WorldVenture Community

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 9 22 2008

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:54:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings! I have an update for your times of intercession. CELEBRATION OF HOPE Please pray for our Wheelchairs of Hope celebration today. The event is 9/23 from 2 pm Japan time, but in the middle of the night tonight our time in the U.S. It celebrates our new NPO Japan status, and will attempt to recruit more partners to assist in this expanding ministry. Pray for Mary Esther Penner and the board as they prepare and lead this meeting. Wheelchairs of Hope is gathering 100 chairs to send to an Asian country devastated by an earthquake. So far we have nearly 50. Pray for a container. MISSION NIGHT Next Sunday evening, 9/28, will be the first of our monthly missions fellowships at Gedney Hall, a living and learning intentional community focused on missions, here at Gordon College. I will be sharing, students will lead music and prepare ethnic food. We are also preparing a house missions trip to Neighborhood Christian Center in Memphis, Tennessee next March. FAMILY We are are settling into life in New England. Our house is one of students! Everyone but John is in school, and he will be hitting the books from the spring. Pray for health and stamina for Yutaka and Jasmine as they study in new areas for them—education. Jasmine has decided to go back to school at Salem St. to study early-childhood education. TRIP TO JAPAN Please pray for John as he prepares for his trip to Japan 10/11-27. He will visit three churches in California going and coming, visit our field missionaries, lead the Day of Business and facilitate a missions team from Lakeside Church, Folsom, CA. Thanks for your partnership! John and Eriko Support needed: $290/month John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 11 3 2008

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:52:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings from chilly, Boston! I am now back in the US after a very busy trip to Japan and the west coast. CHURCH VISITS I was very encouraged by visits to California churches, Bay Hills Community, Journey of Faith, Manhattan Beach and First Baptist of Hawthorne. Reconnecting with my seminary professor Dr. Glen Scillian, meeting with faithful prayer warriors and a young lady interested in missions, were all great highlights. TRIP TO JAPAN I was in Japan from 10/14 to 10/25. It was a great time of connecting with many, many people. I was able to meet with all of our long term and mid-term missionaries on the field. We had a fruitful Day of Business as well. I met with key Japanese church leaders and had meetings at Saikyo Hope and Denen Grace. Pastor Jeff Kreiser and Asian Go Team leaders Chris and Susan Mentink, visited Japan for a week while I was there. They hosted five Japanese pastors in 2007, and were able to visit those churches during this trip. Please pray for Greg and Asa Swenson, an appointee couple for Japan, that their support would come in soon, and for comfort for Asa as her mother recently went to be with the Lord. Pray that Leadership Team members Terry Kleinjan, Ken Taylor, Paul Sadler, Kevin Laverman and Mary Esther Penner would have the wisdom and energy to lead the field in our absence. Pray too, for a Japanese pastor for Denen Grace Chapel. GORDON MINISTRY This Wednesday, 11/5 we will have an informational meeting for our March Missions Trip to Memphis Tenn.. Carlos Webster from Neighborhood Christian Center, will be speak. Pray that students would be encouraged to participate in the trip. We just finished a missions conference at Gordon, and there are a number of students interested in summer missions with WorldVenture. ERIKO AND THE KIDS Pray for Eriko as she balances study and family responsibilities, especially when I am away. Prayer requests for the kids: For Yutaka as he gets his drivers license and prepares for his teaching practicum from January. for Jasmine as she takes the GRE tomorrow, then the MTEL later in the month for entrance to the master’s program at Salem State. For Christine, as she balances music lessons with her studies. For Jeweliann as she attends a local high school and that she too could balance her time with studies and music pursuits. She performed recently in a concert at Gordon with the orchestra. Please check out our latest updates on our photo web site: web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan Look at Beginnings at Gordon and also October. Thanks for praying! John and Eriko John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 11 29 2008

