-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
So Jessica, you just finished your mission trip, what are you gonna do now?
Dave
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The count down is on!
We gave Kieko a picture frame collage to remember us by. She was so happy! She said she will never forget this summer!!! The owner of the restaurant even commented about how she has changed since we came here!
We have had some great times and some hard times here in Japan but we are leaving on a really high note with lots of good friends!!
We are so excited to get home and see everyone! 5 months is a long time to be away from friends and family!!! The good news is God is clearly calling us to come back to Indiana!
Love and miss you all and can't wait to see you in 7 days!!!!
-Jessica Lindsey
Only 2 days left in Takamatsu, than 4 days in Tokyo! We leave Tokyo at 4:15pm on Sept 4th and land in Chicago at 6:15pm on Sept 4th!!! It is a 14 hour flight but we only loose 2 hrs! Talk about time travel!!!
Tonight Kieko put on a going away dinner for us and played the piano again for is. She is an amazing piano player!!!
The count down is on!
Tonight Kieko put on a going away dinner for us and played the piano again for is. She is an amazing piano player!!!
Her message...
After 3 yrs on mission in Philippines....
Not that she changed someones heart...
But that during her time of mission God changed her heart!
That's the miracle.
We always get more than we give.
The Beatles last lyric, "and in the end, the love you take, is equal to, the love you make."
Dave
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Look closely
A living legend, 83 year old missionary Bruce that gave his life to Japan & reminds us of Papa.
A hair twirler (aka Yessica, as they say in Japan)
A learner, apprentice Maggie.
4th church service of the day...
Dave
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Everyday this grandma carries her grandson around the neighborhood
I'm amazed at this tiny woman's strength! I cldnt do it.
I wonder how long she can keep it up. Her grandson has grown lots just since we've been here.
Dave
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Hallelujah Church Map.jpg
Dave
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Saturday, August 27, 2011
No such thing as central air or heat here...
ALL toilet seats have heaters for this reason!
Dave
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Okonomiyaki
It is like a big egg pancake with eggs, veggies, fish and chicken in it, than they pour mayonnaise on it.
This is their type of Teppanyaki. The cook cooks on big table in center of restaurant then they bring and put on our table that has a hot plate in the middle.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Final team meeting in Taka
This porch has provided free internet, a place to get away, a place for conversations, a place for friendships to grow.
Thank you God for providing this porch & your children inside this building.
We pray this always be a blessed place & blessed family business.
Amen.
Dave
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Note from Misaki
I met Misaki when I was teaching a "mommy and me" class for Zion church. Her husband is from Brazil and is a Christian. He really wants her to be a Christian. She is interested in it but it is hard to go against her Buddhist family. She asked to have a private bible study with me - after 3 -/2 hours of talking she said she really understood why I am a Christian and she is closer to becoming one.
She came to our going away dinner last night and this is the nice email I received from her today:
i had been thinking that all of good relationship starts "by chance", but it was wrong.they all starts by the grace of god.now i feel so because of u and ur family.
Misaki, her daughter Jessica:) and me! (First Jessica I have met in Japan!)
-Jessica Lindsey
-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
Going away party last night
-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
Was a huge success! So many good friends and memories!!! Kids table:
Thursday, August 25, 2011
On our way to our going away party...
God is happy :)
Dave
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
So what do u do when your family all shares one room and the kids wanna have 3 other kids sleep over?
-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
When Jessica is your wife u squeeze in!
God is working. Keep the prayers coming. Amazing miracles happening. Wow.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Keiko gave us an elephant for our collection from her collection!
-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
Friday, August 19, 2011
Isn't the Old Testament Full of Law? Why do we still study it?
A radical thought that I wondered about today in class was... "should we stop using the Old Testament to teach in our churches? I'm afraid that we all talk about and understand GRACE for a short bit, but then weeks later we start reading the old Testament and hear of all the Laws that were given to the Israelites and hear of a jealous or angry God and we start feeling self righteous and we stop modeling the GRACE that Jesus gave us.
It IS SOOOO IMPORTANT for us to understand that the Bible must be taken as a whole and that the Old Testament is only the first half of the story. We need this first half to understand what Jesus came to fulfill, but let's not get lost in these old laws that he came to transcend!!The law is dead. We LIVE TODAY by GRaCe
As we know God's grace more deeply, we will keep his commandments in love, not in law.
Remember the old testament is only half the stOry!
It IS SOOOO IMPORTANT for us to understand that the Bible must be taken as a whole and that the Old Testament is only the first half of the story. We need this first half to understand what Jesus came to fulfill, but let's not get lost in these old laws that he came to transcend!!The law is dead. We LIVE TODAY by GRaCe
As we know God's grace more deeply, we will keep his commandments in love, not in law.
Remember the old testament is only half the stOry!
sin seperates, so don't do it. god's law offers peace and love
solid marriages, solid families, solid careers, solid self-esteem
we can choose our actions, we can't choose our consequences. let the law be your guide, but don't let the law condemn u
Using the law as a guide, but falling back on Gods grace is the planJesus set up for us.
we can choose our actions, we can't choose our consequences. let the law be your guide, but don't let the law condemn u
Using the law as a guide, but falling back on Gods grace is the planJesus set up for us.
Relationships & Raising Kids
Our lecture phase in Hawaii changed my paradigm on raising kids.
The Bible teaches a very healthy ideal for family. We are not all going to have it, just as we do not have any other "ideals" in life. We play the hand we are dealt. However, knowing God's design helps us find peace & guide others.
The goal is to "keep our children inside God's ring of protection" that the bible says surrounds us as the family is blessed by God
VS.
