Wayumi Youth Team Update

The sun warmed us up today but we had fun and were challenged in God's word from Genesis (the beginning of the story of redemption that we will continue tomorrow).  There was a session on Language and Culture and then we visited the replica tribal village to try out our language skills with some "native" speakers.  As you can see from the pictures, we made our first trip to the watering hole and had a good time.  It was an interesting day and we still have one session left tonight.  Pray for God to open ears and hearts to his plan for our world.

Cambodia Home Safe

The team arrived back last night after a very long day of travel.  We are praising God for all of the work he has done in and through our team and excited to share our story with you.

Arrived Safely at Home

Hi Everyone!

Lauren here... Thanks for your prayers as we arrived safely back at home around 6:30 last night!

Cambodia Update-5 July

On Wednesday the team traveled to a rural area to pray along with the World Relief staff as they conducted an HIV/AIDS support group.  Over the past several years Cambodia has had an encouraging down turn in the number of reported new cases of HIV/AIDS.  World Relief conducts advocacy, education, and support groups for those affected.  It was our opportunity to watch the support group in action and take part in praying for the people.  We asked one middle aged woman of the support group, what the best part of living in her neighborhood was, we were humbled by her response when she said, “Life here is always too tough, but it is our home and we love it and we try to do the best we can for our kids.”  We were humbled to hear this woman’s resolve and desire, like any good mother, to do the best for her children. 

Wednesday night each team member had the opportunity to travel and stay the night with a Cambodian (Khmer) World Relief staff member.  It was a great opportunity to do life together with the staff, meet their families, and spend sometime together.  A large part of this trip is building the relationship

between ourselves (Calvary as a church partner) and the staff.  Like any healthy partnership, it takes time and energy in building the type of trust and mutual understanding.  The opportunity we had to meet the families went a long way in helping us understand their lives better.

On Thursday the team spent the morning taking part in a teen anti-trafficking lesson.  Human trafficking continues to be a big problem throughout Cambodia.  World Relief seeks to provide education and awareness to children and teens about some of the things the traffickers do to lure children into slavery.  Along with the education World Relief has helped plant around 1200 house churches.  They mobilize the house churches to be watch dogs in their own communities of common trafficking ploys. 

Japan Team -- Coming Home

Today, Friday, we did a bit of touring in Tokyo along with 3 appointees, a short termer and an intern from SEND.  Jim May was our tour guide and we had a great time.  We saw a 2 Shinto shrines and a Buddhist temple.  Sad to see people praying to gods who cannot hear, see or act.  We also visited a museum on the history of the Tokyo area from 1600 - present.  And we finished it off with a short visit to the Sumo wrestling museum.  We had sushi and other Japanese food (though some decided to go for pizza -- I guess the rationale is that it is not often you can get Japanese Italian food?).

Tomorrow morning, four of the team, Lauren, Glenn, Linda and Meredith will begin their 24 hours of travel back home.  That includes a 13 hour plane flight where they will arrive in Newark five minutes before they leave Tokyo on the same day.  Charissa and I will be staying on to go visit with Jim and Angela and the kids.  Our updates will be less frequent at that point as the focus of our ministry is over.

Thank you for your prayer.  We look forward to sharing more of what God has done on this trip face to face.

George, for the team.

Japan Team - Thursday

This is George May giving an update.  Today was our final day with the kids.  It is hard for us to see the week end.  We have established such good relationships with the kids.  One of the most encouraging things for me is the individual conversations I've had with some of the students that make it clear they are really wrestling with the things we've talked about this week in very personal ways.

For the last session of the conference, we gave a presentation to the parents.  The preschool and elementary did some singing and Charissa and Lauren talked about the key topics of the week.  For student ministries, several of the students taught a summary of the things we've worked with or shared how they were challenged this week.  They did a great job.

This afternoon, we helped clean up the conference center, swam a little bit and had a team meeting this evening.  The entire team has been doing a great job and has been giving very positive feedback on their experience here.  God is clearly at work IN us and not just THROUGH us.  We are certainly very grateful for both. 

Tomorrow we will go with Jim and Emily May as well as a few short-termers, to downtown Tokyo as tourists.  Then Saturday, the team will arrive back in Lancaster, minus Charissa and I who are staying on to see Jim and Angela and the kids.

Japan Team - Wednesday

     Hi, this Glenn Sensenig reporting in with the activities of day 3 of VBS, Wed.  The day started out with overcast skies and bit on the cool side.  There were a few small showers throughout the day.  In today's lessons we looked at David and his challenge with Goliath in 1Samual 17, noting God's guidance, protection and giving strength to David.  After the lesson, we took the students to the sports field and set a target for them. With sling shots much like David's and marsh mellows in place of stones the students were given a chance to work their skills at hitting the target.  It was quite interesting to watch them and to try it ourselves.  After that we engaged in a game of capture the flag. We ended up playing 2 games with each team winning one. We ended the morning session with some swim time in the pool.  I used the afternoon break as a rest time as the other team members took the opportunity to do some rafting. During the evening session we finished up the study of David.