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:49:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings from cold and beautiful, Boston! I trust that you all had a great Thanksgiving! Eriko cooked and served a 26-pound turkey with all the trimmings to 20 students 11/15, then had Korean food on Thanksgiving Day for our family. In the afternoon, we helped a while at Our Brother’s Table in Lynn. We went into Boston yesterday and had a nice day together. In these difficult financial times, your faithful prayer and financial support mean very much to us. God is able! Please send us your prayer requests too, so that we can intercede for you. KEY MEETING IN JAPAN Please pray for a key meeting in Japan December 1-2. Actually if you could pray Sunday night your time that would be Monday morning in Japan. This is the third Resourcing Conference that I helped launch three years ago, bringing our church association, camp, seminary, missionary sending agency (Japanese) and Japan Baptist Fellowship leaders together. Key issues include new strategy, religious incorporation and restructuring for the church association. CHURCH VISITS It was a great blessing to be with God’s people at Pollock Pines Community Church last weekend. It was a quick trip but one with many connections. My next trip is 12/27-1/12. I will be at FBC, Tracy, CA; FBC, Sun City, CA; and FBC, Oceanside, CA. I will be visiting other churches in the area during the week as well. After that, I head back to California 1/31-2/9. JAPANESE PASTORS TOUR 2/2-9, 2009 Yes, we will have a group of six from Japan, four pastors one spouse and a deacon visit US churches in February. They will Be hosted by Lakeside Church, Folsom, CA and will also visit Bay Area CBA churches. Please pray for preparations. I will be leading this with pastor Sakamoto. GORDON MINISTRY The ministry meeting for the missions trip went well earlier this month. As a result, we have 13-14 students signed up. There will also be four from our family who will attend. The trip is during spring break, 3/7-15, 2009 to Neighborhood Christian Center in Memphis Tenn. Thank you for your continued prayers for this trip. It looks like two students from Gordon will be serving with WorldVenture for the summer in Japan and Lithuania. I have enjoyed coaching and encouraging students as well. ERIKO AND THE KIDS Thank you for praying for Jasmine. She finished her tests and is now awaiting the results and acceptance at Salem State into their master’s program. Continue to pray for Eriko as she balances study and family responsibilities, especially when I am away. Continued prayer requests for the kids: For Yutaka as he gets his drivers license and prepares for his teaching practicum from January. For Christine, as she too gets her license and balances music lessons with her studies. For Jeweliann as she attends a local high school and that she too could balance her time with studies and music pursuits. She and Christine performed (violin and voice) recently in a wonderful Thanksgiving worship service with a trio from Gordon. Please check out our updates on our photo web site: web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan Thanks for praying! John and Eriko John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 6 16 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:24:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings from cool Wenham! We are doing well. FAMILY NEWS We have three items—one praise and two prayer requests for you. First, the praise. Jasmine found out yesterday that she has been accepted into Salem State College for their master’s degree program in early childhood education. It will be a lot of work for her, but she is very excited. Please pray for our family as a decision will be made this week related to the nature of our work this next year. I will give you the details once a decision has been made. Also, please pray for Yutaka, he should hear this week about an elementary/junior high art teaching job from the fall at a magnet international school in Baltimore. HALLELJUAH GOSPEL FAMILY MASS CONCERT June 20th, fellow missionaries Ken and Bola Taylor will lead this wonderful event. Ray Sidney along with Gregory and Ruth Hooper from supporting church, Sunrise Church of Rialto, California, will be the headliners for this mass concert featuring upwards of 300 members in a mass combined Japanese choir. It will be held in Kodaira, Tokyo. Praise for voices to hold out through many workshops this week and the concert, for responsiveness to the Holy Spirit and for people to be impacted by the gospel. TRAVELS We had a great time in California, seeing my dad, and having sushi for our 28th wedding anniversary at Mikuni Restaurant in Roseville. I am attaching a picture of my dad and Eriko on a hike we took near his home. Later I was able to connect with many supporters and friends, navigating 1600 miles in northern and central California. It is exciting to meet people passionate about missions. As a result of the trip, one licensed counselor and a worship team may come to Japan short term. This month I will be at CrossPointe Community Church in Redding 6/28. An added blessing is that I will be sharing also with a Mien congregation there in Sunday School. I travel to Minnesota 7/11-18 for my first class at Bethel Seminary and then I head to Newport, Oregon to speak at First Baptist Church on 7/19. STUDY TIME Please remember Eriko in your prayers. She is taking three college intensive courses at North shore Community College and will be done at the end of the month. She is very busy. She will take a regular load from the fall. I am doing a lot of reading for my Bethel class, and later on in the summer I will be doing prep work for Bible studies and a coaching seminar for students from September. Enjoy your summer! In Christ, John and Eriko Networking people with missional opportunities Japan field leader, coach and student mentor at Gordon College John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 7 1 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:18:00 GMT

