Sunday, September 9, 2012
Sept Update
Update from the Van Farowes
The fall term has begun in Japan and we are all very busy. Over the summer the Children’s Rescue Mission, that runs an after school program we cooperate with, had a successful program. 40 elementary age kids participated in the summer day care program. We are thankful to have a small part in this work and for all the work being done.
In October we will be in Guam. Kazumi and the kids will be there for 3 weeks and I will be there for 10 days. We will be networking with a small Christian school in the Accelerated Christian Education network. Discussions are in place about starting a one classroom school from next spring. If it moves forward we will begin advertising and keep regular school hours following the coming winter break. In November and December we need to set up a web presence and get people in place. In March, I am scheduled to go through the school supervisor training program.
In December a local church will hold a Christmas festival. It is encouraging to be able to invite children to a festival that is not centered around Santa but on the Savior. We hope to give tickets to the children who attend our English school. Last year the festival was attended by about 300 but we were not networked into it yet and only attended as a family. After the festival we talked with the Japanese pastor about a tie up and this winter we hope that several dozen people from our networks will come to the Jesus Christmas Festival. We hope to give 50+ tickets to our students each worth $5.00 in festival money for snacks and games. We will probably be there all day manning a booth too.
God continues to bless us. We are in a season in which Japanese leaders and pastors are discipling and we are functioning as gatherers. At times I am frustrated with the lack of depth that comes with the roll. Weekly Kazumi and I interact with over 500 different kids and adults. We end up being a broadly cast net and then the Japanese Christians and Japanese Christian organizations can function freely or be introduced in the networks that form.
Please keep us in your prayers and thank you for your support.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Spring Vacation
Kazumi and the children have been in Tokyo for 5 days this spring break. Kazumi is attending the school administrators conference for Accelerated Christian Education. Bianca and Cherry are staying with Kazumi's uncle and mother who currently live in Tokyo. Down here toward Nagoya, I have been covering the last few days of classes at the English school in our house. I think I taught 8 classes yesterday. Until about 3 a.m. in the morning I was moving school supplies and furniture out of our school space into our living space. Next week the school area will be remodeled with new wall board and wall paper along with wall paper on the ceiling. The room is currently very dark and has a mortar based wall common in Japanese homes 30 years ago. Our house in about 40 years old.
Well when the kids get bored in our classes, some boys will take out their school compass with the needle on it and pick holes in the mortar based wall. Students in Japan carry compasses for math class from elementary 3rd grade or so. One class last year, I became angry with a young boy about elementary school 4th grade and took his compass away. I told him I would give it back to him after class. He began to weep uncontrollably, he loved his compass so much. He sat through the whole class weeping and I was not going to reward his crying by giving it back until when I said I would.
Well this boy is an incredible student and I enjoy teaching him. He is rather strong willed and has a personality similar to my own. With boundaries and structure he excells. However with boundaries and structure he also does not get to do what he pleases. As I have cleaned the room and look at the small holes in the wall about to get replaced, I am reminded of how much God has been with us. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is Pslam 84:11. "The Lord God is a sun and sheild. He bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is upright." More so than new wall paper or wall board, God has blessed us with young boys who pick at mortar walls with school compasses.
Well when the kids get bored in our classes, some boys will take out their school compass with the needle on it and pick holes in the mortar based wall. Students in Japan carry compasses for math class from elementary 3rd grade or so. One class last year, I became angry with a young boy about elementary school 4th grade and took his compass away. I told him I would give it back to him after class. He began to weep uncontrollably, he loved his compass so much. He sat through the whole class weeping and I was not going to reward his crying by giving it back until when I said I would.
Well this boy is an incredible student and I enjoy teaching him. He is rather strong willed and has a personality similar to my own. With boundaries and structure he excells. However with boundaries and structure he also does not get to do what he pleases. As I have cleaned the room and look at the small holes in the wall about to get replaced, I am reminded of how much God has been with us. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is Pslam 84:11. "The Lord God is a sun and sheild. He bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is upright." More so than new wall paper or wall board, God has blessed us with young boys who pick at mortar walls with school compasses.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Looking Ahead to April
This April we will be in need of prayer. There are a lot of changes in our daily routine. With the lose of a fulltime teacher (to a new teaching job at her home church) Kazumi and I will be on our own. It will be too much for us to handle without a lot of grace. Our English school is still quite large, Bianca at two is more demanding, Cherry will be home schooled from April, and I (John) always have some new idea to work on.
We will be cooperating with a new ministry. I was orginally going to start a new outreach center, and talked to Kazumi's uncle about using a store front building in front of the station. We painted the walls and cleaned it up when my mother was here last September to open this spring. However we just could not find someone to replace the teacher we were losing and I was not going to have enough time to make a go of it.