This is Linda Michel adding a note. The middle/high school students finished up the teaching series this evening.  This group of students was wonderful to work with, as they were attentive, active participants and truly took the message to heart.  The students, in all age groups, are like a family.  They look out for each other and are taking steps to live out what they have learned. They are truly a blessing to each other.

Cambodia Update--July 2

Today was a day of encouragement.  It started off a bit rocky when our team met this morning for breakfast. A member of our team was feeling considerably under the weather.  We felt it best to allow that person some extra time to rest and by lunch they were back in action and feeling great.  We were all encouraged by the quick turn around and thrilled to be all back together as one. 

In the morning we visited a suburb of Phnom Penh and had the chance to take part in Children's ministry.  Everyday the Cambodian staff of World Relief starts with a time of worship and than jets out to the provinces spread throughout the country.  Below is a picture of the World Relief fleet awaiting another day of action.  

The staff works on a variety of projects such as: Childrens ministry, Anti-Trafficking, Adult Education, Community Health, Church Mobilization, and Agriculture to name a few.  The World Relief staff walked through some basic health education and then taught a Bible lesson.  It was encouraging for us to watch and hear the passion of the Cambodian staff from World Relief as they shared their faith and their lives with the children.  Here is a picture of our time in the suburbs. 

Once we returned back to Phnom Penh we got busy preparing our lesson for the day.  Each day we meet with World Relief staff to help provide insight and coaching to help enhance and support the ministry they do every day.  One of the challenges World Relief Cambodia faces is getting quality reports from their 45 Cambodian Field staff based in Phnom Penh.  We worked with a group to help them enhance the reports they right to be more specific and engaging.  Here is a picture of some of our team in action.

Japan Team -- Tuesday.

This is Meredith Michel writing tonight.  Today was the second day of the conference so we had our second day of the VBS.  Our morning session was from 9am-12pm.  The topic that Charissa and I taught the preschoolers about was Paul.  We had a little trouble in the beginning because they were very tired and and did not want to sit and listen.  So, we went out to the playground and played for a while.  One of the games that we did outside was in the sandbox.  Since the theme for today was God Loves You, we put red beads, which symbolized love, into the sandbox for them to find.  Then we went inside and read a bible story about Paul.  After the first session ended it was time for lunch. 
All the missionary ladies went out to lunch at an authentic Japanese restaurant. We walked down a cobble stone path and into a beautiful Japanese style dining room. Each place setting was decorated with chopsticks, green tea, tofu, tempura shrimp, yaki  zakana (baked fish) and brown rice with almonds. We had a devotional about trusting in God's word when trials come and learning to treasure the Word more than our daily needs. The women got to share what God has been teaching them and pray together. Then we took a tour of the inn and we looked thru artwork that was drawn by a famous artist.  We had another VBS time with the kids this evening that went really well.

George taught a a seminar called "Growing Through Stress" to the adult missionaries this afternoon. He said that it went really well and had good conversations about how the material applies to their context as missionaries on the field.

Japan Team - Monday - the conference begins

Hello everyone :) This is Charissa May reporting for the Japan team here at Oku-Tama!

Late last night and early this morning all the SEND missionaries arrived at the Oku-Tama Bible Chalet. Watching them all interact it is obvious that this week is very special for them. This conference is the only time that they all get to come fellowship together and hear what God is doing in other parts of Japan.

We have a lot of fun with the kids too :) The tight-knit community here is obvious and a joy to take part in. It's so encouraging how accepting and eager the kids are to include us. This afternoon we played a game called "Ultimate Chaos", sounds great right? Yep, it lasted for more than an hour! We had the opportunity to watch the kids during the morning and evening sessions as the adults learned and shared. Today in Preschool the kids learned about Joseph: how he chose to forgive his brothers and how we can forgive others. All of our programs are going well and the kids are enjoying them. The picture on the right shows the Elementary and Preschool age kids together for a picture. Some of the students were giving their "silly faces" prematurely but it shows the spirit of the group for sure!

Please continue to pray that our energy (Meredith, Glenn, Lauren and I) would match that of the kids and that we would be able to care for them with Christ's love. Also pray for the camp staff and the families attending the conference.

George May adding a few things:  Today we were glad for Glenn Sensenig's medical expertise. Nothing serious, but he was able to help with a few foot/ankle problems.  The Jr. High/Sr. High group is going well also as Linda Michel and I work with them.  The pic to the right shows a few of the teens hanging out after our meeting.  Jim and Angela's son Joshua is the one standing on the left.