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS (please let me know if want to be removed from this list). Greetings from cool (50-60 degrees and wet) Boston and a warm welcome to those who are reading HH for the first time! We thank God for you, and your steadfastness in prayer. He is our salvation, our rock and our fortress! He is lovingly involved in each of our lives—within us and along side us. How has he answered your prayers? Read on to find out. ANSWERING We asked you to pray for two items about our family, and God has answered in a wonderful way. Eriko and I will be on family leave next year which means that we will be in the U.S. another year, returning to Japan in the summer of 2010. Our ministry will be the same as this year-- mentoring students in missions at Gordon College, visiting supporters, nurturing our kids and re-tooling via studies and mentoring! The other item was work for Yutaka. He has a promise of a job to develop art curriculum at a pre-school where he currently teaches and a possible job at a charter school in Baltimore that would like to hire him but they need to come up with a budget. Please pray. PRAISING Another great concert, according to reports. Over 300 in the choir. There were decisions for Christ. A regional concert with the Hoopers at Tsukuba Grace Chapel brought many new people out. Thanks for praying. Look at the web site for more information: http://www.hgfjapan.com/ SPEAKING I had a great time in Redding, CA, speaking at a Mienh Sunday School class and during the worship service at CrossPointe Community Church. Mienh people love the Lord, and they are rejoicing that they have the Bible in their native language. It was 108 degrees in Redding, but I found refreshment in the Lord and believers in the church. STUDYING Eriko has finished two of her three classes, and did very well. I am finishing up reading for my first class at Bethel Seminary starting 7/13 on Personal Well Being and Ministry Effectiveness. Please pray for our studies. Eriko will be nearly full time at school from the fall. SINGING Eriko leaves 7/18 for a nine-day choir tour to Dublin, Ireland. She is very excited to be singing in the church choir. SERVING Denen Grace Chapel has called pastor Izumi Kondo as its first pastor and he has accepted the call. I am attaching a prayer letter about he and his wife. Please pray for the church as it prepares for his coming in January in 2010. Have a great summer! In Christ alone, John and Eriko Networking people with missional opportunities Japan field leader, coach and student mentor at Gordon College Support needed: $380/month John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 4 29 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:16:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings! I (John) just returned from five days in the Northwest. Upon returning home to Wenham, MA, our cherry tree outside Gedney Hall, was in full bloom. Our hearts are often still in Japan, but God encourages us by his love. We were missing cherry blossom season in Japan, and now we can see them here! HILL VISA UPDATE Many of you have prayed for fellow missionary, Leon Hill. Over four years ago Leon was involved in a automobile accident, and has been on probation nearly three years. He recently received a three year period of stay extension and a multiple re-entry permit, which allows him to leave the country. He was not able to lead a missions trip last year as he could not leave the country. His probation ends in this September. The Hills are thankful for your prayers. SAIKYO HOPE Recent news from Pastor Hari states that the church has rented another storefront room on the first floor of their building, so that they occupy all three rooms. One room will be for worship, one for a fellowship area and another for an office. DENEN GRACE Continue to pray for the church as they vote on May 17th to call their first Japanese pastor. WHEELCHAIRS OF HOPE Recently Asahi Newspaper interviewed Mary Esther Penner at a cleaning day. WofH has been receiving a lot of good publicity. Pray for them as they finish up details on sending a container of wheelchairs to China. FAMILY UPDATE Yutaka is busy finishing up student teaching and applying for teach positions from the fall. Eriko is looking to start at North Shore Community College. Christine and Jeweliann are both busy with studies as well. John has started reading for a class at Bethel Seminary in July. GORDON UDPATE Please pray for Emily Boyer as she gets ready to leave for Japan for a month of ministry with WorldVenture mid-May. She will be working in a church in Fukushima Prefecture. I attach our most recent prayer letter. Blessings, John and Eriko Networking people with missional opportunities Japan field leader, coach and student mentor at Gordon College John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 5 19 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:13:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings! Just a couple quick updates and prayer requests. DENEN GRACE CHAPEL Last Sunday, Denen Grace Chapel voted unanimously to call its first Japanese pastor, Izumi Kondo, and his wife. They will start at the church in January, 2010. Please rejoice with the church and pray for them for this major undertaking. We have established a short-term special project to help the church for three years to support a pastor. If you would like to give a one time, or regular gift to this project, please send it to WorldVenture and designate your gift for: 6417-907 JAPAN-CHUR SUPP KAWASAKI (New Church Pastoral Support Fund; Kawasaki, Japan) WorldVenture 1501 W. Mineral Ave. Littleton, CO 80120 FAMILY NEWS Thanks for praying for Yutaka. His job interview went well, and he is waiting to hear back from the school in Baltimore. TRAVELS WITH JOHN AND ERIKO Please pray for us as we leave in the morning for the west coast. Eriko will join me for the first part of the trip. We will be at Church on the Hill this Sunday. Eriko returns to Boston on Monday and John continues to visit FBC, Los Altos; Grace Baptist Lemoore; Valley church, Goleta and Seaview Baptist, Pacifica. He returns 6/1. Thank you for faithfully praying for us! In Christ, John and Eriko Networking people with missional opportunities Japan field leader, coach and student mentor at Gordon College John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 5 11 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:11:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings! Students here at Gordon College are finishing up finals and getting ready to leave for home, summer mission trips and jobs. I have a couple of important prayer requests for you. DENEN GRACE Please remember to pray for the church this week. They vote to call their first Japanese pastor on Sunday. FAMILY UPDATE Pray for Yutaka as he heads to Baltimore on Wednesday where he has a job interview for an art teaching position the next day. GORDON UDPATE Please pray for short term missionary Emily Boyer as she travels to Japan on 5/20 and will serve there until 7/13. She will be working at FBC Fukushima with pastor Sato, one of the young pastors who visited the US two years ago and who was one of my coaching clients. Blessings, John and Eriko Networking people with missional opportunities

