New Year is a big holiday in Japan and there are many customs associated with it. Many here would be at home on New Year's Eve watching a television show called Kohaku (red/white) when two tea...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-year-happenings.html
As we move ever closer to our move to Tokyo next spring, a lot of things are being done 'for the last time'. One such experience is our 'last winter in Hokkaido'. Certainly this year the sn...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/12/last-winter-in-hokkaido.html
This blog has been somewhat silent of late. It's not that nothing has been happening in Hiragishi. Rather things have been such for us that there has been no time to pen the latest news. O...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/12/church-in-swimming-pool.html
As we are still a relatively young church which is still at the planting stage, we are always looking for ways to connect with people we know and find ways to invite people to an event or a wo...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/10/celebrating-harvest.html
Just over three and a half years ago we returned from Scotland and moved into a house in the Hiragishi area of Sapporo. In our area there was no church for a population of some 30,000. So w...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/10/handover.html
Recently David has been thinking (and speaking) a lot about someone called Tychicus. He appears several times in Acts and Paul's letters and at the end of the Letter to the Colossians he is...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/09/sharing-news.html
Life goes in cycles. For many families, one of the big changes is when your first child goes off to univeristy. For most, that can be their first time to stay away from home. For us, it h...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/08/another-change.html
One of the things that impresses us about life here in Japan is the way that sport is encouraged from a young age. Our boys are all into football. There is a great set up here from the local...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/we-are-champions.html
This past weekend we held another camp for some of the children in Lorna's English classes after our inaugural camp last year. We once again rented the building below our house which we often ...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/childrens-camp.html
Today is Daniel's 18th birthday. Seems a long time ago when David was watching the closing stages of the 1994 World Cup Final and hoping labour would hold off until the closing penalties! It...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/another-adult-in-family.html
Recently at an OMF Training Week we held in Sapporo, two pastors made the distinction between what can be called 'speaking' the gospel and 'showing' the gospel. Of course we need to use wor...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/sharing-gospel.html
One of the keywords in working here in the tsunami-devastated areas is flexiiblity. Plans can be made but they don't necessarily turn out the way you expect. There are sudden changes and va...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/nothing-goes-to-plan.html
We set off again this morning as usual at 9am. After a quick stop at the cafe in Yamada, we were on our way to another temporary housing area. Same set up. Same ideas as yesterday. Sa...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/another-day-another-place.html
Almost a year to the day since last being here, David is back in Iwate with a team of 6 people, including once again Daniel and Matthew. The journey was much the same - overnight ferry cros...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/07/back-to-iwate.html
Last week saw the end of one chapter in one of our boys' lives. Daniel started at Hebron School in India in August 2006. That was a huge change for all of us as for the first time one of ou...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/06/end-of-era.html
Every year in Hokkaido at this time of year, in various venues around the island, there is an event called the Yo no Hikari rally. Yo no Hikari means Light of the World. There is a Christia...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/06/light-of-world.html
As we have seen this new church plant here in Hiragishi start from nothing and gradually begin to take shape, it has very much been a case of one step at a time. Recently, that phrase ('step ...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-step-at-time.html
Last Sunday we as a church gathered in a room in a building almost right next door to the local subway station to dedicate our new church office. It was so good to find a place that is on th...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/06/church-office.html
Last week we held our third OMF Japan IBCM Training Week. Some of you may not know what IBCM stands for - it means Indigenous Biblical Church Movement, and is part of OMF International's Visio...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/05/learning-and-growing.html
This is not the first time that something about Sports Day has appeared on this blog. But is always an event we look forward to, not just because of the fun and watching the different races an...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/05/another-sports-day.html
One of the things we always do in Izumi Church is celebrate birthdays. Recently there seem to have been quite a few. It's always a great reason to enjoy cake together! And we take time to...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/05/celebrations.html
Last Saturday here was a holiday called Children's Day. It forms part of the annual so-called Golden Week holiday which has several consecutive holidays in a row, and if it includes a weekend...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/05/childrens-day.html
As we go into the fourth year of the Hiragishi church plant, many changes lie ahead. This will be our last year here as we move to a new role towards the end of this year. Our former collea...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-team.html
Last year we held the very first Hiragishi Izumi Church Easter Festival. This followed on from our having gone to visit another church which has held a similar event every year towards the en...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-festival-2012.html
It has been some time since anything appeared here. Now is the time to rectify that. The frantic juggling of past months (and not least the last few weeks) have meant little or no time for ...
http://churchplantersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/04/ceremonies.html