here as well. So wherever I go especially if I know the people pretty well I do my best to pour out any sort of points from my experiences of Worship leading. So that has not changed here in Calvary Chapel Ginowan. There are actually a large number of worship leaders here and so I have been focusing my efforts for the past year to truly bringing them up to be able to use their gifting to glorify our King with the best of their ability. This is the inspiration of the Conference that we are hosting here. My desire is to really raise the next generation to worship Jesus even more and equip them for the different things they may face here in Japan. The conference is called “The Next Generation Worship Conference” and it will be from April 27- April 28th. Another blessing is that Cameron Dorsey from Calvary Houston one of my good friends is coming out to assist me! He will be coming out for a few weeks to see the ministry here and talk about up coming missions trips with the Youth in Houston and bringing them out here to Japan. With the timing I have asked him to teach a few sessions for the Worship Conference and teach a work shop on Sound Production. This next month will be pretty busy because I will be bring the students, Cameron and a couple other interns to Tokyo to the Tokyo Conference where all of the Japanese Calvary’s come together to fellowship, worship together, and receive the Word. Please pray for that as well. Another thing to be looking out for is a program called SOS (Summer of Service) that I have been given the privilege to lead this year. This program is for young people to come out and minister in Japan for a month. So if you know any young people interested in this please send them to this website: http://www.ccbcjapan.com/apply-now.html This month was a whirlwind!!
As you guys know last month I took a few weeks to go to different parts of Japan to do a little “Mission’s Trip”. Coming back was interesting just trying to prepare for the semester ahead. During all of that my sister came into town to check out the ministry here and really to have a time of rest as she finished College and will be starting her nursing career. It was nice for her to come out and really see the work that God has been doing here in Japan. She got to witness Japanese ministry first hand and got to see what I have been doing for the last few years. It was nice for her to meet all the people that are in my life and even minister and be ministered to by the body of Christ here. While she was here the school semester started for CCBC Japan (Calvary Bible College Japan). I was asked and now get the privilege to teach “The Life of Christ” going through all four gospels and truly teaching the whole life of Christ. I have personally never taught through all four gospels so getting the class together has been a blast! Over all the process has been very busy because teaching the class is only a small portion of what I do. Prepping for a 2 hour class is not something you can do in a matter of minutes. It takes planning and time to get those 2 hours to be of any worth. But I have a great group of students this semester and they have truly been blessing me with their attitude towards school and life. And then on top of class prep and class I have been taking some classes of my own to further my study through the Word. I’ve been taking some pastoral classes including Acts, Pastoral Missions, Pastoral Counseling, Worship leading and Biblical Preaching. So I’m taking on a few classes with a full load of homework with my own class preparations and class to teach. Needless to say I am busy! But I have seen God’s hand in it all. As I faithfully step forward God provides me with time to finish things that I need to do. I say all this to say please pray for me! But more importantly pray for the students in my class Jacob, Dan, Megan and Pearl. Pray that they come closer to the Lord through the study of the Word and truly that they would be able to understand my class and that studying the life of Christ would minister to them. Here are some things to keep your eye out for in the next coming months as I continue to inform you. I am excited for my good friend Cameron Dorsey to come out and visit in April!! He will be doing a bunch of ministry things with me including helping teach and lead some workshops for a Worship conference for the next generation at the end of April! Also this summer I am in charge of a program called SOS (Summer of Service). This program is for young people to come out and minister in Japan for a month. So if you know any young people interested in this please send them to this website: http://www.ccbcjapan.com/apply-now.html An Update from the Month of January:
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JONA BETSUMIYA FLORESJAPAN MISSIONS Archives
December 2019
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