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 4 1 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:07:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings! It has been a great week. No foolin! MEMPHIS MOVIE Please check out a movie download of our trip to Memphis produced by Chris Wynn of our WorldVenture staff. Just tab he media section of our site. SAIKYO HOPE CHAPEL UPDATE Pastor Hari and seminary student Yasuhiro Ishida from Saikyo Hope Chapel, just returned from a missions trip to Peru. All reports are that it was an insightful and blessed trip. Please pray for Mr. Takahashi. He has had some health issues, but is better now. Pray that he would return to the Barnabas Kai Bible study and accept the Lord. The church recently had two baptisms. DENEN GRACE CHAPEL UPDATE Please pray for May 17th, as the church votes to call their first Japanese pastor. I will share more about this later. STUDY, STUDY, STUDY Jasmine is waiting to hear about graduate school for the fall, and John starts reading for his classes at Bethel Seminary this month. The classes are in July. He is working on a degree in Congregational and Family Care. Eriko hopes to continue her studies this summer. Yutaka is finishing up his student teaching, and is doing some substitute teaching as well as starting a Japanese language club on the campus of the middle school where he teaches. Christine performs in scenes from opera, this weekend. GORDON COLLEGE UPDATE John has two retreats this month, one for his staff from Friday, and another April 17-19 for student leaders for the 2009-2010 school year. Pray that they will be great times of investing in future leaders. John continues to mentor students, and enjoys it thoroughly! Please pray for Emily Boyer, a student here, who will be going to Japan for the summer as a short term worker with WorldVenture. Pray that she can raise all of her support. Thanks for your faithful prayers for us! Blessings, John and Eriko

