Hopping Down the Bunny Trail
As we work with our various Japanese helpers and tutor, one of the things I am very good at is getting off on bunny trails (by the way, that is a really difficult expression to try to explain to a non-native English speaker). However, that made it very appropriate that I was giving the privilege of being the 2009 Nohara Easter Bunny. Because of how much the Japanese people enjoy it, the church has gotten in the habit of doing an Easter egg hunt every year. This year, one of our co-workers filled 95 bright eggs and I spent Easter morning (with the help of one of the guys from the newly arrived Atlanta team) hiding them. I must have done a good job, because at the end of the hunt, 6 eggs were still at large. One of the most interesting things about the Easter egg hunt here in Japan was the fact that the adults participate as well as the kids.
The Easter service at Lighthouse Church was really a big encouragement. We had over 50 people and literally ran out of chairs. In addition to the Atlanta team, the Ube Angelic Shout Gospel Choir attended and performed three songs. We also had a number of visitors who were friends of people in the church. One of the highlights of the morning was the introduction of the Atlanta team. They shared testimonies and presented the church with a commemorative gift – a framed photo of a lighthouse taken by Dr. Charles Stanley (pastor of First Baptist, Atlanta). After church, everyone enjoyed an American style barbeque and pot-luck. In the afternoon, we did some planning with the Atlanta team and then took them to enjoy a walk around Tokiwa Park.
Please pray for many of the guests who were at the service yesterday. We would love to see them come to church on a regular basis. Pray that they would have felt warmth and welcome from the people in the church and continue to connect with us.