Hello again,We have some exciting updates to share with you from the second half of last week. We went to another pre-school on Thursday morning. This school was different than the others we visited as it had less than forty children in total. It was an interesting change to have such a small group because it allowed us to be a lot more interactive with the kids during the actions songs. We could all dance around with them without any children being left out of the fun. One great thing about going there was that the Tyndale team had gone there last year and this year they invited us back. Even though we did not share about Jesus directly with them, we can only pray that they could sense God’s love living in us.
Everyone was dancing! :)
On Thursday afternoon, Rebecca, Job, Kelsey, Soo Jin and Kaitlyn had the opportunity to work on finishing up the dry wall on an upstairs room at Harvest Chapel. In a couple of months, this room will house a couple from the US who are coming to work alongside the Ghents. As I am writing this right now, some of the team is at Harvest putting the final coats of paint on the room. They have had a lot of fun being able to help out in such a tangible way and we are all excited to see the finished product on Sunday.
On Friday night we had planned to have a campfire night for Young Life, but a thunderstorm hit about an hour before. Instead of making smores over the campfire, we let the kids and youth cook their marshmallows over the gas stove in the kitchen. Several parents had come to pick up their kids when we were finishing up snack time and it was so much fun to see them just as excited as the kids. Another highlight of the night was playing sardines (a hide and go seek game in the dark where one person hides and everyone else has to find that person and hide with them until everyone has found the hiding spot). I don’t know who had more fun, the kids or us! This week, we helped the group learn how to play “God of Wonders”. They are sounding so great and are gaining so much more confidence on their instruments.
Some of the Young Life gearing up for a game
Nick teaching guitar
On Saturday afternoon, Itayanagi Chapel hosted a Young Life special event. We had distributed the flyers directly to the students on Friday morning as they entered their public schools. Here in Itayanagi, most children are free to do whatever they would like on Saturday’s while their parents are at work so it is the best time to have special events at the chapel. We were so excited to see that thirty-three children came out. A few parents also came and participated in some of the activities. This was a great turn out for a children’s event and there were many new faces. They appeared to have a lot of fun and were very enthusiastic about all of the games and songs. About half of the kids actually stayed an extra half an hour after the event was over just so that they could play more games. There were four other little girls who stayed for an extra two hours at the end of the event. Please pray for these little girls as some of them come from broken homes and use events such as this one as a safe refuge from their difficult home lives.
I would just like to share some exciting testimonies that Colin brought to light on Sunday. Last year, the Tyndale team purchased a djembi drum and they left it as a gift for the Tsugaru Church (Itayanagi Chapel, Harvest Chapel, Kanagi Chapel and Grace Fellowship). They had brought it around to all of the many preschools they went to and let the kids play with it. This year, we brought it with us to play along with the kids songs and yet again the kids and the teachers were drawn in to playing. Colin estimates that about 2,000 people in the Tsugaru have played that drum. On Thursday when we went to Harvest, we brought the djembi in so that we could play a couple of songs for the two moms and their daughters that were there for parenting class. When we brought in the drum, the one mother’s face lit up. She told us that she had played the djembi for years but since she had her daughter two years ago that she has not had a single opportunity to play. She did not ask us to play, but when we offered the drum to her she excitedly took it from us. We played the worship song “Everyone” and she drummed along. She is quite talented, but it brought us more joy just to see how joyous she was about having the opportunity to play. When she was finished playing, she asked us what the song we were singing was about and said that she would like to come to Harvest Chapel for a Sunday service so that she can drum along with the worship music. This woman has been coming out to parenting classes for a while now, but has not expressed an interest in coming out to a service. This was a very exciting breakthrough for the Ghents. There is another neat testimony about how God has used the drum. At the Kanagi concert on Sunday, the team had the opportunity to meet a man who was baptized into the church last year and is a member of the Kanagi Chapel. He used to be an avid drummer and played guitar as well. A certain illness struck him and he lost his short term memory. Since that time, he has been unable to play. During the concert, he was trying to tap along with the beat and so afterwards Adam brought the drum over to him. It was the first time he had played in years and it was apparently quite a sight. He was so joyous and excited about playing again. This piece of wood and raw hide helped usher him into worshiping the Lord through music. Both of these testimonies are such a great reminder that God will use whatever is available and whatever He knows will touch a person’s heart. Music is God’s creation and He uses it in ways that we cannot fathom or anticipate.
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