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 3 2 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:06:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Greetings from snowy Wenham, MA! Yes we had about a foot of snow today. MISSIONS MINISTRY A good friend of ours in Japan, Akiko, was baptized on Valentine’s Day. This week she heads to the Philippines on a missions trip. She would appreciate your prayers for her as she visits Cebu with a team from her church. RESIDENT ADVISOR SELECTION We are in the process of selecting RA’s for next year. It has been an interesting process to be involved in, reviewing over 120 applications. Pray for the right people to be selected. MISSIONS TRIP TO MEMPHIS Yes, our trip is coming up soon! We leave this Saturday, March 7th. I will send the team off at Logan Airport, head to Fresno CA., where I will be sharing at Riverpark Bible Church and then rejoin the team on Monday, March 9th. Thirteen students from Gordon College, WorldVenture missionaries Jamie and Gayle Pund, Church Connections Director Dave Korb plus Eriko, Jeweliann and I will be involved. Pray that we would be a blessing to the staff and community of Neighborhood Christian Center and that we would be the hands and feet of Jesus. PASTOR UPDATE Denen Grace chapel is moving along in the process of calling a pastor. Please continue to pray as the church meets to discuss a candidate. SLIDE SHOW UPDATE Please look at our slide show of the Pastor’s Tour last month. web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan click Lakeside. Thanks for your prayers, John and Eriko John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 1 26 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:57:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS Warm greetings from cold New England! It is 5 degrees as I write this! We are doing well. I am attaching two documents, one a quick look at our ministry year, and the other statistics for the Japan field in 2008. Let me update you on prayer requests shared earlier this month. HOULETE FAMILY School is going well. Yutaka and Christine take their driving tests on Friday. Jasmine has settled into several part-time jobs for the time being. DENEN GRACE CHAPEL IMPORTANT MEETING 1/16 The meeting last week went well, and things continue to move on to the next level. JBF LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETING 1/19 We had an excellent meeting, and I lasted until 12:40 am! We made some good decisions. We meet again on 3/5. BABY BOOMER WORKSHOP 1/24 No word on this yet. MISSIONS NITE 1/25 We had a fun time last night, talking about cross-cultural issues and living overseas. PASTORS TOUR 2/2-9 All the details are coming together for this. I fly out of Boston this Saturday, 1/31. Please pray for strength for travel and meetings that I will be participating in over the weekend, prior to pastors arriving on 2/2. In Christ, John and Eriko Japan field leader, coach and missionary at Gedney Hall, an intentional community John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

HOULETTE HAPPENINGS 1 5 2009

Houlette — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:53:00 GMT

HOULETTEHAPPENINGS NEW YEARS GREETINGS TO EACH OF YOU! As I write this, I am in southern California and Eriko and the kids are in Boston. I am visiting churches on the west coast and my sisters and dad. I return to Boston 1/12. Let me share some prayer requests with you. HOULETTE FAMILY Christine starts a new semester at Gordon 1/14, and Yutaka starts his student teaching this week. Jeweliann started classes today. Pray for Jasmine, she is having job interviews this week. DENEN GRACE CHAPEL IMPORTANT MEETING 1/16 The church is preparing for national leadership in the future. There will be an important meeting on this day related to this. JBF LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETING 1/19 I will be participating in this Japan-based meeting via Skype video the evening of the 18th Boston time, for as long as I can stay awake! The field has some very important issues to discuss. BABY BOOMER WORKSHOP 1/24 Please remember Mr. Akiyama and Alex and Kathy Hoad, who are facilitating this. The Hoads are midterm missionaries serving with WorldVenture at the Christian Academy in Japan. Alex has been faithfully teaching the Bible study for the Barnabas Group since October. Pray for a good turnout and open hearts. MISSIONS NITE 1/25 This will be our kickoff meeting for Gedney Hall at Gordon College for the new semester. We will be meeting twice a month. Pray that the students would continue to have a heart for God and have a great semester as we build toward our missions trip to Memphis 3/7-15. Pray that students would be encouraged. PASTORS TOUR 2/2-9 We will have a group of six from Japan, four pastors, one of their wives and a deacon. They will visit Morgan Hill Bible Church, Westgate Church in San Jose, First Baptist Monterey and then have workshops at Lakeside Church, Folsom. Thank you for your prayers! In Christ, John and Eriko Japan field leader, coach and missionary at Gedney Hall, an intentional community John and Eriko Houlette 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 home: 978-867-4917 cell: 360-990-1199 email: john.houlette@gordon.edu houlette@worldventure.net web: http://web.mac.com/houlettesinjapan http://worldventure.com key word: Houlette