As we were getting the new location ready I was networking with the only other pastor in Mizunami (a town of 45,000). Pastor Inoguchi's church has an after school ministry that opened about two years ago. They have worked really hard but it has been a struggle for them. Last year's enrollment was at about the break even level. So we worked out an agreement of cooperation; involving us using a room as an office/homeschool resource center and providing 30 English lessons to their after school program a year. Pre-enrollment has finished, and they have full enrollment at 25 students during the school year and 40 over summer vacation. They do a great job at children's ministry and I thank God for being able to work with them this coming year.
Pastor Inoguchi told me that a new after school center had opened in the same area as the church and expected it to be a difficult year, but that God has blessed the work of our hands. God knows the plans he has for us and they are gracious.
We will be cooperating with a new ministry. I was orginally going to start a new outreach center, and talked to Kazumi's uncle about using a store front building in front of the station. We painted the walls and cleaned it up when my mother was here last September to open this spring. However we just could not find someone to replace the teacher we were losing and I was not going to have enough time to make a go of it.
As we were getting the new location ready I was networking with the only other pastor in Mizunami (a town of 45,000). Pastor Inoguchi's church has an after school ministry that opened about two years ago. They have worked really hard but it has been a struggle for them. Last year's enrollment was at about the break even level. So we worked out an agreement of cooperation; involving us using a room as an office/homeschool resource center and providing 30 English lessons to their after school program a year. Pre-enrollment has finished, and they have full enrollment at 25 students during the school year and 40 over summer vacation. They do a great job at children's ministry and I thank God for being able to work with them this coming year.
Pastor Inoguchi told me that a new after school center had opened in the same area as the church and expected it to be a difficult year, but that God has blessed the work of our hands. God knows the plans he has for us and they are gracious.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
It's January
A short update on us in January
We reached our support goal for the matching gift for the fall/winter of $7,000. We went beyond it by a few thousand. We are very thankful to God and His Church.
Our current teacher finalized her decision to return to her home in Nagano and work for a Christian school in her home church as of April. Of course we desired her to stay with us, but we recognize this as God's will.
Our new ministry activities from April have been put into writing with the local ministries we will be cooperating with. Our plans have changed as our situation has changed. Last summer we were moving in the direction of starting our own ministry center using Kazumi's uncle's building in front of the station. As we were preparing the building during my summer vacation to open the following spring, I was networking with the area pastors. Ongoing dicussions with pastor Yasu Inoguchi at Agape church led to a change of plans.
Agape rents a seperate building for their after school program and is going to allow us to use space in that building to start some of our new activities. In exchange we will participate in their after school program providing English lessons to gather new students. Last year the J-Space space after school program had 18 students in it. This year it is hoped that with Agape Church and ourselves working in cooperation, we can raise that number to 30+ in the future. The building Agape church uses for J-Space will also be the location where we set a homeschooling co-op during the day.
We are still looking to start a new international Christian worship service in the valley. Our ability to do that will hinge on our ability to find a part-time teacher to work at the English school in our home. Pray for God to open the doors to find people to work for us and for us to work with. We are thankful for the support we have from churches in America and for the hundreds of people we see and meet each week. We will continue to keep you posted as things develop.
We reached our support goal for the matching gift for the fall/winter of $7,000. We went beyond it by a few thousand. We are very thankful to God and His Church.
Our current teacher finalized her decision to return to her home in Nagano and work for a Christian school in her home church as of April. Of course we desired her to stay with us, but we recognize this as God's will.
Our new ministry activities from April have been put into writing with the local ministries we will be cooperating with. Our plans have changed as our situation has changed. Last summer we were moving in the direction of starting our own ministry center using Kazumi's uncle's building in front of the station. As we were preparing the building during my summer vacation to open the following spring, I was networking with the area pastors. Ongoing dicussions with pastor Yasu Inoguchi at Agape church led to a change of plans.
Agape rents a seperate building for their after school program and is going to allow us to use space in that building to start some of our new activities. In exchange we will participate in their after school program providing English lessons to gather new students. Last year the J-Space space after school program had 18 students in it. This year it is hoped that with Agape Church and ourselves working in cooperation, we can raise that number to 30+ in the future. The building Agape church uses for J-Space will also be the location where we set a homeschooling co-op during the day.
We are still looking to start a new international Christian worship service in the valley. Our ability to do that will hinge on our ability to find a part-time teacher to work at the English school in our home. Pray for God to open the doors to find people to work for us and for us to work with. We are thankful for the support we have from churches in America and for the hundreds of people we see and meet each week. We will continue to keep you posted as things develop.
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