Yabuki Breeze Blog

You all have been a special part of it in many ways so far. Some of you gave financially. (if you still want to give, we still need $2000 to break even click here to learn how) Some of you gave your time. Some even sold stuff to help. Quite a few students and former students and you all helped us set up parts of the trip that we could not because of cultural differences. We could not have gotten to here without you.

But now is the most important part. THIS IS THE TIME THAT WE NEED YOU THE MOST. Any type of mission trip, while having tangible elements is primarily a Spiritual affair. We need a team of prayer warriors to cover us as we go. You don’t have to be a prayer expert or you don’t have to have stellar prayer habits already… but you do have to be willing to pray for us as often as possible. During the time leading up to the trip and while we are on the trip. Are you willing to do it?  Even one day of the trip is okay as long as you commit to do it and do it.

If you are interested, please let us know. We have put our daily schedule for the whole trip on a web page, this will give you a sense of how to pray for a given day and it gives specific prayer needs for the day. In addition it is our plan to send live updates, as often as possible via e-mail and we hope to put up posts (and hopefully pictures) up on our ministry blog http://blog.yabukibreeze.com. All of our weekly prayer partners will automatically get these updates. The e-mails will be more detailed than what we can post on our public blog for many reasons.

If you are NOT already signed up to receive our weekly prayer update, we can add you to a SPECIAL PRAYER E-MAIL list for the trip. This will not lock you into the regular prayer e-mail unless you want to receive them. If you reply with an e-mail to us before June 7 I can add you or any time you can…

Sign up for live trip email updates to pray for the trip

Tags: Asia, Asia Trip, China, Hong Kong, Japan, trip

It has been a while since my last post. There have been many very time consuming projects afoot. Anyway, I wanted to post some things that have been on my heart but I haven’t had time to post. I am going to bring in some tidbits from our most recent prayer letter that share what is on my heart right now…

In many ways this has all the indications of being a very emotionally draining week for me and my family. So many difficult things happened (see Prayer needs below). There were some sleepless nights and lots more prayer than usual. Still, God is here and working and for that I am truly grateful. We have lots of huge prayer requests this week. Please pray specially. The next couple of weeks will feel difficult and the effects of the last couple of weeks will start to be felt.

Praises

• God gave our DFW team a wonderful, wonderful retreat. We looked at a new strategy for ministry for the DFW area that incorporates what we already do but looks to expand on it using a new paradigm. We will need some prayer warriors if this will work, but if it does, it could be really special. Let me know if you are interested in praying specifically for this for the next year in a concentrated way.
• I have been really blessed by seeing how my kids have been getting along at this point of the summer. I will miss the special times together working at home with them here when the summer is over.
• We had a wonderful banquet for the Chinese EMBA students at UTA where they got to hear from a wonderful Christian business man who spoke at their level and also they connected well with their friendship partners.

Prayer Needs

• Many of you have been praying for the Chinese student, N, who police are looking for as she has been missing since Saturday. There is no new news to report. Please keep on praying for wisdom on the part of the police and that she will be found one way or another.
• My grandfather in Japan passed away today. I did not know him too well as he was always so far but I do know he was a very special man who was a huge influence for my mother. I’ll never forget his wonderful laugh, his constant smile and his deep but simple wisdom. I just wish I could have gotten to know him better. I don’t believe he ever knew the Lord. That saddens my heart.
• My oldest son turns 13 this week. I can’t believe that that little boy who was little more than one year old when we came to Texas is going to be a teenager. In many ways I am so proud of him and yet I feel compelled to pray for him and all the kids every day. There is so little we control and so much we depend on God’s grace.
• We began our “Politics, international relations and religion” discussion group at Starbucks on Wednesdays two weeks ago. The first one had one Italian student. This week we doubled our attendance with the Italian student, an Iranian couple and myself. Please pray for good conversations about worldviews and stuff eventually opening up discussion about Jesus.
• We are winding down our summer groups and getting ready for the craziest month of every year when we welcome new students. At UTA alone there are over 600 new international students coming and we meet most of them in this busy month.
• Pray for wisdom on some financial and priorities things we need to decide on for the city ministry soon.

Tags: Big Howdy, Birthday, discussion group, Grandfather, international relations, Japan, Loss, missing, paradigm, police, politics, Praise, Prayer, Staff retreat, Strategy, Teenager

It’s hard to believe but its already been three weeks since we got back to Texas from our trip. Sometimes we feel like we are constantly jumping from the frying pan into the fire… but that is good. God is working… Anyway, just some summary thoughts from the trip.

When people ask how Japan has changed since I was last there, one word comes to mind: “color.” In the past Japan was a mono-colored culture where everyone wore the same colored (though designer) drab gray colored suites, had the same black hair (couldn’t be helped) spoke the same way, etc. This time there was a remarkable infusion of color. People dressed in all sorts of ways with hair of many different colors. It wasn’t so easy to find Lisa in the crowd any more because there were MANY people with blond or brown hair… and purple and red and … you get the picture. Self-expression has become an art-form in Japan. Ironically, it has become the way to “fit into the crowd.”
We also learned how hard it is to be a Christian in Japan, especially from those who were saved in the U.S. The church is different in Japan. This makes it difficult for these precious students to feel like they belong. As a result, many don’t attend church. At the same time, they are trying to stay faithful to Jesus in other ways and so they don’t fit into the mainstream culture either. This can be very lonely.

We also learned about some of the exciting things going on in the church, especially in the area of church plants and smaller house churches. We also saw the difficulties the older more established churches are having to stay alive. There is a leadership void in the Japanese church which only can get bigger because fewer young people are going to the seminaries and Bible colleges in Japan.

We also were reassured by the hospitality and love we felt in each of the cities we visited as we met with old friends, new friends and family. We really love and appreciate the Japanese people.
All in all this was a wonderful trip that touched and blessed so much. No doubt we will be returning for another visit some day. We come home with a greater sense of responsibility in keeping in touch with our former students and continuing to love on them even from a distance.

To all of you who have been tracking our blog () and praying along the way, it’s been fun. We experienced Pocari Sweat and the other type of “sweat” in great quantities (as big as a whale shark) together. It was also fun to learn together that it’s not such a bad thing to be a “Son of Dork” (bumper sticker on a car). Most importantly we saw God work in our efforts. Thank you so much for your support in every way. We have been much blessed. You have gotten us through emotional hurdles (e.g. discouragement at taking so long to adjust and actually function), physical hurdles (e.g. landing in LA – check the blog for details), and spiritual hurdles (e.g. God opened several doors along the way). For others of you who made financial and personal sacrifices to make it possible for us to go, thank you—some students are moving back on track because of you. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Keep on praying for Japan. Keep on praying for the ministry to international student here in the states (www.yabukibreeze.com).

To see more of our pictures, check out http://photos.yahoo.com/rmyabuki.
- August, 2006

Tags: Japan, Returnee, travel