Snafus

The Penner Place — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:40:31 GMT

We planned on sending several wheelchairs to Mongolia on July 7. Yesterday the airline said they would not be able to accommodate the wheelchairs. Pray that they will take at least two wheelchairs as gratis excess baggage. A local civic leader there approached the church asking for two wheelchairs for two people who very much need them. We continue to wait for our friends in the large country next door to receive an import permit so we can send a container of wheelchairs to them....(read more)

94th Birthday

The Penner Place — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:35:25 GMT

Mary Esther went to Kansas City to join her father for his 94 th birthday. After what she saw there, she stopped by again on the way back to Japan to care for him and his affairs. About a week after she returned to Japan he was admitted to CCU with congestive heart failure. He is doing well now and we expect him to be discharged to rehab soon. Pray for those working with him there to assess well what his future care should be. Pray for us to be wise in making these decisions....(read more)

Good people, good food, good ministry

5 cup family — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:01:55 GMT

Here are a few quick pics from our recent MissionVenture team. We referred to them as our first Extreme Team since they were in 5 cities with 4 cross-country bus rides doing puppetry, painting a volleyball court, staying in Bolivian homes, working in 5 churches, all in just 10 days and had a blast doing [...]...(read more)

Getting settled in Pennsylvania but some problems.

janmreimer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:18:00 GMT

Yes that is right, we are no longer “on the road.” We are currently settled into a campground/Mobile home park in Bainbridge, PA. It has been paid for by some very generous and anonymous friends here in PA. The Christians here are so kind like that.

We left Lexington, Ky and drove through West Virginia, Maryland and entered PA on Wednesday of last week.We were headed for Elizabethtown, PA. This is Jan’s hometown from her growing up years and where we have our home supporting church as missionaries. We lived for 6 years here as a family as well. So we have a ton of friends and Jan’s family in the area.

We parked on the church parking lot for the weekend and on Tuesday we moved to this campground. Yesterday as we were trying to get settled into the campground we had some serious problems. This part of the campground is new and had recently been dug up. There was a lot of rock on top but as we were trying to get into place, Suddenly our house SUNK down to the axles only on the one side.

We tried digging out and boards under the tires but nothing helped as all the weight was on the one side only.

You can also see that we were very close to the electric, water and sewer hook ups as well as close to the neighbors.

I was more than glad to see the tow truck come and pull us out of this situation. Even one neighbor moved her laundry hook so the tow truck could pull us from that angle.

I was quite nervous about being in the awkward tilting position. I was praying but I still called my daughter Kara and told her to talk to me, so I had something else to think about. She did and that helped! THANKS KARA!!

Once we were out of the ditch it wasn’t too hard to get the house into the right position and into place. So now we are settled into our spot but are still trying to “settle in” with knowing our way around and finding things etc.

I just spent a few hours with my mom and her sister, my aunt. These two ladies both in their 80’s are amazingly active. they hang out together almost every day. So if I can’t catch my mom at home I often call Aunt Beatie and can find out how mom is doing. I am so grateful that they have each other to do things with. I had a nice visit with them both. It is one of the blessings of being here a bit longer than our usual 2 week visit. I am grateful for that.

Until next time with hopefully less exciting news!

Jan for the Roving Reimers

Wii!!!

5 cup family — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:17:17 GMT

Whew! We have had a very busy month. With two teams being here since the beginning of January, the kids on winter break, and my sister in law visiting our schedules have been nutty. However, we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Both teams were wonderful. The hardest goodbye this month was to my sister in law. [...]...(read more)

Meeting of the Dwarfs

Serving Third-Culture Kids in Germany — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:22:21 GMT

Jonathan and I started going to a mom’s and babies group on Thursday mornings called “Zwergentreff” (literly translated as dwarf meeting). It is sponsored by the german FEG (Free Evangelical Church) in town and they invited some of us English mom’s to join. It’s a great way to practice my german conversational skills [...]...(read more)