Encouraging "independence" which puts the child "floating on their own, vulnerable to the Enemy". The bible wants us to move from one FAMILY ring of protection to the next - when we are married.
Not spending time outside a ring. This has nothing to do with geography, but instead is a "mindset".
I have always been big on independence, but I'm seeing the value & blessing of the circle of protection that God created for families.
(Catching up on old blogs :)
Dave
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Udon noodles are most famous food from Takamatsu
Beef or chicken with chives, broth and big noodles. Best part is you are SUPPOSED to slurp!
What does our daily schedule look like?
Many have asked how we spend our days. The pace is different from a homes of hope build, as we need to set a pace for 2 months and not burn out. Plus do ordinary life as we go too. It varies quite a bit, but here's a look...
We live in seperate residences, so we have personal bible and prayer time at our homes in the morning. Sometimes we get in a morning jog or maybe even sleep in a bit :)
Each day we meet at 10am,either at our place or maybe the park. This is a time for us to "Fill ourselves up with the Holy Spirit" YWAM is very good about making sure we stay filled up. If we are not full and happy, then we cannot "overflow to others". This is a great life lesson I've learned. Filling up is fun and invovles:
- worship in any form. signing, dancing, playing freeze tag in the park, singing in the park, etc. anything that glorifies God
- we share experiences from the previous day and reflect on our progress
-we lift each other up, speaking truth into each other
After worship and updates, we each lunch together. We have cooking and clean up teams and these home cooked meals have been a highlight. Penne with cream sauce, Japanese Udon noodles, Korean mixed grill, fish tacos, yummy stuff. otherwise we grab a quick bite together close to the park.
Afternoons we often split up and find ways to serve.
- Everyday some of us a teaching English, which is a great ministry because we can actually speak to them!!! Plus, many people interested in English tend to be interested in the Western Culture and Christianaity.
- We've also spent afternoons cleaning homes and bathrooms for elder long term missionaries here. We cleaned up the Christian Center after the flood, etc.
- We also have spent afternoons planning and practicing for our Aloha Cafe show this coming weekend. - --- Sometimes we go out and pass out Christian Tracks at the train station, sometimes we just go hand out with our friends, building relationship.
- Jessica and another member of our team taught a new mothers class at a local church.
- Other times we may do intercessory prayer for people we are meeting here or for others in our group that are out in the field.
Simply put, we do what is possible and let God handle what may seem impossible... that is leading people closer to him.
Sometimes we do dinner together and often our ministry work spills into the evening. If not, we are free many evenings and that's when we do laundry, shop, clean, type blogs, etc. What is fun on an outreach like this is that you keep your "mission eyes" open all the time. So we may talk with someone or cheer them up at the laundry mat or disucss faith with a ticket collector at a local baseball game. Its amazing when you are away from home and in regular, deep contact with the Lord, how the world can look different... so full of chances to share Jesus. Sometimes directly, often by example. We hope to take this lesson home with us as well.
Five days a week we do the above. Sundays we attend a few church services and eat lunch at the church, helping in anyway we can. Then Monday is our free day. The world goes back to work and we rest :)
Hooray for Mondays!!!
We live in seperate residences, so we have personal bible and prayer time at our homes in the morning. Sometimes we get in a morning jog or maybe even sleep in a bit :)
Each day we meet at 10am,either at our place or maybe the park. This is a time for us to "Fill ourselves up with the Holy Spirit" YWAM is very good about making sure we stay filled up. If we are not full and happy, then we cannot "overflow to others". This is a great life lesson I've learned. Filling up is fun and invovles:
- worship in any form. signing, dancing, playing freeze tag in the park, singing in the park, etc. anything that glorifies God
- we share experiences from the previous day and reflect on our progress
-we lift each other up, speaking truth into each other
After worship and updates, we each lunch together. We have cooking and clean up teams and these home cooked meals have been a highlight. Penne with cream sauce, Japanese Udon noodles, Korean mixed grill, fish tacos, yummy stuff. otherwise we grab a quick bite together close to the park.
Afternoons we often split up and find ways to serve.
- Everyday some of us a teaching English, which is a great ministry because we can actually speak to them!!! Plus, many people interested in English tend to be interested in the Western Culture and Christianaity.
- We've also spent afternoons cleaning homes and bathrooms for elder long term missionaries here. We cleaned up the Christian Center after the flood, etc.
- We also have spent afternoons planning and practicing for our Aloha Cafe show this coming weekend. - --- Sometimes we go out and pass out Christian Tracks at the train station, sometimes we just go hand out with our friends, building relationship.
- Jessica and another member of our team taught a new mothers class at a local church.
- Other times we may do intercessory prayer for people we are meeting here or for others in our group that are out in the field.
Simply put, we do what is possible and let God handle what may seem impossible... that is leading people closer to him.
Sometimes we do dinner together and often our ministry work spills into the evening. If not, we are free many evenings and that's when we do laundry, shop, clean, type blogs, etc. What is fun on an outreach like this is that you keep your "mission eyes" open all the time. So we may talk with someone or cheer them up at the laundry mat or disucss faith with a ticket collector at a local baseball game. Its amazing when you are away from home and in regular, deep contact with the Lord, how the world can look different... so full of chances to share Jesus. Sometimes directly, often by example. We hope to take this lesson home with us as well.
Five days a week we do the above. Sundays we attend a few church services and eat lunch at the church, helping in anyway we can. Then Monday is our free day. The world goes back to work and we rest :)
Hooray for Mondays!!!
J sharing
-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
Jess is so powerful being herself ! The mothers are drawn to her and her testimony is powerful
Our beautiful and talented teammate Ruth
-Jessica Lindsey
sent from my iPhone
Hula sing play she does it all
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