A Sabbatical Update

It's late Sunday afternoon, October 21. We have had a beautiful and full day to say the least. SYME students and staff usually attend an English worship service held on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. in the annex buildings of Karuizawa Union Church. We refer to this service as Karuizawa International Fellowship (KIF). The reason KIF meets in the annex buildings and not in KUC itself is because the KUC building is not winterized. It was built to hold services in the summers back when missionaries from all over Japan came to Karuizawa to escape the summer heat and humidity elsewhere.

For the past few weeks, Dale and I, along with Elliott, have been attending Saku Baptist Church on Sunday mornings. Saku Baptist Church, located about 30 minutes from the SYME campus, is led by Pastor Dan and Sharon Roberts, longtime missionaries in the area. We have been enjoying getting to know the Roberts and their ministry. They are doing a good job for the Lord; it's been mutually encouraging to visit their ministry each week.

Today we invited SYME students and staff to come along with us to Saku Baptist Church. There are about 20 or so who stayed at SYME for the weekend, so that mean we really swelled the crowd for this morning's worship service. It was great! Pastor Roberts preached a challenging message on prayer. After the service, we enjoyed a meal with everyone and then just sat around and talked for a while. Our group left a little after 2 p.m. in order to make the drive back to Karuizawa and to KIF.

Dale and I, along with Elliott decided to just come on back to SYME for some R&R, rather than going on with the rest of the group. One reason why was because we had already had a pretty big day by the time church began. This morning Elliott was invited to work out with a Japanese high school baseball team. So we left SYME early this morning to head to the school in time for the 8:30 a.m. practice. The team's practice was scheduled to last most of the day, but we slipped away after a couple of hours of Elliott running, throwing, fielding, and pitching with them in order to get to church on time. The coach and team were very hospitable. They had just come off the national tournament, where they had had some success. They graciously gave Elliott a team ball cap, a team windbreaker from the tournament, and a tournament tie clasp. It's an understatement to say it was fun!

We only have a little over three weeks remaining here in Japan. Our plan is to return to Fishers on November 13, one week earlier than previously thought. We are excited about the new schedule, because it means we should be able to join everyone for the Harvest Banquet on the 17th; that is, if we are awake from all the jet lag!

Be assured of our love and prayers for all at HHBC!