Grace Church Gacuriro

Transformed — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:16:07 GMT

It has been 17 years of struggles and victories. The church began in the yard of a family who wanted to have an evangelical church in their neighborhood. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning as we sat outside in this family’s yard for the first service of this church. A year later with lots of volunteer labor, they built a church. Then in 1994 the genocide came. The pastor and three of the four church elders were either killed or fled. In September 1994, it looked like the church might close without...(read more)

All Together Again

Johnson Updates — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:17:15 GMT

Our whole family came together for one last weekend before we head back to Taiwan. We are absolutely blessed that everyone likes being together even if our reunions are too few and too short. Daniel headed back to Seattle this evening so he can be back Monday morning for his internship with the Army Corp of Engineers. Stacie leaves Tuesday. David and Leah leave on Thursday. They will be packing this next month for a move from Melbourne, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia. He will be at Georgia Tech for...(read more)

A Night in Iran

Come journey with us! — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:13:03 GMT

I was moved to tears. I have been fascinated and disturbed by the recent election and subsequent protests in Iran. While I do not think that Iran would have change drastically with the election of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit our blog at Read More......(read more)

Visiting more family in Lexington, Kentucky

janmreimer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:22:00 GMT

Kent’s oldest brother Ron and wife Jan live in Lexington, KY and this past weekend we went there to see them. Yes both of these brothers married a woman named Jan. It can be confusing for others when we are together but it can be fun too.

Their kids all live in the area too so we got to see all of them. Ron and Jan also have one grandson Caleb who is 17 months old. We had a lot of fun seeing him and his mom, our niece Julie. Unfortunately Caleb’s dad had to work and we certainly missed Brian. But we did see the other two siblings Alicia and Anthony as well. We got to host Ron, Jan, Alicia and Anthony at our house. We certainly enjoyed that as well as the rest of our visit. We always love going to their church when in the area Southland Christian. Thanks for a great visit Jan and Ron and family!

Kent's brother, Ron and his kids and grandson Caleb

Jan and Kent and brother Ron and Jan

We parked our house at the Kentucky Horse Park and we can certainly recommend it. We even had a very helpful "neighbor" help us to get into our site. He used to be a trucker and so understood our needs.

While visiting with Ron and Jan we all decided to look up a first cousin who had recently moved nearby. We had an interesting visit. Shirley and husband Steve are very much interested in alternative health treatments. We all got a foot bath detox and a foot massage after wards. That was very interesting!

We so enjoyed our Lexington stay but had to get on down the road on Tuesday. We left there and drove through some of the prettiest country we have seen. We drove east through Kentucky and into West Virginia and Maryland and are right now in Pennsylvania. I have some pictures but can not get the internet to work with me too well tonight. I may try to post them later on. But trust me I think it is the prettiest part fo the country that we have seen so far.

Until later on,

Jan for the Roving Reimers

From Bangkok

Mark's space — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:42:33 GMT

Just a quick note to say, please pray for Mark and Pastor Matsumoto. Tomorrow they and others will present the results of the Sign Languages Working Track of the United Bible Societies Triennial Translation Workshop. Translation consultants and translation officers from all over the world are gathered, and for many, this could be their first exposure to Sign Language Bible translation. Meetings have been exhausting but very good. More later....(read more)

Two reasons to celebrate!

Serving Third-Culture Kids in Germany — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:15:32 GMT

Today we celebrated Christopher’s second Father’s Day AND our sixth wedding Anniversary. It was an eventful day. When Chris and I were first married and even now, we have prayed that God would use us a team for His Glory and purpose. We knew that God use us to do greater things TOGETHER rather than single. [...]...(read more)

Camp Tilikum Father/Son Fishing Weekend

Johnson Updates — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:51:31 GMT

We have had a great time here meeting lots of new people. I thought I’d fish for a bit. Made one cast and a bass grabbedthe hook almost before it hit the water. I decided to quit while I was ahead. Daniel did the “Ladder” in the challenge course. He went up with a younger boy and just about pulled him up single-handily. It was amazing seeing how comfortable Daniel we hanging upside down by his legs and pulled someone up to each of the 8 levels. The four message times I’ve had followed idea of the...(read more)